Gay Paris, indeed

So first of all, I arrived safely and right now I'm sitting on the patio of my adorable apartment, the cat in my lap, looking out onto a courtyard with a beautiful garden (tended by my housemate and nourished by our compost!). Unfortunately, my baggage was not so lucky--my bad luggage luck persists, and my bag got stuck in Dublin. But my housemate is friends with everyone, including someone who works at the airport, and her friend arranged to have my bag delivered tomorrow afternoon. What a relief!

Last night I had dinner with Muriel (my housemate) and Kathrin, the previous tenant. Muriel made a delicious tomato and zucchini tart (she is vegetarian also) and we had a really nice time.

Today was the Paris pride parade, and it was incredible. I was wandering around in the Latin Quarter and just followed the men in leather pants until I found the parade. I have never seen anything like this--there must have been tens of thousands of marchers alone, and the spectators were five deep where i was standing. I met a really nice couple from the US, and we watched from 3pm until about 5 from the street (we were on St. Germain du Pres), then I met up with my mom's friend Anita and her family for dinner. You could see the parade from their apartment, and at 7:30 it was still going strong. The streets were FILLED with marchers, and the floats were just amazing. It ended in Place du Bastille (where I live) and the entire Bastille area is still closed to traffic and packed with drunk revelers.

This picture is from the parade--pretty self-explanatory :)

Le Lecon du Francais

On Thursday night I had dinner at my grandparents' house in Newton to have a French lesson with my grandfather, get some party supplies and a wonderful dinner from my super-cook and super-hostess grandmother, and hang out with them.  They are 87 and 80 and traveled most of the Silk Road between the seventies and the nineties, in addition to traveling all over Africa, Europe, and Central/South America (and I wonder where I get my travel bug from). One time we figured out that my grandfather has spoken 11 languages in his life (although since then, I think he has learned at least two more). 

When he was in medical school right after WWII, he spent a year studying in Europe, splitting his time between Edinburgh and Paris. During this time he developed a habit for buying antique medical books and would barter with booksellers, trading them the cans of tuna and sardines that his family sent for food in exchange for things like Charcot's doctoral thesis and van Leeuwenhouk's original treatise on the microscope. For those who don't know him, he also likes to save stuff (and yes, this is a massive understatement). While this annoys my grandmother to no end, it means that he still has things like:

• his Michelin green guide from 1947 (and his daughter's from 1972)
• the map he used when he lived there
• Rent receipts from his landlady at 76 Rue du St. Pere
• Postcards that he wrote and received while he was there
• And of course, his books.

We figured out that I am almost the exact same age as he was when he lived in Paris, which is pretty cool. We practiced French for a long time, and maybe it's because he was speaking so slowly and carefully, but I understood almost everythign he said and could even respond sometimes! Also, I have (and am bringing) his Langenscheidt pocket French dictionary that he's had for years and years, and it smells like his study--cigars, old books, with a little bit of mothballs and a little bit of basement. I love it.

He sent me this picture from when he was 25 and was living in Paris--it was taken sitting on his balcony on Rue de St. Pere.

Bienvenue!

Welcome to my blog!

This blog will be my way of keeping in touch from Paris and experimenting with a new kind of travel journal. The name comes from the eponymous book by Ernest Hemingway, in which he says, "If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast." (Incidentally, I've been waiting for about five years for the perfect time to use "eponymous" in a sentence.)

Thank you for sharing my feasts and travels with me, and enjoy!