Day 16 of 21
Alisa’s arrived.
After taking a 20 minute power nap at 6AM, I got on the RER to pick her up at the airport. I was an hour late. And I now hate the RER. It could be the last circle of public transportation hell. When the train pulled into Chatelet, the train was so crowded that two very unfortunate people literally had their hands and faces pressed against the glass. Dude.
I hated it. Very stressful.
But Alisa is here and she’s a trooper. She’s up in the loft sleeping with earplugs in. Our day started ages ago with being the first people knocking on Breizh Cafe’s door for breakfast at noon.
It has been an adjustment: from talking to Lee to0 much and too fast, to trying to figure out how to write with her sitting across from me. I thought it was important that I keep to my routine even with her here. We were at Deux Magots and midway through freewriting, I looked at Alisa and stopped.
Lee and I have been friends for 16 years. Since her daughter was born four years ago we’ve only had three opportunities to spend time alone together. This is a great chance for us. I put my notebook away.
My favorite part of today might have been when we had to be home for the guy who came in to replace the stove. I was on my computer and Lee was curled up next to me on the futon reading the Time Out Paris guide. We went through the restaurants and made reservations for the next two nights: Derriere and La Gazetta. Lee and I spent much of the first few years of our friendship always together and most of the time sitting on either my futon or hers. I’ve definitely missed that.
In the evening we went to La Tour Eiffel:
Paté and Heartbreak 
