Wednesday is a good day, as he finishes school before lunch and it doesn't interfere with weekend plans ... I am also spending most Saturdays in cooking classes.
Even though essentially this should be cultural day number 3, G had a little scooter accident with his father on the way to school one cold, dark, snowy morning. For some reason the accelerator jammed and the only way of stopping was to slide along the road ... thank God there were only minimal injuries .... G had a sprained ankle and Pete was "sore all over"!! G had to wear a guard on be on crutches for 1 1/2 weeks.
So, Tuesday night, Monique and I came up with a plan that wasn't too cultural and with some appeal ... I would take Guillaume to lunch at Cour Saint Emillon (a former wine making area) and then we would go to the Biblioteche Francsois (library), which has a great area where he could ride his ripstick I told G of our plans on Wednesday morning and he didn't seem that keen.
When he got back from school, he was even less enthusiastic. The fact that it was raining didn't help! I told him he didn't have a choice, he had to do this with me because it was also his Dad's idea!! After several "hurry up and get your coat on", "this is non-negotiable" etc, I managed to get him downstairs ... well he took the lift!
I told him we'd have a great time and he could write to Grandma and tell her all about it. His response? "Yeah, Grandma, I had a great time, it was cold and dark and raining and I'm starving and tired, and we have to take the stinky metro ... ". I got the giggles while he was saying this and so did he, it was delivered in a sarcastic tone .... detectable even with his accent.
We had to take the metro from Line 4 to Line 6, then change to Line 14!!
One of the trains on the metro has no drivers and goes extremely fast! G likes this train, however, when we got on, there was a really awful smell - like chemically processed air. G was not impressed and told me it was "pee", he knows, he's smelled it before! So he holds his breath for as long as he can while I'm laughing and the man sitting across from us thinks that G thinks he smells!!
Cour Saint Emillon was nice, but would have been better without the rain, rain, rain! While walking around Guillaume remembered that there was a shop with animals there (pet shop), I promised him we could go back after lunch. We found an Italian restaurant that looked OK and my nephew loves Italian food. G organised a table, then went to wash his hands, he is not a big fan of bugs and germs and the metro is RIDDLED!! He was going to order carpaccio, his favourite, but switched to bruschetta at the last minute, i had the goat's cheese salad and some wine. I also ordered some still mineral water, which G sent back because it was Pellegrino and a rip off!! We got a carafe instead!
After lunch, we went to the pet shop, which was huge!! Guillaume loves animals and desperately wants a rat, he currently has gerbils, but he says they are stupid, they do the same thing all the time and they scratch ... you can't cuddle them! A rat has more personality and is smart, however, Monique (my brother's partner) would have a fit if I came home with a rat. He would prefer a dog or a cat, but he shares his time between his mum and his dad's place and a cat and dog require too much care. He will continue to work on Monique!! There were Persian kittens for €950 each!! A rabbit was €55. I think the puppies started at around €1,500!! The rate was a bargain by comparison :) There were 3 pug puppies, with eyes rolling everywhere, G had never seen them before and thought they were small bulldogs .... he was not impressed with the eyes.
We wandered through a few shops, in and out of the rain, and decided that we should give the library a miss!! We confused a very tall cinema for a shopping centre and got a bit lost. We took a lift, which looked like it went nowhere, and ended up back at the beginning.
It was time to go home.... we took the metro back, thank God he was with me because there are so many exits and access ways to different lines that you could easily get lost!!
My attempts to get him to write about what we did in English have all failed so far, but I think I can win him over.
He has a wonderful sense of humour and is a great companion to go out with.
Next time I hope to go to an art gallery .... he has been to the Louvre so many times and he doesn't understand what the attraction is!! I'd be the same at his age.
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