Sunday: end of week or beginning of next?

So where did I leave things?

It's Sunday night and I'm sliding into my evening. The last week of July - yikes, we'll soon be into August, meaning the summer will be half complete. Oh well, not a big deal considering autumn is truly my favourite time of year. And I've already got a few things lined up September, namely (wait for it...) a trip to Paris! So I guess that's the big news since I last wrote. It all happened very quickly.

I was chatting with my friend A., who was telling me about a planned trip he was taking this summer, and it got me thinking how wonderful it would be to have something exciting like that lined up. For some reason traveling to Paris popped into my head. It made sense in so many ways. One, I haven't been to the city of lights for 15 years. (And it was just the one time, for a few days at the end of July, before I headed to the south of France for a wedding.) Two, it's a city where it wouldn't be odd to be traveling by myself (as much as I'd love to travel with someone - this will be my first solo trip in about five years - it definitely looks like I'll be going alone). And three... well, it's Paris! I have a little over two weeks of vacation in September, and I think it's important for me to get out of town for at least some of it. So, I'll be off to Paris for a week come Sept. 11. (And yes, that's the date I'm traveling. It took me a while to figure out why that date was sticking in my head...)

So my travel preparations are beginning. The first order of business was finding an apartment to crash at for the week. It took me a few days, but I found a great little flat in the 11th Arrondissement. It's going to cost me right around 600Euros, which I figure is reasonable (for being in a good area and in a clean, cozy studio apartment - it even has a dishwasher). It comes equipped with a computer as well, so perhaps you'll find me blogging while I'm there. It's important to make others envious of this trip...  Second priority, of course, is research, which I'm doing by watching films set in Paris (natch). I cheated a bit first by watching Truffaut's Small Change (set in a small French town), but returned on Friday by re-watching the wonderful Before Sunset (seems the flat I'm staying at is but a few streets away from the cafe where Jesse and Celine first stop in the film). Last night it was the fantastic 1950s crime drama Rififi, and tonight I'm going to watch Flight of the Red Balloon, directed by that well-known Frenchman Hsiao-hsien Hou. (Of course that's a joke - I'm curious if he actually speaks French at all! - but I love his films.) I saw the film when it was at TIFF back in 2007, and I think it demands another viewing.

I should mention that I've also recently become addicted to the musician Fiona Apple. Fiona, why did it take me so long to find you?!