back to life

I love Paris. I know mostly everyone knows that, but I wanted to make sure it's clear: I love Paris. More than NYC (though I love it) and more than anywhere else I've ever been. It truly is home to me, though I really haven't spent much time here.

My apartment overlooks the courtyard of an elementary school, and every morning around 8 kids come in and yell until 8:30. I don't even mind it, because I go to my balcony and watch them a little as they run around in their mini pea-coats and shriek in French. The buildings on either side are very pretty, very Parisian. From my balcony I can also see the top of the Tour Montparnasse - just a little bit of a modern city in the middle of the old-world feel of this neighborhood.

Did I mention I don't live where I thought I was going to live? My original address was at the very end of the 13eme arr, on the outskirts of the city. I actually live in the 7eme arr, much closer to the center of the city, and in much better walking distance to La Sorbonne. I can walk there and to many other sites; I could even take a stroll to the Ile-de-la-Cite (where Notre Dame, Ste. Chappelle, the Conciergerie and lots of other things are) on a nice day.

Today, for the first time, I did a bit of grocery shopping. Traditionally, the French do their shopping every morning to get fresh bread, fruit, and cheese for the day. I guess some do this, but many don't do it daily anymore, and many do it on their way home from work. Well, I didn't have class or anything today, but I got it on my way home from the day's explorations. I stopped by an epicerie (general market) to get a bottle of wine and some fruit, then I visited a local boulanger (baker) to get some bread. I feel very Parisian today.

A bunch of people have been asking what I eat, but so far it has not been exciting. My host family made a very simple but nice dinner a couple of nights ago. Today I had a delicious salade Nicoise for lunch, and yesterday a great tartine saucisse (cheese, tomatoes, and dried sausage pieces on flat bread, toasted). But even in Paris one finds bad food: my sandwich suednais was gross yesterday.

Kitty wants me to pet her. She's gorgeous and sleeps with me at night, but I'm still not sure of her name. Maybe if you're lucky I'll tell you tomorrow about the crazy I met at Notre Dame yesterday!