To begin, let me say that I’ve been sick pretty much since we arrived. I felt a sore throat pretty significantly on Monday. I stayed in the apartment all day on Tuesday, sleeping away a day in Paris. I pushed myself a bit to get out Wednesday and Thursday, especially with Thursday being Ella’s birthday. I rested more on Friday and slept again for a good chunk of Saturday. Today, I stayed in while Melinda, Christine & Bernard went shopping, and while Chloe came home after helping Simone to the airport (Ella stayed in today to rest her “stirring wrist,” which is sore after 6 hours at Le Cordon Bleu yesterday).

Not wanting to squander another afternoon, I pushed myself to get up and take a shower, after which Melinda contacted me to see if I wanted to join the shoppers for a late lunch. I did, indeed, so Chloe and I set off to meet up for a lunch at an Italian restaurant 15 minutes or so on foot from our apartment. Melinda had purchased some crazy liquid cough medicine for me. It’s dispensed in single dose packets that you tear open and suck, straight up, into your mouth. I had that with lunch, then returned to the apartment, joined a couple hours later by Melinda, Christine, Bernard and Chloe.

It turns out Melinda bought me a pair of orange (rust?) corduroy pants from a store called Uniqlo. It turns out Bernard was wearing an identical pair. It turns out that Melinda’s and Bernard’s jackets look a lot alike…

Not wanting to stay in any longer, I put on my new cords and suggested that we head out to “take” an early evening “glass.” At the restaurant/bar, I consumed a Chivas Regal, straight up, adding it to my already consumed cough medicine. Perhaps that contributed to me convincing Melinda to trade coats with me as we walked along the Seine and then to take several pictures of Bernard and me together. I present these for your entertainment: