Lost in the City

Another reunion took place tonight, with the Montréal connection this time. Dominic and Patricia came to visit at the end of a whirling French trip. It was the occasion for me to finally meet Patricia, after having heard many good things about her from Dominic. Of course, it was also great to see Dominic again! Last time around was a few years ago, when we took a trip to Brussels together.
We had some diner at a brasserie on Daguerre Street, a busy street not very far from my place. We then took a nice walk to Montparnasse, Rennes Street, before ending up at Saint-Germain. Walking by the Montparnasse train station, we saw quite a few people on rollerblades. That reminded me of the customary Friday night Roller Ride that takes place here in Paris… apparently starting from Montparnasse around 10 PM.
Sure enough, as we walked down Rennes Street, we stumbled upon said Roller Ride, which was riding down Raspail Boulevard. It was pretty cool to watch them all. The first ones were really fast, and even if the pace was slowing down toward the end, they were still pretty speedy. Anyway… nice to witness that. It was a first for me. I don’t even know if the ride takes place all year long or only for the summer.

One more visit from the DC connection… and not any visit: I got to see my running mate and dear friend Rachel! She will be in France for a couple of months, so it’ll give us time to get the running gear on again, in Paris this time. I’m looking forward to that!!
We just spent a great night out with Rachel’s mom and her aunt. We met at the Saint Michel Fountain, got a crepe at the Saint Andre des Arts Creperie and walked around for a while through the Latin Quarters, Odeon, and a few other places.

Bastille Day is the name under which our national holiday is known in the US. We, French people just call it "July 14th". On that day, there are fireworks in most of the French cities and towns (well, some are having them on July 13th now... kind of strange if you ask me, but that's the way it is...). There are also many balls (as in dances) organized in most of the cities or neighborhoods, either by the cities themselves or by some organizations, the firemen's balls probably being the most famous. The other national highlight is the military parade down the Champs-Elysees.
It's the first year I was in Paris for Bastille Day, so even if I was pretty tired (what can I say... story of the past year!!) I decided to give the fireworks a shot. Plus, I just bought a new camera (yes, the fourth!) that I was eager to test. On top of that, my cousin Cedric is in town for a few days to take a couple of exams, and he doesn't know Paris at all, so the fireworks were a cool experience to have.

I told you we'd get there...
Once again, I took advantage of a short trip to my parents' to play some baseball. We went to the municipal stadium up the hill and played catch for a while before hitting a bit. We had a lot of fun.
Now to talk about serious baseball, I am quite amazed at all that happened in June for the Cubs. I am still loyaly following the game from the other side of the pond, and it has been quite eventful lately. Zambrano and his catcher Barrett throwing some punches, the manager Lou Piniella getting ejected from a game the next day. Ted Lilly getting ejected from a game after 10 pitches for supposedly purposefully hitting a slugger. D. Lee getting hit by a ball and then initiating a fight with Padres' pitcher Chris Young... well, you can say stuff happened! On top of that, we had a couple of amazing come-from-behind wins, including a 9th inning 2-run homer by Ramirez against the Brewers (Central Division leaders). Lots of emotions in June... lots of good game too, allowing the Cubs to stay within reach of the Brewers for the Division Title. I'm telling you: this is the year!

... and NO, this one is not about baseball. No worries though, we'll deal with baseball soon (of course ! Whose blog did you think you were reading??).
So if it's not a baseball kind of bat I'm talking about, what am I actually talking about? Well... just what's on the picture. What do you mean, you can't see? Take a closer look. See it now? It's a bat. Not just any bat: a bat I held in my hand for a while.
I'm at my parents' this weekend, taking an extended weekend to visit family and see my osteopath. For a few years, we have had bats at home. Not in the house, but right outside: they nest (do bats nest? no idea, but they sure spend their days in there) in a hole under the roof, 1 foot away from the sundeck. I like those bats: they aren't bothering at all, and since we've had them we haven't had mosquitos around. That works for me !
Anyway... back to the bat: we saw one of them hanging right out of the hole as we were having lunch on the sundeck. A little while later, it fell down on the ground. My mom, animal rescuer in chief (birds, ducks, bats, you name it), picked it up and put it back next to the hole, into which the bat disappeared. A couple of hours later though, my mom came to me in the living room. She was coming from outside, phone in one hand, bat in the other, and put the bat in my hand. That was weird. The little thing kept moving and trying to get out of my hand. Taking a closer look, I noticed that one of it's "arms" was dysfunctional, which might explain why it always ended up out the hole. I put it back up there... and in it went. We didn't see it after that. I'm hoping all is well!!