Monday, Sept.10: Arrive @ airport. Meet Alex, Nicole. Take shuttle with Alex to rue Biot. Greeted by Jacques. Meet Andrew for real. Introductions. Choose room -- I choose the one with the window with the view of the courtyard. Eat whatever we can find. Begin walk. Get lost several times attempting to go through rue des Abbesses and Montmartre. Reach Sacre-Coeur, but the magnificence of building is overshadowed by our fatigue and our sense of not-really-being-in-Paris. (Jet lag.) Head back to Pl. de Clichy, attempt to walk to Parc Monceau. Unaware we are heading towards Blvd. de Clichy and Pigalle until we pass the Moulin Rouge -- wrong way. Head to Parc Monceau. Rest at Parc Monceau. Kids playing: "Je suis un helicoptere!" Head towards Arc de Triomphe. Reach Arc de Triomphe, in time for the changing of the guard. Head back willy-nilly to rue Biot. Dinner: Jacques invites his son + his first student (a Swedish woman who works for the embassy in France). Dinner is nice, conversation is long; we sit there and occassionally throw in witty asides. Finish setting up and sleep.
Tuesday, Sept 11: First time on the metro: takes a while to figure out the tickets. Late for IES orientation @ noon. After, meet several people, incl. Josh, Ai, Mariel, Nick. Find the local boulangerie, head for Eiffel Tower, then Invalides, then wander for a while. Notre-Dame, then drink at a nearby cafe. Head home for rest. Dinner at 10 in the evening around Montparnasse-Alesia. Return from metro. Nighty-night.
Wednesday, Sept 12: IES orientation @ FIAP. Lunch. Meet more people. Head out; Latin Quarter + 1st arrondissement. Linger in front of Centre Pompidou. Return home. Waste time, read in terrace. Dinner w/ Jacques. As always, good.
Thursday, Sept 13: IES orientation @ FIAP. Propedeutique test. Lunch, heavily commented on. Propedeutique groups determined. Meet Gabi. Kill time in afternoon by walking to IES. Afternoon trip to an exhibition in Chateau des Sceaux w/ Jacques. Good times. Apres, on dine, mais ou?
Friday, Sept 14: First day of Propedeutique. Meet Yoko, who shows us an awesome creperie. Best guacamole ever. More IES stuff. Return to creperie w/ Andrew, Nicole, linger. Eat dinner at Resto U, Cite Universitaire. Nighttime: hang out at apartments, sample cheap wine.
Saturday, Sept 15: Miss Technoparade due to oversleeping. Spend noon chasing group. Trocadero, find bus ticket --> St. Michel-Auteuil --> St. Germain-des-Pres. Picnic on bridge, I forget which one exactly. Strawberries good. Head to Louvre. Alex drops camera. Appears broken. Just a problem w/ lens. Alex drops camera again. No problems. Go beyond Louvre, into the gardens. Ferris wheel. Return to rue Biot. Walk along Av. de Clichy. Buy Vegomatic CD, used. Night: dinner @ Gabi's, it is good. Linger till beyond midnite. Star cards.
Sunday, Sept 16: Need to find book, but all bookshops closed save for FNAC, Champs-Elysees. Waste time sampling music. Buy Keren Ann CD. FNAC books closed. Stroke of luck: Virgin has it. Eat hot dog on baguette + Coke. Too many tourists, too many French PDA'ing. Bloody French. Return to rue Biot, go walk along Parc Monceau. Stay at rue Biot for dinner.
Monday, Sept 17: Propedeutique. Travel agency, Greek food. Apres midi, re-linger with Nick, Gabi. Apple juice enjoyed by all. Tour of Marais. Return to rue Biot. Go to Montmartre/Sacre-Coeur, but caught by rain. Rush back to rue Biot. Dinner @ Jacques: steak, chips, salad, goat cheese is gooood.
Tuesday, Sept 18: Propedeutique. Linger @ IES, conscripted for an informative tour of the Arsenal. Urban planning. Drink at cafe along Gobelins. Wait out rain. Improvise dinner.
Wednesday, Sept 19: Propedeutique. More travel meetings. Housing meeting. Tour of Montmartre w/ Nicole. Walk to rue Biot, grab Andrew. Visit Nicole's posh place. Do not quite make it to Bois de Boulogne. Very early for boat trip. Spend till 9 waiting. Talk. Talk. Talk. Hungry. See Eiffel Tower do cool tricks. Boat. Exotic fruit juice. Good appetizers, melon soup; main course: lamb+potatoes. Dessert is good. Talk. Talk. Pictures.
Thursday, Sept 20: Propedeutique. Tired as hell. After lunch, go home. Nap. Nap, wake up for academic meeting. Courses OK, but it turns out I solved one conflict with another. Linger in Latin Quarter, head to that monstrosity, most people call it the Tour Montparnasse. Linger in mall. Return to rue Biot; grab chips as study aids. Waste time. Dinner w/ Jacques: damn good! Back to study, essay until 2.
Friday, Sept 21: Last day of Propedeutique. Test. Yoko suggests new boulangerie. Tuna sandwich -- what can I say, I'm conservative! More travel meetings. More wrangling, but we'll do. Return home, nap. Office Depot: these European notebooks take getting used to, but a decent planner. Call everyone for an attempted movie night. Timing goes way wrong, head to a pub, greeted by an English-speaking waiter. Linger too long for movie. Irish fans outside. French rugby support band plays in front of pub. Wander around Pigalle. Go to Latin Quarter pub for rugby match: France vs. Ireland. Good clean fun. Wander Latin Quarter briefly, go home.
Saturday, Sept. 22: Wake up, head to Louvre. Italian and French collections w/ Alex, Andrew, Nicole. Eat at 16eme, a place w/ menus written in French, Japanese. Good food, tea, but steep overspending on my part. Mariel arrives. Bois de Boulogne, walk around the Inferior Lake, head to FNAC. Waste time listening to more music. Buy Yelle CD at long last, + Martin Solveig, David Guetta. Go to St. Michel, Latin Quarter. Find an Egyptian restaurant, or rather, its greeter finds us. Food is nice, especially aperitif, and dessert. And hummus. Kebab is good too, but too full. Wander around Latin Quarter, follow Scottish marching band. Bagpipes. Go home. Tired.
Well, that was hard. As you can see, I like rugby, la FNAC, and tuna or camembert sandwiches on baguette bread. That and Yelle and/or Keren Ann. That's almost two weeks, isn' t it? We haven't been here very long, and yet, two weeks is a long time. Well, shows that its best to be out doing stuff, rather than waiting to write every detail. But we'll have time for that too.
Now I can get to the important stuff.
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