food coma and the goodness of friends

What a week! I've never eaten so well before. Might have gained some pounds but I don't care, I feel so good. Stacy had a great time and was so nice to have around. She was really into the food and wanted to experience all kinds of ambiances. Ate at a brasserie in Montmartre, had hot chocolate at Angelina's, coffee near the Tour Eiffel, ice cream at Berthillon, and ate at a lovely, charming restaurant on Ile St. Louis. They had two cats that were licking the rain off our umbrellas. I had steak au poivre for the first time, and Stacy had a steak with roquefort sauce. We both had wine as well. Stacy was a considerate lodger and in exchange for letting her stay at my place, she bought most of my meals which I didn't want her to but she insisted. I'm so blessed to have considerate friends who are good people.

I also took her to Chinatown, but I don't think I took her to the right part or we didn't venture in far enough, but we went into a Chinese supermarket and bought baby coconut juice and taro chips. Yum. We ended up eating it while in line for the Eiffel Tower.

We went at night, and I was just going to wait down below while Stacy goes up, but Stacy offered to pay for me again! She also asked me to ask Susie to come because she really liked Susie and that she'd pay for Susie's ticket as well. Lovely girl. She said it's all because of the extra cash that she didn't use for shopping. We went up, and what a lovely sight. I didn't bring my camera, but oh well. I was planning to go up the Eiffel Tour some day near the end of my trip but by myself. That sounds kind of weird, but you already know how weird I am.

Afterwards, we went back to my place and had some cheese and bread and wine for Stacy's last night. Swung by Monoprix for the bread since it was late, and Susie also bought some chocolate to make a care package for her bf Andy. It's their anniversary soon. Stacy asked Susie if she wanted her to bring anything back for her bf and that she had room in her suitcase. Susie made a lovely care package and Stacy packed it as well as most of my books and winter stuffs.

Took Stacy to the airport today and helped her check in. We almost forgot her passport! I put it on my bookshelf for safe keeping. We're both at fault for not double checking. This was her first time out of the country, and she had been picketpocketed in Paris while sightseeing to. I felt kinda bad about it, but I did warn her to be careful. Thankfully, she didn't lose a whole lot of cash. These are the kind of experiences to learn from. She wants to backpack across Europe and is now realizing how much research and planning that goes into it.

I'm starting to realize how good and selfless my friends are. I'm really thankful to have such good people around me who do things without asking, who tell me how it is, who make me feel comfortable and loved, who make me laugh like no other, who are positive and have goodness in their hearts. It usually takes a while for me to develop friendships, and it's been like that all my life, and I think that's why I haven't made any friends here other than the acquaintances I've made in SF who became my friends here as well as the other Californians I met here. But I think that's better than nothing.

Tomorrow, I'm off the airport to pick up Cher and Char!! Another tour of Paris is about to begin again!