School Makes A Comeback

This past week focused pretty heavily for both Jess and I on school. On Wednesday, I had the final exam for my big class that meets for three hours every day. It was, you guessed it, a three hour long exam. While not a lot of fun either to take or to prepare for, I think it went pretty well. While there are still two exams this coming week, much of the work for the semester has come to an end.

For Jessica, it was her first full week of classes for the new semester, along with some extra lectures thrown in for good measure. She has a bit of a crazy schedule with a number of both early morning and late evening classes. Fortunately though, she does not have to attend a class until 9:30 pm at night one evening and then arrive for class the next morning at 8 am as she had thought she would. There is at least one professor she is really excited about, saying that she hasn’t had a professor who was both this knowledgeable about their subject and excited to teach it since her undergrad days.

With all the focus on school, we’ve been something of homebodies. But last weekend, we were able to go visit one of the museums of natural history in Paris that focuses on evolution and speciation. On the lower floors were extensive taxidermy collections you would expect from a flagship French museum. There was even a room dedicated to endangered and extinct species, such as the Tasmanian tiger (extinct), Cape lions (extinct), and mountain gorillas (endangered) along with many others. The upper floors of the museum though were dedicated to exploring how people have shaped evolutionary pressures on animals and plants. The obvious example is in agriculture where there were examples of primitive corn, modern corn and many of the intermediate forms, and examples of domestic farm animals next to their wild ancestors. It was all very impressive, even the building was a gorgeous mid-19^th century exhibition hall.

The real highlight of our week though was going to visit Nick, Monica, and their new baby Victor (we watched their dog Luna during the birth in December). I had not yet met Victor, and Jessica had only seen him immediately after he was born. We ended up spending the whole evening at their apartment and went to dinner at a crepe shop. It was a lot of fun to spend some time with Nick and Monica.

Happy New Year!

Sorry that this post has been a little delayed. We're each back to school this week; Matt's first semester continues for a few more weeks, while I have begun a new schedule of eight (!) classes.

Our New Year's celebration wasn't particularly exciting...I'd procrastinated a bit too much, and ended up spending most of the day/evening finishing up a paper for one of my fall semester classes. We tried to make it out to one of the big celebrations for New Year's (the Parisian equivalent of the Times Square party), but the metro train we were on was held up for several minutes. Rather than greet the New Year sitting on a crowded subway underground, we wandered out into the street -- just in time to hear cheering crowds and popping fireworks. Without planning for it, we'd ended up near some of the largest department stores, so we spent a fairly long time (until I was too cold to stay out anymore!) looking at their beautiful Christmas lights and window displays -- much more peaceful and far less crowded than our original plans; to my mind, perhaps even better if things had worked out as we'd expected!

Later that afternoon, we headed up to London for a few days. Because we'd each been to London before, we concentrated on filling in the thing we felt like we'd missed the first time: perhaps my favorite was the long afternoon we spent at the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum. This was the extensive underground complex from which the British fought World War II. Unfortunately, our pictures came out terribly -- as you can see in this "image" of the bedroom/office prepared for Churchill. :) (Apparently, he slept here fewer than five times during the entire war -- he actually observed most of the Nazi bombing raids of London from the roof of the War Department. )

We tried to see the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. The last time I attempted this, I was nearly crushed against the fence, and couldn't really see much of anything (I was kind of trapped behind a large stone pillar). This time, I figured we'd be smarter and stand several hundred feet back, so as to have a broader vantage point -- of course, many, many other people had the same idea, and we ultimately ended up behind the tops of too many heads to see very much.

An unobstructed view -- if you shoved a few hundred heads into the foreground, you could approximate the view we had of the Changing of the Guard. :-)

Our last night in London, in front of St. Paul's Cathedral.

Joyeux Noel!

We had a wonderful pre-Christmas vacation in Geneva, simply enjoying the time to get away and enjoy both the break from classes and the joy of the season. The city itself was beautiful, all done up in lights and holiday decorations -- and the location, deep in the Alps, certainly didn't hurt.

We had a couple of truly amazing experiences while in Geneva. First, while we were wandering through the center of town looking for a restaurant, we were surprised to hear someone say (in English), "Excuse me, did you ever attend Georgetown Law?" It turned out to be a woman who used to work in the Career Services office -- in fact, she was the person who finally convinced me that this program in Paris (which has pushed back my graduation date by one semester) was a good idea! She had resigned over the summer, but I hadn't heard any details: it turns out that she moved after her husband was transferred to Geneva. It amazes me how small the world can be!

