Aix-en-Provence

Fun Fact:  The name Conor is pretty unusual in France.  According to the internet, there have only been 9 babies named Conor in France since 1900, 3 of which were in 2004.  Also, in French, the name Conor doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.  The pronunciation goes something like this: Kaaa-NOR (with a lot of emphasis on the NOR).  After hearing Conor's name, several French people have said, "oh, like Sarah Conner or John Connor dans Terminator."  Well ... yes.  So, now when I want to explain Conor's name and give French people a point of reference, I always mention the Terminator characters and everyone gets it right away. 

Aix-En-Provence
Most of you know that Amy Dickinson Carmen and I lived in Aix-en-Provence after graduating from UCLA.  I hadn't been back since we left in early September 2001, which is unforgivable since it was an amazing year and we made some really good friends with whom I should have been in better touch over the years.  But, 2000/2001 was before Facebook and the era of social networking which makes staying in contact with everyone under the sun basically effortless.  Even communicating over email was different "way back then."  Back then, we actually went to an internet cafe to "do email."  How unbelievably inconvenient that seems in retrospect.

James is still studying for his exam (wish him luck ... it is next Monday (11/15)) so I decided to take Conor to Aix to visit our friend Anne.  I hadn't seen Anne for several years but it was like nothing had changed.  She is hilarious and quite sassy, which explains why we get along so well.  Here's a picture of us going out to a birthday party on Friday night:

Anne is on the left, her husband Luc is on the right, and the other guy is their friend Matthieu. 

By the way, Luc has some very cool music (3 songs) on itunes.  The artist's name is M8AL.  Check out the song michael Knight. 



Anyway, going out is just not the same with a 6 month old even when you get a babysitter (as we did).  I behaved myself and had only a few drinks but we didn't get home until 2am.  Of course, Conor decided to get up at 6am on the dot. 

Since we had several hours until normal people woke up, I decided to take him on a walk around Aix and show him where Amy and I lived back in the good old days (pre-screaming babies at 6am).



First, we explored the Saturday market:

Then, we made our way to my and Amy's old apartment which was right in front of this church:

After our big outing in the morning, Conor was pooped the rest of the day:

I was also completely pooped but I didn't have a stroller in which I could take a nap.

Have I mentioned yet how adorable Anne and Luc's daughter is?  She is adorable:

Anyway, aside from only sleeping a few hours on Friday night, it was a great weekend and I'm very excited to go back with James! 

Conor Update:  The pinkeye is back.  Ugh.  Back to the pediatrician tomorrow.