Paris

The next day, our phone rang at noon, waking us up. It was Jeff and Peter, two of our good friends from Boston. “Get out of bed and get to the Luxembourg Gardens. We’ll see you in an hour.”

We were far from conscious, but we managed to drag ourselves out of bed, get dressed, and find our way there within an hour. It was a beautiful day, bright and sunny. Jeff and Peter were waiting anxiously by the side of one of the pools. Once we arrived, they pulled out two bottles of champagne, some foodstuffs from a local deli, and a raspberry torte. We spent the afternoon eating and drinking in the sun.

In the heat of the day, Jeff was complaining that he didn’t have any shorts, only jeans. So, with perhaps a bit too much champagne in me, I bet him 5 Euros per pant leg that he couldn’t cut them off with a plastic concession stand knife. He agreed and actually managed to do it. It wasn’t the neatest job and there was an unintentional slit up the inside of each thigh (well, he claimed it was unintentional), but he did manage to cut each one off. It was worth 10 Euros.

This is far from the end of the story, but this is where I’m going to end it. After the ride, we spent time in Paris, London, and Reykjavik. I’ll post some pictures, and maybe I’ll write more about it one day soon.
All in all, this was one of the most challenging and rewarding things that Sha and I have ever done and it was wonderful that we were able to do it together.