I got [another] letter from [my hero] Kate Chieco yesterday. I guess some of you just love me more than others...
Anyway, it reminded me of back in the day when we didn't have email and were pretty much forced to write letters. I have such a visceral reaction to that light blue air mail paper; as intercontinental phone calls were expensive, our au pairs wrote their friends and family all the time, and whenever I see air mail paper now I'm brought back to our (unrenovated) house. For some reason, in these memories it's always cold and I'm always about 11. Strange.
We had one au pair - I can't remember who - who was inspiringly OCD about her letter-writing. She had a big chart with names of friends and family down one axis and things that happened to her across the other. When she wrote about something to someone, she checked it off on the chart. How cool is that?
I think my fascination with letter-writing is partly why I enjoy keeping this blog. I don't like sending out mass emails, and mass snail mail kind of ruins the romance of pretty paper and a good pen. The blog lets me get out news while allowing me to send more personalized letters.
I think I need to make another stationery run.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Monday, March 12, 2007
further adventures
Yesterday - Sunday - was a blast. At AmCath, the sopranos did a two-part thing from Anthems for Choirs II; it brought me way back and was the best start to the day. Dad, who arrived in Paris with Granma earlier that morning, came to the service, and afterward we métroed to K's apartment, who was throwing a brunch. (Coolest French expression ever, which I will massacre with terrible spelling: "pendre la creamière," = "to hang the cream pot." Basically, it's what a housewarming party is called. We were dépendreing la creamière at brunch.) Met a bunch of really cool kids from all over the place, and K let me play hostessish, so I had tons o' fun. Afterwards, some of us se baladered over to the Jardin des Plantes to enjoy the sun, and we ended up hunkering down by the Seine. It was a perfect Sunday afternoon.
Dad and Granma came over for dinner to meet my flatmates (K joined us, too). The wine I brought back from the Bourgogne field trip was a success, although the lasagna was... well, let's put it this way: Dad and Grandma were supposed to come over at 7:30 but didn't show up until 9:30. Yikes. Nonetheless, I love entertaining!
Dad and Granma came over for dinner to meet my flatmates (K joined us, too). The wine I brought back from the Bourgogne field trip was a success, although the lasagna was... well, let's put it this way: Dad and Grandma were supposed to come over at 7:30 but didn't show up until 9:30. Yikes. Nonetheless, I love entertaining!
a field trip
This past weekend, my Medieval Art and Architrecture class took a fantastic trip to Bourgogne to visit several (mostly) romanesque churches. 
Friday morning we drove 4 hours west to the Abbey of Fontenay, a Cistercian monastery that was founded by a breakaway group of Cluniac monks, led by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, who thought that the Cluniac order didn't follow the Rule of Benedict. Consequently, the monastery they built is austere and almost completely devoid of ornamentation. Here's the western facade of the church; notice how it lacks any of the decorative elements we're used to seeing on medieval churches. The interior of the church is similarly bare. (Fontenay bears the hallmarks of roman architecture: heavy, thick walls punctuated only briefly by small windows and an absence of flying butresses.) As the church was completely empty, save our small group, I sang a bit inside, and the acoustics were incredible. I must have echoed for nearly 30 seconds. It was pretty magical. Everything at Fontenay was laid out at right angles; the gardens and the buildings weren't supposed to distract the monks at all from their meditation and prayer. I'm a huge fan of more flamboyant design, but the effect of it all was pretty stunning.
From there we drove to Vézelay, stopping along the way for a yummy lunch at a restaurant where farmwives (sorry to be so un-politially correct) bring their homecooked goodness for weary, cold travelers. (We were weary. It was cold. It was raining. I have never been so glad to sit next to a fire in my life.) Expect recipes to be up soon. Vézelay is a pilgrimage church built at the top of a hill in the middle of nowhere; like Fontenay, it was built in the 12th century. However, although St. Bernard pretty much started the Second Crusade from Vézelay, it has ornamentation like whoa. The facade of the church isn't original, so I won't put up a picture of it, but here's a photo of the interior. Like most churches the held relics, Vézelay has an ambulatory and radiating chapels behind the choir to better direct pilgrim traffic. The nave is romanesque (see above description), but the east end is gothic, as you can see from the huge windows and rib vaulting. (See? I am learning stuff here!)
