TBM #1

The question that seems to come up in many emails from y'all is: "How are you spending your time." Since I try to make each blog entry interesting, I try to avoid writing about the trivial, boring, and the mundane. However, by popular demand and to answer the question above, I will create a series of blog entries dedicated to the "TBM." [Michael, please let me know if you need a translation :) ]

During the past week...

Saturday: Went to Shakespeare and Company and heard a panel discussion on Barak Obama by contributers to the New York Review of Books. Met up with Anne (a friend of Pat Mandel) from San Francisco and three of her friends and had dinner. Luca and I being, the youngest of the gang, went out for a beer afterwards.

Sunday: Putzed around in the morning, ate lunch, went swimming, talked to strangers. (I am working on writing my own rules, and one of them will be "talk to strangers." Met Cherif, who is very funny and does a great impression of English people trying to speak French.

Monday: I can't remember. Is the alzheimers starting to set in? Oh, I know... I was supposed to go to Marseille and Montpellier on Wednesday, but after a few more hours searching the internet, I could not find a hotel room in Marseille. So, I cancelled the trip... and lost one of the three train tickets as it was an internet special. Boo hoo. Went to the Musee du Moyen Ages - museum of the middle ages - which was really quite interesting and may deserve it's own blog posting.

Tuesday: Hung out with Luca, who introduced me to the 19th arrondisement (neighborhood) and a pool where people actually know how to swim, at least compared to my regular pool. Finally, I had a decent workout. Then, Luca made lunch, and afterwards we walked around Butte Chaumont (a park) and Bassin de la Villette (a canal.)


Afterwards, I headed all the way across Paris to meet up with Fabrizio, the flight attendant I met on the flight to Paris, and we walked around a nighborhood near the Tour Eiffel and had dinner. Returned home to watch the French national soccer team lose to Pays-Bas (Netherlands.)
Here's a few photos of the Tour Eiffel. More photos below.




Wednesday. Hung out with Antonio for awhile. Looked at some of his artwork, which he is taking around to galleries in hopes of finding someone who will display and sell his work. http://www.antoniofarina.es/ Went shopping, and did not have dinner with Richard as he requested that we reschedule for Thursday. Went out late and took photos and stayed up late writing (previous) blog entry.

Thursday: Woke up late after being awake until 2:30 am. Damn those late night blog postings! Read and sent email including a response to an email from my father. Apparently, I was in his email address book and received a mass-mailing about his run for the Montana state legislature. Despite the fact that this was the first time that he has initiated contact with me in forever, albeit by accident, I decided to reply. I wished him the best in his campaign, but indicated that I hope a democrat wins. Oddly, I've still not received a reply. ;-\ Went swimming. Hosted Richard for dinner and made a very tasty salad, spicy pasta and tender beef marinated in garlic and olive oil. It was late and Richard left without dessert, so I've been eating the mille feuille and chocolate tartelette on my own since then. Yummmy!

Friday: Breakfast. Wandered around with Ariel for awhile, passed the temporary eco-park in front of City Hall. We stood in line for the Princess Grace exhibit, but after about 45 minutes to an hour, we bailed and went to L'Open Cafe for a beverage. There is a column WWW.World is Strange in 2X magazine which had an article on "photobombing." And, I quote: "Faire le couille sur la photo d'un autre, on appelle ca le photobombing (c'est toujours tres tendance de sortir un nouveau mot en parlant tres fort a la terrasse de l'Open.)" Here we were, reading and talking about this new expression "photobombing" that we must use while sitting at l'Open Cafe. The world really is strange.


Photobombing.... intentionally butting-in or popping-up in someone else's photo. If you're not laughing a little, look again.

Instead of the quiet evening I was thinking about, I took a walk along the Seine on the longest day of the year. Foolishly, I forgot my camera, but I saw amazing views of the City of Lights, including Le Tour Eiffel lit up and sparkling, Place de la Concorde with fountains gushing recycled water and lights everywhere, and boats cruising up and down the Seine. At Pont des Arts, picnics, beer and wine are all the rage on a Friday night at 11:30 pm. I would estimate that this pedestrian bridge was host to at least 400-500 people enjoying the warm weather and the view. Perhaps this is a regular summer thing, or a celebration of the end of the school year (as they mostly seemed to be college-aged,) or a way of celebrating the summer solstice. Regardless, I now understand why Paris smells like urine along the Seine... and trust me, it's not the dogs.

Okay, that was my TBM week. Until next time... a la prochaine.

Some more photos of the Eiffel Tower. This will be my next apartment. Check out what's in my backyard.
If only I could print these - I could send them as postcards.




Ellen - This one is for you! Say "hello" to Mr. Elephant.