I think we call that a "bonne signe."

The way I see it, I must be doing something right when French people stop to ask me directions, which is precisely what happened when I headed toward the Louvre to meet up with my friend Giacinta this afternoon! I was pleased to know that I was reasonably well disguised, and I was able to tell her where to go. Ten points for me!

The next thing I saw on my way to the Louvre was a bus with "Voiture Ecole" in the front where it normally says which route the bus is. It took me a half a second to realize that this was full of bus drivers-in-training, which made me laugh ... I'd never thought that I'd stumble up on a bus teaching drivers in Paris I guess.

Finally, as you can see in the picture below, I arrived at the Grande Pyramide du Louvre, which was where I was supposed to meet Giacinta. While I was waiting for her, I did some quality people-watching ... And I saw something I wish I could un-see. There was a decently large group of probably tourists, and NOT ONLY were all of the men wearing large backpacks (which is fine, you're a tourist, we've all been there, whatever) BUT, far more egregious, they were wearing FANNYPACKS! God help me if I ever see a guy I know wearing a fannypack. No joke, I saw at least six men with this combo. UNNCESSARY! You can have a backpack, or you can have a Man-purse (murse), but you ABSOLUTELY cannot wear a fannypack. Ever. No. NO. Not to mention, if you have a backpack, I hardly think you need the extra storage space of a fannypack. I have three words for you: Bring. Less. Crap.



So Giacinta and I wandered for quite some time through Rue de Rivoli and towards Madeleine, where we stopped at a café for a late lunch, and proceeded to hop on the Metro and go to an appointment to see an apartment that she had found. It was alright, but I'm certainly glad I don't have to go through all of that!

While over there (near M° Rome), I saw the sign below... I guess I didn't zoom quite enough, because it's a bit difficult to read, but that green awning says "Alcools and Strange Wines, Fruits, Legumes [etc.]" which in case you weren't sure, is a bizarre Franglais combination ... I believe by 'strange wines,' they are attempting to say foreign wines, but I was amused by this version. I'll take a strange wine over beer ANY day.



Then, after a brief break at home, I headed to my friend Raphaele's house for dinner. I know Raphaele from orchestra at the Sorbonne, and our mutual friend from orchestra, Arthur, joined us as well. Raphaele's friend Joseph was there too, and it was fun to hang out with friends for the first time in awhile!

I'm going to force myself to go to bed now, as I'm planning to go crashing into the school I'm supposed to be working in to find out what they want from me tomorrow. I start Thursday, as far as I know, and they've said nothing. Ugh. Teaching. Who would ever want to do THAT?! ;)