A Tale of Two Cities

Hello! Since I last wrote, I've been to London and back! Last Friday I woke up real early and took the Eurostar to London where I met up with my friend Emma who is visiting from Santa Barbara. We had a lovely time walking around the entire city...in rain and shine. Every traditional English dish was tasted - pudding, pasty's, pie's, fish'n'chips, bangers and mash, etc. Luckily we did so much walking I think we worked off all those heavy meals! Please see photo link to see my London/Bath photos. On Sunday, we took a train to Bath where we stayed the night. I had been to Bath many years ago and thought how lovely it would be to return there and was delighted to hear that Emma wanted to go there. Though we were exhausted from our London night-on-the-town we wandered around the gorgeous little town and the next day, since it was pouring rain, we did all the tourist-y bus tours. We ate lunch at a fantastic local-organic restaurant where everything came from the area, including the fish and the beer. Absolutely fantastic. That same day we left bath, reached London, and took the Eurostar to Paris. Incredible how you can cover so much ground in Europe in very little time.

Two days in Paris and we've already done so much! We've had tea at La Duree and at Mariage Freres, eaten fantastic meals, had a dinner party, listened to jazz till late, and visited the Rodin Museum and the Musee d'Orsay.
The weather has been a little crazy with all these storms coming over Europe, but we've been pretty lucky and have avoided the downpours. It's really wonderful to be back in Paris and even more wonderful to share it with a friend!
Warm thoughts to you all!

Snow!

It snowed! Okay, for a literally a minute, but it was snow! Didn't even get a photo of it, it was so short. As you can guess, the weather's turned chilly.

Last night, Erik and his housemates came by Paris again. We went to see the Eiffel Tower real quick before going out for fondue since it was so cold out. After dinner, we went to the Caveau des Oubliettes to listen to some jazz and then to a piano bar next door. Both seen in photos.

Me Write Pretty One Day

Today I went to the Alliance Francaise to look into taking writing classes since I make a lot of mistakes when writing in French. I took a placement test and after the lady reviewed it she realized that I am a special case student - meaning that I can speak and read just fine and even write well structure-wise, but I make conjugation mistakes and spelling mistakes. Looks like I'll be tutored in writing since no class applies to me. I am looking forward to finally getting it all straight in my head! I just need to learn "the rules" and ingrain them into my brain. And at last, I'll write purty.

Here a couple photos of the view from the apartment. It's like a changing canvas all day long.

Have a Little Faith

This morning I went to the organic farmer's market, as usual, and bought all my little goodies including yogurt and seigle bread. The rain was threatening to fall so I hurried back into the metro. As you all know, umbrella's in a market are never a good idea. I heard the train approaching so I ran to reach it in time.
Holding my canvas bag and a wine bottle full of apple juice, I hopped into the metro car and sat down next to a tiny little old lady dressed in purple from head to toe. In her hand was a rosary made of blue stones. I sat there thinking about how she might have thought the bottle I was carrying was alcohol and thought she might feel uncomfortable. Now there's an assumption for you! I assumed that since she seemed like a good Catholic, rosary in hand (....wait....now that I think of it, Catholics are pretty accepting of alcohol). She was so still and seemed gripped with fear being in the metro. Was she coming from church or on her way to the second sermon? It was already almost 11 a.m..
Ironically, for the first time since I have been here, the metro stopped in mid track and then also completely lost power at one of the stops - lights flickering on and off, motor dead. I could see out of the corner of my eye, her little hands rolling the beads between her fingers. The lights came back on and the motor roared on again. Everything back to normal, I made it to my stop leaving the little lady in purple quietly and faithfully going towards her own destination.
As I unpacked my market goodies, I heard the church bells ring 11:00 and I couldn't help but smile.

Strikes, Strikes, Strikes

Every single day there is a strike. New strikes arise and old ones go on. From transportation workers, to ski station workers, to TV stations, to teachers, to hairdressers. Everyone is upset.
Some of the things people are upset about, I can understand and others I find quite demanding and even things that prevent progress. Change is a concept that people are afraid of here, it seems.
Also, they have finally acknowledged the concept of compensating for overtime work, but company's are complaining about how they don't know how to work it out and how it costs too much.
The whole system is off here. I obviously do not know enough about all of it to really understand, I suppose. All I know is that there is a lot of complaining going on, all the time.
Ah, learning about all these cultural differences. Constantly, constantly learning.

Rainy Day

Wonderful, wonderful weather we have been having lately. Sunday was your typical Spring day - warm sunshine and soft air. It's been an odd winter here. Today, it is raining, but it's not all that cold and Paris is so lovely in the rain.

My friend Erik (seen in photo) came through Paris on his way down to the Alpes. He did some of his studies here years ago and has DJ'd in many clubs. We visited a few of his old haunts in the 5eme. Each of them had awsome underground cellars, created eons ago. This morning we walked through the Luxembourg gardens in the rain. The crisp air felt quite nice and the garden, though barren, was still beautiful.

Above, is the Porte St.Denis, one of the old entryways into Paris.

Le Perche

I went to le Perche for a couple days this week to spend some time with Anne and Chris. I got to see Anne perform in a Dixieland Jazz Band in a little village called Reveillon. I had no idea she could play the banjo so well! It was quite an almost odd experience , listening to Dixieland in the middle of the Perche!
That adorable pooch is Tom-Tom, Anne's friend Virginia's new pup. He's the happiest dog I've ever seen. You can't help falling in love with him...and he's so soft.