Tuesday Morning 7/24

Well, all I can say this morning about how I feel is that I slept last night. I slept pretty well, from about 12:30 until 6, then from 6 until 8am. I feel miserable, but my throat doesn't ache like it did yesterday and there was no return bout of the sweats. Now, its just that general cold malaise: aching body, runny nose, cough. I am sure it has turned the corner, but how much longer this will last for is not quite known. Most of the students said a couple days, and I hope I am right as rain when we head off to Edinburgh on Friday. This is a short week for me: today, tomorrow and thursday, then off Friday from Edinburgh around noon. The flight isn't until 4:15, but we need to go through the hour long trip to Heathrow, then checkin and the endless security loop. Hopefully it won't take that long and we will have plenty of time if we get there by 1:30.

So, the sun is out and it seems to be drying out in Oxford today, or day in which is should be drying out. Temps once again approaching 70, and lows in the mid 50s. If it were like this year round, I would be a happy camper. However, the muggy Florida weather is awaiting me in a little more than two weeks. I can't believe how time has flown. Still, I have more than two weeks left in England, and lots to see and do. Last night, while checking email, I learned that the event I was supposed to be playing in at the August 4th convention was cancelled due to the time commitments of the actress who was supposed to be attending. Gah, I had been hoping to have some fun on that day, but now I think I am going to spend the day here in Oxford sightseeing and packing up stuff before heading off to London on Sunday morning, August 5th, before flying home on the 8th or 9th (I forget which). Now I regret not booking the extended vacation to Finland for that second weekend in August. Maybe next year...

Paris--I love France, but I dislike Parisiens. I was going to say I hate them, but that is too strong a word. Perhaps its the simple fact that even if you do speak French, if its not up to their standards, they immediately switch to their broken English rather than letting you get by or practise in their French. Or, they give you a condescending attitude and repeat what you said in "perfect" French...its not a question, because they are getting what you want, or what you ordered, etc., but they want to correct your French. Or perhaps its because everytime I go to Paris I get sick: usually some sort of cold or virus. This time was almost as much of a doozy as the last real bout of sickness, and my ears are still recovering from being congested and traveling through the Chunnel's pressurized transit system. At one point, my ear would not pop and it hurt like hell. Eventually it did, and the pain was even worse at least in the short term. I need to make sure I am less congested before flying on Friday or its going to be an unpleasant experience.

So what did we do after the last post? Well, lets see: Saturday morning was spent traveling to the Louvre, where we had a tour of the highlights of the museum. The tour guide was a nice enough woman, but the crowds at this time of the year were horrendous. We saw all the major things you are supposed to see at the Louvre, including the Mona Lisa. There, one of the female students had a panic attack from the huge crowds and I went with her off to one side of the room trying to calm her down and help her relax. She did manage to do so, for a while, and the 15 or so minutes we spent just chatting and distracting her from the anxiety was well spent, until the tour moved onto another room, where it was packed as hell. She had a flare up again, and two of the students decided they would go with her and off to see Paris. From what I understand, they did the tourist afternoon with Notre Dame and a few other churches on their agenda and all felt much better.

After the formal tour was over, I and a small group of students went back into the Louvre and we went to see Napoleon III's formal suite of rooms, Napoleon I's throne, and some 19th century exhibits, along with some medieval statuary. We also wandered around a bit of the museum and I was acting as tour guide for the 10 or so students who tagged along. It was a fun afternoon, which ended up in the massive food court of the Louvre shopping complex for lunch. I had a gallette Montagnard, basically a plain crepe with ham, potatoes and creme fraiche. It was quite good, and something uniquely French, even if the cooking to order took longer than I thought it would. The other students ate an assortment of food, before we headed off to Museum d'Orsay, the great Impressionist museum of the left bank. This is when tragedy struck for one of the students. As were wandering down the banks of the Seine, Brendan realized he did not have his wallet anymore. It was gone! It had been in his front pocket, and Brendan is one of the more absent minded students. Had he left it behind? He knew he had it in the food court of the Louvre, but after that, he did not know where it was. Since there were 10 or so students still with us, one of them, Jesse, volunteered to go back with him to search for it, while I took the others to the Museum d'Orsay. We ran into Heather and her son Ben headed to the museum, and I told her what happened. When we reached the museum, Heather took the students into the museum and I waited for Brendan and Jesse to return. About 30 minutes later, and sitting under a statue of a rearing horse to stay in the shade, they returned.

No Luck! I took Brendan back to the hotel, while Jesse ran into the museum to join up with the others. Brendan and I walked for about 5km back to the hotel (we hadn't thought of trying to figure out the Metro, using the time to talk and get things settled down as we walked back to the hotel.) Once back at the hotel, Brendan called his parents, I got the numbers for the banks which two of his credit card companies were from off the internet, and I loaned him about 40 Euros to try and tie him over until Monday. (I have since also loaned him 30 pounds until he gets his debit card sent to him by Bank of American fedex, which should arrive today or tomorrow at the latest!). He is a nice enough kid, and I didn't mind that my afternoon got spent as chaperone/substitute parent/fix the situation adult rather than seeing the d'Orsay. I still haven't ever been in: some day it is a reason to try Paris for a 4th time! Hopefully there won't be a 4th cold.

to be continued...