kyle visits paris

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Hey everyone! So I realize it's been an inexcusably long time since my last blog, but it's the computer's fault, not mine, I promise. I'd love to catch you all up on everything I've been doing since December when I last wrote, but then I might never catch up to myself and everything that I'm doing now. So. Now. Kyle was just here a week ago for about 10 days providing me with the excitement of having family come to visit, as well as the wonderful excuse to get out and do some more touristy things. First though, he wanted everyone to see where I live. Somehow I've lost the picture of the small but charming courtyard garden walkway that leads to my apartment. So instead I have the pictures of my bathroom which Kyle found to be amusingly, if not frustratingly small. So you get to see that.
Kyle has written an extensive email detailing his activities while here, but I'll try to give an overview of what for me were some of the highlights:
Tuesday: kyle arrives. it is a strange day for weather- in a half hour's time I walked through gray, rain, hail, golden sunshine, blue skies, and gray again. as we cross the canal on our way to my apt, we catch a riverboat (only the 2nd I've seen since living here by the canal) in it's slow but what I find fascinating journey through the locks where the canal goes downhill. tuesday night we meet some of my friends at La Fontaine jazz club up the road. Unfortunately the band wasn't fantabulous, but I still love the spot. We also bought lots and lots of really good food.
Wednesday- Kyle meets me after school and we walk all the way through Paris from the Jardin du Luxembourg in the south, over the seine, through the Marais where we pick up a litre of Amorino ice cream which i believe to be the best ice cream in Paris even though it's technically gelato. When we get home, we eat it. : )
Thursday- We go to my friend Antonio's for dinner where several of my gang have gathered for wining and dining on Antonio's and my culinary creations. Always a good time.
Friday- We go to see Camus' "Caligula" at a theater in the 18th (Montmartre) so we seize the opportunity of course to walk up to the Sacre Coeur all of about a block away. This is where Kyle decided it would be really cool to take pictures of himself giving the thumbs up everywhere we went. Thanks to this, we looked super-suave all over Paris for the rest of the week. And the production we saw was actually quite good in addition to providing a fine challenge to our french comprehension levels.
Saturday- We decide a good look at rows upon rows of stacks and stacks of human bones will make for a cheerful afternoon so we head to the Catacombes. An experience difficult to articulate. Strangely, it was not so much the presence of the bones and spirits of those whose bodies had been transported to these depths that shook me, but rather the lingering presence of all the workers whose job it was to work in these caves every day, stacking bones. We emerged from the dark into the afternoon light right by a little shop with music box machines on a rack outside (everything from lullabies and old classics to Beatles to showtunes) so we played with those for a bit before moving on home.
Meanwhile we'd coordinated with Aoife and the friends network to have a cocktail party chez nous that evening. I will humbly say that it was a big success and we went out afterwards to come home sometime around 5am. It is after all, the city life for the young and energetic (which is us).
Sunday- We recovered, made "french toast" and watched all of series one of 'Little Britain,' a (surprise surprise) British series introduced to us by my charming flatmate who got a huge kick out of us watching this so uniquely british sitcom. Sometimes I feel like I'm learning as much about british culture here as I am french. We did finish the day out of the house, with a fantabulous meal at the famous Hotel du Nord (used as the set for a film, entitled "hotel du Nord" I believe, though I havent ever actually seen it) but apparently film world and famous people hang out there. We did see a beautiful and famous singer (you'll have to ask kyle who it was because i didn't actually know who she was, but i can vouch for her beauty). The food was amazing, and by a fortunate turn of fate, we didn't pay a penny!
Monday- We went to the Musee Picasso which was very cool- his paintings, sculptures, photos of him, a whole section on the making of Guernica which was especially cool to see. Another check off the long list of museums I've been meaning to see.
Tuesday- After school, we go with my friends Sergio and Danielle to the Muslim Institute and Mosque, a beautiful building on the southern side of Paris where you can sit and have a cup of tea and feel completely in another land. It was amazing- within the first five minutes of walking into the tea room I could actually feel that we were all breathing deeper. A good spot to know of for a moment of calm. Then to stay within a theme, Kyle and I continued on to the Institute of the Arab world where there was an exhibit on science and mathematics in the Arab world. The exhibit, unfortunately was still not as cool as the building itself which has a whole wall of windows that adjust according to the exterior light like irises.
Wednesday- kyle made the most of the day going to the pompidou center while I was in school, then we just hung out, happy to be with each other before he left on thursday.
So there you have it folks. My visit from kyle. Next are my three best girlfriends from Amherst who arrive this saturday!!! look out.

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Comments

[gramma & Grampa]

Sounds like a "fantabulous" visit!
Be sure you skip the Sorbonne... Grampa was there in "68 when the gendarmes were waiting quietly in the dark ready to bash the students when they receivred the order! Don't miss the Rodin Museum--Grampa's favorite. Small butt chockful of pieces you probably have never seen before. Hugs.