Quick note about Thursday evening... It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.

After guzzling a bottle of champagne, we decided to go on a boat cruise down the Seine. We knew that taking the magic bus (42, which not only goes by every cool thing you want to see lit up at night, it also stops on our corner) would get us there, so we set out for the stop. Unfortunately, AnnMarie's bus mojo has worn out (note: she is great at figuring out the bus map; I simply cannot get it) because we wandered for blocks before realizing there was no stop for 42 anywhere. When bus 32 stopped, we asked where 42 stopped but the driver didn't speak English. But, he somehow managed to convey to us that we should jump on anyway and that he would take us to a stop for 42. Once on, we stood up front and kept talking to him about where to stop and he kept speaking in some language I have never heard. clearly, he didn't know where bus 42 was either, and it struck me so funny that I had a complete laughing fit right there in the front of the bus. There was actually a little dribble pee. I finally had to sit down before falling down. Or causing the bus to crash, because now the driver has started laughing too. Somehow we got where we needed to go and I finally composed myself.

We realized that the last boat was leaving soon, so we grabbed a hot dog to eat on the boat and got good seats on the top deck. The cruise was so awesome! Started at the Eiffel, went down the river under all the bridges, past Notre Dame, and then back up to the Eiffel. About an hour. During which time i managed to slop some mustard on my jacket. But I didn't know it, so I had rubbed my sleeve in it too. Once I noticed, the harder I tried to wipe it off, the more of a mess I made. It ended up on my shirt and shoes as well. This caused another round of shrieking. I was just a complete wreck. Can you tell I'm beyond exhausted?? Anyway, as we were docking, the lights on the Eiffel started twinkling. This is about the 5th time I've seen that and it still takes my breath away.

After leaving the boat, there was a very loud party happening at the dock. This is quite common along the river - there are outdoor nightclubs all along the river bank. This one was playing YMCA and people (including us) were doing the arm things. I'm sad to report that white guys dance as bad in France as they do in the USA. I'm also sad to report that our bad bus karma continued. It took us several attempts to find the stop for bus 42, then we got off a couple stops too late and had to walk a bunch. Perhaps bus 42 isn't the magic bus after all?

P.S. I forgot to mention that at lunch today, the restaurant was playing a version of Michael Jackson's Billy Jean sung by some French guy who sounded like Louis Prima. So it was sort of a swing version. It was just ridiculously funny to listen to. btw, they love Micheal here; his music plays everywhere.