France-tastic

Sometimes a quiet Monday night at home isn't so bad...

Yay, what a fun weekend I have had!

Shopping (of a different kind to the one last time), at the marché:

It is amazing how different food looks here! Much less pretty, mostly. I guess they grow them for taste rather than perfect appearance. The onions and the garlic in particular is always really mis-shapen. These tomatoes look lovely, but heaps of the ones that you see are much less perfect. Also funny is if you buy the eggs from a crèmerie, they come in a big basket or crate, and you tell them how many you want, and they put them in the carton for you!

Also was able to enjoy the autumn sunshine in the lovely park at the front of the Invalides, about 20 metres from my doorstep:

From my street, view right, the Seine actually runs between the grass and the building.

From my street, view left, the Invalides museum, where the mighty short man lies entombed.

Petanque players, here every weekend!

And aside from all this, I went to my first Parisian soirée, at a friend of Cecelia's (Cecelia being Alex's school friend and now my Paris friend!). It was really fun! I got to meet lots of new people, and I got invited to another party next weekend! Mostly, it just felt really good to be surrounded by people. Although I have been going out quite a bit since I got here, it has almost always been with just one or two people, in a quiet setting like a restaurant, and it is quite different to having lots of people all having fun and being silly (normal!) and meeting different people and having a drink.

I miss my friends!

But hopefully soon I will have new friends as well! The party next friday night is a housewarming (though I had to teach the guy who is having it that word!), and I myself was invited, not just to tag along with Cecelia! Believe me, these things become important distinctions when you can count the contacts in your phone on one hand. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of the fabulous night, as I didn't want to scare of any of these potential friends by photographing strangers.

And on Sunday I went to see a film, in french, called Les Poupées Russe, which was really good! Though I missed quite a lot I must say, it was harder than I thought it would be, to understand. Luckily there was quite a lot of nudity to keep me entertained! But even when you can't understand exactly what is being said, the general gist is still pretty clear. The hardest thing is arguments, so unclear and so fast.

Well, I'm getting hungry here, and tonight I have a chantarelle omelette planned, so à demain!

Shopping time!

Having been horribly limited in what I could bring to this ever so chic city, it was definitely time to begin to replenish my wardrobe. What an arduous task, poor me.

So last saturday was shopping day, accompanied by Ruxandra, my Romanian friend from the lab. We hopped our way from Boulevard St Germain to Rue de Rivoli to Champs Elysées, and found lots of goodies, including a €6.50 icecream (it was good though...)!

I was happy to find myself a brown jacket with lots of brassy buttons, a gorgeous teal jumper from Zara, my new favourite shop, and a lovely necklace and bracelet as well! And quite by chance, the whole lot looks great together! I also found a fabulous black trench coat from Zara that I really want, but they didn't have my size. However, fear not, there are loads of Zara shops in Paris, so I will continue my quest.

However, I was extremely unsuccesful in my boot hunting quest. I just don't like the ones in the stores! I don't want cowboy boots, or flats, or boho, or short. I just want a pair of plain black winter boots that I can wear with everything, and that won't kill me if I wear them while running around all day.

A post for the chemistry interested out there...

...I know you're out there...

Yesterday I made my first new compound, and today I have little orange crystals in my flask! Yay! It is an iridium complex with two phenylpyridine ligands, and a bipyridine ligand with an acid and a methyl group. Here is a picture (a photo would have been nice, since so far I have a bright yellow compound, a pale yellow compound, and a bright orange compound but alas, my camera is at home):

Basically, the point of my work is to make some new compounds of iridium and rhodium, try to resolve the enantiomers, and then study their interaction with DNA by NMR. The actual point of this, I'm not too sure about... There is a lot of talk about DNA marker agents and photoluminescence, but I can't really see the point, and it seems to me that our ultimate goal is simply to make some pretty compounds!

The lab itself is a bit old and shit here I have to say. Our labs at Sydney Uni were newer and better looked after. But c'est la vie, at least I am in Paris! Though I had a scary dream last night that I was actually in Brisbane! Basically I dreamt that before I came, I was going to Paris, but it wasn't specified as Paris, FRANCE, and it turned out there was a suburb of Brisbane called Paris, and that's where I went! Very strange, and not true, it semms.

I must also report an update on the food situation... Things are getting curiouser and curiouser at the University restaurant- Today we had bouillabaisse, served with fried banana. Like actual fried banana, with bouillabaisse on top, as though the banana was rice or something. Extremely strange, in not so good a way. I don't recommend trying this one at home.

Ahh, the question I eagerly wait for every day.

Each day, a group of between four and eight of us venture the crowds and head for the University restaurant. Although it is half a globe away from Sydney Uni catering, it seems somehow familiar... Same surly staff who slop brown looking stuff onto a plate that you don't want to inspect too closely... However, there are important and sometimes tasty differences too. While the all food comes in various unappetising shades of brown, underneath one finds perhaps roast pigeon, or duck, and once, even kangaroo! Yet to see any horse, but that may or may not be because I couldn't read the menu. If cow turns into beef (boeuf), pigs into pork (porc), god knows what name a plated pony might take! None-the-less, the fact remains that while there are certainly shades of Wentworth in this resto, the food actually tastes good (I'm sure the pony would) most of the time, and furthermore, your 3 little euros stretch to a salad to start with, and a dessert or cheese to finish with! Imagine Wentworth serving you a chunk of gooey brie to enjoy after you schnitzel and chips!

