Hands on

Because I'm gone a lot for work, C & I try to have date nights on a regular basis. Nights where we get gussied up, actually leave the house and go out just the two of us. Some nights we'll go to a movie, but more often than not, we'll try out a new restaurant in another neighborhood. Either ones that I've heard about from friends or Twitter or others thanks to Groupon deals.

Which is how we found ourselves last Friday night heading out to a café in the 5th that was offering a 2-for-1 fish & chips deal. The 5th was my home for three years and I have very fond memories of living there, so I never hesitate to go back.

We had a nice dinner - the fish was good and the chips were okay, but there was no vinegar nor mushy peas (or even tartar sauce). But no matter, we still had a nice time. And since it wasn't raining for once, we decided to stroll around the neighborhood for old times' sake.

When we got to the Place de la Contrascarpe, we came across a group of people milling around in the middle of it. At first, it looked like a sort of manifestation, but once we got closer, we saw signs offering free 10 minute massages from the "Décontraction à la française" association.
The signs all encouraged tips, but said there was no minimum price. And there were probably 10-15 different people sitting on chairs, getting massages. I wondered how much they were paying for them? And if anyone would dare leave without paying anything? Because of his job, C gets a little paranoid about pickpockets whenever there are groups of people milling around, so we didn't hang around any longer to find out.

But I guess that's not necessarily a bad thing...I'm not sure I would've wanted a random stranger touching me anyways...my Minnesota personal space bubble hasn't quite completely popped yet!