Castles and Star Trek

Last weekend, we visited four castles (I will post pictures probably tomorrow). The experience was surprisingly mundane. I don't mean that I didn't enjoy wandering through a medieval tower or looking down the grand portrait gallery at a Renaissance palace, but the fact that these buildings were actually created by kings and nobles for the purposes of living, government, protection, etc., and the reality of walking through them meant that for the first time in my life, "castle" was a physical reality, not a setting for a fairy tale. I'm sure many of you who have visited Europe have felt something of the same feeling as you visited the many grand palaces which seem to just pop up like wildflowers over here. At Pierrefonds, the medieval fortress which we visited, I saw a sign advertising the rental of the castle for parties, wedding receptions, or even cocktails ("Cocktails at the castle on Thursday night, my treat"). At Chantilly, a lovely Renaissance castles surrounded by a moat, a bride and groom were taking their photos. In other words, these incredible monuments are simply a beautiful part of the landscape. There is no clear break between the long ago past and the present. But that is what makes these monuments so cool.
I went to go see "Star Trek" with my roommate at a theater which plays American films in English with French subtitles. We both are secretly Trekkies (well, not secretly anymore) and so we took an evening to go to the movies. The theater is in a big shopping mall in the center of Paris. It is pretty much like an American shopping mall, as the theater is pretty much like an American movie theater, and there were so many English-speakers in the audience, you would've thought we were on the West Coast or something. But of course, it's Paris so this movie going experience had to be a little more luxe: the chairs were divinely comfortable.
My love to you all, Susan