Of artichokes and lost soles: a varied day.

   We were asked to put together a choral number for a concert our church was giving, and having only been notified about it three days in advance, had to throw something together in a hurry. This also meant that we had to stick around and practice for most of the weekend, but it was fun!

"Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing"

  After our choir practice I went on a nice walk with some of the gals around Les Invalides. 

The "Grand Palais"

 Hurrah for artichokes! 

 We saw some tents and decided to see what was inside...

Greek food expo!

 We then walked to the Champs de Mars and on our way saw a delightful chocolate shop!

Yes, this is a chocolate power drill.

   Mes amies grabbed some dinner to go at a fantastic Italian place called Il Giramonodo on Rue de Grenelle--I really want to go back there and get something myself--but I had made dinner plans already with another group, so I just enjoyed the autumn sun in the park whilst the ladies dined.

Yummy!

Then the girls I was with had to go home and I met up with the other group. 

 Street art of the day:

   Everybody had been raving about an Italian restaurant they had eaten at earlier in the week named Il Tartufo, so we went there. It was definitely not rave worthy, actually I'm pretty sure most American pizza's I've had were better. Rubbery cheese, chewy crust...so not bad, but not super good either. I also tried somebody's pasta and it was also disappointing, it tasted very plain and could have been easily replicated in any college dorm. So after sampling the take-away Italian food by Champs de Mars I wish I had switched dinner groups (nothing personal, mind you).

Pas mal

The lost sole this post is titled for. A moment of silence please. 

  The lady my roommate and I are living with was having a party with her beyond-middle-age (60's- 70's) singles group, so we were trying to stay out late so we weren't just awkwardly hanging around. However, we did get back early enough to enjoy about 3 hours of the partying. There were about 70 people in the apartment and there was a dj and everyone was having a splendid time drinking, eating, dancing and flirting. It was so fun to watch everyone and see how French people partied...well, the older ones anyway. I love watching older-than-middle-aged people flirting--it lets you see how they must have been when they were younger--super "awww" worthy!

Champagne in the bath