And it ends with a bang! After a solid month of weekends with friends, playtime is over. Now begins the countdown to both the Paris Marathon, my two week trip back to the U.S. Not to mention the fact that major steps need to be taken towards knocking out my dissertation.
However, before all that craziness begins, it's time to take a look back on another magnificient weekend in Paris.
My dear friends from Lyon arrived right in the middle of my busiest day of the week, and thus, I was unable to greet their arrival and accompany them during their first hours in the capital. However, being the autonomous beings that they are, M and A managed to entertain themselves just fine without me. When our paths did finally cross in Saint Mandé, it was wonderful to be able to welcome them to my French "chez moi", and return the favor of hospitality. I have now lost count of the number of times I have taken up residence in their living room in Sainte Foy.
The next day, Marlène and Alix were able to enjoy a lazy Friday morning, while I headed out the door just as the sun was rising to finish out my week. With morning classes, afternoon tennis, and an early evening nap, it was not until around 7 that the three of us we able to meet up again and truly kick off the weekend.
In grand American-Parisian style, we met up on (or near) the Champs-Elysées at one of the many exits of the Franklin D. Roosevelt metro station. Our search for a bar led us just a few streets from the French Presidential residence to the intersection of FDR and rue de Ponthieu. After about 15 minutes of indecision while waiting for our server to resurface after seating us, the weekend had officially begun with two fruit juices, shaken and twirled spectacularly through the air by our houdini of a waiter, and a glass of rosé. (I know, living on the wildside!) But the Ponthieu served more as a short meetup with siblings and friends before heading out to the evening's main event: authentic Mexican food at Anahuacalli in the 5th arrondissement.
This was not your average Tex-Mex. In fact, there was nothing average about our evening among these Mexican ex-pats. In great conviviality, eight of us, three Americans and five French, enjoyed pitchers of margaritas, chips and salsa, delicious main courses of mole, enchiladas, and fajitas, and strong, liqueur-filled coffee. Unlike Mexican (Tex-Mex) restaurants in the States, this one was not promoting the chip-and-dip/salsa culture. For a table of 8, we received two small bowls of chips (maybe about 15 chips per container) and two sushi-soy sauce size mini-bowls of red ("non-spicy") and green ("spicy", it's all relative) salsa per bowl of chips. I tend to be of the "chips with my salsa"school as opposed to the "salsa with my chips" one, so I was a little disappointed by the miniscule serving, and the reluctancy of the servers to refill the two tablespoons of salsa that filled each of the bowls. That being said, they could not be accused of causing us to spoil our appetite and thus, our enjoyment of delictable morsels that were to come.
Over dinner, there were a few words about an earthquake in Japan, the extent of the damage, none of us could have imagined until we began watching video footage posted on the internet in the days that followed.
The next day, we skipped the morning in favor of the afternoon (although I did manage to see the last minutes of the AM with 45 min run). The object of our outing represents the next step in my ongoing love affair with the Château de Vincennes. Like a new crush, I have been admiring the Château for some time now, but mostly from a far. During my first months in Paris, I would catch a glimpse of the flag and the top portion of the dungeon's tower peeking out from behind the trees while running or biking through the woods to go to tennis. Exhibit A gives you an idea of my initial sightings of the Château albeit from much closer up:
So as to be a bit more neighborly and decrease the physical and affective distance between me and my crush, I began to cirle the path around the Château a part of my running route in a sort of "march around the walls of Jericho"-type rhythm; although I'm sure I made it around the castle more than 7 times!
Lacking the courage (and equipment) to send the walls crashing down with the blow of a ram's horn, I sought the go ahead "thumbs up" from my friend Kelly before finally taking the next big step and finally crossing the threshold past the Château's outer defences:
And in we go!
Once again, lacking the gumption to go it alone, I brought Alix and Marlène along for the inaugural visit.
This was not your average Tex-Mex. In fact, there was nothing average about our evening among these Mexican ex-pats. In great conviviality, eight of us, three Americans and five French, enjoyed pitchers of margaritas, chips and salsa, delicious main courses of mole, enchiladas, and fajitas, and strong, liqueur-filled coffee. Unlike Mexican (Tex-Mex) restaurants in the States, this one was not promoting the chip-and-dip/salsa culture. For a table of 8, we received two small bowls of chips (maybe about 15 chips per container) and two sushi-soy sauce size mini-bowls of red ("non-spicy") and green ("spicy", it's all relative) salsa per bowl of chips. I tend to be of the "chips with my salsa"school as opposed to the "salsa with my chips" one, so I was a little disappointed by the miniscule serving, and the reluctancy of the servers to refill the two tablespoons of salsa that filled each of the bowls. That being said, they could not be accused of causing us to spoil our appetite and thus, our enjoyment of delictable morsels that were to come.
Over dinner, there were a few words about an earthquake in Japan, the extent of the damage, none of us could have imagined until we began watching video footage posted on the internet in the days that followed.
The next day, we skipped the morning in favor of the afternoon (although I did manage to see the last minutes of the AM with 45 min run). The object of our outing represents the next step in my ongoing love affair with the Château de Vincennes. Like a new crush, I have been admiring the Château for some time now, but mostly from a far. During my first months in Paris, I would catch a glimpse of the flag and the top portion of the dungeon's tower peeking out from behind the trees while running or biking through the woods to go to tennis. Exhibit A gives you an idea of my initial sightings of the Château albeit from much closer up:
So as to be a bit more neighborly and decrease the physical and affective distance between me and my crush, I began to cirle the path around the Château a part of my running route in a sort of "march around the walls of Jericho"-type rhythm; although I'm sure I made it around the castle more than 7 times!
Lacking the courage (and equipment) to send the walls crashing down with the blow of a ram's horn, I sought the go ahead "thumbs up" from my friend Kelly before finally taking the next big step and finally crossing the threshold past the Château's outer defences:
And in we go!
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| This is actually the front - we went in through the back door. |
Clearly they loved the castle as well for they say that imitation is the highest (and perhaps most sincere) form of flattery.
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| I've still got a little work to do... |
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| Dungeon |
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| La Saint Chapelle |
Post-promenade play in the Parc Floral de Paris
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| Simon and Garfunkel, anyone? |
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| Mlle Courbon |
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| Finding no place for myself in "Parc Floral de Paris", I was feeling a little "lo" |
To be continued...
Nicely done, we're already missing you and the big city. Hoping the runs are intensifying smoothly and the knee is holding up. Talk to you soon.
ReplyDeleteA.