Second, we very nearly got to meet Kofi Annan (the former Secretary General of the United Nations). We had seen flyers announcing that he would be speaking at an interfaith prayer service. The entire service was really lovely (and, since Genevans speak much less quickly than Parisians do, Matt and I were able to understand more than we'd expected), but the highlight really was Mr. Annan's speech. It was incredibly interesting for me, in particular, because he addressed some of the topics that I've previously covered in my law classes. We tried to go speak with him after the service concluded, but he was whisked away just before we would have reached him.


A few of the things we would have liked to see were closed for the holiday break -- including C.E.R.N., the European nuclear research center. We did take the bus out to see what we could see -- which turned out to be "the Globe", which hosts CERN's visitor's center and is the jumping-off point for all the tours. Deep underground was the Large Hadron Collider, which was in the news a few months ago because some commentators were speculating that turning it on might open up a black hole around the Earth.


We also tried to visit the United Nations in Geneva, which now occupies the building where the League of Nations was founded. Even though the building was emptied for the holidays -- completely closed from December 20 - January 4 -- there was still a large (but completely orderly) protest being carried on outside. From what we could discern, the protesters seemed to be the family members of Iranian dissenters who were living in an unstable region of Iraq, and were not receiving adequate security.


We took a side trip to Lausanne, which is about 40 minutes from Geneva by train and the seat of the International Olympic Committee. The town is beautiful, with a 13th Century cathedral (still in use today) and castle -- but also exhausting, as it was literally built into the side of a mountain.

By the end of the day, we were ready for a good night's sleep -- which, unfortunately, wasn't to be. Our flight back to Paris was at 6:30 the next morning, so we ended up sleeping in the airport to be sure that we'd be on time for the 4:30 check-in. Neither one of us got very much rest, but we had an easy trip home and took long naps before venturing out on Christmas Eve.

Paris is beautiful nearly all the time (perhaps even during the nearly-constant drizzle we've had for the last several weeks!), but I really think Christmas is my favorite time (so far, anyway). The lights are absolutely gorgeous, sparkling down streets and storefronts.


After a good, long nap, Matt and I wandered out to the largest Christmas Market in town, which runs along the Champs-Elysee. Each vendor has his own little wooden hut -- selling anything from vin chaud (sweetened, diluted, and heated wine) and crepes to Indian textiles to light-up Santa Claus hats to virtually anything you can imagine.

[We had seen similar Christmas Markets in both Geneva and Lausanne -- one of the things that surprised us was how some items were in each market (e.g., collapsable wooden fruit bowls and, almost inexplicably, Confederate flag belt buckles).]

We headed home to make a simple Christmas Eve dinner together, then attended the late-night Christmas Eve service at church. I was a little saddened when we had to go through a security check -- nothing strenuous, just a quick inspection of my handbag -- but I appreciated the impulse. (Since dyanamite was found in one of the major department stores, the Paris police really stepped up security measures around the holiday, deploying more than 500 extra officers to patrol the streets.) Once inside, though, it was a beautiful service full of holiday music. My favorite part was something I remembered from home -- at the end of the service, the sanctuary lights were dimmed, and we sang Silent Night by candlelight.

We celebrated on Christmas Day by sharing a holiday dinner with some French friends, who live just outside Paris (an easy trip by commuter train). It was a wonderful, traditional dinner -- we began with foie gras and continued to escargot; after the main meal, we had a beautiful bouche de Noel. We spent a quiet afternoon and evening at their home -- just enjoying each other's company and the holiday. We weren't home until late that night -- with just enough time for me to call my family and Matt to call his -- before we fell back into bed. I was surprised at how much I missed everyone, but we really enjoyed spending our first married Christmas together in our temporary home.

We've spent the last few days back in Paris, catching up our sleep and some of the errands we'd let slide over the end of the semester. (The last big project on our list is weatherproofing the front door, where huge amounts of cold air have been pouring in. As a stopgap, we've lain a heavy towel across the bottom and hung a duvet cover across the door -- but we're still losing quite a bit of heat and would like a more permanent solution.) Then, just after the New Year, we're off to London for a few days!

The One In Which We Acquire a Dog...

...but only temporarily. Nick and Monica (see the Thanksgiving post) headed to the hospital on Friday morning for the birth of their son (who finally arrived this morning), so their dog has come to stay with us for a few days. Matt and I have been having a wonderful time with our canine houseguest (the cats are a little nonplussed, but being pretty good sports about the situation), and we're looking forward to having her with us for most of the week.

