There are many, many fruit bats in the Sydney Botanical Gardens [link] [link] They're quite loud. As billytea says, it's screechy and when there are a bunch together it sounds like a pretty heated conversation. They certainly have no fear of humans. When I was only a couple of feet from them, they just sort of muttered at me like "I'm trying to sleep here."

In conclusion, let me say that the short-beaked echidna can lift twice its own body weight, and can push the weight of a fridge.

Are there many instances of refrigerator-moving echidnas?

Are there many instances of refrigerator-moving echidnas?

Alas, no, due to rampant anti-echidna discrimination in the refrigerator movers union.

Are there many instances of refrigerator-moving echidnas?

Just the one I'm aware of. A researcher left on in his kitchen overnight, figured it was the easiest place to keep it. Apparently there was something interesting behind his fridge because next morning it was on the other side of the room.

I dug through my files at home and, sadly, it looks like all my notes for the class I taught on Paris through the Ages are in French.

I did find some notes I prepared ages ago (for Jess's honeymoon I think). So, if you want some more local flavor to trigger ideas, this is all still pretty accurate:

Best area to stay:
The best spot to stay is probably in the 5th or 6th arrondissements. There are many reasonable hotels there and you are really close to the center and will be able to see a lot just by walking. The Latin Quarter is good for exploring, as is the next neighborhood over, St.-Germain, which has great cafés and jazz clubs and incredible shopping (both high fashion and bargain outlets). You’re also not far from the Notre Dame and the Louvre.

Best views of the city:
Most people head for the Eiffel Tower or the Arc de Triomphe but I’d suggest either climbing the tower of Notre Dame (cool gargoyles and very central so the view is more interesting) or the slightly lower altitude but free option of the top floor of the Centre Pompidou, also called Beaubourg. Just ride the escalators past the public library to the café at the top and check out the balcony view. The plaza around the Pompidou museum is also very cool with wild Niki de St-Phalle fountain sculptures and various street performers.

Best romantic spots:
The whole city, but especially around the center and the Ile de la Cité and the Ile de Saint Louis at night. Paris lights up its monuments and walking around, especially by the river, is really beautiful. Try the Pont des Arts (a pedestrian bridge) near the Louvre and head into the small courtyard in the Louvre opposite the end of the bridge (the Cour Carrée). This area is pretty and calm at night. Also go around to the other side and check out the Louvre pyramids lit up. You might want to take a bateau mouche. There are lots of different companies that run these 1-hour (usually) boat tours—they’re touristy but they give great views of most of the major monuments, especially pretty at night. By the way, have no fear walking around the city center at night. I used to cross the river at all hours heading home by myself.

Favorite shadow:
Bizarre but true, I have a favorite shadow. If you are on the Pont d’Arcole next to the Hotel de Ville (City Hall, very pretty at night too) look for the great shadow cast by the statue of the man on horseback—very cool. If you take a bateau mouche boat at night you’ll also see it.

Favorite square:
I love the area around the St. Sulpice church, which has a great fountain and a good café, the Café de la Mairie (see below), for people watching. Good shops around there too as well as the Jardin de Luxembourg, a nice park.

Best museums:
If you like medieval tapestries, try Cluny, in the 5th arrondissement next to the Sorbonne. If you like Picasso, people find that museum very good. Plus, it’s in the Marais, the funky gay, formerly Jewish neighborhood, good for exploring. If you’re in the Marais, check out the Place des Vosges nearby, a very pretty square. My favorite museum spot is the park of the Rodin Museum, near Invalides. You can just visit the garden since most of his main sculptures are displayed outside, or pay full fare to check out smaller works, and “The Kiss,” inside. Many locals go there for lunch, or to sit outside.

Best spooky/morbid places:
Definitely the catacombs in the 14th arrondissement. The entrance is located right near the metro stop Denfert-Rochereau. This is a series of underground tunnels filled with bones. Very Edgar Allen Poe and not for the claustrophobic. Runner up in morbidity are the cemeteries, the tombs are really beautiful and interesting. Montparnasse and Montmartre are good but the best is Père Lachaise in the north-east area of the city (also a good place for a picnic—I kid you not), where Jim Morrison, the medieval lovers Héloïse and Abelard, and Oscar Wilde are buried, among others.

God I miss Paris now. Must return soon.

I love this whole series of posts. Allyson should ask for geographic info more often, because it's a win!

ITA!

Good morning, people! My brain is on overdrive, hence my awake-itude. No. Good.

I have learned from Apartment Therapy that you can make actually tasty mac and cheese in the microwave. I made pasta in the microwave first (shells), then I added a cup of milk and about a cup of shredded super sharp cheddar cheese. I gradually melted the cheese and milk into a cream sauce. But then it was too water, so I added a cup or so of cheap parmesan cheese and when that didn't thicken it, I added a cup of cauliflower puree.

Oh. My. God. DELICIOUSNESS.

Since it's cool at 4:27 AM, I should make some granola or the sweet potatoes.

YUM.

Kat, it's seriously scaring me that you're more awake at your 4:30 AM than I am at my 7:30.

Then again, I have raging headache on the verge of becoming migraine. But still-- I should be more awake.

And the mac and cheese sounds yummy and now I'm hungry.

mac, not mac & cheese, was asleep by 9:30 and is still asleep. this unto like a miracle. poor noodle must be growing or has just been always under sleeping this summer because of the anxiety. go go gadget meds.

has just been always under sleeping this summer because of the anxiety.

And being underslept will in turn feed back into anxiety -- at least, that's been my experience, with myself as well as other people (including kids).

It sounds like the meds are starting to help, msbelle, which must be a relief.