Friday, August 24, 2007

Chez Olivier

After cleaning up my mistake at France's house (see previous post titled, "Chez France"), Olivier and I left with Alexandre and drove to his apartment on the other side of Paris. Olivier was fantastic and drove me past all the major Paris landmarks, except Notre Dame and Sacre Coeur.

Olivier asked me if there was anything special I wanted to do in Paris and I told him that what I was really interested in was a "Day in the Life of Olivier." My time in Paris was so short that the last thing I wanted to do was run around like a crazy tourist trying to see the sights.

After we arrived at his apartment, we dropped off my stuff and then headed down to the corner store to pick up fixin's for lunch. After lunch, we headed out to a bookstore so I could pick up a couple of books for Mrs. Pike, Marlo's French teacher, and went over to the post office to mail home a box.

Olivier then gave me a tour of his building and we ran a few more errands to pick up fixin's for dinner. (It is common in France to pick up groceries one day at a time to ensure that the freshest ingredients possible. Some people go to the grocery store once a week, but bread is almost always bought fresh.)

Olivier's wife, Marie-Helene came home from work in the late evening. She works at L'Oreal Paris and has a very responsible position with the company. She works long hours, but is very good at her job. Her background is in pharmaceuticals. Marie-Helene and I began talking during dinner and didn't stop until Olivier forced us to go to bed because the taxi was picking Marie-Helene and I up at 5:15 a.m. to go to the airport. I really enjoyed talking to her - she is very intelligent and very well-read.

Anyway, the next morning came too soon and we headed out to the airport.






Louvre (left)





New opera house (right)

















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