Friday, November 2. I wake up early which is good as I have homework to do before Camille arrives! Exercises on relative pronouns. We have a long session today and I spend part of it translating a NY Times article about what's going on with the French humanitarian organization, L'Arche de Zoe, in Chad. More on this later.
I have invited Camille to have lunch today as it is our last tutoring session. He is going to visit friends in Toulouse next week and then spend a week in the Cevennes so won't see him again before I leave. We walk down r. de la Verrerie/r. du Roi de Sicile to l'Alivi. Along the way, Camille points out a wonderful bakery that he frequented when he lived in the neighborhood some time ago.
What can I say that I haven't already said about l'Alivi. Un accueil tres chaleureux from Vincent. I introduce Camille as my French professor, and Vincent replies, "elle est tres duee, n'est-ce pas?" So sweet. Baptiste (the young new waiter) is clearly pleased to see me again. We have a fabulous lunch. Camille has a tomato with Corsican cheese concoction and I have the chausson with anchovies and onions again. We both have the trout which comes with a little ratatouille and a carrot puree that is divine. I consider asking for another one for dessert! We have coffee, and then Baptiste brings us the liqueur de myrthe in glasses that are much larger than the usual ones! Then he offers us the little that is remaining in the bottle and gives me the bottle! He has given us so much that I literally cannot finish it so pour it back in the bottle and stuff the bottle in my back pack for the walk home. My fingers are sticky ("collant") but who cares. When Baptiste brings the check, he says he has not charged us for the coffee (I think he felt bad because it had taken a while for him to get the coffee to us because he was busy with other tables), and Camille says "vraiment, Janet, ils t'adorent ici." I think the hardest thing about leaving Paris this time is going to be leaving behind this wonderful little restaurant!
Camille and I say good-by at the corner of r. du Renard as he is heading off to fight with the phone company about his mobile phone contract (it's the same all over!). I am so happy to have met this wonderful young man who so loves the French language. Moreover, like me, he's un accroc des livres! He's also a musician (plays the guitar) so I tell him (only half seriously) that, when he goes to Colombia, he should let Carolina work (she's a lawyer), and he should pursue all his creative outlets: writing books, writing music. :) But I think he would miss teaching too much. It is truly his calling, and he loves it.
I stop by the market to pick up a couple of things (and finding that I'm a little unsteady on my feet from all that liqueur de myrthe!), then home for a nap before the opera this evening!
Opera Bastille: The building is amazing and the opera (Tosca) is wonderful. Samuel Ramey as Scarpia. More on all of this later. I just want to get this entry "published" so I can pretend that I'm caught up!
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