Friday night in the Marais

I had thought of going to see "La Dame en Noir", but then I remembered that Friday night is the NCIS marathon on Canal 6. So I have been brushing up on my French, courtesy of the bizarrely dubbed voices of Gibbs and Co.

It's been a great week. I eased back into things at school by going every day except Wednesday (when I took the opportunity to sleep in). This time around, unlike the fall, I have a lighter program scheduled - just 26 hours a week (5 morning classes and two afternoon workshops). I may eventually add some private classes with Danielle, the tutor I had last fall, independently of school.

One of the workshops is the regular Thursday afternoon "sortie pedagogique". Yesterday, we went with Anne to visit the Mairie du 10e (the mayoralty of the 10th arrondissement) and afterwards we walked along the Canal Saint Martin. The Mairie du 10e is quite impressive - probably the fanciest of all the 20 arrondissements - the architect was Garnier, famous for also having designed the old opera house. There was a lot going on - people were getting married, people were attending adult education courses, and the star of the show was this little sweetie, who was having the time of her life:

(Yes, I think her T-shirt says "Chicken is good").

Here is Anne, and some of my fellow classmates:

Smugness goes before a fall. Earlier this evening I had returned from a little shopping excursion at Monoprix, to get a decent corkscrew, a delicious baguette, and some groceries. Just as I was pouring myself a glass of wine, and gnawing on some delicious baguette, thinking how good life was, I reached for my Kindle. Uh-oh where was my Kindle? So I had to retrace my increasingly panicked steps to the Monoprix bakery, where - luckily - the very nice young lady said "We've been expecting you" and called over the security guard, who had been holding on to my Kindle.

Sometimes I wonder how I manage to survive at at all. But at least this story had a happy ending.

Also, earlier this evening my friend France dropped by with the books I had left with her over the winter. Now that I have my assorted grammar books and dictionaries, I feel much better equipped to face the weekend. There's a Robert Doisneau exhibition at the Hotel de Ville that I certainly need to check out before the lines get too long in the morning.

Meanwhile, the NCIS marathon, he continues. Life is good.