Brrrr—!

Admittedly, I was not prepared for the severity of the weather in France—yet I opted for a day excursion to Versailles. I loved all the portraits and statuary Louis XIV commissioned of himself. The crazy hairdo and the leg-stance were just priceless. The opulence of the palace was a bit overwhelming, and not surprising that there was a revolution against the excess. Despite the lack of flowers (or sun) I walked through the gardens and along the grand canal growing increasingly cold.

I was wrong in yesterdays post: my dinner with Jeff was later this evening. But when I did, Xavier informed us of cancellations to our party to Angoulême. Since our accommodations are all in private homes (the village doesn't have enough hotel space for all), it was important that we find replacements or pay the bill ourselves. Jeff suggested I pump out drawings from the start of the convention to help pay the bill. I did, and because we partially filled the space, everything turned out alright. It was only a mild kerfuffle.

But, in preparation for the festival, I had to do laundry and buy some paper and pens (a bit of an adventure to find shops at addresses that didn't quite exist—or at least, not where I looked...). My errands took much less time than I'd expected (thanks to Jeff!) so I had about an hour to kill, so I walked to the islands and into Notre Dame. I knew up front the cathedral is a tourist trap, but it was 1000x worse than I'd anticipated. At least it was warm.

I grabbed my bags from the hotel and met up with my party for lunch before heading out to Angoulême!