Week 244 : Weekend in Paris for my sister's birthday

Hello Hive! Last week was very emotional for @altheana and me regarding our business. We had to make some really tough decisions. Because of this, we almost forgot that this weekend was my sister's birthday, and she lives in Paris. Her partner called us three weeks ago to let us know he was organizing a family gathering where we would all go to a restaurant and do an activity in the afternoon.

I wanted to buy a gift for my sister so I wouldn’t arrive empty-handed. But the week went by so fast that we found ourselves on Friday without any ideas. So, we decided to take the weekend off on Friday morning and return to our hometown, near our parents’ place, to look for gift ideas. Where we currently live, there are no stores.

Upon arriving in that city, Rouen, we started by eating sushi. It’s kind of a tradition for us. It gave us a moment to sit down and finally think about a gift idea. I know my sister loves reading, so we decided to visit the library to find a book that caught our interest.

While browsing the aisles, I came across a tiny section about woodworking. In that section, there were only two books: one about building furniture with treated wood, and this one, a book about creating wooden objects using raw wood. I thought it would be perfect for me. The projects seemed quite simple, challenging enough to learn, but easy enough not to give up quickly. So, I added it to my shopping bag, thinking it perfectly aligned with the article I wrote last week about the skill I wanted to learn.

For my sister, we chose a crime novel. It’s always good to read one from time to time. This one seemed really intriguing, I read the summary and couldn’t help but read the first few pages. By the way, when you buy a book, don’t hesitate to read the first five pages before heading to the checkout. More often than not, it’s better than just reading the summary.

We also bought her a board game. In France, it’s one of the best-selling games of 2024. @altheana and I got it for Christmas, and it’s really fun.

Finally, we went back to @altheana’s parents' house to get some work done. Especially since I had clients waiting for my call. While I was having my meetings over the phone, my parents sent me a text asking if we wanted to have dinner together that evening. We said yes, and at 8 PM, we were in the car, heading to a couscous restaurant in Rouen.

Couscous has been my favorite dish since I was a child, so I was really happy about this plan. During dinner, we organized our departure for Paris the next morning. We planned to sleep at @altheana’s parents’ house to stay with our cat, Billy, and wake up early on Saturday morning to go to my parents’ house, take the car, and drive to Paris together.

After thanking them for dinner, we headed to bed. The next morning, waking up was tough, but we were still excited for the day ahead. We got ready and hit the road to Paris. The meeting point was set for 12 PM at a restaurant near Gare de l'Est. We had to arrive before my sister and her partner to keep the surprise. It was a nice Italian restaurant.

When my sister walked into the restaurant, she was absolutely delighted. She had no idea. We were all just as happy to see her. We quickly ordered pizzas for everyone, along with some red wine, as an activity was planned after lunch.

I went for a four-cheese pizza, and it was really delicious. All the pizza dough at this restaurant is left to rise for 48 hours, which gives it an amazing texture.

My table neighbors chose a truffle pizza, which I also tasted, and it was just as excellent.

After such a pizza, we really weren’t hungry anymore. Some still opted for a tiramisu. As for me, I just finished with a coffee.

At 2:30 PM, we had our planned activity. But we arrived 30 minutes early, so we wandered around the streets a bit. There was a thrift store we went into. It was very different from the thrift stores I go to with @altheana. In this one, even though it was second-hand, everything was really expensive. It must be said that life in Paris is really overpriced for people coming from the countryside.

Once the time for the activity came, we entered a building. It was a Quiz Room. A fairly new concept. At least, I had never heard of it before. We were locked in a room with buzzers in front of us. The atmosphere was just like a TV set, with a whole effect of lighting and sound effects. Then, questions appeared, and we had to choose the right answers. Of course, to spice up the game, there were jokers to steal points from others, double your score, reduce the number of answer choices on your screen, etc.

I blurred everyone for obvious reasons. But it was really a fun activity to do.

After that, we decided to go see my brother's apartment, as he is a student. It’s just a stone’s throw from Paris’s Chinatown. We had to cross Paris, we were in the car, except for my brother, my sister, and her partner, who are all Parisians. They took the metro, while we took the car. It took us an hour to cross Paris, whereas for them, it only took about 20 to 30 minutes.

After visiting my brother’s apartment, we headed to Chinatown. It was Chinese New Year, so there were festivities happening all around.

It was a very busy Saturday. Friday was more relaxed for us. We went back to Rouen to spend some time with @altheana’s parents. In the morning, we went to a market where we tasted some Vietnamese specialties.

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The English translation was done using the DeepL API, and the images were taken with my smartphone.

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