France-tastic

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!

# posted by Jenny @ 19:22