Good day and bad day......(again)....

First, the good news.  Samuel and I went to the market this morning and we went to our usual produce vendor and we were greeted not only with a smile and a "Ca va", we were also greeted with a handshake.  It is my understanding that a handshake is equivalent to Tu'ing someone(For those of you that do not speak French(this includes me).  The French have a formal and an informal you, vous (formal) and tu (informal).

When you are Tu'ed you have been accepted by the person doing the tu'ing

Now for the bad part of the day.  Samuel and I went out in the afternoon to do some Christmas shopping in the St. Michel area, very tacky touristy stuff.  To get there we had to change metros.  Well, we departed our train at Chatelet station and proceeded to leave the station.  Only after I was standing on the sidewalk did I remember that we needed to change trains not leave the station.  We had to return to the station and use another ticket to get to the train we needed.  

A good part of the day was that we were successful in purchasing quite a few Christmas presents for family.

Now, the really disturbing part of the day.  On our return we were planning on changing trains again and going to an English store in the 16th to look for items that we need to prepare Thanksgiving dinner.  We needed to change at the Charles de gaulle etoile.  We departed the train, and, proceeded to depart the station.  Good news is that Samuel had his first close look at the Arc d'triomphe.  However, we were not supposed to exit the station.  At this point it was getting near Samuel's food time and we decided to return to the apartment.

Neither Julia or I have been sleeping well.  I hope that a lack of sleep is all that was behind my "sleepwalking" through the metro stations today.

James, Astrid and Eila are arriving on Friday for a quick weekend visit.  On Tuesday my parents arrive for American Thanksgiving.

For those of you in America,  I am currently watching Highlander on Orange TV.  It is just as good in French.  I have yet to see an episode set in Paris broadcast.