le weekend update

I have officially been in France for over two months! Huzzah!

Also just a warning:
This is going to be mainly a "list all the things I did this weekend" blog. You have been warned.

Last week was lighter that normal, as the older girls were away with extended family. It was just Am and me. And man, did we bond. I can already tell I am going to miss that sweet, sweet baby! 1 year old is such a great age, and she is so adorable it just about breaks my heart.

On Friday I left Rouen to visit Paris (I am becoming quite familiar with this train ride) were I met up with Julia on Rue Cler. We then set out to buy some wine (which ended up being more like water-wine) and hoofed it over to the ecole militaire side of the Eiffle Tower (the grassy side) just in time to see it sparkle.
We joined hordes of people lounging on the damp grass, nearly everyone with a bottle of something for themselves. Then we sat and talked and listened to everyone around us. We were surrounded by almost all English speakers. It is so crazy how much English (and especially American English) I hear every time I go to Paris. We then were asked to leave the grass by an officer, so we walked to the OTHER side of the Eiffel tower by Trocadero and spent another hour chatting and watching it sparkle.

For two days it felt like we walked nearly ALL of Paris. Or at least that is what my feet were telling me. We walked the entire Marais, saw the Place des Voges and Victor Hugo's house, the musee conacq-jay were we stopped (mainly to use the free bathrooms), and the rue de Rosiers where we ate some falafel (yum).
We walked the entire rue de Rivoli, saw the hotel de ville, les halles (where we got to see some nice ping pong action), the Bastille market, the Louvre, and the Tuileries where Julia spontaneously reconnected with a friend from her sordid study-abroad past (ok, not that sordid. but man, that kid was awkward).

We meandered through the Latin quarter, visiting Shakespeare and Co and walking by the Caveau de la Hauchette. We were abruptly escorted off the metro line 4 (it was suddenly under construction), so we walked past Notre Dame, the Seine, and through St Germain des Pres and past the Institute de France to find Cosi, where we met another American also enjoying her sandwich. We ended up eating together and found out that she works for a law firm (English/American but with strong international ties) in Paris. Cool!

We stood in line to get into Angelina's, walked by the Place de la Concorde, and stopped by the Paris Opera house to check out their schedule (sadly the ballet for that night was sold out, and we had tickets to see Tintin in 3D anyway). We stopped at a cafe, were hassled by a homeless man and then even more hassled when, somehow, he crashed into our table and ended up on the ground with our broken glasses while the wine and beer ended up all over me. Lets just say I did not enjoy smelling like an alcoholic.

We headed over to Mia's on Sunday night because she was not feeling well. We stayed there and helped her out the next couple of days, chilling and watching movies, with brief interludes into the city like a lovely Halloween dinner in St Germain des Pres and stops in the Paris Mosque Tea Room, the Jardin des Plantes, and the Galerie Vivienne.

Anyway, it was a full and fun long weekend. I currently have no plans for this weekend, but today my hour long search for a Mexican restaurant I KNEW I have seen before was in vain, so I might pursue that again.

I love and miss you all. I'll be home in a month and a half for Christmas and I CANNOT wait!