I'm including a view from the window of my room in the B&B in Vézelay because it was absolutely breathtaking. It poured on Friday night, but Saturday was brilliantly clear, so the other photos here are of the landscape looking down from the church and of the church and town taken as we were driving away.
Our last stop was the Church of St. Lazarus in Autun. It was built to house the relics of - shockingly enough - Lazarus. The architecture was really interesting because it was a mishmash of different styles, as you can see from the photos (the first shows some normal gothicness, the second an explosion of 15th century flamboyant design). This is the cool part: rather than including an ambulatory in the elevation of the church, the architects built a mini church inside the choir itself, which housed the relics. Pilgrims descended into the crypt below the mini church to view them and then reascended on the other side - like Lazarus himself. The symbolism of it all is pretty overwhelming... Christians are so creative! It really is cool, but unfortunately we can't see any of that anymore (except the crypt) because the enlightened thinkers of the 18th century destroyed nearly all of the mini church because they found it to... unenlightened. Good work, enlightened thinkers.
It took 4.5 hours to drive back - we got stuck in traffic for nearly an hour outide Paris - but the sunset over the countryside made it nearly worthwhile.
Friday morning we drove 4 hours west to the Abbey of Fontenay, a Cistercian monastery that was founded by a breakaway group of Cluniac monks, led by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, who thought that the Cluniac order didn't follow the Rule of Benedict. Consequently, the monastery they built is austere and almost completely devoid of ornamentation. Here's the western facade of the church; notice how it lacks any of the decorative elements we're used to seeing on medieval churches. The interior of the church is similarly bare. (Fontenay bears the hallmarks of roman architecture: heavy, thick walls punctuated only briefly by small windows and an absence of flying butresses.) As the church was completely empty, save our small group, I sang a bit inside, and the acoustics were incredible. I must have echoed for nearly 30 seconds. It was pretty magical. Everything at Fontenay was laid out at right angles; the gardens and the buildings weren't supposed to distract the monks at all from their meditation and prayer. I'm a huge fan of more flamboyant design, but the effect of it all was pretty stunning.
From there we drove to Vézelay, stopping along the way for a yummy lunch at a restaurant where farmwives (sorry to be so un-politially correct) bring their homecooked goodness for weary, cold travelers. (We were weary. It was cold. It was raining. I have never been so glad to sit next to a fire in my life.) Expect recipes to be up soon. Vézelay is a pilgrimage church built at the top of a hill in the middle of nowhere; like Fontenay, it was built in the 12th century. However, although St. Bernard pretty much started the Second Crusade from Vézelay, it has ornamentation like whoa. The facade of the church isn't original, so I won't put up a picture of it, but here's a photo of the interior. Like most churches the held relics, Vézelay has an ambulatory and radiating chapels behind the choir to better direct pilgrim traffic. The nave is romanesque (see above description), but the east end is gothic, as you can see from the huge windows and rib vaulting. (See? I am learning stuff here!) 
I'm including a view from the window of my room in the B&B in Vézelay because it was absolutely breathtaking. It poured on Friday night, but Saturday was brilliantly clear, so the other photos here are of the landscape looking down from the church and of the church and town taken as we were driving away.
Our last stop was the Church of St. Lazarus in Autun. It was built to house the relics of - shockingly enough - Lazarus. The architecture was really interesting because it was a mishmash of different styles, as you can see from the photos (the first shows some normal gothicness, the second an explosion of 15th century flamboyant design). This is the cool part: rather than including an ambulatory in the elevation of the church, the architects built a mini church inside the choir itself, which housed the relics. Pilgrims descended into the crypt below the mini church to view them and then reascended on the other side - like Lazarus himself. The symbolism of it all is pretty overwhelming... Christians are so creative! It really is cool, but unfortunately we can't see any of that anymore (except the crypt) because the enlightened thinkers of the 18th century destroyed nearly all of the mini church because they found it to... unenlightened. Good work, enlightened thinkers.
