18-Sept 2008 Paris Blog #3

Another day at school....Got up on time today so I figure if I leave my house at 8:15am I can get on the train without running, get a coffee and be in my seat with 5 minutes to spare. There is a Starbucks across the street from my school, but I prefer to have my coffee standing at the bar with the other Frenchman and posers.Class was interesting, the professor is impressed with San Francisco and so he played a song he loves from 1973 by Maxime Le Forestier called San Francisco. We had to translate it as a test... I did OK, lots of smoking pot, communal living, bedding down with people with long hair.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDtXXlD98kwAfter class I met up with Stephane, he is solely focusing on his art work so he is happy but nervous about providing for his family.http://www.absolutearts.com/portfolios/j/jaspert/ We had a some coffee near his neighborhood and then we checked on his son without letting him know we were there, he is now old enough to walk to and from school alone now. Stephane is doing the fatherly thing of checking up on him to make sure he safe and out of trouble, but letting him think he has the freedom a 12 year old wants.Coming here this time I packed really light because A) I didn't want to travel with a lot and B) there is a store called Tati which is like the USA Ross Store. I bought 6 pair of Adidas socks for $4usd and 6 T-shirts for $10usd. A pair of shoes for $19usd, you get the picture.... Why pack? You also blend in when you wear the clothes they are buying too. BTW, no berets!http://www.timeout.com/paris/guidevenue/123/Tati.html OK now I am home but I am about to leave to meet with some friends at a book signing of Alec Lobrano's new book: http://hungryforparis.squarespace.com/ I am pretty excited as I love his writing and also I have been doing homework almost every night it will be fun to get out and see people at night.
UPDATE: So I went to the signing which was great! I ran into David Lebovitz there. He has a great blog here in Paris: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/ ; we worked with a lot of the same people in San Francisco restaurants back in the 1990s. It was fun talking with him. Some crazy woman came in with a very smelly and very happy lab that rubbed all over my pants... smelly - ewww. Anyway David had the story on her... NUTTER! Regardless the author and the book were a lot of fun. Alec, the author, said he would and I just noticed he did send me his list via email of his favorite oyster bars in Paris; I cannot wait to try them all. Good times..
One last note, my calves are killing me! Anyone who has ever traveled with me knows... much like in my everyday life I am always on the move to see what is around the corner. I need to start moving slower and looking in the windows as I walk, not just get from one destination to the next!OK, more later... Sorry no pics today.