I'm not sure whether she thinks that our apartment is too cold or that our throw blankets are snuggly.

We finally got around to decorating for Christmas this week. Since we didn't want to spend very much acquiring big decorations that we'd just have to either ship back or get rid of in a few months, we kept things fairly minimalist this year. We did hang our stockings and put up an improvised Advent calendar (by the time we'd thought to purchase one, the stores had sold out -- I suppose that's what we deserve for delaying our Christmas observances until after Thanksgiving...)

I covered all the paintings and pictures in the apartment with inexpensive wrapping paper, and then used them to improvise our decorations. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out...

We debated for a long time, but ultimately decided not to buy a Christmas tree this year -- even the smallest trees are pretty expensive, and don't last very long at all. (Rather than the blunt-cut stump I've always seen in the US, the trees here have their trunks sharpened into a point and inserted into a solid stand. The tree would be completely dried out within days.) BUT, rather than forego the entire tree experience, we decided to bring a bit of the Charlie Brown Christmas Special into our apartment and decorate the ficus:

I put about six feet of tinsel and four felt stars on there...I'm really not sure it could stand up to too much more!

We also celebrated Matt's birthday this week! We spent his birthday night wandering downtown, including to Notre Dame to see their beautiful, gigantic Christmas tree and the Illuminated Nativity scene. We finally decided we were hungry and a little bit cold, so we picked a nearby restaurant for dinner. The food wasn't fantastic, but the ambiance was fun: there was a live pianist and both our champagne and dessert came with sparklers. (The French seem to use sparklers rather than candles for birthday cakes.)

Later in the week, I tried for a little taste of home: Texas Sheet Cake, from Ellen's fantastic recipe. I think I managed to over-sweeten the frosting (miscalculated the imperial-to-metric conversion for the sugar), but overall it came out pretty well!


For me, classes wrapped up last week, so all that's left is one week of exams. Matt's semester continues until February, but he gets two weeks off for Christmas and New Year's. We're headed off to Geneva on Friday afternoon, but are coming back to Paris for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We're still figuring out where to go for New Year's; I had been hoping we'd be able to go to Greece, but we're going to wait until things settle down a bit. (Since we'll be away, we likely won't be able to update the blog until we're back home next Wednesday.)

The Second Sunday of Advent

Our weekend got off to a chilly start this week: our heat and hot water went out on Friday afternoon (both run off the same machine). We were very, very lucky that it happened at 4:30 -- after a series of frantic phone calls, we were able to track down a repairman who could come the next day. Had it been even an hour later we might have spent the whole weekend chilled and unshowered. We ended up spending all of yesterday (Saturday) waiting for the repairman to show up, but I'm feeling incredibly grateful for the warm shower I took this morning.

The days in Paris are getting much, much shorter now: tomorrow, the sun will rise at 8:30 and set at 4:54. This, of course, means that my most favorite time of year (the holidays!) and least favorite time of the year (final exams) are coming quickly.

At this point, I've done four major presentations and written two papers. Before the end of the semester, I've got one more paper, one more presentation, and two or three exams -- it's going to be an intense two weeks, but I'm looking forward to the break that comes right after. I can't believe that my schooling in Paris is already halfway over!

Even though we're trying to concentrate on school, we're also thinking a lot about the holidays. Last Sunday, we found ourselves at a Christmas Bazaar at the American Cathedral in Paris (an absolutely stunning Episcopalian church). We each picked out a Christmas stocking, which I'm going to finally get hung this week -- I'll post pictures in the next update.

There really wasn't a convenient metro connection to get us across the river to the American Church (where we've been attending), so we decided to walk.

Our path took us across the Pont D'Alma bridge, which used to hold a replica of the flame held by the Statue of Liberty. After Princess Diana's car crashed in the adjacent tunnel in 1997, people used the flame as a makeshift memorial site: so much so that flower, candles, notes, et cetera began to blow off the bridge and into the traffic passing below. The flame has been relocated to one side of the bridge, but -- eleven years after the accident! -- people are still leaving all kinds of tributes there.


The American Church bills itself as the 'Beacon on the Seine,' which I really understood when I spotted the green spire in front of me. It was chartered in 1814, but has stood on the present site since 1930.


