OK, here's the problem with using walking as your main source of exercise: When dropping off a package at the post office, leaving a key in a mailbox, and going to play the piano at your friend's house somehow turns into this monstrosity - and when that 3 1/2 hours of walking only makes you sorta tired when you get home.

I almost didn't even get a haircut. The Jean-Louis David training salon says you have to get at least 4 cm off, and that made me sad. I debated the entire time between today and a week ago, when I made the appointment. I didn't want to lose all this hair that I've been growing and haven't cut since... oh wait... probably over a year. If you count ( Read more... )

1. Walking along, listening to a French podcast on someone's philosophy of economy and self-interest (yeah, I'm a nerd) one of the commentators starts talking about the "Valmont effect" (aka, the "warm glow," aka being nice to other people because it makes you look/feel good, not because it's good for other people). And I'm like, whoa, I am totally ( Read more... )

I spent Friday at Giverny, Monet's gardens. (The ones with the water lilies.) It was totally worth the trip - not far from Paris, very tranquil and pleasant and not crowded (since it was cloudy). It would've been a really great place for a romantic weekend getaway, since there are all these cute little inns around. I discovered how disgustingly ( Read more... )

Somewhere in the middle of walking metro lines, the fact that I officially finished my job got lost in there. Well, a week ago Thursday was my last day of work. (I'm giving a English workshop, with a few other assistants, at another high school every morning this week. But since I'm just going to be reviving a bunch of old lessons, I'm not counting ( Read more... )

I've been busy! Real busy. But instead of telling you about it, I will just drop some links.
Ligne 14 - the last, short(-ish) and sweet, an absolute pleasure to walk.
The map, as usual.

TWO SETS of bonus pictures! of Herblay! and the very twinkly Eiffel Tower (at the end of the album)!

I just want to say, to everyone who's been checking out the metro ( Read more... )

I just need to share this text message exchange I had with the guy whose sexy hat I got on Saturday night. The whole conversation took place on Tuesday, over the course of basically an entire day. This is translated from French and un-textified, which is why it sounds totally stilted. And for the record: the only truths I stretched were at the very ( Read more... )

This is my last week of work! It's marvelous. However, I still have disgusting amounts of free time. With that in mind, here is Ligne 13 - walked last week, but delayed in captioning because of Amber's visit. It's one of the least popular lines in Paris, particularly north of Saint Lazare, because there is a split in the northern part of the line ( Read more... )

I just had a really excellent weekend with Amber, who came to visit from Germany. It was finally a uniformly GORGEOUS weekend, and we had a great time. I realized that my tiny room feels a whole lot bigger with someone else in it - counterintuitive, maybe, but it was so much nicer to be sharing the space. To work backwards, yesterday, in a lack-of- ( Read more... )

Just finished captioning Line 12! Will attach map when I get home. I walked Line 13 yesterday, too, which means there's only one more to go! This is sort of sad. What am I going to do next?

Actually, I think I know - I need to check out the path of the Petite Ceinture, this abandoned railway that goes around Paris. That should take at least another ( Read more... )