Last weekend ended in Bruges, Belgium—land of the old Flemish painters and canals, used for washing lace and textiles. It was a beautiful town with little buildings and boats, a big market square, and a gorgeous, dark, old cathedral. We took a boat tour then stopped for oh-so-delicious waffles and whipped cream. To get our full servings of sweets and sugar, we went around the city sampling chocolates to find our favorite. Hopefully we walked it off. Bus ride was not too long and pretty convenient.
Earlier this week, went to the Pasteur Foundation breakfast with all of the American post-doc fellows and the other undergraduate students. Good to be a part of such a diverse, young scientific group. The director of the Institute was there, making it a good venue to discuss many practical issues.
I am finding some very wild clinical applications for my bioluminescence project that really keep things interesting—non-invasive angioplasty where your blood lights up all throughout your body? ! Cool. Working on the technical development side of things is really different for me, but neat to build something from the very bottom to the top. After compiling and organizing some of my data, it was sent off directly to a grant committee for a funding request to further our project. One of the grants (the largest) was accepted, making us very happy!
Attention: Royalty in the lab! On Monday, (newly engaged) Prince Albert of Monaco came into our lab to tour it before handing out some major cash to the Institute. I was locked away in my office for security reasons…but got a paparrazi video from the window! He was very nice, gave everyone a handshake/pat and chatted with them. Grace Kelly would be proud.
Have been sippin' on lots of "Cola Lite" (in glass bottles, so much better) and watching soccer games at night. It is exciting that the World Cup is happening this summer, but I will be a little glad when the madness is over! Then we get the Tour de France…
I spent this weekend in Paris—will probably be traveling for most of the rest. First stop was Victor Hugo's house. I was happy that admission was free because while the neighborhood was cool, nearly nothing in the house is original. Also, all the info signs were written entirely in French. I am still not quite sure why Louis Napoleon Bonaparte exiled him...thank you Wikipedia for filling me in.
I explored the neighborhood around the museum for a while because there were some funky clothes out now that the soldes (sales) have started. Then, old Victor followed me to my next stop…
…the Musee Rodin. Hugo modeled for Rodin a couple of times. The gardens at the Musee are gorgeous, despite the showers we had yesterday. Also, always nice to get reduced admission for being a youngin'! Rodin has never been one of my favorites, but it was really cool to see his sculptures outside with the Eiffel Tower and Hotel des Invalides in the background. The Thinker was a big hit, with everyone mimicking his pose for a photo-op.
Today was Free Museum Sunday! I dared to venture to the Louvre, and it was not so terribly crowded. Saw some more things that I missed when there last summer. Of course, had to see my pals Mona and Venus again and met the Code of Hammurabi for the first time. Pulled the foreign tourist card, holding the camera out at arm's length, to get shots of me with my favorite paintings…
Picnicked at Parc des Buttes-Chaumont today to celebrate the 4th of July! All of these French people kept telling me "Congratulations!" haha.
I booked a seat at a chamber music orchestral concert at the Opera House for this evening. It was one of the last shows before the Opera closes for the summer and I had to get a peek at that gorgeous building! I partially chose this event because it was at the older, not the modern, Opera Garnier.
Rock on, America! Ciao ciao.
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