Last Weekend

My friend Emily came to visit last weekend!  She's working at the Max Planck Institute for Nanobio Photonics (did I mention she's one cool chick?) in Göttingen, Germany this summer, so she took the train out to visit for a few days, and we had a really fantastic time.  So here are some pictures from over the weekend!

One of the first things we did was go up in the "Grande Roue", a big ferris wheel they construct at the end of the Champs-Elysées, in the Jardin des Tuileries, every summer.  I didn't go up in it last time I was here because it's a little pricey, but as long as I'm playing tourist this time around, we went for it.  And it was really great!

La Grande Roue de Paris

More gorgeous sky.

EmJ in the Grande Roue!

Jardin des Tuileries, seen from up above.

The Louvre, seen from the Grande Roue.

More Louvre, more Grande Roue, more gorgeous light.  *sigh*

Looking down the Rue de Rivoli from the Grande Roue.

The Louvre on the left, and the Musée d'Orsay on the right.  We went to the Musée d'Orsay on free museum day, on Sunday, and it was just as great as I remembered.

On Saturday, we went out to the Bois de Boulogne, a big beautiful park where I used to go running when I lived here, and rented bikes and tooled around for a bit on a gorgeous, sun-drenched, breezy afternoon.  I just love the public bikes here, and I love the Bois de Boulogne, and I love my camera.  Love love love.

Boats on the Lac Supérieur, in the Bois de Boulogne.

EmJ is an aspiring amateur photographer too.  :)

On Saturday evening, we stopped by the market and picked up some deeeelicious strawberries, apples, and figs, along with some cheese and bread, and had a ridiculously tasty dinner on the balcony.

Dinner, Paris style.

Figs sautéed in butter and honey, eaten with crusty baguette, fluffy cheese, and crunchy apples.  Heaven.

The first time we got figs here, they were not that great, and I was a leeeeetle bit disappointed.  But these figs totally made up for it.  Oh man, were they good, plopped on top of a baguette smeared with some ricotta-like cheese.

I have resolved to keep eating French-style once I return home.  So much delicious produce, all the time. And I live in California, for Pete's sake; if there's anywhere in the U.S. where I can eat almost as well as in France, the Bay Area is probably it.

On a somewhat related note, I've been trying to go running every day, partially to fend off the pastry pounds, but also partially to soak up as much Paris as I can before I leave.  I've got about a week and a half left, which I think will be somewhat good timing, on a personal level.  I love it here, but it'll be nice to be back in California and see Roger and my puppy dogs and my friends (the ones who aren't gone for the summer).  I do feel a little bad on the research end of things... it's been going really slowly - still having trouble finding subjects - and I'd like to stay longer and help.  But there's not too much more I can do, with time running out... keep your fingers crossed that we find some more people to test soon!