Waiting, and waiting, and waiting...

Thursday came, and I was exhausted. I had been unable to sleep the night before because I was anxious about Susan and Matt finding each other at CDG then making their way to the apartment. Finally, I took a xanax so I could get some rest. The remainder of the house (Thanda and Anna) had been asleep for hours.

As usual, I was the first to get up and leave the house. Anna and I met over coffee and yogurt at Le Croissanterie across the street. Then we started off for Notre Dame, Saint Chapelle and Musee d'Orsay.

Armed with my museum pass, I cut all the lines and never paid a dime. Anna, however, didn't have a museum pass, which meant I basically waited in line while waiting for her.

Notre Dame was everything I expected. It was perfect. Normally you spend your life hearing about something and your expectations are way to high...so when you get there you are nothing but disappointed. Not so with Notre Dame. It was just right.

Then we crossed over to Saint Chappelle hidden in the Department of Justice. It is the most glorious thing I have ever seen. I mean, we have nothing on these people. When the aliens come down from the heavens and are judging our civilization...they will think this is the height of all of our accomplishments, even though it was built during a time referred to as the Dark Ages. Simply Stunning.

A quick run through the Musee d'Orsay and I had to head home. Susan and Matt should have arrived from CDG around 11.45/noon. No such luck, they were both delayed on their outbound flights because of weather problems in New York. Of course, neither knew that or could communicate with the other, so they took individual taxis when they still could have shared a ride. Oh well. Such is life. At least they both arrived safely. In the meantime I sat in the apartment watching German and UK MTV from about 11.30 until 3 pm.

Matt and I left moments after his arrival. We took in the Pompidou Center, which I had been wanting to see since I was an undergrad, and the rest of the Musee d'Orsay. We then met the girls for dinner out on the town.

Susan, in her infinite wisdom and extensive past with Paris, took us to an Irish bar in Paris' Bastille region where she had first had Strongbow cider. It was a HIKE. It was like being on the Upper East Side and then deciding to walk to a bar in the Village for an after dinner drink. No joke.

Susan, God bless her, got us our drinks for free...almost free. Ahh. Nothing like having your best friends around you. I am freakin' lucky!