February 16th Saturday

I slept in until noon. Whenever that happens I always hear my parents’ teasing me in my head. I’m sure they’ll learn how to sleep in someday.

I had some cereal and yogurt. I typed on my journal for a little while. I’d been having the songs from Across the Universe going through my head. I’d tried to buy it before but couldn’t get my credit card number to work. I tried my debit card instead and was able to purchase the album. I love new music.

For lunch I made the most amazing sandwich I have ever made in my life. It included the roasted chicken, tomato, spinach leaves, a slice of Gouda, and a pepper cheese spread. It was very delicious. It was the most gourmet sandwich I’ve ever made. I don’t normally have all those ingredients just lying around. It helped to have leftovers from a nice dinner.

I took a shower and put some pictures on my computer and online. I needed to clear out my camera because now I was headed to the Jardin de Tuileries. These are the gardens that are located north of our apartment across the Seine. It was a beautiful day out. It wasn’t too cold and the sky was a bright blue. I used the pedestrian bridge that our landlord told us about. It did indeed allow me to cross underneath the large street and end up inside the gardens.

I turned left and started walking toward the west end of the gardens. The trees were all bare because it’s still winter, but I can tell that they are going to be beautiful once they get leaves again. They are all arranged in straight lines. Eventually, I came upon a fountain in a large circular pool. It was surrounded by statues. They had names like Autumn, Spring, Silence, and Julius Cesar. I couldn’t resist taking pictures of them. I took lots of pictures of the fountain and the people around it. I even played with the timer and remote that came with it to take pictures of myself there.

I continued walking along the northern part of the garden. I came upon a children’s play area. There was a group of trampolines set into the ground where children could jump on them. They just paid an admission fee. Then I came up on the carousel. There was a carousel full of smiling children and parents. I was tempted by the Barbe à Papa (cotton candy, literally papa’s beard). I wanted to buy myself one but there wasn’t a man at the stand at the moment and I didn’t want to wait around for too long.

I found many more statues and ponds in the gardens. It’s all very beautiful. I recommend it to anyone coming to Paris. It’s a very calm and peaceful way to be a tourist. It’s fun to see all the people there. I was surprised how crowded it was. I suppose it was a Saturday but I thought it would be emptier in the winter.

I found another fountain and pool with more statues surrounding it. This fountain had little remote controlled boats that you could rent and race around the basin. I took a few pictures of the boats and the surrounding statues. As I was taking a picture of the statue called “Cassandra puts herself under the protection of Pallas” a man tried to get my attention. He wanted to know when the Musée d’Orsay closed. I told him I wasn’t sure what time it closed but I would guess 8:00pm. He said “Ça m’étonnerait. Normalement ça ferme plus tôt.” (That would stun me. Normally it closes earlier.) Then he looked at me and said “Oh are you foreign?” (in French still of course.) I said yes and then he tried to guess where I was from. He guessed Russia or Poland. He said my accent was like those and that I paid attention to the words like a Russian. I laughed and told him that I was American. This surprised him and he told me that I spoke French very well for an American. Normally Americans can’t seem to make the right sounds. I said that this was because the sounds are so different. He replied that that was why the French couldn’t speak English either. He thanked me for my time and wished me a good afternoon. It left me feeling rather good about my French.

I got home and then Karuna arrived shortly after. It was her first time back since she’d left right after Valentine’s dinner. The two of us went to meet her friend Paul for dinner near his place. We went to one of the Chinese restaurants. I ordered curry rice and chicken with black mushrooms. I had an orange Fanta to drink. We had a fun dinner and Karuna and Paul got to talk a bit. Karuna was excited because she had a gala to go to that night.

We had to leave so that Karuna could get ready. We went home and got to work curling her hair while she put makeup on. It was pretty chaotic. We called her a cab while she finished getting ready. She ran down, hopped in and rode off. The whole whirlwind took about ten minutes.

Adrienne and I had a fine night by ourselves. I got to talk to my parents online. We were up ridiculously late not doing anything particularly special. I didn’t get to bed until after 4:30am.