Strolling through Toronto and Paris

I've been gone for almost two weeks; it's time for some photos and updates! 

Toronto

I flew out of Portland, OR on Friday, 13 June and headed for Toronto to visit Natalie! It was hard to believe it had been over a year since I'd last seen her! We were so accustomed to hanging out every day when we worked together in Nantes. :) I had such a great weekend exploring the town with her and catching up with her and her boyfriend Jack. Toronto is a beautiful and lively city; I'm so glad I was able to visit, and I'm super grateful to Natalie for hosting and for being such an amazing tour guide!! We walked around town all day on Saturday, took a boat tour of the harbor on Saturday afternoon, grilled up a delicious dinner and went to a fantastic concert on Saturday night, and chilled and had some great coffee on Sunday morning. Across all of this, we had an excellent time catching up, laughing, and reminiscing about great times back in Nantes. Some photos from the weekend: 

The new City Hall building

Downtown Toronto from City Hall

A building inside a building!

The front and back of the Flatirons building:

St. Lawrence Market and the Distillery District:

In the Distillery District, we enjoyed a flight of beers, lunch, and a World Cup soccer game (Go Colombia!!).

Harbor boat tour:

What a beautiful skyline!!

Grilling up dinner al fresco on Saturday night:

We got to see The Jezabels at Lee's Palace. What an awesome band and a great concert!!

POUTINE!!! I had it twice during my two days in town. :-P

Delicious lattes at Bull Dog Coffee

Thanks again to Natalie and Jack for showing me a fantastic time in Toronto and for treating me to some great adventures!! I can't wait for the next time we can all get together!

Paris

After arriving in Geneva on the morning of Monday, 16 June, I had the day to get settled into the graduate student residences (where I'll be living until September), get some food, and re-pack before I headed off to Paris on 17 June. Paris in the summer is fabulous. Even though I only had two days, it was lovely to just soak in the vibes and the people in the city and leisurely explore and take my time wandering around town. Since I've been to Paris so many times before, there aren't too many "touristy" things I still have on my list of places to visit. This time, though, I was finally able to visit the Opéra - Palais Garnier and take a tour. Holy cow, what a gorgeous building!! I took a ton of pictures of all of the gold, marble, mosaics, and paintings:

The ceiling above the Grand Staircase

From the entry level to the ceiling

The Grand Staircase

The Foyer and the main theater, below. In the photo on the left, you can see the giant chandelier and part of Edgar Degas' modern ceiling, painted in the 1960s.

I also stopped by the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral for a quick 'bonjour', as well as by Paris' version of the Flatiron building, which is one of my favorite buildings in town. While there, I sat on the terrace and enjoyed my first café crème since returning to Europe and read some of Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast, which is filled with short stories of Hemingway's life in Paris in the 1920s. It was quite spectacular to read his stories and be familiar in a modern sense with many of the places he had visited almost a hundred years ago. He has a beautiful quote that is so hauntingly perfect for this city across time:

"If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast."

I also finally saw the Shakespeare & Co. Bookstore!

Bonjour, Paris!

The weather in Paris during my visit was perfect. I was also able to re-connect with some friends-of-friends who I met last summer who live in Paris (French and American). They treated me to a couple of excellent evenings on the town. I look forward to catching up with them again and spending more time in beautiful Paris soon.

Next up: Photos and stories from an utterly fantastic night at the Summer Solstice festival at Stonehenge!! :)