First impressions of Paris

I am sitting in Alice's apartment with a beautiful and silent black kitty called Deneb crawling around my feet. Alice named her as a little girl for one of the stars which make up the "three beauties of Summer" in French. Alice's father, besides being a film editor, is an avid star-gazer which explains how Alice developed the hobby. Her parents' names are Olivier and Arlete and they're wonderfully nice. Olivier can speak working English but her mother speaks only broken words and half-phrases. Between madly gesturing, Spanish, and veeery slow English, we manage somehow. The journey from Germany was a bit stressful because at the last minute, a flight attendant made me check my violin into baggage claim. I was so caught off guard that after pleading for a few minutes, I started crying (which was incredibly embarrassing). The entire time on the flight, I was praying that everything would be okay. Thankfully, nothing was out of place or broken. I then took the Metro to Alice's arrondissement in southwest Paris near a big convention center. I was confused as to where the building was on the street, but after a French lady pointed it out to me on the street, I was faced with the next dilemma of entering the building. I ended up calling Olivier at home with my German cell phone - a moment of sheer irony because right as a I hung up, someone came and entered the building. 2 euros gone to waste. Timing!! Her parents served me a rice, bean, and lentil dish with three French cheeses and chocolate pudding for dessert. The apartment is a typical tiny city-sized place with only one bedroom for Olivier and Arlete. Just as I was about to do, Alice grew up sleeping on an air-mattress type of device in the living room. Nevertheless, the place is quite cozy and beautifully decorated. Olivier and Arlete are well-traveled and cultured, and are proud of it in a good way. They're already attempting to teach me bits of useful French - hot (chaud) and cold (froid). Hey, it's a start.