It took 4.5 hours to drive back - we got stuck in traffic for nearly an hour outide Paris - but the sunset over the countryside made it nearly worthwhile.
etcetera
Four favorite things about my Monday morning walk past/through the Luxembourg Gardens to Reid Hall each week:
- 15 minutes of pure alone time
- the statue of a beautiful woman, just off the St. Michel/Sufflot intersection, labelled "George Sand"
- the gangs of firefighters who run laps
- blooming flowers
- the wind. always. no matter what the weather.
I'll post soon(ish) about the weekend. Heads up.
- 15 minutes of pure alone time
- the statue of a beautiful woman, just off the St. Michel/Sufflot intersection, labelled "George Sand"
- the gangs of firefighters who run laps
- blooming flowers
- the wind. always. no matter what the weather.
I'll post soon(ish) about the weekend. Heads up.
Thursday, March 8, 2007
adventures
LIFE. Yikes. You know that expression, "When it rains, it pours?" It's raining. Metaphorically.
Concert: actually, it wasn't bad. The church wasn't as far away as I had thought. We couldn't hear each other at all, but the acoustics were amazing. The concert itself was in honor of Jean Langlais' centennial (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Langlais), so we did his Messe en Style Ancien (which I very reluctantly admitted I liked by the end) and Duruflé's four motets.
Last night K took me to a wine tasting at the Ecole National Superieur. Apparently last night's dégust was a pretty big deal; K told me that two of the panelists were a legendary wine guy and the EIC of France's best-regarded wine magazine. The wines were from Mas de Daumas Gassac. We had four reds and three whites; my favorites were the 2005 red and a dark, exotic white. Everyone else sounded like they knew what they were talking about when they discussed wines, but I'm pretty sure some of the kids were faking it. Regardless, I had a really good time. Afterwards (11pm, yikes) we headed down to Alysia to hang out with some kids K had met on Birthright. Meeting Jews here is a really interesting experience. Like in Lyon, we talked about how France has mostly Sephardic Jews, while the States' Jewish population is mostly Ashkenazic. I've always told people that I study Christianity because I can be objective about it, but I've never actually tried to be anything but subjective about my Judaism. It's hard! Before last night, I had been pretty disenchanted about meeting "real French people," but I had a blast.
So spring in Paris is pretty whack. It was sunny and high 50s on Tuesday, yesterday was cold and rainy, and today is brilliantly bright again. I'm totally confused. When it's nice, though, the city is stunning. I actually walked through the Luxembourg Gardens today instead of around them, and envied all the carefree people lunching on the benches. It's 6pm, though, and it's still light out, so I don't care how confused the weather gets tomorrow.
That's a lie - I do care. My medieval art class is taking a field trip to Bourgogne tomorrow - we're staying through Saturday afternoon. I'm siked; we're going to see some incredible buildings. Plus, Laura's in my class and we haven't had much time to hang out lately. I have tons of work that I should be doing instead of going, but the bus ride is a couple hours each way, so I'll be abble to get some reading done.
You won't hear from me again until Sunday at the earliest because of the trip. I may not be able to post again till Wedesday or Thursday, though, because Dad and Granma are coming to visit on Sunday and I'll be busy
a) being filial
b) writing a grammar paper (Monday)
c) studying for my Itinéraires midterm (Tuesday)
d) studying for my medieval art midterm (Tuesday)
e) writing the rough draft of my Belle Epoque exposé (Thursday)
It's pouring. Metaphorically.
Concert: actually, it wasn't bad. The church wasn't as far away as I had thought. We couldn't hear each other at all, but the acoustics were amazing. The concert itself was in honor of Jean Langlais' centennial (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Langlais), so we did his Messe en Style Ancien (which I very reluctantly admitted I liked by the end) and Duruflé's four motets.