I snuck a couple of pictures of the sanctuary today, just before the service began. All the Christmas decorations are up, and it both looks and smells like Christmas because they add fresh evergreen branches each week.


After the services today, Matt and I decided that we were in need of a study break, so we went back to Angelina's for "L'African", their famous hot chocolate that I had so enjoyed a few weeks ago and was very excited to get to share with Matt this time. We also enjoyed a mont blanc, the recipe of which is a house secret. It was incredibly delicious and unbelievably rich -- maybe in a few weeks, we'll go back for another taste and a few more guesses!

Giving Thanks in Paris

I learned this week (from a New York Times op-ed) that the first religious pilgrims to settle in the New World were actually French, not English. (According to the article, the French Calvinists arrived in Florida about 50 years sooner than the Pligrims landed at Plymouth.)

Whether we were remembering the English or the French settlers, we of course celebrated Thanksgiving. Nick and Monica hosted about 20 of us for dinner, after everyone's classes were over for the day.

I brought a green bean casserole to contribute (most people brought a dish), after finally tracking down the ingredients at an American grocery store in Paris, called The Real McCoy. I was completely blown away as I walked in -- it'd been a long time since I'd seen so much junk food in one place! :) Most items are kept behind the counter, so you have to ask a clerk to take down the things on your list. (I half-suspect that this is done to delay the sticker-shock, as the markups are absolutely atrocious. Sometimes, though, the prices are worth it: you really can't have a green-bean casserole without a can of fried onions!)


Last night, we finally made our first visit to the Louvre since we've been in Paris. We were there specifically to hear one of Matt's friends -- an Art History student -- present a painting. She and her classmates had selected favorite works of art currenly displayed in the museum, and were offering late-night gallery talks to help people understand and appreciate the works. After we heard Gaby's presentation, we spent time exploring other parts of the museum. We left the museum after 10 p.m., then wandered home on a beautiful, cold Paris evening.

The Inevitable Post About Amazing French Healthcare

I suppose everyone knew this subject would crop up sometime on the blog: so far, the French health care system seems utterly fantastic.

Matt and I were each required, as part of our residence permit applications, to join the national health plan -- at an annual premium of less than 200 euros. For that, we qualify for 100% reimbursement of doctor's visit costs and most prescriptions (like in the US, certain brand-name drugs aren't fully covered).

We have been completely amazed by the difference from the experiences we've had in the US. In the first place, it's easier to get an appointment: Matt called on a Wednesday to schedule his physical -- and got an appointment on Friday afternoon! And even more important, the visits simply feel less rushed and more patient-centered.

When I had an appointment, I was welcomed into a waiting room furnished with beautiful oriental rugs and velvet-covered furniture (and all the magazines were current!). The doctor called me into her office after less than ten minutes, but still apologized profusely for the "exceptionally long" wait. We went into her even-more-beautifully-decorated office, where she took my history and vital signs herself. After she had collected all the basic information, she took me into a small examining room and covered the table with an actual cloth sheet (instead of that roll of crinkly paper). The physical exam took less than five minutes, and we returned to the doctor's office to finish up the visit. The doctor herself made the necessary notes in my chart, answered all my questions, and then handed over the bill -- which came to less than 70 euros, including lab fees. As soon as I mail a copy of the receipt to the insurance company, I'll be reimbursed (within two weeks) by direct deposit into my bank account -- so much simpler than in the US.


Today, Matt and I attended a "baby party" for our friends Nick and Monica, whose first baby will be born next month. (Nick is my classmate both here and back home -- we were in the same 1L section. Monica, his wife, is finishing her dissertation here in Paris.) We all chipped in for a couple of small gifts (they're trying not to accumulate too much stuff, since it all has to be shipped home in a few months).

About 15 of my classmates were there, as well as a dog named Kiwi. As you might have heard, Paris is pretty dog-friendly: they're welcome in nearly all restaurants and most grocery stores. But they are never welcome in parks: Parisians are terrible about cleaning up after their animals (even after several years' strict enforcement of the 'poop-scoop' laws) and green space is at a premium. Violate the rule, and you can expect a quick ticket!

We're looking forward to this holiday week, as we're gathering with a big group at Nick and Monica's house for a potluck Thanksgiving dinner (after we finish our regular day of classes, of course). We miss everyone, and hope you have a safe trip (if you're travelling) and a wonderful celebration.

