Vive la France

I've resigned myself to the fact that I just can't keep up with the torrent of events that I need to recount, because I need to spend every last moment I have left here making the most of Paris. So when I get back to the U.S. - only one week from today, ugh - I will begin the looong task of catching up on everything from my visits to Vienna and Braunschweig in April, to seeing the beaches of Normandy and Mont Saint-Michel with the family, to finally making French friends, to saying good-bye to my American ones, to becoming best friends with the old Moroccan guys who work in the tea room at the mosque, to finishing classes and becoming, to seeing great art. It's been an emotional week preparing to leave and watching half of my friends take off this morning... after a day that lasted forever. The last 24 hours have involved a trip to the gardens of the Palais Royal, lunch at our beloved creperie Genia, an expo at the Institut du Monde Arabe, a farewell nocturne at the Louvre, a beautiful sunset, a delicious dinner of beef and gnocchi at La Fourmi Ailée, tea at the mosque, Le Crocodile, sharing memories by the Pont Saint-Michel, making friends with a French Bob Dylan named Marc-Antoine, Isabella being robbed, rescuing her soggy journal from the Seine, not sleeping, and finally saying goodbye to Rachel and Nathaniel early this morning. All of this deserves a lot more, but for now just some pictures.

With Rachel and Isabella at Genia

Musée du Louvre - how is it that this is only a 10-minute walk from home?

Pont des Arts

With Isabella at Cafe de la Paix

Curtain call of 'Fin de Partie' by Samuel Beckett at Theatre de la Madeleine