Last night K took me to a wine tasting at the Ecole National Superieur. Apparently last night's dégust was a pretty big deal; K told me that two of the panelists were a legendary wine guy and the EIC of France's best-regarded wine magazine. The wines were from Mas de Daumas Gassac. We had four reds and three whites; my favorites were the 2005 red and a dark, exotic white. Everyone else sounded like they knew what they were talking about when they discussed wines, but I'm pretty sure some of the kids were faking it. Regardless, I had a really good time. Afterwards (11pm, yikes) we headed down to Alysia to hang out with some kids K had met on Birthright. Meeting Jews here is a really interesting experience. Like in Lyon, we talked about how France has mostly Sephardic Jews, while the States' Jewish population is mostly Ashkenazic. I've always told people that I study Christianity because I can be objective about it, but I've never actually tried to be anything but subjective about my Judaism. It's hard! Before last night, I had been pretty disenchanted about meeting "real French people," but I had a blast.
So spring in Paris is pretty whack. It was sunny and high 50s on Tuesday, yesterday was cold and rainy, and today is brilliantly bright again. I'm totally confused. When it's nice, though, the city is stunning. I actually walked through the Luxembourg Gardens today instead of around them, and envied all the carefree people lunching on the benches. It's 6pm, though, and it's still light out, so I don't care how confused the weather gets tomorrow.
That's a lie - I do care. My medieval art class is taking a field trip to Bourgogne tomorrow - we're staying through Saturday afternoon. I'm siked; we're going to see some incredible buildings. Plus, Laura's in my class and we haven't had much time to hang out lately. I have tons of work that I should be doing instead of going, but the bus ride is a couple hours each way, so I'll be abble to get some reading done.
You won't hear from me again until Sunday at the earliest because of the trip. I may not be able to post again till Wedesday or Thursday, though, because Dad and Granma are coming to visit on Sunday and I'll be busy
a) being filial
b) writing a grammar paper (Monday)
c) studying for my Itinéraires midterm (Tuesday)
d) studying for my medieval art midterm (Tuesday)
e) writing the rough draft of my Belle Epoque exposé (Thursday)
It's pouring. Metaphorically.
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
etcetera
Oh my God, guys, I haven't really posted since Saturday, and it's Tuesday today. I bet you're all wondering if I'm deathly ill or in love or something.
Nope. I spent most of Sunday recovering from Saturday, and yesterday was Monday (day of poo, for those of you who haven't read previous posts). So. Sorry, I guess.
Saturday night Jed and I went to Chez Omar, a Moroccan restaurant in the Marais. My flatmates have been there several times, and it's gotten rave reviews from other friends, so I was totally siked. We got there at 7:30 - way earlier than the cool kids, but it turned out to be a good decision, since all the cool kids come at the same time (9pm) and have to wait an hour to get a table. Jed had steak au poivre, which was good but not terribly original, and I had couscous merguez, which was amazing. Merguez is a long, thin, spicy sausage, and every couscous dish comes with a tureen of veggies in some sort of delicious broth. So good. We also had an Algerian wine called Medea, which went really well with both our dishes. There was a full lunar eclipse on Saturday night, so after dinner we walked down to the Seine to check it out. It had been raining earlier in the day, but the sky cleared up just in time for us to catch the show. It was amazing; the moon, all except a little sliver on the left, was red. Not harvest moon orange, but deep blood red. Kind of spooky, but definitely cool.
AmCath Sunday - I'm making friends! I sit next to Sarah often, so we're becoming friendly; she's a first, but I'm the swing soprano and have been on first most of the time lately. (Sarah's the Brit I said mean things about. I take them all back. She's really good. Sorry, Sarah.) Another soprano, Susannah, is also tons o' fun, but she's going back to the states at the end of March. Plus I pal around with a couple of the tenors before and after rehearsals/services. So this makes me happy.
Monday... Monday. 'Nuff said. Wait, who am I kidding? It's me, and I always have more to say. Was the last day of grammar classes. We'll have individual tutoring sessions with the prof once a week from here on out, which will be much more helpful, but we had a good vibe and I think the class is kind of bummed. Still totally lost in my medieval history class... I'm going to be totally screwed when I have to do my exposé. Went to Gilbert Joseph after classes to get some of the background books I need, and felt very native browsing the shelves of French history.
Concert tonight. The music isn't bad - we're doing the Duruflé motets and Langlais' Messe en Style Ancien - but it's a Tuesday night and the church is all the way out west. I'd rather stay in and read about laïcité during the Belle Epoque. No, that's not sarcastic. I really would. Shmeh.
