Le Lac Daumesnil et Les Bois des Vincennes -- finalement, un paysage a Paris!

Apologies for taking a few days off....it's been interesting trying to adjust to being back in Paris and still sort of be on vacation but also have some things that I need to get done.

Anyways. Monday was spent mostly unpacking and recuperating and then going to my theater class in the afternoon -- I think we were all taken aback when it started getting dark about an hour before class ended (the end being at 6:30) because of the time change over the weekend. Now it feels like we're in class until 8 or 9pm....I had a lovely little food adventure Monday night -- Marilu and Alain were still away on vacation, so I had the place to myself, which also meant I got to cook for myself as well.

I had foolishly forgotten my Navigo card (which gets me on all of the buses and metros for 'free') because I had put it in my jacket pocket on Sunday and had failed to stick it back in my wallet -- so I ended up paying for the bus ride to class, and then made the decision to walk home (only about 40 minutes). I had been pondering what I wanted to make for dinner, and I decided on salmon -- and also had a hankering for sauteed spinach with some feta cheese (sorry -- it's hard to not have a wandering mind in a two and a half hour class...). So, I made some grocery store stops on my walk home -- 3 grocery store stops to be exact. I began with Dia (known to be the cheapest) and found salmon and chicken (to cook for the rest of the week) and some other good stuff, then Monoprix was where I found the sweetener that I like to put in my tea, and FINALLY, Simply came through for me (per usual) with reasonably priced spinach and feta cheese. I was also on the hunt for non-fat plain Greek yogurt -- which I think is an unknown concept in France. There's Greek Yogurt, but it has tons of fat, and is usually flavored. I browsed the dairy shelves at Monoprix, and I decided to purchase a 500g container of "Fromage Blanc" with "0% matieres grasses" -- I have yet to determine the actual English translation (besides the obvious, white cheese), but it tastes kind of like Greek yogurt, and has the same consistency, and is pretty healthy...so I figure I'll stick with it.

So Monday night, I did indeed cook myself a feast of salmon with a bit of fromage blanc on top, on a bed of sauteed spinach and onions and some feta cheese. Oh, and I roasted some brussel sprouts and zucchini in olive oil in the oven, too. Pretty darn good if I may say so myself....

Yesterday, November 1st!, was a "jour ferie" (pronounced jour fer-ee-ay) in France -- All Saints' Day. In other words, pretty much everything is closed, and there are no classes, etc. My theater professor thought it would be a great opportunity for us to go see the play we just read -- Le jeu de l'amour et du hasard -- at the Comedie Francaise. I do have to admit, that it was a rather pleasant way to spend a rainy icky afternoon.

Other than that, Mike Howard (long time family friend from Rochester) arrived yesterday from Copenhagen to stay for a few nights. It's been great having him around and he's mostly been going off and doing his own thing and seeing some other friends, but we've also spent some time together!

Today, I again, didn't have class. I thought that I had swimming this morning from 10-11:30, and so after a quick jog, I walked to the pool. Well. I got something wrong, because the practice either wasn't at the same pool, or wasn't until 6pm tonight. Luckily, the pool was open, and not too crowded and so I got in and did about 5000 to stretch out after my 10ish days off....

I met Mike at the market after that and we had a nice time walking through -- always interesting things to see! I spent the afternoon at the Museum of African Arts and Immigration (or something like that....) which is right next to the Bois des Vincennes and the Lac Daumesnil -- I have a 15 minute presentation on the International Colonial Exposition of 1931 in Paris, so I had gone to do some more research and walk the grounds of what was once the site of the exposition. It was a beautiful fall day -- and the park was full of people walking dogs (or themselves, or children), but it was wonderful to find a place that has lots of grass and a beautiful lake and trails and paths to walk along (the negative is that it's about a 40 minute metro ride from where I live).

So here are some pictures from this afternoon -- amazing fall colors:

A bientot!