Saturday June 8th Day 9
After my drinks we were planning on taking it easy for the early morning rise and fly. We headed to Souli's parents, stopping to drop off a package to send home.
When we got there, we were greeted with... cheese. From mild to wicked strong I stuffed my face with crunchy baguette and an assortment of tasty cheeses. After, we ate dinner with Souli's brother and parents of homemade Laos food.
When Souli arrived we left to do some quick last-minute sightseeing and catch the gay district and the Notre-Dame Cathedral. With Souli and her brother as guides we strolled through the street lit narrow paths of Paris and stopped for rose shaped ice cream. The gay bars were spilling into the streets as we left the district towards the Notre Dame Cathedral. We walked past often bizarre buskers and colourful characters on the way and snapped pictures and took video of the sights.
I was personally exhausted. I pushed myself hard to soak it in, but days of walking and non-stop late nights took their toll. We ended the night at midnight but still had to stay up drearily pack and prepare for our very early morning flight. At 1am I went down to request a wake up call... for 4am.
With about 2.5 hours of sleep, we reluctantly woke up and were driven by Souli's parents to the airport.
We got here in Nice and struggled to contact the apartment manager due to lack of coin operated payphones. We did manage to take a local airport bus to our stop and was greeted by our contract, Nina. She seemed norwegian and was very pleasant and informative as she guided us to our apartment. Tight narrow streets in all directions, old town is a tourist hub. It was early and the shops were yet to open, so Nina had time and silence to point out good places to eat and helpful tips. Was got to our apartment which require walking up to the third floor on the most wonky and uneven stairs I've ever used. The apartment is decent, but has a slight slant which is interesting.
Clearly modernized, renovations couldn't remove the random half steps to the kitchen and bedroom. Nita and I decided to take the living room and napped immediately. Nita slept a couple of hours but her hunger forced her downstairs to a local cafe. I joined her almost an hour later as I was paralyzed into the bed. We decided to do just a bit of walking and stopped for lunch at a restaurant up the street. The server was clearly American and had a subtle surfer accent that stuck out in the now tourist filled streets. Nita had the gnocchi and I had a beautiful but forgettable sweet pepper in oil dish. We strolled through the crowded streets into the market square where a book festival was clogging the streets. We pushed through tents and perused the beautiful artwork and unreadable (to me) french dialogue. The wind kicked up and we browsed further the shops in the area. It warmed up as we bought delicious cookies and headed back for more rest before Wakana and Hauke's arrival.
It's now 7pm, and they should be landing now. I can hear the crowds and chatter through the apparently paper thin windows overlooking the streets. I was happy about this earlier when I was woken up by an accordion player, but I'm sure I will be very annoyed later when trying to sleep. We're now finally well rested and will call this day as a relaxed catch-up-on-sleep day.
Side Note!
The toilet is oddly placed near the big sink in such a way that when sitting, I could lean forward and drink the tap water...