A Quiet Weekend at Home

We had originally intended to go back to Versailles yesterday, to tour the Palace and the Stables (last time we were there, we spent all our time wandering through the truly enormous gardens). After a series of minor, schedule-delaying events, we ultimately scrapped our plans and just spent a quiet day around our neighborhood.

That evening, we went for dinner at a restaurant that's become one of our favorites, just because it makes us laugh: Buffalo Grill. Any guilt we might have felt about avoiding the more "French" choices is assuaged by the fact that we have an absolutely fantastic time whenever we're there, laughing at the music (what was being played on country radio two years ago) and decor (every "Western-theme" stereotype you can think of) while enjoying the view (over one of Paris' better-known plazas, Republique) and the food (the steaks, burgers, and ribs are all pretty credible).

Today was a really lovely fall day in Paris -- the near-constant drizzle broke, it was only pleasantly cool, and there was just enough of a breeze to twirl the falling leaves prettily in the air.

We started our day by attending church at the American Church in Paris, as we've been doing for the past several weeks. ACP is an interdenominational Christian fellowship, with a mainly-but-not-exclusively Anglophone congregation. By sticking around for the coffee hour after the service, we're starting to recognize some faces and develop a few friendships. We're also trying to take an active role in some of the church activities -- I'm joining the knitting circle, and we're both going to help with bake for next week's Christmas bazaar. (I can't believe the holidays -- and exams! -- are coming so quickly!)

After church, we wandered down to another Paris institution: the Shakespeare & Co. bookshop. The shop was opened in 1951 by George Whitman, an American serviceman who stayed in France after World War II was concluded. The tiny and perpetually-crowded ground floor is filled with an amazing collection of used and new English-language books. Upstairs, you can find the shopowner's original collection of books from 1951: not for sale, but free for you to sit and peruse for as long as you like. Nestled among the shelves and stacks of books are a few beds: apparently, young writers are invited to come to Paris and exchange part-time work in the bookshop for a free place to stay. We came home with several more books to fill our "spare" time (read: the last few minutes before sleeping), each of them proudly bearing a Shakespeare & Co. stamp on the title page.

A Visit to History

Yesterday marked 90 years since World War I was ended by the signing of an armistice treaty near the town of Compiegne, France. By train, it's less than an hour from Paris -- so, last Saturday, Matt and I decided to check it out.

We planned our trip based on a recent article in the New York Times' Travel section; unfortunately, the article turned out to have been rather misleading about the distances between "things to see." Even so, we were able to see not only the Armistice Clearing, but also the Chateau de Compiegne.

The Chateau, which is located in the middle of town, is more like a large palace than a true "castle." We were the only two people with tickets for the 'public tour', so we ended up with an extended private visit to the apartments of the King and Queen. (The Chateau doesn't allow photographs, so I've used a few from their website. If you'd like to see more, the link is http://www.musee-chateau-compiegne.fr/.)

One of our favorite rooms was the Emperor's Library, displayed as it would have been furnished for Napoleon. Napoleon kept himself incredibly busy and did not like to waste time -- so, he ordered that the libraries in each of the palaces he frequented be arranged in the same way, so that he did not lose time looking for the particular book he wanted.

Our guide told us that Napoleon was so obsessed with using time efficiently that he would not even attend the dinner parties he hosted -- instead, he'd wait until everyone was seated and the main course was being served, then walk to the dining room, fill his plate and make a few minutes' conversation with the guests, and then return to his desk to have a working dinner. We also saw his bathtub, custom-fitted with a desk surface: although Napoleon's excema was treated with four daily soaks, he found a way to make even his bathtime productive!


During Napoleon's reign, this room was used as a grand ballroom. During the Second Empire (under Napoleon III), the room was converted into a massive dining room capable of seating 100 dinner guests at a single table. (Napoleon III and his wife Eugenie hosted massive, week-long festivals for notable French citizens.) The room was converted into a hospital for injured civilians during the First World War. (Other rooms served wounded soldiers.)

One incredibly large room was furnished with wall-hung tapestries which depicted notable hunts in the forest of Compiegne. I was completely blown away by one in particular, which included the unmistakable image of an Appaloosa horse. Appaloosas (the breed of horse I grew up with) have incredibly distinct physical characteristics, in their faces, bodies, feet, and tail -- the tapestry depicted every one. The reason I was surprised to see an "App" represented in a European tapestry is because they were developed by the Nez Pierce tribe in what is now Idaho. The guide and I had a long conversation about this, and decided that the French army must have purchased/stolen some Appaloosas while in control of the Louisiana Territory, then taken the horses back to France. (The Appaloosa is popular in France today, and probably has better esteem among French horsemen than Americans!)