Nope. I spent most of Sunday recovering from Saturday, and yesterday was Monday (day of poo, for those of you who haven't read previous posts). So. Sorry, I guess.
Saturday night Jed and I went to Chez Omar, a Moroccan restaurant in the Marais. My flatmates have been there several times, and it's gotten rave reviews from other friends, so I was totally siked. We got there at 7:30 - way earlier than the cool kids, but it turned out to be a good decision, since all the cool kids come at the same time (9pm) and have to wait an hour to get a table. Jed had steak au poivre, which was good but not terribly original, and I had couscous merguez, which was amazing. Merguez is a long, thin, spicy sausage, and every couscous dish comes with a tureen of veggies in some sort of delicious broth. So good. We also had an Algerian wine called Medea, which went really well with both our dishes. There was a full lunar eclipse on Saturday night, so after dinner we walked down to the Seine to check it out. It had been raining earlier in the day, but the sky cleared up just in time for us to catch the show. It was amazing; the moon, all except a little sliver on the left, was red. Not harvest moon orange, but deep blood red. Kind of spooky, but definitely cool.
AmCath Sunday - I'm making friends! I sit next to Sarah often, so we're becoming friendly; she's a first, but I'm the swing soprano and have been on first most of the time lately. (Sarah's the Brit I said mean things about. I take them all back. She's really good. Sorry, Sarah.) Another soprano, Susannah, is also tons o' fun, but she's going back to the states at the end of March. Plus I pal around with a couple of the tenors before and after rehearsals/services. So this makes me happy.
Monday... Monday. 'Nuff said. Wait, who am I kidding? It's me, and I always have more to say. Was the last day of grammar classes. We'll have individual tutoring sessions with the prof once a week from here on out, which will be much more helpful, but we had a good vibe and I think the class is kind of bummed. Still totally lost in my medieval history class... I'm going to be totally screwed when I have to do my exposé. Went to Gilbert Joseph after classes to get some of the background books I need, and felt very native browsing the shelves of French history.
Concert tonight. The music isn't bad - we're doing the Duruflé motets and Langlais' Messe en Style Ancien - but it's a Tuesday night and the church is all the way out west. I'd rather stay in and read about laïcité during the Belle Epoque. No, that's not sarcastic. I really would. Shmeh.
Oh my God, guys, I haven't really posted since Saturday, and it's Tuesday today. I bet you're all wondering if I'm deathly ill or in love or something.
Nope. I spent most of Sunday recovering from Saturday, and yesterday was Monday (day of poo, for those of you who haven't read previous posts). So. Sorry, I guess.
Saturday night Jed and I went to Chez Omar, a Moroccan restaurant in the Marais. My flatmates have been there several times, and it's gotten rave reviews from other friends, so I was totally siked. We got there at 7:30 - way earlier than the cool kids, but it turned out to be a good decision, since all the cool kids come at the same time (9pm) and have to wait an hour to get a table. Jed had steak au poivre, which was good but not terribly original, and I had couscous merguez, which was amazing. Merguez is a long, thin, spicy sausage, and every couscous dish comes with a tureen of veggies in some sort of delicious broth. So good. We also had an Algerian wine called Medea, which went really well with both our dishes. There was a full lunar eclipse on Saturday night, so after dinner we walked down to the Seine to check it out. It had been raining earlier in the day, but the sky cleared up just in time for us to catch the show. It was amazing; the moon, all except a little sliver on the left, was red. Not harvest moon orange, but deep blood red. Kind of spooky, but definitely cool.
AmCath Sunday - I'm making friends! I sit next to Sarah often, so we're becoming friendly; she's a first, but I'm the swing soprano and have been on first most of the time lately. (Sarah's the Brit I said mean things about. I take them all back. She's really good. Sorry, Sarah.) Another soprano, Susannah, is also tons o' fun, but she's going back to the states at the end of March. Plus I pal around with a couple of the tenors before and after rehearsals/services. So this makes me happy.
