Ah, l'amour!

The lovebirds


Monet: Before I was chastised for les photos


Le chocolat chaud: Note that it comes with additional and entirely gratuitous sugar.

We all imagine the perfect couple, but I finally found them: Anca and Charlie. Both are art professors at my program who have been leading us on "field trips" around the city to various museums and restaurants to take our afternoon snack à la kindergarten. Apparently, Charlie, who formally taught at UPenn, met Anca here in Paris and decided to stay with her because they are "soul mates." They constantly bicker— not over money, children, or politics— but over da Vinci and Bernini. Anca became particularly upset the other day when at le Louvre, Charlie mixed up explanation of the harmony of lines in a painting. Silly Charlie! I think we infuriate them, because when they wait for questions, we don't inquire about elucidation of theories, but about how they fell in love. This is Paris, after all. Certain things remain on the mind.

It's refreshing to be around two people whose passion for each other extends to a passion for life. Between one and too many museum trips, I've admittedly tired of Monet. But Anca's enthusiasm for him today, especially his later period, forced me to take a step back and appreciate him all over again. As she explained it, in true Anca fashion, Monet is about, "just painting. He doesn't require the pretense of a subject." And it wasn't hard to appreciate something so real in front of me— the paint, the color literally coming off of the canvas it was so thick. The Monet I dislike is the Monet of giftshops, reduced to a stiff postcard that doesn't at all express what he did best: animation.

Of course, such vigorous living requires sustenance. Anca heartily believes in enjoying a good dessert after our parcours, so we went to a lovely spot in the 16th to have treats like rhum baba, crêpes, mille-feuille and LOTS of thick, dark chocolat chaud. Before, I never really cared for hot chocolate. Paris freezing my face off on a daily basis is changing my stance on this matter. Besides, if Anca and Charlie drink it, why not? They must be doing something right.