the past few days

the past few days have been very busy. but because of my absolute lethargic state, i will not be detailing. on the 5th, we visited the musee rodin. it's probably the least striking of all the museums in paris, but it's secludedness actually adds to its charm. my favorites in the museum were "le penseur" and "the gates of hell". the gates are probably the coolest sculpture i have ever seen. it's immense, and black. rodin sculpted each figure separately and physically positioned all of them onto this giant bronze... block. if i were you, i'd look up a pic of this thang. it's mighty impressive.

the next day katie came to town from barcelona!!!... and brought five of her friends with her. we had a very fun first day visiting the most morbid sight in the world... the catacombes. located off the denfer metro stop, this expansive underground series of connecting tunnels houses the remains of upwards of six million... yeah, count em... six million people. each section has a sign denoting the year in which it was assembled. in short, some of these bones have been preserved for about 300 years. i touched one of the femurs; i thought it would have been disgusting, but it just felt like a rock. that evening, we went out to eat on the island adjacent to that of notre dame. there is quite a night life there with excellent restaurants and great views. one of the boys said it was "the greatest meal i have ever had." yeah... the food in paris is pretty much awesome.

the next day we were supposed to visit the eiffel tower, but it was snowing heavily outside. it closed before we could even get into the elevator. in addition, i locked myself out of my room with no coat or anything... i didn't even have my glasses so i was pretty blind. on the upside, i chatted with this girl who was lounging in the lobby of our building. she had been locked out in the same manner i was, leaving our windows open, effectively creating a vacuum and the perfect opportunity for our doors to deceive us. i'm pretty sure her name is bianca. 

later that day, the girls dragged me shopping to the gallerie lafayette. i had nothing better to do, and plus i figured i could go up to the top and revel in the view. but no... today was just not my day. we get there, and the roof access is closed because of the weather. i bought a scarf to ease my pain. it's a beautiful one, and it was on sale. i really needed it too, it has been freezing the past few days.

umkkk, what else (sorry, but this is not in order, the entire weekend has just kind of blended into one giant day). friday night we all went to the louvre again because it's free. after we went for drinks at odeon, an area with many bars and a vibrant night life.

today, sunday, i spent the afternoon with my uncle, aunt, and grandmere. it's very nice to see them, even though the language barrier can be rather frustrating. dina's face absolutely lit up when she saw how much i have grown. i don't think i've ever seen her eyes open that big before. i also see a lot of my mother in her, it's uncanny.

but nothing could top our saturday night. we took a bateau parisienes tour along the seine. it was an absolutely pristine and romantic night. i was outside with everyone, leaning over the railing, and had one of those i-don't-think-i'd-rather-be-anywhere-else-in-the-world-right-now moments. i ultimately decided i want to live here when i'm a real person. i love this city more than any other city i have ever been to in my entire life. it is imperfect and dirty and coarse and sometimes smelly and sometimes rather snobbish, but i call it home for the next 5 months. hopefully it can be so for longer.

cheers, jhabra