European Honeymoon 1999 - Paris
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Here is an amazing couple, Alex and Sophie. Sophie is both an amazing chef and an amazing artist. On our last night in Paris, she made us a dinner worthy of a five star restaurant at Fabien's. Lane and I got to visit their apartment while we were there; they collect bugs! Lots of bugs! And they had ferrets (or was it only one? - I was distracted by the GIANT COCKROACHES!!). We really hit it off with them. Sophie and I still email. They're in Canada now!
Manu, Fabien and I peel potatoes for dinner. I learned from Manu that I've been peeling potatoes incorrectly my WHOLE LIFE. You're not supposed to peel away from you, but toward you. Really, try it, it's so much better. Manu made us this marvelous stinky cheese Alpine dish that was so simple yet so delicious. It STANK, too! :)
Manu, Fabien and Derek, at Manu's apartment. One of the funniest part of visiting with people in Paris was that they thought we were crazy for taking so many photos of just "nothing" stuff, like hanging out. Fabien ESPECIALLY loathed having his photo taken, and he began to give serious attitude as the trip went on about having his photo taken. These next photos, I dedicate to Fabien, who never wanted his photo taken to begin with. :)
Fabien and Derek.
Manu and Fabien (hiding behind a towel) in Manu's kitchen. Making a stinky cheese dish, no doubt!
More peeling of potatoes. More Fabien Attitude. :)
Now, this is the best part....You're not going to understand this story, but I'm going to try to tell it anyway. It was my birthday while we were in Paris. Fabien had made some comment at our first dinner about was I going to have puppets for my birthday. We had no idea what he was talking about, but he kept going on about their needing to be puppets at the birthday and the man coming with puppets. This turned into late-night drunken perverse twisting to demented men torturing little kids with puppets on their birthdays, and we all had a good laugh. Then, while I was in Germany, I bought this fabulous little clown puppet that I then named Fabien (it's now in Lila's nursery; she loves it). We brought the puppet back to Paris, and took it with us everywhere. Here we are at the Brasserie du Theatre (eating DUCK - the best thing I ate the whole trip in Paris) and we are TOTALLY HUMILIATING Fabien (and everyone else, apparently), by actually taking photos inside the restaurant. Apparently, this is SO NOT DONE. (Stupid Americans!) So here is Lane torturing Fabien with the puppet. We started calling Fabien our "Puppet Daddy". See the waiter in the background, totally trying to pretend we're not behaving so terribly!?
Lane posing with the statue outside of The Smoking Dog. I can't remember what the French words are. "Chien" is dog, I know that much! :)
Sophie, Laurent, Derek and Other Sophie, at Fabien's on our last night. Laurent was HYSTERICAL. He and I really had fun together. In the spirit of things, he handmade me a super puppet that's kind of a blob of a sock for my birthday. It, also, is in Lila's room. :) I tell her, these puppets came all the way from Paris, just for you!
Later, Other Sophie saved our butts by getting us a place to stay for our first night in Amsterdam! We stayed with a friend of hers, Rob, who was this giant Viking of a man. I felt bad about infringing upon him, but after he told us about the cycling team who came to stay with him for days once at her behest, we didn't feel so bad....
Laurent again, with Derek in the background.
Derek and Lane, somewhere in Paris. I have no idea where, what river, or what bridge! Don't ask!! :)
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