Ensemble a Paris

A couple of weeks ago, Kate arrived in Paris to spend a chunk of her January term with us.  A few days later, her roommate Lila also joined us.  Our dear friends Esther and Abhijit (without whom we would certainly not be in Paris) also arrived for their semester here last week.  And another dear friend, Astrid, who splits her time between New York and Paris these days, was stopping by Paris last week for a short visit.  Finally, a kind and helpful friend we have made more recently, Eric, has also returned to Paris after a year away.  (This was all, roughly, a week before my trip to Cote d'Ivoire.).  As a result, we had a wonderful week of catching up, reconnecting, and lunches and dinners with friends.  All of these arrivals brought a note of cheer and festivity to what is often, for me, the quietest time of the year.  

Astrid reached out to say that she would be in town, and we immediately asked her over for dinner.  Our dining table with our lovely view of the city, with a big pot of white bean and spinach soup, some bread from a wonderful bakery with butter and cheese, a fennel and orange salad, and a bottle of wine, provided the setting for hours of conversation.  We got the update on her career (she's a painter) and what shows she has coming up.  She received our updates and heard about our year so far in Paris.  We had a galette du roi for dessert, and Astrid got the feve--an argyle giraffe, of all things.  We looked up argyle on Wikipedia and found out that it was a symbol of rebellion and resistance for the Scots against the English when they outlawed the wearing of tartans.   

We had dinner at an old favorite pizza place with Esther, the kids, their new nanny, and Esther's father one evening, as well.  (Abhijit had not yet arrived in Paris, spending a few extra days in Kolkata.). It's a lively, friendly place with pretty good pizza, and it was so good to see the whole gang.  The kids are both attending the school that Kate attended when we lived in Paris before.  Recollections and excited banter were the order of the evening.

Later, Glenn and I caught up with Abhijit and another dear friend Olivier, along with Esther, too, at a lunch out at PSE.  We had seen Olivier in the fall, but not enough, and had not seen Abhijit in months.  It was so nice to catch up and chat.

Glenn and I were both busy at work, first with a submission deadline, then with playing catch-up after the submission deadline, so we did not get to take part in some of the activities that Kate and Lila enjoyed, unfortunately.  They went to the Musee des Arts and Metiers, to the Chateau and surroundings at Fontainbleau, a jazz club, and some of the twice-yearly soldes at the big department stores.  It sounds like they had a wonderful time, and we got to hear all about their adventures over several lovely dinners at the apartment.  We did take them for one dinner to a favorite Israeli restaurant in the Marais, Tavline.  

On top of all of this, we were preparing for our trip to Italy so invited the two graduate students who will be dog-sitting for us, Eric and Mireia, over for an apero to meet Sandy and let me show them around.  As I said, it was a homecoming of sorts for Eric.  He is doing his PhD in Paris but had just spent the last calendar year at MIT.  Both Eric and Mereia are so kind and lovely, and we were very grateful to have them looking after Sandy while we're away.

It feels like Paris is coming to life, our little slice of it, at least.  After a quiet fall, we are very much looking forward to having some of our Paris friends back here.  And we are eager for all of the additional friends scheduled to come through Paris in the spring to say hello.  It feels like it will be a livelier new year!