Paris. Day 27. 28. 29.

Okay, so Day 27 and 28 have not been the most uplifting days of my trip thus far, that’s for sure. I returned from Provence with an atrocious head cold that left me out for the count all day Monday. I stayed in bed the entire day nursing my symptoms: a hot shower for nasal congestion, Advil for headache, throat lozenges for sore throat, and a croissant for mental stability. I literally remained in my pajamas from sunup to sundown, and even by bedtime still didn’t feel like myself…boo. I was so grateful though when the pharmacist down the street could actually understand my poor acting skills, as I frantically pointed to my throat, forehead, and sinus passages while making sad faces. He gave me what I think is something similar to DayQuil and NyQuil. Hasn’t done the trick yet, but will hopefully start to kick in soon. Crossing my fingers.

On Tuesday morning I woke up still congested and while coughing and sniffling I received the most unfortunate news from Dinah. After placing my memory card from my camera into her iPad in an attempt to take some of my pictures home with her, she accidentally deleted a bunch of pictures from the memory card itself. Upon realizing that I currently did not have any pics from Bath, London, or my time with Sarah and Tristan, I became totally heartbroken. After sobbing my eyes out in the bathroom for what had to be 20+ minutes, and after making poor Dinah feel like crap, we practically sprinted to the Apple Store to try to retrieve my lost photos.

By some grace of God we were able to speak with an American guy at the Apple Store. The Apple guy informed us that my only hope for retrieving the pictures was to download a retrieval program to my big iMac once I got home. I wasn’t completely thrilled with his use of the words “probably” and “50/50 chance” when speaking of the retrieval process, but I left the store realizing that the world was NOT coming to an end, and that at least there was some hope to retrieve my memories once I got home to Seattle.

With my head spinning from the morning’s events, I laid down for a cat nap. Not 30 minutes into my nap did I wake suddenly and sit straight up in bed. I had somewhere in my half sleep state remembered that I had tried to upload my pictures to Tristan’s laptop while he was here. Knowing I had had a ton of trouble actually importing the photos, I prayed that somehow they had miraculously made it onto his laptop. I called Sarah and Tristan immediately, and to mine, Dinah and Kate’s relief the pictures were there! Phew! Knowing that I was only missing a few pictures from the last few days, I took a big sigh of relief and smiled for the first time that day.

After the good news, Kate, Dinah and I wrapped up Day 28 by spending their last night in Paris shopping at Galeries Lafayette (a monstrous shopping mall with every fashion label you could ever imagine), eating French onion soup, and gazing up at the sparkling lights of the Eiffel Tower. While walking home along the Seine I reflected on how much I enjoyed my time with Kate and Dinah in Paris and Provence. It was nice to have some low key, down to earth friends along on this ride, and I’m really glad they were both able to make the trip out. Have a safe flight home gals!

Today, Day 29, I awoke realizing that I had practically sworn to Kate and Dinah last night that I would return to Galeries Lafayette today. While we were there yesterday, we were made aware that today was the start to a mind blowing sale, and I was warned by the sales woman to “get here early.”  And of course, what would any perfectly sane American girl, obsessed with fashion, with no extra cash, and a nagging cold do?? Yes, you guessed it. I woke up bright and early, threw on my last clean shirt, and headed straight for the sale. After 3 hours of shopping bliss, I left with an adorable grey dress from Comptoir Des Cotonniers (a chic French label that I ADORE and could never afford on a normal day) and a pretty, ruffled black top – both on ridiculous sale I might add!

Despite a day of pure chill-axing, I did do some pondering. On my way out this morning and on my way home this afternoon I had a developed a theory. Remember how Momma always used to say “don’t exercise after you eat!…” or maybe it was “don’t swim after you eat!…” ummm…okay, whatever it was, I have a new theory: How ‘bout “exercise WHILE you eat!” Yes! Seriously! Everywhere I go I see some Parisian gnawing off the top of a baguette, or inhaling a colorful pastry from the local patisserie as they whisk around the city. I am beginning to wonder if this is it! This is the miracle diet! Eat while you walk = you won’t absorb any calories! Brilliant!! So…before heading out shopping this morning I engulfed a pain au chocolate (chocolate croissant) while walking briskly to the metro (no side cramp I might add), and gnawed on my own baguette on the way home this evening. Bwwahahahahah (my evil laugh) my research begins…

*Oh, and I thought I would make a mental note for myself here too: Day 28 marks a month away from the comforts of home…yowza!

My dream place of residence. Saw this beauty while in the area of the Palais Garnier (opera house) and Galeries Lafayette.

Gorgeous, isn’t it?! Adam can’t you just see us now…me leaning over the terrace in a black, navy or grey designer something…you in your hooded sweatshirt righfully panicking over the sky high cost of rent and how Bailie Bug can’t make it down the three flights of stairs to go potty…you can see it right? ; )

The Opera House: Palais Garnier. This is where the Phantom of the Opera plot takes place. Cool huh?

The stain glass dome housing Galeries Lafayette.

I can’t believe it’s that time of year already!

Crazy fancy for a department store. Ahhhh Paris.

The Seine and its Tower at night.

My favorite pic of the night.

All sparkly!

These pics make it a bit hard to tell that I’m infatuated with the Eiffel Tower.

The fall leaves soaking up the bright lights of the river cruises in the Seine below.

And last, but not least, a glimpse of our night walk along the Seine.