Since returning from our family trip, Brianne and I have been spending a little more time doing some solo activities. On Wednesday, we went into Fontainebleau again and attended a book reading. It was an interesting experience, watching the quirky bookstore hostess interact with the author, my friend, Laura. They weren't sure how many attendees to expect - maybe 10 or so, but the small room soon filled out with what I would guess at least double that. 
It was mostly middle aged multilingual French women, with a few foreigners, including an inquisitive American during Q&A. Laura made an American blueberry cake and the most outstanding Vietnamese banana cake. I learned more about Laura's life after leaving Vietnam and even helped to read a couple short passages from the book (which made me a bit nervous at first, but I got through it ok).
Afterwards, we walked around town a bit killing time. We stopped in a garden near the Chateau, admired a statue of Diane, saw a few fat peacocks wandering around, and then inadvertently misdirected a Chinese couple on how to get to the chateau. In my defense, the directions I gave them would get them there eventually - however, if they had taken a left turn from where we were they would have gotten there almost immediately. Also, that's what you get when you ask a foreigner for directions!
On Thursday, since Edo didn't use one of the mountain bikes to get to work, we set off around town. I was hoping for a nice, long, yet leisurely bike ride through the forest, but the bikes are quite old and we had some problems with the chains falling off or misbehaving the whole time. I also didn't realize how nervous Brianne was on the road - apparently she has too many friends who've been telling her bike accident horror stories. We cut the route a bit short and headed back into Samois, which ended up being nicer. Biking on smaller roads, we passed by Maddie's pony club, some paths into the forest, and then we checked on the swan by the river (aka duck pond) - who is still nesting and started hissing when a dog got near.
Today we got up hella early and just caught the bus into Fonti to catch a train into Paris. We walked from Gare de Lyon to the Eiffel Tower, by way of criss-crossing most of the bridges on the Seine (including Pont Neuf), admiring the outside of Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Military school and its "pony club", and many other monuments and buildings, sidetracking south for lunch (baguettes and snacks from a bakery) in a small park. We were a little sore to hear American Christian music and preaching blasting from some speakers on the green in front of the tower. There didn't seem to be any major event or group supporting the music - we didn't really understand why it was happening. We couldn't enjoy the grass as long as the French people around us who seemed to be able to tune out the words better than we could.
We moved to rest close to a carousel on the other side. I felt guilty lying to a beggar who asked us "Do you speak English?". We both individually shook our heads no. On our way out of the Jardin des Tuileries we had been asked the same thing, and in answering yes, were followed for a short while by the stranger. It seems selfish at times, but we were both just wanting to have some peace and quiet.
We bought tickets for the stairs for 4 euros each to get to the 2eme floor. The stairs seemed a lot easier this time than 2.5 years ago when Theresa and I did it (1st to 2nd set only). I didn't realize Brianne was afraid of heights - she seemed to be gripping the railing the whole way going up. I remember being quite nervous my first time as well - but this time it felt completely safe. At the second floor we bought elevator tickets to the 3rd floor (3.70 euros each) - my first time to that level. It was quite a view - but incredibly crowded with asian tourists all wanting posed pictures at every corner. By the time we came down it was looking very gray and within 10 minutes it started raining - nothing too bad, but enough to make us want to take public transportation back to Gare de Lyon. My credit card doesn't seem to work in the ticket machines,which is a real pain since it's my only source of money right now - I still don't have a replacement ATM card. Grrr.
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