First port of call (perfect phrase to put us in the aquatic domain...) was the aquarium. I didn't want it to be better than Napier's, lol, but I had to admit that it was in the end. It was pretty massive, had quite a few interactive elements and great displays. Including some huge tanks full of pretty awesome creatures (as I guess you'd expect) that it was easy to spend hours watching.
Afterwards, we moved on to bowling. Except that there was an hour-long wait for a bowling lane, so we played pool first. I now forget how much it cost, but this is another thing that probably should have gone on the 'biggest have' list. Seriously, give me a NZ-style coin-operated pool table any day. $2 a game: that's the ticket. None of this 5E nonsense.
That's just to prove that French people struggle with my name. So, we had 2 games of bowling. I realised that I had special skills for bowling in a way that meant the ball turned at the last moment, therefore missing most of the pins. After our games, we decided to move on.
We had to wait for the ice-skating rink to open, so had a look through the shops (including H&M, if Lou and Lorenz are reading this). And also sampled some churros... ah, fat and sugar go so well together. This was also when I decided to check out this IKEA dealio. Which I kinda regretted about halfway through, when I'd had enough and wanted to get out. I swear it took me about 20 minutes of following the signs saying 'exit' (or sortie, rather) to get out. That place is enormous!
Some of Sabrina's friends had shown up by this stage (Ben and Abou).
We all ended up having dinner... at KFC. Big bucket of chicken wings, some chips and unlimited drinks. Some things don't change, no matter what country you're in. Here, we also found out that KFC does not accept 10E coins.
Ice-skating was awesome. I love ice-skating. That said, since this was my second time doing it, I struggled just to stay upright at the start. I managed not to fall, but there were some pretty close calls. So, I spent about half an hour sticking to the edge of the rink and holding onto the rail. I also had to move from the nightclub-style part of the rink to the ice hockey field part, as strobe lighting was not helping my balance.
However, after the initial phase, I gained enough confidence to actually skate without holding onto, or even being next to, the rail. It was strangely satisfying! If you didn't look at the pro people who were all skating backwards, etc.
Went back to Sabrina's friends' place for a while. I tried to play poker. I didn't really understand... not sure if I just don't get it, or if it was due to an explanation in French. Probably the former! The nice young man in the above photo (Abou) let me Skype from his place. :) Very happy times, as I usually don't have access.
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