I'm going home tomorrow.

There will be yet more posts from the U.S., so stay tuned.

I was kindly informed by the pharmacist this evening, as he handed over the cortisone, that the French for "bug bites" is "piqûres d'insect."

It's a good thing for me that the word "antihistamine" is the same in French and English.

Man, you leave the window open once...

I went out to the Bois de Vincennes today, and got ice cream and biked on poorly-marked paths between trees and bushes and then around lakes.  It was a bit like being back in Cape Cod.

While I was waiting for the bus back, I pulled out my iPod and started listening to REM's "Murmur."

This pilgrimage
has gained momentum

sang Stipe as I watched the bus ( Read more... )

One of the current expositions currently showing at the Centre Pompidou is "Traces of the Sacred."  As asking "So what is humanity's relationship with God?" is a surefire way to get my attention, it was one of the first areas in the museum I went to, before the main museum halls ( Read more... )

I spent three days in Dublin with Elizabeth and Elizabeth's cousins.  It was quite the adventure.  Not only did we go all over creation, I, for one, am not used to being with a ten year-old and a six year-old all day.  (Everyone who HAS done this is allowed to laugh at me ( Read more... )

So here is what you should do, if you are ever in Paris ( Read more... )

On Sunday, should Sarah:

a) go to Giverny for the day?
b) stay in Paris, sightsee more locally, and try to get a decent view of the end of the Tour de France?

I await feedback.

( Read more... )

-- There are no mega-chain bookstores.  Especially in the student districts, if you want a book, you go to the appropriate specialty store.  There are also a surprising number of booksellers who deal in nothing but "livres anciens" (used books, often rare or collectible editions ( Read more... )

I have really been looking forward to cooking pasta carbonara, but now that I've started poking around for the exact recipe, I have been struck by an unfortunate circumstance: they all call for freshly grated parmesan ( Read more... )