Monday... Monday. 'Nuff said. Wait, who am I kidding? It's me, and I always have more to say. Was the last day of grammar classes. We'll have individual tutoring sessions with the prof once a week from here on out, which will be much more helpful, but we had a good vibe and I think the class is kind of bummed. Still totally lost in my medieval history class... I'm going to be totally screwed when I have to do my exposé. Went to Gilbert Joseph after classes to get some of the background books I need, and felt very native browsing the shelves of French history.
Concert tonight. The music isn't bad - we're doing the Duruflé motets and Langlais' Messe en Style Ancien - but it's a Tuesday night and the church is all the way out west. I'd rather stay in and read about laïcité during the Belle Epoque. No, that's not sarcastic. I really would. Shmeh.
Nope. I spent most of Sunday recovering from Saturday, and yesterday was Monday (day of poo, for those of you who haven't read previous posts). So. Sorry, I guess.
Saturday night Jed and I went to Chez Omar, a Moroccan restaurant in the Marais. My flatmates have been there several times, and it's gotten rave reviews from other friends, so I was totally siked. We got there at 7:30 - way earlier than the cool kids, but it turned out to be a good decision, since all the cool kids come at the same time (9pm) and have to wait an hour to get a table. Jed had steak au poivre, which was good but not terribly original, and I had couscous merguez, which was amazing. Merguez is a long, thin, spicy sausage, and every couscous dish comes with a tureen of veggies in some sort of delicious broth. So good. We also had an Algerian wine called Medea, which went really well with both our dishes. There was a full lunar eclipse on Saturday night, so after dinner we walked down to the Seine to check it out. It had been raining earlier in the day, but the sky cleared up just in time for us to catch the show. It was amazing; the moon, all except a little sliver on the left, was red. Not harvest moon orange, but deep blood red. Kind of spooky, but definitely cool.
AmCath Sunday - I'm making friends! I sit next to Sarah often, so we're becoming friendly; she's a first, but I'm the swing soprano and have been on first most of the time lately. (Sarah's the Brit I said mean things about. I take them all back. She's really good. Sorry, Sarah.) Another soprano, Susannah, is also tons o' fun, but she's going back to the states at the end of March. Plus I pal around with a couple of the tenors before and after rehearsals/services. So this makes me happy.
Monday... Monday. 'Nuff said. Wait, who am I kidding? It's me, and I always have more to say. Was the last day of grammar classes. We'll have individual tutoring sessions with the prof once a week from here on out, which will be much more helpful, but we had a good vibe and I think the class is kind of bummed. Still totally lost in my medieval history class... I'm going to be totally screwed when I have to do my exposé. Went to Gilbert Joseph after classes to get some of the background books I need, and felt very native browsing the shelves of French history.
Concert tonight. The music isn't bad - we're doing the Duruflé motets and Langlais' Messe en Style Ancien - but it's a Tuesday night and the church is all the way out west. I'd rather stay in and read about laïcité during the Belle Epoque. No, that's not sarcastic. I really would. Shmeh.
Monday, March 5, 2007
You know you're no longer a tourist/visitor when...
you don't give a damn if you're in the way of someone's photograph. Stop taking pictures and let me get to class already!
Saturday, March 3, 2007
etcetera
http://abc.go.com/primetime/greysanatomy/quiz/greysdiagnosis/index
I'm Callie, apparently: "You are very direct and sometimes that is a bit much for people to handle, but you just call it like you see it. Life's too short not to be lived to the fullest and if that scares some people, then who needs them? You're an all-or-nothing person, so people who can't commit have no place in your life. You deserve someone who loves and lives just as hard as you do."
Okay, I'll buy some of that. I really wanted to be Izzy, though. Bummer.
I'm Callie, apparently: "You are very direct and sometimes that is a bit much for people to handle, but you just call it like you see it. Life's too short not to be lived to the fullest and if that scares some people, then who needs them? You're an all-or-nothing person, so people who can't commit have no place in your life. You deserve someone who loves and lives just as hard as you do."
Okay, I'll buy some of that. I really wanted to be Izzy, though. Bummer.
Maybe he's right. Maybe there is something the matter with me.
I just can't see how a world that makes such wonderful things could be bad.
Turns out, it's not. Karma, baby... for surviving the past week of poo, I'm being showered with good times by my benevolent ancestors. Let's play catch-up. (Again, this will be a really long post. Apologies.)
