Day 17

An easy riddle: What starts out sunny, but ends in rain? My day in Paris, that's what.

I woke up this morning to sunshine streaming in my window, which is something I haven't experienced much since I've been here. I had my now normal breakfast (bread, jam, hot tea), checked my e-mail, and then headed out to pay for my first term of language courses! I went ahead and paid in full, which allowed me to receive a letter saying that I am meeting the number of hours required for my green card! Basically, this means that my "vacation" time in Paris is ending, and I'll officially be a "legal alien" in this country. What a wonderful start to the day. After receiving my letter, I wandered around the outside of the Palais Garnier (a beautiful venue for operas/plays/ballets) in search of the Galleries Lafayette. The Galleries Lafayette is a huge, sprawling mass of buildings (it takes up 3 Paris blocks!), full of every imaginable thing. One building is specifically for homewares, one building is specifically for men's fashion, and one building is completely devoted to women's fashion. The building devoted to women's fashion has an absolutely stunning stained-glass dome that makes an atrium spanning 5 floors. Talk about grandeur.

After drooling over the Tiffany & Co. counter, I wandered amongst the handbags, looking longingly at all of the very nice, extremely expensive brands. After a while, I was a bit overwhelmed with the sheer excess of the store, so I left, but with all intentions of returning, since I had yet to see the entire floor devoted to shoes & boots. I hopped off the Metro a few stops before I normally do, and wandered around the very touristy, but bustling, Latin quarter, where I grabbed lunch to go. Today, it was a Greek "extra" pita (the extra means that they put fries on it), for a whopping 4.50 Euro. Out of habit, I ordered it from the same place that I did on my study abroad two years ago, and I only realized that after I had paid & wandered off towards the apartment.

Evidently, I took the long way back to the apartment, so by the time I finally returned, I put my feet up & read a little bit before picking up the kids. Somewhere between my arrival at the apartment & my departure an hour later, it began raining, & I wasn't about to sit in the cool, rainy weather at the park, so the kids played a Pokemon battle while I watched from the kitchen, enjoying a cup of hot tea.

Dinner for the kids tonight was pizza! I used a dough mix, rolled it out, topped it with tomato sauce, oregano, tomato slices, fresh mozzarella, & black olives. The kids really seemed to enjoy it, but I didn't eat b/c I was told by the Canadian (you remember, the former au pair for this family?) that staying in on a Friday night wasn't an option, so we went & had dinner. She had a blue steak (blue falls between raw & rare on the doneness scale) & mashed potatoes for dinner, & followed it with a chocolate mousse. I had duck breast w/ fingerling potatoes & a salad, & had a crème brûlée for dessert. And for all that deliciousness, I'm only out by 17 euro, which I think was a pretty good deal, given what I ordered.