Present Imperfect

May We? | March 21, 2005

I'm in Paris, yo.

It's the second leg of the Jennifer and Bronwyn Vainly Attempt to Recapture Their Youth by Following Keane to Three Cities in Europe Tour 2005!

First stop was Amsterdam, where I finally met the kind and talented bicyclemark, who cooked us dinner and poured us out some tasty vla: pudding in a milk carton. Incidentally, in Googling this tasty item, I came up with far too many "...the Impaler" references.

Anyway, today we walked about 10 miles (I'm serious. We checked.) through charming neighborhoods, past famous landmarks, over ancient stones, even past a bunch of hookers. That last bit was primarily due to the fact that I have the worst sense of direction EVER and am henceforth prohibited from simply "going with my gut" in order to find our hotel. Maps are good. Maps are your friends. Especially in cities where the flipping street names change at every intersection. (London, I think you hear me knocking. I think I'm coming in.)

I haven't spent even this measly amount of time in Paris since I was 15, and I'm sad to say my French was marginally better then. I still find some amusement in telling people, in French, that I do not speak French. But they don't seem to appreciate the irony. Still, we were asked for directions no fewer than three times today, which means we don't look like stupid Americans. We only sound like them when we open our mouths and commence that pesky talking business.

In European blogging-related news, I have a plea: If anyone honest and generous is going to Amsterdam or thereabouts from Northern California in the near future, email me or the aforementioned bicyclemark. It's a long story, but we'll be happy to tell it.

More later. Must sleep. Feet feel like large Easter hams. Have lost all ability to conjure pronouns.