L’Arc, Rodin, et à bientôt Paris
The last couple days have been much quieter, which I desperately needed. My routine became: wake up, catch up on emails from the night before, then go grab a cafe creme at Cafe Bruant and stop by the boulangerie after so I could grab a treat for later. Because I still needed to work half of my day in regular US hours, I was left with a decent chunk of time in the afternoon to myself—Monday, I spent it seeing the Arc de Triomphe for the first time, followed by a stroll along the Champs Élysées and a whistle stop at the Trocadero for that epic view of the Eiffel Tower. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon, though I preferred the Trocadero with better light and fewer masses of tourists
For dinner Monday night, I desperately wanted to try some of the rotisserie chicken I see turning in the windows of every bucherie/rotisserie I passed, but they were all closed. I wandered aimlessly for awhile before a string of pretty lights caught my eye and before I knew it I was at a restaurant with a huge terrace overlooking a gorgeous view of the city at sunset. The roast cockerel with potatoes au gratin and delicious burgundy white were just icing on the cake.
Tuesday was more of the same. For my break, I decided on a whim to check out the Rodin Museum, which proved to be an amazing idea. I highly recommend spending a few hours exploring the sculpture garden, taking pictures and enjoying a bit of peaceful respite in the middle of the city. After returning to work for a few hours, I finally grabbed dinner from a rotisserie and then received some heartbreaking personal news—a sudden death in the family, which left me reeling.
Today, I left Paris for the month to settle into my apartment in Dijon. I miss Montmartre dearly, specifically this little neighborhood—when I got to the cafe this morning, the waitress brought my order out as soon as I sat down because, as she said (in French), “I thought you’d want your usual” and my heart burst because having a “usual” in Paris has long been the dream. But I’m ready for the change of scenery, and what I’ve seen of Dijon thus far is beyond beautiful. Plus my new apartment is much bigger than my last, which is a major plus. Time to go explore a bit of my new home for the next month.
