Paula Applebaum was making her BIG move back to Toronto and decided to stop over in Paris for a few days, June 23-26. Should anyone else be hosting Paula in the future, let us warn you: she does not travel light! Meeting Paula at the airport, we somehow managed to lug her galactic sized hockey bag, a grand sized black suitcase, a "grandmother" suitcase plus a compact, but heavy backpack! All this, and three people in a Peugeot 206.

The next day, we walked around town, taking in the sights such as the Notre Dame cathedral, the Marais, Jewish neighbourhood, relaxing at a café as we took shelter from the heat. Julia was arriving that day, so we came to meet her at a a nearby train station.
Monday, the girls headed out to the Champs Elysées to people-watch and window-shop. Turning onto Avenue Montaigne (where the Canadian Embassy is located), we passed by the Baby Dior shop, Celine, Escada, Chanel and a slew of other top designer shops with Italian sounding names. Then Monday night, we met up with other friends and family for a typical french dinner at La maison de Verlaine (famous French poet) in the 5th arrondissement.

Along came Drew on July 5th, from Spain, where he had been sailing with his brother and his new bride. Again, Thuy set out to show Drew the sights of Paris and before he headed off to the south of France for a few days, he took in the sights of the Notre Dame cathedral, the Marais area, Jewish neighbourhood, Hôtel de Ville, Trocadéro, Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Montmartre and the Bastille area.
A few sun & fun days were spent in the Côte d'Azur with Thuy's Swedish and Canadian girlfriends: Anna, Sara, Camilla and Anik.
Returning in time to party with his Stanford connections, Drew managed to drag Thuy and Julien out for a night of drinking and dancing and meeting up with Sanam and her gang. After that night, those Stanford girls know that Drew is in good shape to party with them while juggling his MBA studies.

Coming the same time as Drew, Debbie Smythe, her friends Carrie-Anne and Jess came from Stockholm for a few days and stayed at Julien's brother's studio apartment in the 11th. Since they were all rowers, it was nice to get everyone together, with Drew, Thuy and Julien for dinner at the Bistro Guillaume.

Before they went off on their road trip in the Brittany and Normandy regions, they took Julien and Thuy out for dinner in the area of Les Abbesses. In return, we showed them the Moulin Rouge (not inside!), Place Pigalle and an evening car tour through the city, down the lighted Champs Elysées and a couple of circles around the Arc de Triomphe (Julien's favourite game).

More stories of friends' visits...