And what else have I been enjoying over the last couple of weeks, you might ask.

For a start, there is a great boulangerie down the road where I buy a baguette every second day (a baguette is too big for one!), and at the marché I have bought several tasty bits to put on it. Including a cheese which I looove, but have no idea what it is called, since it was a bit of a point-and-pay job! So I don't know what I'll do to replace it when it is gone...

I have also been enjoying a lot of pain au chocolat, much more than the croissants I thought were going to be my downfall (actually I knew it would be the cheese).

And quite a lot of crepes. They have great take-away crepes! A big round hotplate at a little booth, and they fill it up with all sorts of good stuff. Favourites include oeuf, jambon, fromage, et des champignons, and for dessert, nothing beats nutella, banana and coconut, sooo goood...

Resaurant wise, I have had occasion to sample a delightful salade du chevre chaud, basically a salad including grilled chevre on little toasties, so decadent! Also a standout was a fish and mussel gratin, which was deliciously creamy and tasty. I did sample some escargots at one establishment, but I must say, I've had better in Australia! I'll try again at a different restaurant though. I am yet to see anything made out of frog, but I will let you know when I finally sample some cuisses des grenouilles.

All this talk is making me faim du loup, so I think I must go and pose the question... On va manger?

In case anyone was not aware, last week a Frechman took out la prix Nobel in Chemistry, félicitations Yves Chauvin!

Luckily the maison du Chimie is my neighbour! Seriously! I am number 34, they are number 28; and last night there was a gala on to celebrate! Unfortunately my invitation was lost in the mail, so I had to watch from outside...

For those of you interested in the chemistry...

"They explained and improved a process called metathesis, said the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in bestowing the prize. This swapping of atoms between molecules creates new substances, and the winners have turned it into one of the most important reactions in organic chemistry, the academy said. Organic chemistry deals with carbon compounds."

That's the scientific explanation, if anyone wants that simplified, just let me know...

The Parisian metro. I love it.

It is so good that there is no chance you would ever deign to make a dash for a closing door. If you were running late you might speed up your walking pace a little, but there is no need for undignified running when there will be another one along within an absolute maximum of 4 minutes. Fantastic! Even Lawson, 5 minutes from Redfern where all the trains stopped, would be entirely unacceptable here. My place is closer to the metro station than our place in Redfern, and even on major grève day, the metro came so much more regularly than anyone has ever seen in Sydney!

Ahh, finally worked out how to attach my little camera to this silly computer!

So here are the promised shots of the new chez moi, which is actually starting to feel cozy! I went shopping on the weekend, and found a radio and a percolator... though I haven't found any coffee yet!

This one was a timer shot of moi, at my table, the bathroom and my front door behind me.

Kitchen, taken from where I was sitting above, across the bar.

This is the view from my window... Okay not really, but I do have clear sight of this old thing as soon as I step out from my front door.

My petit cuisine. A bit covered with some of the includes in the "furnished", but already equipped with both wine and a baguette! The kitchen has a microwave, fridge, and two stove plates, but NO oven!

Another timer shot, me on my bed/ sofa, with my mirrored cupboard and wardrobe showing the rest of the room.

My window and shelf. Amazing how under-utilised shoes and handbags are in home decorating!

I also went to the market yesterday and stocked up on a few essentials, like cheese, paté, chantarelles, and gorgeous tomatoes! The market was just amazing, so much variety, all so fresh. Everything you could want, from boulangerie, fromagerie, charcuterie, poissonerie, chevalerie (!), etc etc.

Yay!!!!!!!!!
I have an apartment!!

I have a very tiny, though quite large by Paris standards, apartment in the 7th arrondisement (very bourgoise) only a stone's throw from the Eiffel tower!

It is 18m2, has a nice little (tiny!) kitchen, a nice little bathroom, a bed sofa, some shelves, a nice big window which lets in lots of light. There is also a guardienne downstairs to keep things running smoothly and deliver the mail etc.

So I have to go and move now!

Okay, I know I no longer own very much and all my wordly goods can fit into a suitcase (or two) but they are extremely large and heavy suitcases, and I think I will have to make THREE trips! Never elevators in Parisian apartments... but only three floors up!

So tomorrow or later, I will put some photos up of the new chez moi!

I need somewhere to sleep! Looking for an apartment is très stressant!

So far I have looked at two, with another to come this afternoon, so I will concede that it is not that many, but I have phoned HEAPS and left HEAPS of messages and they never call back!

So far the first one was pretty good, but expensive considering it wasn't even furnished completely, but the location was really good, maybe I should have taken it, I don't know!!

The one last night was rubbish, there was another three people there, and we all spent about 2 minutes and then left without saying anything to the guy, and he was calling after us as we all ran down the stairs!

At least at the hostel I have lots of people to chat to, mostly in english, though quite a bit of both swedish and french has also been used! But now there are four big american guys in my room who snore and have smelly feet. Not ideal.

But it is really lovely here too, it is starting to get un peu froid, it is soon time for some lovely leather gloves I think! But I have put an imbargo on buying so much as a packet of tissues until I have somewhere to live, because it is going to be hard enough as it is to drag my massive bag up however many stairs I finally acquire.