Coming up on a Month

Later this week will mark the end of the first month of our year here. And this is only my third post! I need to pick up the pace and catch up on so many events, thoughts, photos, etc.

Overall, the month has been lovely and enjoyable and just what I was hoping for. There have been frustrations--apartment-related mostly, and way more than our share--but I still feel happy and relaxed and invigorated. One of the aspects of Paris that I was most looking forward to was the pedestrian-focused (and public-transportation-focused) lifestyle. Even on a searing hot day, even when the RER B is acting up, I am still so grateful that I am not tethered to my car and can do everything I need to do on foot or train or bus. And the density of people and economic activity means that I have so many choices within 10 minutes of our apartment.

And being on sabbatical is magical, too. Having time to devote to work projects but also the freedom to play hooky is hard to beat. For instance, our friend Vivian was in town for a meeting this week. She didn't know how much free time she would have and contacted us on short notice to see if we would be available. "Of course!," we answered, a response that would have been more difficult in our normal, Boston existence. 

 She arrived on a red eye on Wednesday morning, took a quick nap at her hotel, and stopped by our apartment for lunch of braesola, figs, chevre, and a baguette (and iced tea, of course). We then walked over to Saint Sulpice to see the Delacroix paintings there, and onto the Delacroix museum a few blocks north (which is housed in the apartment and studio he used while painting the pieces for Saint Sulpice). Below is a detail from a painting there that caught my eye--I love how the folds and draping of the cloth was captured. We took a break in the middle to have a cone of mousse au chocolat at Chapon, very close to Saint Sulpice. (It was even more delicious than I had remembered.). I also noticed that Chapon was selling ice cream and had five different varieties of chocolate ice cream (single origins) with distinct flavor profiles. We can save that for another time. It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon.

Other highlights of our time so far include the Jazz festival at La Villette, Basquiat x Warhol (documented in an earlier post), the Ramses II exhibit at La Villette, a hike in Champagne vineyards and visit to a Champagne house with tastings, a day at Parc de Sceaux with Sandy, some pretty decent meals, a rugby game (France-Australia) at Stade de France, and, of course, having time and space and energy to get some good work done.