So all week I have been telling people that I am going to Trier, Germany. My American friends were going away on seperate trips to different countries. I was sure that I would be here by myself and needed to plan a trip to take or something to do alone. I settled on Trier because it is only 45 minutes away by train. It has a lot of history. And of course, almost as important, the shopping is cheaper there than it is here!! :) Friday night, I went out for drinks and dinner with my friend Laurence. Laurence is from France, she worked two years in Boston and she is also a twin. We actually met for the first time on the flight from Boston when I sat in her seat by mistake. She asked me to move. She was very nice about it and I actually ended up with the better seat. I was in the first row before first class, so I had a slightly reclining seat and more leg room. Also, the guy that sat next to her had his shoes off when I sat down and his feet smelled so bad. All I could think was "oh my God, I am going to have to sit here for the next six hours! I think I am going to die". Then when Laurence came I was thinking, "Thank God, take the seat!". We saw each other again on the flight to Luxembourg. Then we met again when I went out to lunch with Manuel my boss. We went out for some drinks later in the week with other friends, we hit it off right away. We had been trying to set up going out a couple times but Friday it finally worked. We met at a bar called ZanZen, it was a mix between a lounge and a cottage feel. It was all white walls, wainscoating, with somewhat industrial style but comfortable furniture, from there we had dinner a a nice little italian restuarant and then went to another bar called The Secret Garden. These were all very nice, comfortable places, that everyone must love because they were packed. Laurence is redoing an apartment that she just bought, when we were finished with our dinner and drinks we went over to see it. It looked like it was going to be really nice, as much as you can tell with no lights but what was coming in from the streets! :) I am excited to see it when it is done. We were talking about taking different trips and had discussed going to Brussels on Saturday. I decided if I have the chance to travel with someone I like to hang out with then that was a much better option. When we talked the next day about what to do, we decided that Brussels was a little to far to enjoy for the time we had and Laurence suggested Metz, France. This is also pretty close to Luxembourg, I would say it took us about 45 minutes to drive there. The shops were all modern shops but it old european style buildings. Laurence picked out my first traditional french cookbook for me, which we laughed has also cartoon illustrations of the different animals and parts to identify them. It is the perfect french cookbook for someone who's french is slightly lacking. From there we walked to the catherdral and she indulged my while I stopped and took pictures every 100 feet! I lit a candle for my great uncle Reno, as he is having some health issues now and I wanted to say a prayer for him. from there we went into a little patesserie and bought some pastries and took them with us while we went to get coffee. In almost all of the bars they have both coffee and drinks. We sat outside and while we were waiting to order drinks Laurence left the table for a minute. She said if the the waiter comes back order me a black tea, please and then she reminded me of how to say that in french. When the waiter came back I said, "Un the et une cafe au lait, sil vous plait." He said to me, " Je ne parle pas anglais." and he was very impatient. Now I am thinking to myself, "No Shit, you don't speak english, but I was speaking french!!" It took me a couple of times of repeating myself for him to get it but he finally took my order and left. When Laurence got back to the table I told her the story and we both burst out laughing! She pointed out to me later that he was equally as rude to the french customers, so much for customer service! We drove back to Luxembourg Shortly after that and went to have dinner at a seafood restuarant at the mall, which was very good suprisingly for a landlocked country. We finished off the day by going to the movies. She went to see a french movie that she thought would get lost in translation and I went to see Untraceable. As thrillers go the movie was very scary, something I maybe should have seen with someone else but it was great. Now I am back to another lazy Sunday of laundry and cooking. Hope that everyone else had a great weekend!
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