Disclaimer: The following contains references to my brief medical anomoly-hood this summer that some readers may find upsetting. Proceed with caution, dear readers -- however many of you there may be...
Today I swam for an hour, and I realized that I am getting much stronger after the excision of the Mini Cooper tumor this summer. Or maybe I'm just a faster swimmer because I'm not hauling around 7 extraneous pounds. It felt good, more than I can put into words. Getting better felt good, being better -- hell, just being okay -- defies description.
Also -- French pools sell swimsuits in vending machines, and require women to wear swim caps and men to wear speedos. Supposedly "hygiene" is the reason for this. I have my doubts.
Then my swimming friend and I stopped for a coffee at a small cafe across the street from the pool. It was the perfect antidote to swimming-induced aching (in a good way) limbs. Back at home in the 13th, I went grocery shopping, made dinner, watched "True Blood," drank tea and ate some pain au chocolat, wrote a poem, and listened to Leonard Cohen before bed. "Famous Blue Raincoat" and "So Long Marianne" and especially "Last Year's Man" sound different here. Better, if that's possible. Or maybe I'm just better.
I like Paris. It's been said but it bears repeating.
Showing posts with label coffee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label coffee. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Lazy Dimanche
How I spent my Sunday:
1. starting my day by reading Ernest Hemingway and drinking coffee after sleeping in.
2. picking up a fresh baguette from my usual boulangerie -- miraculously open even though it's Sunday -- and an avocado from the Sunday marche at Place Jeanne d'Arc.
3. taking the Metro to Mairie des Lilas to see the movie version of "Le Petit Nicolas" with student discount tickets with one of my friends who's also an assistant -- it was adorable.
4. returning to the 13th for a wander around and show her my new neighborhood -- Bibliotheque Nationale Francois Mitterand, Piscine Josephine Baker, the quai and its accompanying nightclub boats, and Les Frigos, an abandoned refrigerator factory that is now an artist colony with requisite awesome graffiti and galleries and it is so cool!
5. ...and then returning from our wanderings to make and eat a delicious vegetarian dinner (kidney bean burgers, a salad of tomatoes and avocadoes, and baguette) and drink homemade kir at my apartment.
It was a good one.
A few more pictures:
More pictures are on their way, including those of my growing vegetarian culinary skillz.
1. starting my day by reading Ernest Hemingway and drinking coffee after sleeping in.
2. picking up a fresh baguette from my usual boulangerie -- miraculously open even though it's Sunday -- and an avocado from the Sunday marche at Place Jeanne d'Arc.
3. taking the Metro to Mairie des Lilas to see the movie version of "Le Petit Nicolas" with student discount tickets with one of my friends who's also an assistant -- it was adorable.
4. returning to the 13th for a wander around and show her my new neighborhood -- Bibliotheque Nationale Francois Mitterand, Piscine Josephine Baker, the quai and its accompanying nightclub boats, and Les Frigos, an abandoned refrigerator factory that is now an artist colony with requisite awesome graffiti and galleries and it is so cool!
5. ...and then returning from our wanderings to make and eat a delicious vegetarian dinner (kidney bean burgers, a salad of tomatoes and avocadoes, and baguette) and drink homemade kir at my apartment.
It was a good one.
A few more pictures:
More pictures are on their way, including those of my growing vegetarian culinary skillz.
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