So I am in Paris. I decided a few weeks ago that I wanted to go, so, well, I did. Decent package deal got me here - connecting through Chicago, but I not only had extra legroom (thank you, frequent flyer status on United!) but an empty seat next to me (I had the window seat, the aisle seat was empty - perfect!) on the Chicago->Paris leg made it all ok. I even slept some on the plane, though not as much as I would have liked. I'm staying in central Paris, near the Louvre and Notre Dame. It's a strange neighborhood - kinda upscale, kinda tourist-trash all at the same time. My hotel room is fine - no clock and, more weirdly, there's no shower curtain and the shower itself consists of a handheld spray thingie, but other than that, no complaints in the least. I've got Internet access, obviously.

I just got back from going out to eat. I had duck confit, and it was, unsurprisingly, very, very good. I followed the main course up with creme brulee for desert - also very good, and a very large serving - honestly, I doubt I'll need much for dinner, especially since I doubt I'll be awake very late. But while I was eating, a cat tried to eat my creme brulee. No, seriously. It jumped up on my bench and started settling into my jacket. I shooed it out of my jacket, and it proceeded to take another leap onto the table and began sniffing at my dessert. I persuaded it to move on, but I wasn't really sure what the proper etiquette is in that situation. The cat obviously lived at the restaurant - was I going to offend someone if I pushed it? I dunno. Funny little experience.

I'm expecting a decent number of those for the next week, 'til I head home - this is my first time out of the country on my own, let alone in a place where I don't speak the language. Honestly, I felt more comfortable as an English speaker in Prague than I do in Paris. I think I need to grab a little English-French dictionary to carry around, just so I can translate menus.

More later. Much later, probably. I don't have a digital camera this trip, but I do have two disposable cameras. Once I get home, I'll post pictures. Until then, you'll have to be content with my rambling. =)

Ok, my affection for pandas is not exactly news. I've always had a thing for 'em - the first time I remember ever being allowed to watch TV after 8pm (though this might be with the exception of the Red Sox in '86 - I can't remember which actually came first) was an episode of Nova about, you guessed it, pandas. I've had multiple stuffed pandas over the years, and Mom gave me a really fantastic framed picture of a panda a few years ago - it's actually the only thing I've gotten around to hanging in the new apartment yet (gotta do some work making sure everything's lined up properly for the Transmet pages, and I still need to get those photos of Prague I bought in '04 framed...). And more recently...well, you've seen the baby panda in tupperware.

But, in the last 24 hours, two friends have sent me further panda material (thanks, Laurie and Rachel!). First, there's a bit from the Onion, which I really can't do justice describing, and second, there's panda-themed t-shirts. Here's the image from them:

I've gone into a classical music phase, it seems. Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" was the beginning, followed by a return to Beethoven's "Symphony No. 9". But now I've gone and splurged - downloaded a full set of all 9 Beethoven symphonies and a Rachmaninov collection. Next up: Bach.

My car hasn't been broken into for a week now - new record! Though a friend who works at Isotope, a block away, had his car broken into a couple nights ago. But in the end, I'm ok with break-ins, job bullshit, and pretty much anything else that can go wrong. Do you know why?

That's why. Baby pandas in tupperware make it all better.