You know that feeling when playing monopoly, having no money except for the $12.00 rent you just picked up form owning “utilities”, when you draw the card that says “Advance to Free Parking. You may collect $200.00 if you pass go.” What an amazing game, you think… at least… until… until you land on Park Place! But then you remember… YOU OWN IT! Last night and today in Paris resemble a victory in Monopoly.

When we moved our lugggage into the Park Hyatt Vendome, our clerk escorted us to our room and left us with chocolates for the wedded couple Mr. & Mrs. John. Drew and I quickly argued who would make the better wife, thus winning the chocolates. But, in the end we agreed that we were both perfect, and that John would most-likely not marry either of us. The room has been dubbed the catacombs (just by me). I literally waltzed in my shower last night before dinner, but seeing as the water comes out of the ceiling… I wasn’t wasting anytime… very pragmatic.

In comparison to my just-got-off-of-an-eight-hour-flight-overseas look, I must’ve looked like a goddess for the dinner-outing. We were trying to stay awake as long as possible… almost comparable to the last ten minutes of a five-hour-long monopoly game… but a much more lethargic twenty hours. Around 7:00 I was beginning to get lightheaded. My eyelids were too lazy to blink, in which case I could get a complete, undisturbed view of the nothingness on which my eyes were fixed. We decided to buy some Chinese food from around the corner, grabbed a cheap bottle of wine and surprised ourselves by the briskness of our walk back to the Hyatt. I don’t remember too many more details. The wine was a red wine (I don’t know), we ate our French Chinese food out of the cartons (no plates), and there was a plumbing problem at the hotel. I do vaguely recall the sight of four or five desk clerks on their knees mopping up water from behind the counter. John later told me that they were using buckets to scoop up water from the floor… we had no water in our room. My response was very American, “Maybe they’ll give us another night here for free!?!” John’s response was very French, “Do we need water?”

I guess that this was when I realized that I most definitely was not playing Monopoly. Clearly I would own “Water Works” in addition to “Park Place” and there never would’ve been trouble with the utilities.