Tom's Travel Journal
ctober
1998
ctober
1998
Sunday, October 25, 1998, 6pm -- Paris France
This weekend was very good- got a lot of personal stuff done which I had been putting off- bought a new pair of glasses, did bills, worked more on the apartment, etc. Lately I've been 'upgrading' the apartment- recently got curtains, more plants for my window gardens, framing new prints, etc. I'm now in the market for some french antique furniture and a nice living room carpet. Maybe when I return to the Middle East in November I can search again- it's very hard to find the right thing, especially when it comes to oriental carpets, which is what I think I want. By the way, here's something I found on a door while walking in le Marias, which falls into the 'cool things I've found while walking in Paris' category:
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It's been a busy month. Travelling: been to the UK a couple times, Sweden twice, Switzerland and Germany. I've had most of the past week in Paris, and this next week just travel to 2 places- Utrect and London. The week after I start a round-the-world trip over about 12 days- Europe, Middle East and North America. It will be fun, but quite hectic. Anyway, enough of the schedule- what have I been up to? Well I had a surprise birthday party thrown for me by Vanessa on my 35th birthday- it was on the 19th, which was a Monday (for those who forgot... you KNOW who you are...). I was completely taken by surprise, had NO clue it was happening. There were nine of us, some French and some American. It was a blast- funny, a new boyfriend of a friend of mine (Laurence) was having his birthday on the same day, so we celebrated doubly. I got some very nice presents and cards (thanks everyone!) and the BEST carrot cake, which is not something the French know anything about, specially delivered from the American products store called Thanksgiving. Here are some highlights:
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(Laurence on the left, and Vanessa with the carrot cake on the right!) |
(see the new curtains?) |
Also, Mandi came to visit from Palo Alto, and we had a lots of fun- I played tour guide- we in fact met in the UK/London for one day, then she came to Paris for 4 days. She really enjoyed Paris and the weather was really nice:
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So this coming weekend I'm having my 2nd annual franco/american Halloween party. Last year it was in startup mode and I had maybe 20 people show. This year, I'm anticipating more like 40-50. I have NO idea where they will all go because my apartment is tiny. Stay tuned... and (here's a great use of the <blink> tag):
