General roundup

It was party time in Paris last weekend!  I went to a cute little bistro on Thursday evening with some friends and had a great time and good food too  (I had a deconstructed mediterranean salad), and two bottles of wine that ended up being only six euros per person, lol.  Gotta love how cheap the wine is here!  Although I guess it also depends on where you go:  I went to Laduree (the one on Champs Elysees) on Sunday evening (after a dinner of fondue, which was delicious) for some macarons, and oh man it is ridiculously inflated.  The macarons were good (although I might prefer Pierre Herme...) but the prices were ridiculous.  12 euros for a glass of kir, which at any regular cafe or bistro will go for anywhere from 3 to 6 euros, depending on how fancy it is / how near a tourist attraction.  6 euros just for a coke.  I guess you're paying for the little stick that says Laduree that they put in it.  Fortunately I wasn't paying!  It's a really nice little cafe and the macarons are priced about average, maybe slightly higher than your local boulangerie but the quality is also slightly higher so there you go, so I guess it would be fine for just some pastries... just don't order anything else, lol. 
Anyway, back to party times!  I went Friday evening to a party on a boat on the Seine, where our group got two bottles of free champagne because we happened to have two people with birthdays that weekend with us.  It was pretty fun, although the next morning I felt all that champagne, haha.  Then Saturday was the actual birthday party for one of my friends here;  it was in her friend's apartment in the 16th because he has a massive place.  (Well, massive by Parisian standards.)  I'm used to tiny sixth-floor walk-ups, so it was a nice change to hang out in a place with some space, and actual rooms, and an elevator!  Although Paris elevators are kind of scary. 
Sunday I went out for the aforementioned fondue and macarons, then yesterday it was off to a poetry reading in Belleville after having dinner at the house with the kids. 
The weather is getting steadily colder, and I'm not pleased.  We finally got some sun today, after over a week of nothing but rain and clouds, but it's still cold.  I'm going to see if I can have a vacation over Christmas and go somewhere like Sicily or Morocco.
This Saturday I'll be going to see Mozart:  L'opera Rock (Mozart:  the rock opera), v. excited even though I will probably only understand around twenty five percent of what is said.  It's okay, I like the music.  Also I wikipedia'd the storyline, lol.  ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USZ7-Hcnuko if you want to check it out.)
Then the weekend after, it's off to the Netherlands for a three day festival!
Look out for more Rome pictures soon, too!  I charged my camera but I haven't put the pictures on my computer yet, I'll post again when I've uploaded them to photobucket.