France.

So this weekend as some of you know, I took a sojourn to France with Nicki. We went to Giverny (after a slight meltdown on Nicki's part when we didn't know what to do about getting a train to Vernon, the town 2 miles away) to see Monet's garden. We walked to Giverny from Vernon, as it was a nice day, and we made it into the tiny town of 500 inhabitants (excluding the tourists). The first thing we did after checking into the B&B (the woman who ran it spoke fluent English because she was raised in Australia--convenient) was go to the garden.

It was a bit anticlimactic, really, because it wasn't in full bloom yet. But it was still really pretty, and the water lily garden was really nice because of the Japanese bridge that's in a bunch of his paintings.

We also saw Monet's grave and had wine (er, I had wine) at a restaurant/pub/hotel where Monet used to "bring his American friends." Really, that's all there was to Giverny. It was basically Monet-land.

The next day we went to Paris, which I loved. It was sad that French people are so irritable on the Metro and the stations smell like urine. But whatever. Our first stop was Notre-Dame, which was my personal favorite. We then hit the Louvre, where I saw of course the Mona Lisa, some other Da Vinci pieces, the Venus de Milo, and two Vermeers: "The Lacemaker" and "The Astronomer," the latter of which I'd seen a picture of in high school and liked at the time. That made me happy because I didn't know it was there; a nice surprise.

After that we went to the Musee Rodin, a museum with all sculptures by Rodin (including the thinker). It's too bad Nicki got really upset that she couldn't take pictures--I had gone for her and she kind of ruined it for a time. The next stop was the Eiffel Tower (gotta go there), but the line was too long and we couldn't go up because we were pressed for time. We then went to the Arc de Triomphe, concluding our monument tour.

Nicki wanted to go to L'Orangerie, the museum where Monet's water lily painting is--I was kind of mad because she asked to leave the Arc de Triomphe before I could go up to the top, which I wanted to do, and she later gave me a hard time about it because I didn't really want to go to L'Orangerie. But whatever. We ended up going, and it was CLOSED. Of course.

Instead, we sat in the Tuileries for a bit. That was until I said, "This is depressing. Let's go over there," indicating the square with an obelisk in it not too far away. Turns out that was where the executions occured during the French Revolution. So we wandered off, and on the way saw a crepe stand. Well, what is more French than crepes? Of course we got one each, mine with apricot filling. It was delicious! And then some random guy approached us with this ring of Eiffel Tower keychains, 3 for 1 euro. We each got three. He probably stole them, but whatever, cheap for us.

And that was Paris, sorry it's not more in detail. I don't feel like writing it all out and nothing really funny happened. At least I made it through the weekend.

I may be yellow, but at least I'm mellow.

Okay, so I'm pretty much a coward. I didn't go back to Starbucks today, even though I told Starbucks Dude I'd be in on Wednesday. I feel bad, but my tendency to avoid awkward situations when I know they're coming is stronger than my senses of curiosity or duty to Starbucks Dude. Sorry if I disappointed anyone!

Listen to your mother, I guess.

Starbucks Dude DEFINITELY tried to ask me out today.

When my mom told me the "watch out for Starbucks Dude," I dismissed her concerns as ridiculous. I guess I underestimate my irresistability.

I went in during my break, as usual, and we chatted for a bit. He rang me up, saved me nearly a pound on my drink with a flavor shot and extra espresso and my sandwich, and I said have a great day and went downstairs, also as usual. Maybe half an hour later he comes down to clean the tables and pick up used mugs and plates, and he sees me reading. Well, he was at the little table next to my little table. So. He said hi, and asked what I was reading. I showed him my Bill Bryson book, and he asked me what it was about, blah blah blah. Then he said something to the effect of "I like to read too," but I didn't really hear him so I just nodded and smiled and went back to my book.

When I was about to leave, I brought my mug back up to be nice (it was always nice when I was at the B&N cafe to not have to go pick up the plates and stuff customers left around). He saw me again, and struck up another conversation. "I like to read too. Mostly history. We should talk about books sometime." And I was just thinking, Okay... when would that be? I'm not gonna hang around the barista area on my break while you make drinks for people.

"What do you do on the weekends?"

Crap.

