Neige

View from Apartment Window at 4:00 PM

It snowed today!  The temperature has been plummeting these last few days and it has now dropped below freezing.  The forecast is for continued cold.

We finished Frommer’s Walk #19 today, which we started with guests but then abandoned because of nightfall and rain.  We’ve got 13 walks left and only 10 days.  Completing the walks is looking grim.

The second goal of the day was to finally go to see Katherine’s apartment where she stayed two summers ago for her 5 week study at Sorbonne University.  Until today, I have been feeling kind of sorry for Katherine, having been required to stay way out in the 12 Arrondissement.  The reality is that it appeared to be a funky, fun area.

There was a big street market in full bustle.  A guy with a pig head at the market hammed it up for me. 

We went to Katherine’s favorite boulangerie for her favorite tuna sandwich (I am not a big fan of tuna salad, but I had a sandwich in her honor).  It all looked pretty cool and I am happy now that Katherine was in a good place.

From there, I went to the library and Diane did some shopping.  Reading/writing went dismally, so I dropped off my computer and went to BHV to shuffle around the floors there.

I think I am starting to feel preoccupied.  Next weekend, Diane and I return home.  The end will now come at us fast.  The mood of this vacation is about to change.  I can feel it. 

It thus seems appropriate today to reflect on our spent time before the mood changes.  It will be hard to look back in a few days.  I don’t intend on looking back or analyzing anyway. I am not good at long goodbyes.  This blog will end when I get home. 

Here are my reflections at this point:

- Basically, it has been wonderful.  There is nothing we would change.

- We woke up every morning excited about the day.  Never did we feel at a loss for things to do. 

- The long duration is transformational; although we did many things, we didn’t think in terms of a schedule or a plan; we lived one day at a time.

- Seven weeks was close to a perfect duration; much shorter and it is a sightseeing vacation; much longer and lethargy would set in. 

- The apartment was wonderful and greatly helped us set up “home” here.  It was worthwhile cleaning it and moving in fully.

- Somehow, Diane and I stayed friends and, if anything, have become closer.

- We haven’t felt homesickness.

- We haven’t craved any sort of food from home.

- We haven’t missed our material goods, not even our bed and pillows.

- We packed well, but yes, there is stuff we didn’t use.

- I don’t think this trip has “transformed” us per sec, we are richer in our experiences, but still the same people we were before.

- I expect that time has moved much more slowly for us than for people back home.  Every day has been an adventure and we have not let much unused time slip through our fingers.

- It was great to have friends visit.  They helped us see Paris again through tourist eyes with tourist energy.  They sure had a lot of energy.

- I have changed my mind: Jules Verne restaurant was totally worth it for the joy that it brought us all.

- A sabbatical as a time to think and learn.  We have done that.

- This blog has been easy to write.  It is just my personal diary.  I am surprised (honored!) at the number of people who find it interesting.