Where's a cat when you need them? Or better yet, a dog.

Bonjour!

I'm in Paris now, all settled in to my lovely apartment in the Marais
district. I wandered around for a bit, and then decided to have a -
late lunch? Early dinner? I was seated at 3:30, and they offer a
prixe fixe brunch until 5. Parisiens know how to structure the timing
of their meals - I like it :).

The menu was espresso or chocolat, fresh juice, pastries/bread, egg
Benedict, beef or salmon, and fromage blanc with salted caramel for
dessert. They were out of salmon, so I got the beef. Didn't read
carefully that it was tartare. Now, I've had beef tartare many times
before, but in small quantities for an appetizer - not as a giant cup-
sized mound of ground beef. Uh-huh. That's a whole lotta hamburger
my friends. But I'll say - I did eat half of it - it was tasty, nice
spices, etc. Part of the adventure, right?

I'm finding the language transition pretty difficult, and am HATING
that I can't speak French with the exception of the stripped down
basics (hello, thank you, I don't speak French, etc). I never took
for granted being able to speak an ok amount of Italian while I was in
Italy, but I realize now just what a huge difference it makes. I feel
embarrassed and a little ashamed when I'm spoken to in French and have
to apologize for not being able to understand or speak back - almost
as though I really shouldn't be here without having made the effort.
I know many travelers who go on vacation, especially when they're
brief jaunts, and don't have knowledge of the language, but I don't
know - it doesn't feel good to me. Ah well, I'll get over it.

I like the temperature shift here - nice and cool! Although my ankles
may suffer a bit as I only have one pair of long pants :). I think
there were only two days in Italy that I didn't sweat my butt off at
some point during the day, so this will be a welcome change!

I think I'm going to save my feet today, as my guess is that my friend
Diane and I will be doing a lot of walking tomorrow (combined with
some sight seeing via a boat on the Seine). She arrives by train from
London before noon. Yay! I also have a 3 hour pastry/chocolate shop
walking tour lined up for us on Tuesday. Screw the Louvre - I'm here
for the important stuff!

Love,
L