pastries and sushi and mutton oh my!

...and my new favorite potato chip ever, roasted chicken and thyme flavor! the little girl is the famous Ernestine, our friends Margot and Colas' daughter. they visited a few weekends ago.

weekend in Troyes

So last weekend, Eric and I took a train to a little medieval town in the Champagne region called Troyes. There were very old houses that reminded me of Shakespeare and Snow White, and we ate good food and drank (real!) champagne and relaxed by fountains and watched people and it was quiet and really nice. The train ride was about 90 minutes, and I really liked seeing the French countryside between Paris and Troyes. There were a lot of pretty churches there, and a ton of hair salons for some reason, and also one really big really old cathedral where Joan of Arc had stopped one time. The town also had a lot of cat-themed shops, and there was a street called "La Rue aux Chats." We bought a souvenir of a magnet celebrating this; we particularly like it because the kitten looks too big for the street.

une belle journee a Montmartre

Eric and I spent a few hours today in Montmartre, a close walk from our house. The weather was just perfect, not too hot, and the sky was beautiful. We had lunch then walked up to the Sacre Coeur, which is the big white church. There was a guy playing guitar on the steps in the front and he sang Wonderwall by Oasis and a lot of people were singing along. It was so lovely! Here are some photos.

the first day

so, since I've already been here for a month and was getting anxious about where I should start with this blog, I've decided to just jump right in, look on my camera, and see what I have on there starting at the beginning. so, here is a small selection just to get me started. first, the French countryside from the plane just before landing. I know, we've all seen this sort of thing out of plane windows but seeing this felt so strange and exhilarating to me, knowing that I wasn't just coming for a visit, but that this would be my new country, at least for a while.

then, the very night that I arrived, a good friend from the U.S. was in Paris so we met up with him, along with 2 great French friends. I was terribly jet-lagged, and would remain so for about a week after, so that is my excuse for my disheveled look in this photo. we are sitting by Canal St. Martin ( I think) outside a club where Tim, the U.S. friend, was doing sound for a band that night, and I was impressed that we were allowed to carry drinks around outside.

as I'm writing this it's becoming clear that I don't know how to position these photos the way I want to. they are in the wrong order and should be positioned with each paragraph. oh well, I'll figure it out eventually. so, last (actually first photo now), there is a photo from later that night. the club got very crowded, and here it is as we're walking back to the subway after dinner at a cafe down the street, shown from across the canal. I was sooo tired but really happy to see friends, and of course, Eric. I had a little moment of freaking out when Tim had to go inside to work. We had been talking, in English you know, and he said bye, and I could only hear French all around me and I realized that was the way it was going to be from now on. I watched him walk away and got pretty emotional for a few minutes. plus I was jetlagged, that had a lot to do with it too I'm sure.

yo la tengo

So, last night, Eric and I went to see the band Yo La Tengo play at a place called Alhambra. It was an old cabaret-turned movie theater-turned music venue. This band is very significant to us as some of you might know because it was on their Myspace fan page (!) that Eric and I met a few years ago. This sort of represents things coming full-circle to us, like, we meet online because we both like the same band, and now here we are married and seeing them for the first time as a married couple! They are a trio from Hoboken, NJ, so it was also nice for me to hear all English speaking for a little while, at least on stage. Here are a few photos. I couldn't use flash, sorry for the crappy quality.

internet!!!

yay! literally 10 minutes ago, internet was finally connected at our house. i am doing great and am planning a really awesome new blog post but i must collect my thoughts and photos a bit first. bear with me! it'll happen in the next few days. so, eric and i are doing well, i love Paris and i'm pretty sure that my french is steadily improving. voila!

Bonjour!!!

This is not going to be a real post because we won't have regular internet access at home for another week and right now I'm sitting under the eaves of the Centre Pompidou because I heard they had free wifi here. It's true, but it's raining for the 3rd or 4th day in a row so I am sitting in the driest place I could find but water droplets are still getting through and it's not safe for my laptop I'm afraid. So anyway, I'm here and I'm fine and I'm dying to write about my adventures and show you some photos but it will have to wait just a little longer. Hope you are all well!