dirty south

becca got into paris last wednesday after a bit of nervousness, on my part, over whether she would make it at all--that flying standby thing is very nice cost-wise, but nerve wracking otherwise. over the past months i've been compiling a list, mentally, of places to go, restaurants, parks, etc. i have to say, at the end of 7 days here, that we have not succeeded in conquering even half of this list. however we have done some exciting things, not limited to: Da Gelo a Gelo at the Opera Garnier, followed by a superb french dinner at "the three little pigs"; a weekend in Aix-en-Provence, my ancient home in the south of France where we dined with my host family friday night, an old professor saturday night, a conservatory friend for lunch, dinner with a church friend after sunday evening church, and the most exciting part of all, visiting the Calanques. to visit these stone cliffs on the Mediterranean, we took a bus to marseille and another bus to luminy, from where we hiked to a belvedere offering a nice view of the sea, and then down to the water. at the water's edge, we were enticed to take a dip, despite not having bathing suits, either one of us. so i in my boxer's and becca in full clothing, we tested the waters. all was well and good until we jumped off of a rock, and as i came up to the surface i realized i'd lost my glasses. the water was about 8 feet deep, but crystal clear. which didn't help me much since i couldn't see, but i implored becca to find them. despite the freezing cold water, and with the help of a stranger's mask, becca located the glasses and dove down to grab them. having already thought about making my way back to paris without seeing clearly and then buying new glasses, i was quite relieved and impressed and awed by her mad search and rescue skills. all in all, however, the Calanques were definitely worth seeing.

back in paris we've been busy with dinner with my best friends from church, hanging out with my Scottish friend Frankie, church service last night, a goodbye picnic with the english teachers from school(where i came out on top with 12 or so new French books), and a friend's birthday dinner tonight. tomorrow i go to the French Open to see the women's semifinals, provided it doesn't rain.

and before you know it, i will be on a plane home next monday. i haven't even started to process it, and i'm not sure i will. this may very well be the last blog entry i have about paris. or maybe not, who knows. but don't be surprised.

abl