De Retour en France

Salut de Paris/Greetings from Paris! I have to say, everything feels very French as I'm writing this: I'm sitting in front of the window of our rented 6th floor apartment in the historical Montmartre district, sun streaming through the window and the dome of La Basilisque du Sacre Coeur in plain view with Joe Dassin's 'Aux Champs Elysées' playing in the background. I almost feel French... but my plaid pajama pants (that I'm wearing at 4:30 in the afternoon) and my lack of cigarette in hand remind me that I'm just not quite there. Oh well, it's fun to pretend!

As un-French as I am, it's wonderful to be back in France. It seems like ages ago that I spent a year studying in France but I'm pleased to find that it's exactly how I remember it: Everyone, and I mean everyone, is absolutely dressed to the nines as if they're all on their way to job interviews, people bringing their dogs inside cafes, streets lined with more boulangeries and brasseries than you can count, the constant smell of urine invading your nostrils (the affinity French men seem to have with public urination is something I will never understand) and even the way a security guard yelled at Ben and I this morning for having the audacity to enter the Montmartre cemetry at 7:58 when it didn't open until 8:00. Were this my first time in France I might have been shocked, angry even but I just rolled my eyes, laughed and thought, it's good to be back.

Where I'm currently sitting... note the dome!

Last night's dinner

Our flat!

La Basilisque du Sacre Coeur early this morning

Montmartre sunrise

A very French (and very delicious) breakfast

Montmartre cemetery