Wine in Baby Bottles and Fondue

This post is about exactly what it sounds like. A fondue restaurant where the wine is served in baby bottles.

But first a wonderful day at Versailles. We awoke at my house and I had to sing, yell and jump on my friend Cassandra to get her off the couch and so she would come with us. My friend Bailey was staying with me too, and we made our way to the train station where the amazing Professor Christina Von Koehler was waiting with a head full of knowledge about the place and with free train tickets from NYU Paris!

I didn't think I could learn so much about Versailles by not even going in the house, but I should have known anything is possible with Christina. We simply toured the gardens. I learned why certain fountain are in certain places, the mythology behind them and whether or not they were supposed to make for a fertile night in the rooms of the palace that overlooked them (for example). We visited Marie Antionette's little fairytale village, and of course everyone was more amused by the piggies, sheepies and little-guy goats than by the rest of the compound (This is why homeless people with pets always get us too).

I had a cup of hot chocolate that was just chocolate that was hot. If I didn't drink it fast enough the top would solidify and I would have to eat the skin. Yum. Later I saw dragon-man statue with the biggest and pointiest nipples at all of Versailles, but then I thought back to drinking that hot chocolate and came to rival him.

Anyway it was an beautiful day full of education for fun (always an easier way to learn) and about 6:30 we made our way back on the train, with plans of going to the fondue and baby bottle restaurant.

The place was about 10 feet across and not very deep, the ladies had to sit on the inside because the only way to get to the seats against the wall was to climb over the table (and I guess guys are too heavy?). Our waiter hates the stupid young people who frequent the place and he let's you know. He and the other waiter repeatedly made fun of my bow-tie and I just happen to sit in the seat where he put down everything on the table. He would smack me in the head with the bread basket, with the bowl of potatoes, and with his elbows. I loved every minute of it. That guy stuck to his character, and I could tell underneath he was smiling.

The food was not great, I mean it was basic meat and cheese fondue. Fondue is always about the experience anyway, and the baby bottles made the night what it was. I could not think of better way to drink red wine. I am trying to stop chewing my nails, so I needed something to satiate my oral fixation. Though they cut bigger holes in the nipple (!?) and it did make it go down fast, not to mention baby bottles are not tiny. By the time we left we were all in a jovial mood and went off to dance and continue the festivities...

If Ever I Would Leave You...

...It wouldn't be in Autumn.

Here I am sitting in our little mansion that is the NYU in Paris campus on a Saturday. This coming week is midterm week and so our basement library is open today. At this point it is just me and the salty French librarian with her pursed lips and red rectangle frames. As I walked in and saw only empty computers I said "Ah bon!" and she made a grunting noise back. Life without a computer (still haven't quite diagnosed mine) is hard, but kind of good because it forces me to read in my spare time or come here to actually get work done (well now, I am blogging).

The last few weeks here have had their ups and downs, I had guests for about two and a half weeks straight and therefore didn't get as much as I needed to done, got a little stressed out at times but also had a lot of fun. This city is always a cure when I get worked-up though, I can just take a walk and I feel great. I have a feeling when I get back to New York it is really going to hit me hard. Though I have just as much work here, it doesn't feel like it. New York always has some larger pressing matter, some way of forcing me into submission and beating me down into a robot who relies on his Blackberry to tell him where he needs to be with whom and what he needs to talk about with that person.

Okay I get it, that is called obligation, and I don't have much of it here. But that's not how life works, unless I'm able to always just escape time after time. I've done a pretty good job of it up until now but I think I'm getting a little old for that. Evan's got some decisions to make when he gets back.

But for now: French limestone, brick streets, pasteries, autumn air, new friends, and the bluest sky I have ever seen.

I hope my friend Sasha doesn't mind that I keep using her photos, but this one seems to fit.

My computer is BROKEN

It froze, I restarted it. When I did a circle with a diagnol line came up on that grey start-up screen. That was there for a while, so I restarted it. Next time a folder with a question mark came up, and continues to come up any time I try. This does not seem like a good thing to me.

If you know anything about this kind of thing, let me know. I don't want to go talk to an apple guy about my computer in French.

I will try to update as much as I can, but most of the time I am in the library I am trying to work (like right now...) and though we can change the keyboards here to English if we like, they are very different.

I'll type this sentence two times, once with the English keys and once with the French keyboard!
=
Iùll type this sentence tzo ti,es; once zith the English keys qnd once zith the French keyboqrd1

WISH ME LUCK!