Late nights and French kisses

Paris exceeded my expectations, and I know it's because of Jean-Louis and Arlette. We had a blast at the jazz concert with Valerie Bilounga ... she has an amazing voice and talent! She sang in her native tongue (from Cameroon), English, French and Portuguese. The guy on the bass cello had the best curly 'fro I've seen in years (I was jealous) ... and he was white!!! All in all, it was a good night.

I have to admit that being with this couple for three days showed me just how anti-social I'd been lately. They had us out at night until 11 at the earliest, 2 am at the latest. They do this every night, including weekdays! I'd have a hard time staying awake at work if I lived that way all the time, but for vacation I wouldn't have missed a moment of it.

We did eat at the Tex-Mex restaurant in Paris ... called "Indiana". Yeah. It was hard not to think about Pappasitos or Fiesta en Guadalajara while we were there ... no chips and salsa ... no salsa period, actually. I had to remind myself that most of these folks had never been to Texas, so they didn't know what they were missing. Dianne had a kicking Caesar Salad at the restaurant that night, though. Gotta love it.

One thing that I had to get used to - French kisses. When greeting and saying goodbye, you're expected to kiss everyone, right down to the boyfriend of the friend of the second cousin you just met. For those of you who know me and my boundary issues, you know that was a stretch! I think that in one day I counted 4 or 5 men that I'd kissed ... more than I'd kissed in my life up to this point. I didn't bother counting the women ... I'm so American.

One other fun point ... I love how we continually find and befriend the Spanish speakers traveling through Europe. This time Dianne talked to an 18 year old guy who was trying to get to Versailles. When he figured out that we spoke Spanish he spent the rest of the day with us and talked non-stop. He was an exchange student from Mexico studying in Hamburg, Germany on holiday. I nearly choked when I found out that he thought I was 20 and then later asked if I had a boyfriend.

So, here's the city synopsis:

• Paris is a beautiful city, full of history and beautiful structures.
• The French aren't as bad as people make them out to be (or at least the ones I met weren't).
• Napolean Bonaparte was a little, but powerful man.
• The Eiffel Tower is bigger than I thought.
• I'm still not sure what French food tastes like, but they do walk around eating sandwiches on baguettes.
• If you plan to visit, be prepared to greet and say goodbye with kisses.
• For those who insisted that I come to Paris - good call, and thank you!

Now, on to snowy Aberdeen!