Last days in Paris
My parents arrived in Paris last Saturday and left early this morning. In the intervening week, we did a lot. Museums: le Louvre, Musée d'Orsay, Musée Rodin, Petit Palais (William Blake exhibit!). Food: plein-air market in Bastille, gourmet food shopping at La Grande Épicerie, and more restaurants than I've eaten at in the past six months. Outside of Paris: Giverny, Versailles, and 33 hours in London.
I'd post pictures of all this, but I only have like 28 kilobytes of space left on my hard drive, so... Maybe later.
In London, we did the super-touristy things (a double-decker bus tour) but also visited our old haunts in Richmond, like the flat we used to inhabit, the school I used to attend, and this great Italian restaurant. It was totally bizarre to compare what I remembered as a 6-year-old to how Richmond really is. It was much more chic than I'd thought, and of course there were things I'd totally remembered (such as the exact layout of the playground, go figure) and totally forgotten (there was an Underground station nearby?). And of course one of the main reasons for visiting London was having a spot of tea with Layla, my BFF 13 years ago with whom I've been corresponding since. It was so odd: we knew each other, and she and her mum welcomed us so warmly, and yet I'd never seen this Layla before. I only remembered the little girl I'd played Sleeping Lions with. In any case, it was super great. Also, Deven was there, and he finally had some real British tea.
Mom's goodbye text this morning: "Having brkfst in airport. Miss u too. Was just talkng about this great short wk. Thanks to u + D for warm hospitality. We both got friskd! Xoxo."
It's definitely been a week of visits! After a semester of me clinging to Deven, all of a sudden we have friends and family right and left. Sara arrived yesterday fresh from the Netherlands, and before that she was in Uganda. What a traveller. She's volunteering at Shakespeare & Co and about to be abducted for some quality time with Deven and me before we leave.
I've only got two and three-quarters days left in Paris. I'm kind of freaking out about it. A lot. I already miss this place and I haven't even left it. I packed up one super-heavy suitcase that my parents took back, and my other two are lying open on my bed, half-full of things like dirty laundry and dictionaries and silly things I won't need anymore (map of the Louvre, street fashion mag) but which are coming back with me anyway. Le sigh...
Today's plan: make my way over to Deven's, wake him up (it's almost 10 here), meet up with Sara someplace, and wander Paris fervently. I've also got to pick up some little gifts here and there for my beloveds back home. Home...