...and straight into the safe hands of old mate Tom Trounce. Some people might be disappointed that we didn't head further afield for our first stop - not us, our neighbours across the water have plenty to offer!
dunnhumby
Tom took us to a leaving do (for old mate Arnaud as it turned out) who was leaving the dunnhumby Paris office. Lots of old work chat which I secretly loved, however, Chloe must feel like dunnhumby is inescapable. I'll try and work in some teaching chat to balance things out - length of holidays should do it. That always goes down well.
Guns & Bones
We attempted some touristy stuff before being derailed by Tom. We had a go at some coconut shy type fayre but with guns. The whole thing was a UK health and safety shambles (a pellet from the air rifle richoching into my lap) but it was fun and we both won prizes. I chose a teddy for Chloe, Tom picked out a BB gun. Naturally.
The next day was a slow/none starter. Tom had got us very drunk at his favourite haunts the previous evening (zero zero a highlight) so we arrived late at the Catacombs (more detail in a minute). The queue was huge so hit Paris Plage. Very cool - like Brighton but by a river. Here we learnt that modern French music is not good.
Finally made the Catatombs - where the bones of 17 million French folk from the 1700's are stacked deep underground - we conceded that pretending to Chloe that we were going to a cat cemetery wasn't as funny as we thought. This place was weird but great.
Minigolf.
All the holes were Parisien landmarks (no cat tombs though). Amazing. We don't know who won because none of us can count. Actually, strictly speaking Chloe won because we gave her a 2 shot handicap per hole. She didn't need it and probably won on her own merit.
Disneyland Paris
This was Chloe's day. A day of firsts. First loop the loop, first proper rollercoaster (space mountain - amazing), first properly scary ride (tower of terror - unbelievable). Jake Moore would not be proud. Also worthy of note was her determination to stay in the park forever powered by, as she put it, Disney magic. I burnt the bald bits on my head.
One final meal with Tom and fond farewells. He's proven himself to be even more humourous, ridiculous, dangerous & generous than we thought possible. Top bloke.
