Why on earth would I stay in Paris for more than 10 days?! That would just be silly! Completely kidding -- but I'm absolutely delighted to be back in London for the weekend in honor of Al's (my cousin) 30th birthday -- and to see my wonderful Auntie Marion! Who arrived in London this morning.
I woke up early to swim this morning -- I continue to really enjoy the morning practices with the masters' team -- which occasionally includes some of the other kids from my normal competition group. I met an older gentleman today by the name of Paul -- he's from Montreal but lives in Paris -- he's a photographer! Very nice -- he was laughing because he started swimming at the age of 38, so he's had a bit of a different experience than some of us younger kids.
So I headed home after practice and ate some breakfast -- and then proceeded to fall asleep on my couch for about an hour, and when my alarm went off, I had absolutely zero desire to get up. I hit the snooze button on my alarm (which I NEVER do -- and I think has a bit to do with the fact that I've been feeling a bit under the weather) and finally got back up around 11. I got ready and then took the metro to the Cite de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine to see the Hotels Particuliers Parisiens exhibit -- which we have to write a paper on for my architecture class. The museum is really interesting -- I'm planning on returning in the near future to see the permanent collections (which are free), but I enjoyed the hotel (ie mansion) exhibit that they had. They had it set up as a bunch of different rooms as if it were a real "hotel" in Paris -- and each room was decorated from a different time period. The final room was filled with drawings and floor plans and models of hotels around Paris -- and there was even an interactive touch screen that had a map of all of the hotels in Paris with pictures and info and such.
After my museum visit, I went back home and had some lunch. I tried some of Marilu's carrot soup from her dinner party the other night - which had a hint of orange in it. I was a bit skeptical at first, but it really was yummy. Especially with some good bread....I also tried some of her crab terrine -- interesting texture, but really good flavor!
I gathered my luggage and went to my history class -- and then left for the train station just after. I decided to catch the bus to the station because it's such a hassle to take the metro with lots of stuff. The bus got me to the station at around 5:30 which was perfect -- it was much more relaxing going through the Eurostar "process" having done it before. I spent the two-ish hours on the train listening to podcasts (I've downloaded over 40 Freakonomics podcasts -- which have become quite addicting) and reading a bit.
When I got to London, I found my way to Al's apartment (all by myself!) and was greeted by Marion! We waited for Al to get home and then went to find some dinner. There's a really incredible little street right by his place -- where the bakery that we went to last time is -- and we tried, unsuccessfully, to get a table at a few different - and very cool looking - places. We ultimately decided on a Turkish restaurant which was slightly less crowded -- but still delicious! We all got the set meal -- which included a plate of 7 different starters for each person -- hummous, lamb meatball, a phyllo-dough type pastry, and a some other spreads -- also with some delicious bread! For my entree, I got the lamb shank on top of mashed potatoes and some vegetables -- it was really good! The lamb was extremely tender and fell off the bone, and the combination of the meat with the potatoes was delicious. Mrn and Al both got the mixed grill! For dessert, I got the lemon cheesecake, which was the perfect end to the meal. It was just the right amount, and was very light -- with just a faint lemon flavor. The crust tasted like a mixture of graham crackers and nuts? Not sure -- but it was really delicious too!
Looking forward to a wonderful weekend in Angleterre! Full of wonderful company and probably some pretty yum food as well....
A bientot!
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