August 3, 2010
We decided we would sleep in to no alarm today, since the rest of the week is planned with tours. I woke to the door closing, and decided I should start getting ready, since it was already 8:00. Jarom arrives back at apartment with fresh groceries from our little market for omelets, and fresh croissants and a baguette for our breakfast. While I am getting ready, breakfast is wafting through our little apartment, and we are anxiously excited for breakfast. After yesterdays smoking of my flat iron, even with a power converter, I grew nervous from the burning smell this morning when using my blowdryer. So no hair appliances available to me that I brought, I knock on our neighbors door, who happens to be the owner of our apartment. Lia showed us our room on arrival, and helped us out with the Internet a few times, and Jaime got back late last night who we hadn’t met. So this morning, I knock on the door to borrow a hair appliance, and we meet Jaime and visit with them both for awhile. We learn he is a brilliant photographer, traveling around the world to capture the last of tribes of any culture, everywhere on earth. His website is www.memoiredescouleurs.com, if one is interested in the fascinating lives of beautiful human beings around the world.

We decide to be on our way at 12:15, and call it a wandering day. We look in small shops on
our way to Lafayette, what we in America would call a mall. We stop at a chocolatier shop to soak in the lavish chocolates, and start visiting with a mom and daughter from hawaii. We learned a lot about their seven weeks of travel together, including visiting italy where the daughter had done a year exchange program. We continue to head toward our destination, and reach Lafayette. The layout, displays, and clothes are different and beautiful, and we indulged in a delicious healthy lunch on the “lounge” floor of the mall. At the top of the building, it is open to sit in awe at the beautiful architecture all around, including the opera and ballet palace across the street. After hours of walking, we head back up the hill, and it’s just about 7:00pm when we get in to our apartment.

We rest shortly, and then accompany Jaime and Lia to a yummy cafe, and have our first yummy Italian pizza. It’s fun meeting and getting to know our new friends. We walk down and up the hill chatting, with an exciting plan. Jaime says people take locks to a bridge over the seine, and wrier their names on it, lock it together on the wire railing, and throw the key into the seine, symbolically showing your love forever. And that’s exactly what we did. From getting in a tiny car, with inches in front and behind it, bumping gently the cars in front and back, Jaime drives us down the streets of paris, showing us beautiful buildings, expensive places to shop, all while we help lua brush up on her English. They both speak many languages, lia is just starting to learn English. Even though they are from south America, their French is great. We park, make our way to the bridge, as the largest university of art towers over us in it’s brilliance, we wander through groups sitting on the bridge eating,
visiting, drinking, and playing instruments. We lock our locks on the bridge, throw our keys, marvel at large boats passing on the Seine river, and then head to the car. After giving us a driving tour, we drive down Champs de Elysees, the beautiful street which houses many things, including the Arc de Triomphe. That’s the arc we wanted to see yesterday, but didn’t, so it was great to see it, and we didn’t have to walk this one! We stop at the Eiffel Tower and enjoy it’s splendor, while all lit up, snap a few shots, and drive home, enjoying our conversation and the information about this beautiful city. We say good night, and Jarom and I struggle to stay awake, finishing up our days end. What a good day, full of spontaneity, enjoying moments, taking moments, and sharing moments.