To start off, I must sincerely apologize for not writing for weeks. I understand that for those of you who kept up with my blog, it must have been infuriating, but I hope you’ll forgive me as I slowly catch up. You see, I’ve just been so busy doing nothing lately. But, now, I’ve caught up on my nothing, so, I can catch up on my past, so, enjoy.

My second day in Paris with my family along was Jessica’s favorite day I think, and I must compliment myself on my excellent planning. Today, I took everybody on a walk down to the river for some ice cream at Berthillions and basically have a relaxing day.

Now, as this all transpired weeks ago, I’m grasping for details, and not remembering a few of them, so, that’s sad, but I still remember most of what happened. I don’t remember, though, how the day got started. If memory serves correct, Jessica slept in and was cranky. That seemed to be how she started off the mornings in Paris…always so tired and cranky, but she didn’t have jet lag, or at least she adamantly proclaimed. I’m not so sure she didn’t.

One way or the other, we soon left the apartment and Jessica immediately found one of the cats that live in the courtyard of my apartment building. They are never outside, so it was neat to see them. Jessica couldn’t pry herself away from them for several long minutes as I impatiently waited to get started on the day, even though it was mid afternoon by then.

Once she had petted and stroked them, I led everybody down towards Bastille. We had to withdraw money first from the ATM. I really should have gone to that one more often, but I kind of liked going to the Louvre and Champs-Elysées to get my money, that is, until my card was ripped away from me and destroyed. Idiots.

It was lovely walking down the road. All of the Parisians were happy with the good weather, and so were we. They had that retarded art fair again, which unsurprisingly made me angry! Jessica salivated at every single bistro on the way down to the river.

Soon, we were at the bridge and were ready to descend the stairs, but Granny and Ma were too busy taking pictures of every square inch around them, so Jessica and I started off on our own. It was as pretty as it always is and I thoroughly enjoyed walking the cobblestone road for the last time. This is one of the things I will really miss, I really like it here.

There were lots of birds along the river, and once we got to the other side, there were lots of people sunbathing. We all stood around looking at them in their kooky getups, but Jess was getting impatient for the ice cream, so we got in line.

Granny kindly paid for the ice cream, so we all got double scoops, well, Ma didn’t, she didn’t get anything…I don’t know why. Anyway, Granny got a raspberry and vanilla. Jessica got a cherry and mango. And, I, decided on a raspberry and green apple which was fantastic. You could taste actual pieces of the apple in the sorbet. I really liked it.

Unsurprisingly, though, as we made our way to the little park behind Notre Dame, Jessica revealed that she didn’t like her ice cream. I was annoyed, but nobody was particularly surprised. She wants to like things, but she just doesn’t, which is alright with me, but when she doesn’t like something she makes this really stupid face that drives me crazy!

Everybody ate their ice cream much faster than me. I had less than half finished when they were done, so Jessica amused herself by throwing pieces of the cone at the pigeons. Then, we all had to be annoyed by one of those idiot kids that chase pigeons. Nothing is more annoying than that to me.

Finally, I finished my snack, and we made our way to the front of the church.

Mother and her infamously weak bladder decided she needed another bathroom, so Granny and she went and got into a mile long line for the subterranean toilet. Jessica and I, instead, walked around the exterior of the church and I showed her some of the sculptures that I had learned about on the tour I had taken.

Ma and Granny finally met us and we went inside. There were really too many people there to appreciate it, so we just went around in a loop. It wasn’t the best way to see the church, but it was the only way when it was stuffed to the brim with tourists. I decided we should go to the top, but the line was longer than the one for the toilet, so I just gave that up. We crossed the bridge back to the mainland and I introduced everybody to the street vendor cart things.

Jessica immediately took to these in a way I hadn’t expected. She found postcards she wanted, grabbed her euro coins, and hunted down the stall owner without any of her customary timidness. I must admit, I was rather shocked. I bought a typical tourist poster that I’ve always liked of two fashionable women in the 40s dining in a cafe. I love the fashion of the 40s. Jess and I both got Edith Piaf postcards and she got several others. I also bought several vintage postcards, some for me and some for dad. I got an old one that shows the area around where I live, so I was pleased.

When we reached the second bridge, everybody wanted to go into one of the tourist shops. Gran and Mother went purse crazy. I swear, they lost their minds! Jessica decided she needed a sweater and then swooned over the clerk, who admittedly, had the most amazing scarf ever.

Once we had stopped into a few stores, I took everybody over to the flower market, which I think everybody liked, I know that I did. There were so many pretty flowers, and some pretty birds, too. I like parrots. I had wanted to buy seeds, but mother convinced me not to, and with that, we left. Jessica bought a really pretty rose, though, before we left.

Nobody wanted to walk back, so we took the Metro back and stayed in the rest of the night. Jessica and I had some cheese ravioli, which was fantastic, and spent the evening quietly watching TV or helping Granny locate one of the 1,000,001 things she had misplaced.