The European Affair
Well, the second European Affair is over and we're all home safely, so I thought I would share my impressions.
I suppose you could describe the European minicon as 'small but perfectly formed' since there were only five of us, but what we lacked in numbers we made up for in enthusiasm. The line-up was: franciskerst. frau_flora, mrlnpndrgn sensine and me. We missed you, feenixandashes and hope that you're feeling better!
The headquarters this year was franciskerst's house in Vanves, which is a little town on the outskirts of Paris. I hope someone will post pictures of the house because it's completely adorable. Our common language was English, which confused the two francophones occasionally when they found themselves speaking English to French waiters! (Needless to say, being in France, we had a few memorable meals!)
So here are my personal highlights in no special order: Eating breakfast in pyjamas at ridiculously late hours; watching episodes in French and German (the guys sound so funny); eating reindeer, elk and blood-sausage-with-horse washed down with champagne and whisky; the pilgrimage to Napoleon's Tomb; the wonderful present-swap - it was like Christmas and birthdays all rolled into one; trying to type on a French keyboard; eating a prodigious lunch at a wonderful restaurant near Montparnasse as we waited for sensine to arrive and receiving a text from her to say she was on the bus and lunching on a dry baguette (shades of NS and IK I think); struggling with my broken suitcase that wouldn't shut and being weak with giggles (it just survived the journey back to Scotland without disgorging its contents, but only because dear mrlnpndrgn gave me a strap to go round it).
There's lots more, but I'll leave it to the other agents to fill you in.
I suppose you could describe the European minicon as 'small but perfectly formed' since there were only five of us, but what we lacked in numbers we made up for in enthusiasm. The line-up was: franciskerst. frau_flora, mrlnpndrgn sensine and me. We missed you, feenixandashes and hope that you're feeling better!
The headquarters this year was franciskerst's house in Vanves, which is a little town on the outskirts of Paris. I hope someone will post pictures of the house because it's completely adorable. Our common language was English, which confused the two francophones occasionally when they found themselves speaking English to French waiters! (Needless to say, being in France, we had a few memorable meals!)
So here are my personal highlights in no special order: Eating breakfast in pyjamas at ridiculously late hours; watching episodes in French and German (the guys sound so funny); eating reindeer, elk and blood-sausage-with-horse washed down with champagne and whisky; the pilgrimage to Napoleon's Tomb; the wonderful present-swap - it was like Christmas and birthdays all rolled into one; trying to type on a French keyboard; eating a prodigious lunch at a wonderful restaurant near Montparnasse as we waited for sensine to arrive and receiving a text from her to say she was on the bus and lunching on a dry baguette (shades of NS and IK I think); struggling with my broken suitcase that wouldn't shut and being weak with giggles (it just survived the journey back to Scotland without disgorging its contents, but only because dear mrlnpndrgn gave me a strap to go round it).
There's lots more, but I'll leave it to the other agents to fill you in.