Rewind to Tursday night. Maria, Adam (a new Dartmouth friend), and I went to that opening night party in the 19th. It was awesome. The gallery was a few flights up in a random building on a side-street in Belleville; you'd only know it was there if you were looking really hard. We got there at around 11, and it was packed with artists and hipsters who were all young and Parisian and way cooler that I will ever be. (I think I faked it well, though: I was befriended. Several times. By several boys. Super chouette.) Anyway, the exhibition was comprised mostly of photograps, although there were seveal videos and installation pieces as well. My favorite work was a series of photos of a woman at a window set up in a corner of the gallery designed to look like a hotel room. The whole thing was like something out of a movie... kids gesticulating wildly, cigarettes in hand, bisous everywhere, smoke diffusing into the wine. If we'd been in New York, we probably would have been somewhere in Brooklyn, and the art might have been better but the kids would have been posers. I love Paris. Afterward, the three of us stopped at a bar in République before going to my friend K's to wind down. I always feel bad about drinking with K because he really knows wine, and I'm not exactly in a connoisseur mood at 2 am. It was, however, tons o' fun.
Because French schools are on winter vacation right now, I babysat all day yesterday. I took the kids to the zoo at the Parc de Vincennes and we had a blast. Here's a photo of Max, 8, and Isabel, 5 from the zoo. I'm also going to be a meanie and include a picture of spring - taken yesterday - for all of you east-coasters who were dealing with snow and ice a couple days ago.
Today's agenda includes homework and rehearsal, followed by Chez Omar (a Moroccan restaurant in the Marais that everyone's obsessed with but that I haven't yet been to) with Jed. Tomorrow: AmCath, brunch with the roomies, more homework. Nice weekend, n'est-ce pas?
Speaking of AmCath... the soprano who yelled at me about kneeling is no longer singing with us. I don't know what happened, but apparently it was a Thing. Yikes.
In other news, I got letters and postcards from some of you! Yay. This makes me happy. Thank you, nice people.
Turns out, it's not. Karma, baby... for surviving the past week of poo, I'm being showered with good times by my benevolent ancestors. Let's play catch-up. (Again, this will be a really long post. Apologies.)
Rewind to Tursday night. Maria, Adam (a new Dartmouth friend), and I went to that opening night party in the 19th. It was awesome. The gallery was a few flights up in a random building on a side-street in Belleville; you'd only know it was there if you were looking really hard. We got there at around 11, and it was packed with artists and hipsters who were all young and Parisian and way cooler that I will ever be. (I think I faked it well, though: I was befriended. Several times. By several boys. Super chouette.) Anyway, the exhibition was comprised mostly of photograps, although there were seveal videos and installation pieces as well. My favorite work was a series of photos of a woman at a window set up in a corner of the gallery designed to look like a hotel room. The whole thing was like something out of a movie... kids gesticulating wildly, cigarettes in hand, bisous everywhere, smoke diffusing into the wine. If we'd been in New York, we probably would have been somewhere in Brooklyn, and the art might have been better but the kids would have been posers. I love Paris. Afterward, the three of us stopped at a bar in République before going to my friend K's to wind down. I always feel bad about drinking with K because he really knows wine, and I'm not exactly in a connoisseur mood at 2 am. It was, however, tons o' fun.
Because French schools are on winter vacation right now, I babysat all day yesterday. I took the kids to the zoo at the Parc de Vincennes and we had a blast. Here's a photo of Max, 8, and Isabel, 5 from the zoo. I'm also going to be a meanie and include a picture of spring - taken yesterday - for all of you east-coasters who were dealing with snow and ice a couple days ago.Today's agenda includes homework and rehearsal, followed by Chez Omar (a Moroccan restaurant in the Marais that everyone's obsessed with but that I haven't yet been to) with Jed. Tomorrow: AmCath, brunch with the roomies, more homework. Nice weekend, n'est-ce pas?
Speaking of AmCath... the soprano who yelled at me about kneeling is no longer singing with us. I don't know what happened, but apparently it was a Thing. Yikes.
In other news, I got letters and postcards from some of you! Yay. This makes me happy. Thank you, nice people.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
