Family rendezvous

My mom and sister were nice enough to visit me for my b-day. Here's a brief account of what we were up to: 
Julianne arrived early and gave a speech to eager MBA students interested in Fintech:

Thursday: Walk in the Fontainebleau Forest. I decided to take J&M to rugby club’s weekly party. I knew it was a bit rowdy, but since Mom has partied more than I have recently at OYC, I knew that she could handle it. Rugby club has all these drinking games they play throughout the night. For example, at any point in the night someone can say “God save the Queen” and drop a coin into your glass. If this happens, you must finish your drink. However, they must say “God save the Queen” clearly before dropping the coin, which gives you a chance to cover your glass with your hand or move your glass. Another game involves trying to attach a hair clip to someone’s clothes without them noticing. Once the hair clip has been attached, you sneak away and shout “Ou est le peg” or “Where is the clip?” Everyone begins frantically searching and counting down from 10. If the clip is discovered before reaching zero, the person who placed the clip must finish their beer, and if it isn’t, the person who has the clip on them must drink.

Anyway, I expected J&M would enjoy watching the other people plays these games. When we arrived, mom ordered a red wine. Within 15 seconds of receiving her wine, someone had shouted “God Save the Queen!” and dropped the coin in her wine glass. I was stunned as I assumed that she would be considered somewhat off limits. Nevertheless, mom starts chugging her wine to an erupting crowd of rugby players. After she finishes she gets pats on the back from everyone in the bar. Two minutes later as everyone was settling back down, I hear “God save the queen” and a splash. Everyone turns to see that mom had just found a victim, who couldn’t believe what had happened. Everyone started chanting until the girl finished her drink. At this point, everyone began referring to mom as the “Mother of the Rubgy Club” and this story is frequently retold during Rugby Club events. 

Friday: After the rowdiness of Rugby Club, we decided to go to the opposite end of the spectrum with lunch at a Michellin star restaurant called L’Axel in Fontainebleau. It’s actually pretty affordable for a Michelin star restaurant with a 34 euro lunch special. I had a 2.5 hour gap between classes and I figured that this would be enough time for lunch. I was wrong. After two hours and 15 minutes, we had only finished dessert #1 and still had dessert #2 and coffee to come. I snuck out to class and mom and Julianne enjoyed the remaining meal. None of us are really sure what we ate as the menu was in ridiculous French and the wait staff spoke limited English. Nevertheless, the food was excellent. We headed to Paris that night and checked into an amazing AirBnB. Based on the decorations and bookshelf, we concluded that the owner was a gay architect. Luckily, he had placed a three feet tall wooden African statue on the staircase that broke most of mom’s fall the first night when she was coming down the stairs. Rode that little guy like a surfboard. Mom escaped with minor injuries, but the wooden statue's head came off. 

Saturday: Walked from our AirBnb to Notre Dame, continued along the Sienne River, ended up at a huge park next to a Mosque, then had Moroccan tea.




Sunday: Metro to Eiffel tower, walked up to Arc de Triomf then down Champs Elysse until Louvre gardens. Had a coffee at one of the fountains. Took metro home for a brief break before Julianne and mom rushed to “How to Become Parisian in an Hour. I met them at Montremarte for an amazing sunset and dinner at the same restaurant I have been to with Sandra twice. 

Monday to Wednesday: I took the early morning train back to INSEAD for class. Mom and Julianne did two days of museums, then decided they had had enough culture and went to Disneyland on Wednesday.  

Thursday: Train to Paris and back to back phone interviews at the AirBnb. It was rather stressful as Google Voice wasn’t working so I had to use mom’s phone for both calls. Met Julianne and mom at L’Orangerie, where Monet has his huge water lilly panoramas that he did at the end of his life when he had glaucoma. Walked home and had dinner at a nice Thai restaurant.


Friday: Early morning flight to Barcelona

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