Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Indian Mangoes are Coming!

My friend Dave just told me about this article on mangoes coming in from India. 150 boxes cleared to go to NY. I am so excited - I had heard that the import rules might be changed after Bush's visit last year, but never heard confirmation until now. I hope they ship all over the states and I can get my hands on some - I wonder what the prices will be. I've never had an alphonso mango, but if they are as good as all my former co-workers say they are, I think the Hsu family could probably single handedly keep the mango export in business. I hope there are still some left when I get back in May - I'm keen to try the Banganpalli and Kesar varieties as well.

Brianne and I spent the last two days in Paris and just got back tonight. Yesterday we went to the Bastille street market (11th), Clignancourt to the antique market (18th), south to Sacre Coeur (18th), and then to our hotel near Charonne (Hotel Belfort) (11th). After sharing a bottle of wine in the room, and hearing the election results we decided to make our way to Place de la Concorde in the 8th to join the party. We tried to blend in (not stand out as Americans nor as non-Sarkozy supporters). We got crowd molested by a few more people than we would have liked during the random stage entertainment section, but made it out unscathed. Sarkozy came on stage to celebrate and it slowly morphed into random singers coming onto stage and then a DJ mixing cds with dancers. I recorded a sound memo, but missed some of the best parts - like the whole crowd singing the national anthem. One of the weirdest parts was them singing Happy Day and wanting to celebrate the day Sarkozy was born. It seemed a bit overboard. Listen to it here: Sarkozy Crowd Sound Clips



Then we walked to l'Arc de Triomphe and followed in another guy's footsteps to cross the roundabout since the underground entrance was closed. One of the guards noticed us there and told us we weren't supposed to be there since it was closed - oops! Since the metro and night buses stop running (but apparently there are some that run all night, according to my sister, but we didn't see any, and it was impossible to get a taxi), we walked back home. On the way we went through Bastille and noticed all the police cars and tons of broken glass on the streets. Apparently we missed the rioting where more than 700 cars were lit on fire and nearly 600 people arrested. Reading the news today, we're a little disappointed that we missed the excitement. On the other hand, we're probably better off having missed the tear gas and water cannons, instead only seeing the aftermath at 3 in the morning.

Having gotten in so late, we slept in until check out time (11 am). Afterwards, we got some pastries (pain aux raisins and pain au chocolat) and then enjoyed conversation at a creperie. We walked to Notre Dame and went inside this time - the high arches and stained glass are absolutely amazing - the last time I was inside was 10 years ago - and I forgot how impressive it is. Afterwards we did some shopping in the gayborhood in the 3rd, and then enjoyed an assortment of cheeses with white wine sitting at a table outside of a cafe.


We missed our train home, so fortunately, my sister picked us up at the station.

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