Status Updates from Europe continued

The Paris Installment

• Spotted in Paris: man with shoulder bag containing dog with pink highlights in its fur
• Falafel in the Jewish quarter involves big beards, black hats, and tasty tasty-ness
• Oo! Oo! Look at the dancer on the stairs! She's dancing!
• Dancing, singing French man sells umbrellas and other delights
• Coffee in France is not as good as coffee in Edmonton. Consolation = finding the archetypal donut in a "Beignet de creme"
• At the Pere Lachaise cemetery we see a concerned locfal proceting Oscar Wilde's tombstone from getting any more kisses from tourists with red lipstick
• The super sleuths find free toilets at Starbucks in Paris
• Role reversal as Joel navigates the appalingly large department store like an old pro and Bethany freaks out because it's too overwhelming
• Collette: wealthy hipsters of the world unite!
• Lawn chairs for all at the gardens of tuileries palace
• Free bathrooms at McDonalds
• My Paris shopping consists of one pillowcase
• Meet me at the Eiffel Tower. Wear white. All white. And bring your friends.
• Man dangles cherries over his ears and yells en francais from behind his fruit stand at the Paris market.
• Man dances with a goldfish bowl on his head
• National day of music in France is more like cover bands playing "Proud Mary" all over the city. We heard it three times!

The Mont-St-Michel Installment

• Not enough seats on the train ride to Mont St Michel. I stand for an hour
• Settling nicely into tourist mode, we contemplate purchasing a likeness of the abbey that is made of chocolate
• Train ride home from the Mont takes 3 hours. We pass the time by turning up the iPOD volume to MAX and putting the earbuds in Joel's nose to test the vibrations