Parisian Rendez-vous

Well the tickets are purchased (thanks to Mastercard; insert "Priceless" tagline here) and the studio down payment has been sent. Paris will be at our disposal for 8 nights in October.

The place we rented can be found here. We decided to pay the same or less than a 3-star Parisian hotel and rent a studio apartment for our time in the city. We'll be by my favorite Parisian site, Sacre Coeur. With the Metro stop near by it should be easy enough to get to other sites in the city as need be. We're excited to buy food at the local markets and bakeries.

We plan on making a trip outside the city limits at some point. A 15 hour excursion or so to Fountainebleu and Versailles, Normandy, or the Loire Valley. We'll still have to set that up. The majority of our time will be spent in the city at a nice even and relaxed pace. We bought a book that has walking tours throughout the city, complete with historical facts and maps.

The plane tickets weren't terrible at $870/person out of Des Moines. We figured we would pay the little bit extra not to have to drive and park in Chicago or elsewhere. We can get a ride to the "International" Des Moines airport and then stay the night in Ankeny upon our return if the jet lag is too much.

Slightly funny is that we will get back on a Thursday, we probably won't go back to IC until Friday, and our mock trial team's first tournament is that weekend. Nothing like re-acclimating yourself to American society by listening to future litigators.

Of course, what this really means is that I don't have much time to re-learn some basic French. Sacre Bleu!

Russian Ninjas

It seems the Russians are launching a ninja attack on northern Italian farmers. (BBC article)

I was reminded of Kill Bill Vol.1 when reading about the old man that warded off the powerful Russian ninja. The difference being two-fold: 1) This ninja isn't Uma Thurman, and 2) The old man didn't land his shot square in the chest of his would-be assailant. Minor details really.

I was reminded of a funny cartoon I saw online about 5 years ago that detailed how to survive a ninja attack. Unfortunately for everyone I can't find the cartoon, and thus cannot enlighten everyone on how to survive a deadly ninja attack. However I did find these amusing videos and sites:

1. How to Survive a Ninja Attack
2. Howto: survive a ninja attack
3. Ask a Ninja Question 16 "How to Kill a Ninja"

Hopefully you can find a nugget in there to help you sleep easier tonight, knowing that if the Russian ninjas come you'll be better prepared.