Day 85: Celebrity Sighting #2

After shifting from the hotel to the flat I'm staying in for the next week, I rested for a while as I've caught a slight cold. I finally motivated myself enough to get out to the American Library in Paris to hear one of my favourite authors read. David Sedaris is an amazing writer whom I have been listening to on Chicago radio and reading for many years, and I was thrilled to have the chance to hear him read from his latest book and his diaries. I didn't even mind that the place was so packed I had to stand for over an hour. Brilliant!

Day 84: An American in Paris

Apologies for the low photo quality, but I had a lot going on at the time. We were on les Bateaux Parisiens and people were bothering me, I was outside in the cold, and someone claimed we'd get an even better photo when we moved to the other side of the boat. Sadly, the other door leading to said side was locked. So I'm pleased I got any decent shots. Plus I was too excited to have met and made the acquaintance of a local Chicago celebrity!

Day 83: My view over the next two days

I suppose if you are stuck in a meeting for eight hours a day over the next two days in Paris, and it's finally lovely weather outside, this isn't a terrible view to have.

Day 82: Second in a series

The view from my hotel room at 11:00 PM. Or was it midnight? I can't recall.

Day 81: I know it's a cliché, but...

...this really was what I saw as I turned the corner off of the main street on which my hotel is situated. Even in the grey weather, la Tour Eiffel is still lovely to unexpectedly run into.

Day 80: I might not be the laziest person on the planet

But surely I must be in the top five? Hey, it was a long walk from one gate to the other, and I was wearing heels, and my briefcase was really heavy.

Day 79: A birthday lunch

Today was S's birthday so we had lunch out at Thali Too, a nice vegetarian Indian restaurant on campus. This is a cool projection they have on the back wall of the restaurant.

Day 78: What's in your wallet?

After arriving at JFK last night, I realised I had one US dollar in my wallet. Thus one of the first things I did today was hit up the ATM for some cold, hard cash. It was then that I realised that I have four currencies in my wallet - INR, EUR, GBP, and USD. Note the special Scottish five pound note as well; does that count as five currencies, then?

Day 77: How I get through my 7+ hour flights

I've completed the second of three major flights this week. The first was BOM-LHR on Monday, and I think the flight time was 9.5 hours. The second was LHR-JFK on Tuesday, which took 8 hours or so. And the third is Friday from BDL (Bradley International) to CDG (Paris Charles de Gaulle). I find my indispensible tools to get me through these flights are some reading material, the iPod, and some stationery. Today at LHR I bought some gorgeous writing paper and envelopes at Smythson of Bond Street; it's in the lovely blue bag tied with a ribbon. I can't wait to use it!

Day 76: Amul does it again

As I took my last taxi ride through Bombay to the airport this morning, I kept my camera out in case I saw anything interesting to be able to snap quickly.  How happy was I to get a chance to see this wonderful ad for Amul.  Amul is a well known dairy cooperative in India and they use the Amul baby in ads commenting on current events.  This is a precious ad on Obama's victory.  It made me happy all morning long!