australia tourism event....

Renated was a little shy and wanted to talk to the fat politician in the jacket.  so i went over and introduced.  but i introduced the wrong fat guy in the jacket.  and got stuck talking to him for a while before finding the right one.  hahahaa.

THOR

6:18 PM

amanda has a thing against skiing.  some childhood memory scarred her.  but now...she feels its her "duty" to learn to get back on the slopes for me.  little does she know that doing anything ass face is worse than doing it for "duty"...luckily in this case...we went on a warm day.  we went for 3 hours.  we went with all her friends.  and she is a friggin natural.  she fell 3-5x the whole day.  and i kneeling over, ripping my pants and strapping her in on every run.  i was definitely a proud parent...watching her toe and heel turn so naturally.   she's light,  she's well balanced....she has some grasp of snowboard mechanics and the slush and incline made the mph almost non moving.  couldn't get her to push past her comfort zone onto the bigger mountains....that'll prob come up for another post later on....

catamount snowboarding

1:20 PM

"hunny...we're going to have to teach you how to shoot"

that's what amanda said to me after i missed the target.  then she did this.   it's scary to see your gf with a gun.

we went back up to copake for a lil north mountain wedding reunion expecting to go skiing.  it was 17 degrees during the day.  so it became a hang out and drink and have some stew and hang out some more.  

1:59 PM

for her.  afterwork drinks means an hour or two.  

for me.  one drink could turn into 15.  

but tonight...we somewhat compromised.  we left frank to have dinner and come back.  thinking john would meet up with him.  only we came back to find frank in the same spot.  alone.  john toyed with him.  victor almost came out.  and we kept drinking till midnight.  why frank still takes the subway home...makes no sense whatsoever....

but when somethings never change....its a good thing

2:41 PM

uber has changed european travel for the better.  especially paris.  there was a time when getting from place to place was a struggle.  a language barrier plus non friendly drivers.  uber has changed all that.  and every where else that caters to spending money is tourista friendly anyways....

we flew la compagnie.  a boutique 2 fleet jfk - cdg business class only airline on a black friday deal.  the turbulence was so bad...that peeing wasn't allowed.  and the in flight entertainment wasn't working.  so the flight...wasn't so great.  but uber got us to the hotel in a jiffy and i was already familiar with the 16th being that's where i stayed last time i was in paris.  we had no real plans...other than shopping...cuz i brought one sweater...and couldn't stop shaking from the freezing rain.  meal one was russian because people hyped up caviar baked potatoes....which was not good.  meal two....we opted for moroccan.  and andy wahloo next door.  i was sick.  she was sick.  cold paris. 

the sales in paris are unreal.  why go anywhere else?  why go outlet shopping....why even buy cheap stuff in the states.  opt for the sales in europe for quality and get quantity during the annual sales.  its insane.  and not to mention, the VAT refund kiosks are automated bar code scanners at the airport!!  

shopping and shoes and oysters and uber pool.  really not a bad trip walking in the rain stopping intermittently for badoit and espresso's.  i was wondering why we didn't do a michelin restaurant and i was told "u are not ready for french dining yet....its way too formal and stuffy...even i have trouble"  so we ended up at french tapas...squished in a room eating bread butter and duck hearts.  wine wine and more wine.  and then prescription cocktail bar.  

sickness and shopping won out over sunday museums.  so we went to the market and got a miam miam sandwich...and got a quick photo in front of notre dame before heading to dinner at aux pres.

the flight back...much better.   

"met two dudes who drank w us from l'avant comptoir to prescription cocktail club...we ended up betting drinks if we had mutual friends on facebook..."  thank you marielle khayat for the two free drinks!!!"

aux pres bon marche l'avant comptoir la compagnie paris prescription cocktail bar

2:21 PM