Luckily I didn't have to lie, because I really am traveling for the next three weekends. France, then Stratford-upon-Avon, then Dublin. I kind of stretched the truth a bit after, when I said I had finals the next week and then I went back home to the states. He might have looked a little disappointed, but I'm not going to flatter myself. Whatever. After asking me when I'd be in next, I was like, Gottagobye!!

And I laughed on the inside all the way back to work, with a giggle out loud here and there. I thought it was funny, because it was EXTREMELY awkward. And it's not like there's anywhere else where I can sit and read for an hour; trust me, breaks get old real fast if you're not doing anything to pass the time.

It's too bad I don't find him attractive at all. He reminds me of Theodore from The Chipmunks with longer hair and a soul patch. If Theodore were about 30.

My new favorite show.

Father Ted.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74W7DsrK-eg

DON'T PANIC

Good news! I found my keys. Well, actually I didn't find them. At the repeated urging of Rachel and her friend Ashley who is visiting this weekend, I called the pub we were at last night, described them to him ("They have a Beatles keychain and a plastic keychain with Brian the dog from Family Guy") and, to my amazement, the guy who answered said they had them! I was positive he was going to say "Sorry, mate, you're out of luck." But not so!! And after a mini-celebration and a chorus of soft hoorays, I left the flat and went back to The Fest.

It was really nice out, and the sun was shining, and I was so extremely happy to have my keys back. I really thought I'd never see them again, or the keychains attached to them. The one sort of sad thing is that I lost my awesome "Bugger Borders" button, but I think I might be able to replace it if I ever make it back to the Cartoon Museum. Lesson learned: don't put anything in the pockets of my leather jacket that I can't afford to lose. Except my hands. Because those are attached to my body.

Jesus I am not.

This morning, I was having a nice time eating my oatmeal and listening to Bill Bryson talk about London in the 1500s, when I decided I should go get some groceries. I went to get my keys, only to find out that, yes, they were missing. Completely.

The first thing that went through my mind was "Don't panic." And I think I did a pretty good job with that, I looked in all of my pockets and my purse, everywhere I could think of. But I came to the awful conclusion that I must have dropped them sometime last night after coming home from "The Fest," some German-esque pub near Parsons Green in Zone 2. I know I had them on the way to the station, because I dropped my Oyster Card and panicked when that wasn't in my pocket (my friend Kevin had picked it up, luckily), so I remember feeling my keychain in there.

Kelly and Caitlin came home about a minute after I realized they were missing, and Kelly went on a walk with me to try to find them on our twisted journey home (we went through a bunch of side streets, as per Rachel's directions). No luck. As we were doing this, I came to a realization: they probably fell out of my pocket when I was sprinting down High Street Kensington in order to catch the bus that would take us home. So the only thing left to do was go there and retrace my steps, from the McDonald's where I started to run from to the bus stop.

I get there, go out, and I must have looked like a crazy person, examining the sidewalk like I was. I went into every store in the stretch between Mickey D's and the stop, asking if anyone turned in some keys, but no luck there either. At the McDonald's, the girl behind the counter didn't speak English, and when I asked her, her response was a really confused look coupled with the puzzled question, "Cheese?" No, not cheese. KEYS. To open a door.

I went outside, and saw a street sweeper. I thought maybe they'd have some policy that if they found something like keys or whatever they'd put them someplace, so I went up to him and asked him. And of course, HE didn't speak English either. Aren't I in England? I thought so, but I guess that doesn't mean anything. When I finally got through to him what I was asking, after a lot of pantomiming and using different words, he finally thought he understood and proceeded to tell me where I could get keys copied and where I could get new ones. I thanked him and walked away.

I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be successful. Finding a set of keys on High Street Kensington in the middle of the day more than 12 hours after they were lost is pretty much on par with Jesus walking on water. It's not going to happen for me.

In the tube station, I told one of the guys working what my predicament was and asked what to do, all the while hoping he spoke English. And when he responded, not only did he understand me, he sounded like he was from America or Canada. So that was a nice change. He brought me to the control room and the guys there gave me a number to call for inquiries about lost property, but I have to wait until tomorrow. At least there is still a ray of hope, but I don't know if that will lead to anything. I'll probably just end up making copies of one of my flatmates set of keys. It's not like my old ones had our address on them. I just lost two really cool keychains.

VICTORY

Okay, so I didn't actually win the auction, but I did buy tickets anyway. So I'M GOING TO SEE THE FRATELLIS!!!! :)