Graduation Week

My apologies for not writing this any sooner. This delay will surely affect the quality of the posting as I cannot recall as many details as I usually do. The pictures will come in a short while.
My parents flew into CDG the same day I arrived from Egypt. After dropping Coby’s sister and friend, I headed to Fontainebleau to grab and drop some stuff, before heading back to Paris to stay at my parent’s rented apartment located right at the base of the Tour Eiffel. After launching the largest laundry batches ever, we grabbed a cab to Place de Clichy to eat at Brasserie Wepler, a famous seafood restaurant. My sister and I shared the seafood platter, accompanied by a bottle or two of rosé. The meal was delicious on the way in. After the meal, my sister and I joined Coby and company in St-Germain to watch France beat Brazil in semi-finals. The party on the street was unbelievable. All cars sported French flags and honked the night away. Leo joined us a short while later and we sat down at “La Rhumerie” for a bottle of old St-James rhum agricole. After the drinks, we walked around for a short while, before calling it a night. Every taxi in town was booked and the public transportation system was severely disturbed by the street mob, so we walked home from Notre-Dame to Eiffel.

The next day, we spent some family time, had lunch at home and dinner at The Café de L’Alma, a small restaurant near our house. I had a fabulous crab guacamole as appetizer, and a disappointing mixed grill as main course.

On Monday, I woke up feeling queasy. After an hour of uncertainty, I threw up what my stomach couldn’t handle from the seafood platter. I rested for a while before feeling better and driving my family to Fontainebleau. They had lunch on a terrace at 38 degrees Celsius while I rested at home. I showed them around campus and my home. I was still feel very upset so I drove them to the train station and headed home to rest some more. After an incident in the bush of the Champion parking lot, (which splashed my shoes…) I went home and watched a couple of DVDs drinking Sprite before falling asleep.

I woke up in top shape on Tuesday, and headed back to Paris. We had lunch at home, including our family’s favourite rosé, Bandol’s Domaine d’Ott, before going to Paris’ newest museum, Le Musée du Quai de Branly. It contains tons of artifacts from civilizations outside Europe. After drinks at the George V Hotel, we had dinner in some restaurant. After dinner, Coby picked me up and we went to St-Michel, at Les Trois Maillets, a cabaret where singers and artists perform right on the large table set in the middle of the small and hot room. There were shows from Romania, Congo, Madagascar, Brazil etc. When we left, we were hit by a 20 euro charge on the bill, which we paid without a fuss and returned to our respective homes.

On Wednesday, I had lunch with my parents at Poulbot Gourmand, a decent restaurant on Montmartre, with another bottle of Ott, before heading back to Fontainebleau. After coordinating with my housemates, I went to the local grocery store to get BBQ supplies and stole our BBQ back from friends who had borrowed it. Many of our closest friends came by our house, so it was fantastic to spend the last night in Bourron-Marlotte together. We watched the French game against Portugal, and enjoyed each other’s company in the house for the last time.

Thursday was the big day: Graduation day. I woke up late and drove to Paris to suit up and pick up my parents, before heading to Versailles’ Palais des Congrès. The ceremony was fairly efficient and uneventful. All were cheered as they marched across the stage to pick up the famous 45,000-Euro document. After a quick cocktail, we drove back to Paris discussing our dinner plans. We tried to make reservations earlier in many grande table of the city, but all were booked. We tried the Cinq again, the George V restaurant, and managed to secure a very nice table. We shared the dégustation meal, which included 5 official courses, each accompanied by the appropriate wine, plus several other bits and trous normands. The service was impeccable, attentive and yet not intrusive. The food was phenomenal, and the presentation superb. They brought small stools for women’s purses, and I nearly created panic amongst the staff when I held up my mom’s jacket to the wall’s painted paper to compare the patterns. Literally 4-6 staff rushed to assist me as they thought I was holding it up to get it hung. After this deliciously fancy meal, we head back home to change for the big graduation party at Club la Madeleine, which was completely booked for our private party. I invited my sister along, and we took the metro to get there. The all-you-can-drink event flew right by, as people kissed each other goodbye. The mood got especially melancholic around 5am, when the end truly neared. After heart-breaking goodbyes, my sister and I planned to walk home before a friend offered us a ride.

On Friday, I slept the morning away. In the afternoon, I went to the Musée de l’Homme with my mom, and we visited an exhibition on pregnancy and birth. After dinner, I visited Tapan’s new apartment on Ile St-Louis, very close to Notre-Dame. We had a drink with Leo while discussing our potential trip to South America this summer. We concluded that flying to Buenos Aires would be most convenient. Tapan and Leo have since booked their tickets from the 2nd to the 28th of August. I have not finalised my decision yet.

On Saturday, We had lunch at home and visited the recently reopened Musée de L’Orangerie and to Invalides and the War Museum. We then had drinks at the V, before having dinner at the Bistrot à Marius, an establishment long visited by my family. Unfortunately, the food was a bit disappointing. At night, I invited my sister to Tapan’s and brought the two suitcases I intended to leave with Tapan while going to Eastern Europe. We walked around the quais around the Seine before coming back home late.

On Sunday morning, I drove to Orly to catch my flight to Prague. All about this trip in the upcoming posting.