After spending a few hours in the Chateau, we took a taxi out to the Armistice Clearing and museum.

At the end of World War I, Mashall Foch directed the train service to find a secluded place where two trains (one for the French negotiators, another for the Germans) could be brought together and the peace negotiated. A site less than five miles from Compiegne was selected, where the German and French trains could be arranged less than 100 feet apart. Today, concrete monuments mark the precise locations of the French and German trains during the negotiations.

A museum was constructed a few hundred feet away to preserve Marshall Foch's carriage. Twenty years later, in preparation for negotiating the French surrender, Hitler directed that the museum be destroyed and the carriage brought back to the precise place where it had stood during the World War I negotiations. The carriage was taken to Berlin for public display, but was destroyed before the end of World War II.Today, the museum has been rebuilt and Marshall Foch's carriage has been precisely reconstructed.

Compiegne is also the place where Joan of Arc was captured in 1430 as she led a battlefield retreat. A statue of her stands across from city hall.

With apologies for the delay..

It has been an embarassingly long time since we've posted an update -- so, this will likely be an overlong attempt to catch you up on things that've been happening over the last few weeks.

The election, of course!

I'm embarassed to admit that Matt and I slept through the election the whole world watched! I got up to see Dixville Notch cast their first-in-the-nation ballots (Humprey was the last Democrat to win there!), and we watched CNN International work over the first exit polls as we ate dinner. Since the first polling stations wouldn't close until 1:00 AM our time, and we both had class early Wednesday morning, we decided to get a good night's sleep and leave the results until morning. (Trying to fall asleep that night reminded me of what it felt like on Christmas Eve as a little girl!)

We, of course, had long-since cast our ballots. I actually got to vote twice -- completely legally! Although we mailed our absentee ballot requests on the same day, Matt received his ballot more than two weeks before I got mine. The Embassy advised that anyone who had not received a ballot by October 20 should complete a Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot, which allows you to indicate a preference for the presidential, US Senate, and US House races. If/when your absentee ballot arrives, you're supposed to complete and return it just as normal. The idea is that the election officals keep any FWABs unopened until November 4: if the regular ballot is returned, then the FWAB is discarded and only the regular ballot is counted. (This being DC, who knows how well the process worked...but at least it wasn't a swing state! In fact, the only competitive race on my ballot was a neighborhood council seat.)

As you may have heard, the idea of "President-Elect Obama" is very popular over here. Newspapers and magazines are carrying headlines like "Obama: What the World Was Waiting For" and "For those who doubted America, the election was the best response!" (I do have the impression, though, that this isn't so much a pro-Obama sentiment as it is an anti-Bush/McCain attitude.)

The holidays are upon us

Those who have never spent the early fall outside the US may not appreciate the strategic value of Thanksgiving: holding back Christmas! On November 1, the Halloween items came down and the Christmas displays went up all over town. Some of the shop windows are absolutely gorgeous; my favorite, though, are the Christmas trees at Bon Marché (a big department store) -- there are six totally different trees, each one supposed to be an inspiration for what your own tree could look like (all you have to do is invest heavily in their fine array of decorations, of course!).

A trip to Versailles

Matt and I took a quick afternoon in Versailles at the end of October. We happened, though a fortunate accident-of-planning, to be there for "Les Grands Eaux Musicales", an occasional performance of classical music projected throughout the gardens. We arrived early enough that the fountains hadn't been turned on, so we enjoyed a leiurely stroll through the autumn leaves. (I had actually never jumped into a raked-up pile of leaves before, but finally got my first chance!) The gardens are still meticulously maintained, and we had a wonderful time watching the water and listening to the music.

Still exploring Paris

As the days get shorter, we've taken to exploring the 'indoor' attractions of Paris a little more than the grand monuments. Most recently, we found what has to be the best hot chocolate in Paris. I often steer clear of places that all the guidebooks recommend (I usually think they're too crowded to be enjoyable), but Angelina's turns out to be worth the wait! The hot chocolate tastes like a delicious chocolate bar was melted down and cream was stirred in -- it's so rich that you really can't have more than just one cup!

Along with a small group of friends, we're starting to make ritual of having tea every Thursday at the Mosque of Paris. The tea is wonderfully minty and sweet, and the tearoom is beautifully decorated: I'll do my best to remember my camera this week!