Dinner and a Show

Hey all, this might be my last post for a while, as I have a month of adventure ahead of me. Every weekend for the next month, I'll be in some city in Europe, having fabulous times which I will hopefully write about regularly, but you know me...at any rate, it doesn't seem like anyone is anxious to hear about how I spend my time, as yours is pretty well occupied, too. So sit back, relax, check my page every once in a while to see if there's a post from Prague or a report from Rome, and maybe let me know what you think about it. For now, here's a new post {lucky you!} and a couple of tidbits to keep you interested in the upcoming weeks: I will be visiting a sinking city, retracing the bloody footsteps of Jack the Ripper, and getting beer for less than a dollar. Yeah, now you're hooked. Stay tuned, folks.

{Monday, October 20}

What a lovely weekend. I watched "La Bête Humaine" {a Jean Renoir film from the 30s} at IES, then ran some errands {the post office, cashing travelers' checks, etc.} before returning to L-P and waiting a little while for Monica to get back from Versailles. Her host was out of town and had invited her to bring guests over, so we had planned a lovely little repas for the two of us and Cody {Melissa was in Nîmes for the weekend}. We bought pasta, sauce, beef, zucchini, quail eggs, wine, brie, and ice cream at Franprix {or "The 'Prix", as we like to call it}, and a baguette at the local boulanger before heading to Monica's apartment to prepare. Cody arrived shortly thereafter, and the three of us munched on the baguette while boiling farfalle and sauteeing zucchini {my job, since I'm apparently the only one bold enough to sautee zucchini...Francophobic friends, aren't you impressed with how I butchered the French language right there?}. Why the quail eggs, you ask? Because I saw them at the store and got really excited and decided to make the other two try them...they weren't disgusted, but they were certainly not blown away either {I could make a horrible pun here, but I'll spare you}.

As I pulled the beef out of its package, we realized that it was not, in fact, ground beef, as the shelf had said, but rather a large hunk of meat. It looked really disgusting at first, but ended up working out fine. Due to a minor salt spill and our failure to realize that the stove was no longer on when we tried to heat the sauce, our assortment of dishes was of varying temperatures, but it was all delicious and even more satisfying because we made it. The wine {Saint Amour} was also pretty good for having cost 7 €, and the mint chocolate chip ice cream was, although perhaps not so French, a well-chosen dessert. We then left for a housewarming party at the apartment of one of Cody's host brothers, but there seemed to be no one there when we arrived, so we gave up on that adventure and headed home {edit: the doorbell was apparently broken. Dommage.}

Monica and I both vowed to get some work done on Saturday...which sort of happened, despite the usual procrastination.



Then it was time for the big event of the weekend, provided that we could get in. Since our arrival in Paris, the three of us have seen posters everywhere for a ballet version of "Edward aux Mains d'argent" {direct translation: Edward with the hands of silver}, i.e. Edward Scissorhands, and insisted that one day we'd go see it. Somewhere in the back of our minds, we figured it would never actually happen, but on Friday night I decided to be proactive. We planned to try for rush tickets 15 minutes before the show, but it was a Saturday night, so we didn't expect much.

The three of us met up outside the theatre, Monica and I all gussied up for an evening out because the ballet merits it and, in the likely event that we would not get in, we figured we'd go out for a nice dinner. Not really knowing where to go, we wandered around for a moment before walking up to one of the counters and inquiring about the "tarif spécial" {special price}. The woman behind the window, by way of reply, turned on a small screen on the countertop and told us to pick a place.

Minutes later, we were on our way to some pretty awesome seats {for which we'd paid 15 € in a section that would've cost 50 € ahead of time}, congratulating ourselves on following through.







The show was gorgeous - it was really interesting to see what they did to tell the story and characterize words; in Suburbia, there was a dance of the 'morning routine' which captured the monotony of their lifestyle extremely well. Movements were exaggerated, but it added to the aesthetic of the show and made it feel like one big dance, even though there were several scenes in which they were simply walking or running {with style, of course}. Edward absolutely nailed it; his gait and posture and gestures captured the character really well. And, of course, the live orchestra and choir brought it all together.

We grabbed some "Greek" kebab sandwiches down by St Michel for dinner and wandered around for a bit, taking random photos before heading back to our respective homes.


We also found a large congregation of Jews on the sidewalk across the street, playing some kick-ass music.


Us showing off our fancy clothes outside the Hôtel de Ville


Cody thought this was funny enough to take a picture - us "stripping" in front of the Hôtel de Ville


Um...putting the 'hô' in 'hôtel'?

Oh, and for your entertainment, a random picture of some chimney sweeps. We were thrilled to know that they actually exist.