The next day, we slept in. Even though it was not that hot or humid, the hotel had such bad ventilation that we had to leave the windows open to cope with the mugginess. As a result, we all got devoured by mosquitos. It's really strange, because in Lille, I hadn't seen a single mosquito, and yet they were all over the room in Paris ( Read more... )

Friday, Alfred, David and I finally got our chance to try the bouchon Lyonnais that had eluded us. Wolfgang joined us to round out the table. We laughed when other people arrived at 8pm hoping to get in without a reservation. Amateurs ( Read more... )

On Thursday, I was kaputt from my feet hurting. So I skipped the last two talks and took the metro back to my hotel so I could do some shopping before shops closed. I went to an small wine shop with lots of special, small production wines, in order to get some special wines that I had been craving. The first, Savennieres Roche aux Moines, caused ( Read more... )

Wednesday, the conference only ran until 1pm and then we were free until the conference dinner at the Louvre at 8pm. Unfortunately, this was also one of the days during the conference where it was raining continuously (the weather throughout the conference was mild and dreary -- clouds and temperatures never exceeding the low 70s). I got lunch with ( Read more... )

There was a bouchon Lyonnais in Paris that Mark and Dmitry had recommended to me and which was not far from the conference center. I was itching for some home cookin', so I called them up for a reservation on Monday. They were closed, which wasn't typical. Instead, I ended up finding this wine bar with great food that I took Alfred and David to ( Read more... )

I booked my hotel because we had stayed in it several times and it provided four important features: 1) it had a price that floated around $100/night depending on the season, which is on the cheap end for Paris; 2) the rooms are relatively large for Paris and have a desk; 3) there is free wifi; 4) most things seemed to work relatively well. Well, ( Read more... )

All these fancy restaurants need to stop using the French word foie gras and start using the superior German word gestopfte GänseleberHad dinner with Alfred and David G. last night. I couldn't convince them to get the foie gras, which is too bad, but I had my fill of chanterelle mushrooms for appetizer and duck for the main course. And I had a ( Read more... )

We went for a walk around Mark and Dmitry's neighborhood for the past two hours. At the end of it, we passed by a cheese shop where I bought some Beaufort to satisfy my craving. Then we went to their outdoor market. While they were buying vegetables and bread for lunch, I wandered around and stopped when I found a foie gras dealer. I was kind of ( Read more... )

I'm in Paris right now. I'm chilling at the apartment of our linguistic friends Mark and Dmitry while I wait until check-in time for my hotel. We're going to go for a walk now and then have lunch ( Read more... )

Today after my CNRS interview and lunch, we decided to do a little sightseeing before heading back to Lyon. We opted for the Grand Galerie de l'Évolution, since it sounded interesting and was conveniently halfway between our hotel and the train station. The building is from maybe the 19th or early 20th century and has dark wood paneling all around ( Read more... )