Sunday, January 11, 2009

Au clair de la lune....


To spend your last night at the end of a magical year in the City of Light with the moon full (and the sky clear!), is a storybook ending...
We are almost (you are never really 100% ready!) to come home, and we are looking forward to shoveling snow, persuading our cats that we really are worthy to live with them, sorting out all those bags (what did we bring home???... and do we really need soap from Provence, sel de normandy, those clothespins I bought at 1 Euro shop on some back street in Venice???), and getting to see everyone.

After the morning of taking care of all kinds of loose ends --emails, instructions about the telephone and internet disconnections, confirming our flights, and still packing (will it ever end???), we did what is best when you are in Paris (well, and eat too... so we had crepes...).





It has been cold --as evidenced by the snow you see-- interesting to know that this snow fell last Monday and it has been sunny all week. The snow has not evaporated --because the sun is so low in the sky... but, spring is already showing up in the flower markets!




We are leaving in the morning... I thank all of you who have read my musings (and my political commentary --I want credit for not mentioning Gaza or Bush Le Pire's lame attempts to salvage his legacy...). This just ends a chapter... and I have always wanted to do this...

FIN

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Il fait froid!



Il fait froid a Paris!
It is nearly as cold as Boston! The weather has been in the upper 20's (Fahrenheit) during the day --and we got some snow on Monday! Not much, but a couple of inches... and then it got cold. Paris windy in the winter --the north of France is rather flat and those cold winds come across the channel and some down from Scandinavia... like those Arctic blasts from Canada (but really less cold!).
Gives justification to those who wear all those fur coats...




We spent the weekend after New Year with our friends Jacqueline and Philippe in Lyon --we arrived as Pere et Mere Noel bearing many things that are not returning home with us (we should have brought more!). Those "few" things we brought must have reproduced on their own... I think that the problem is that we are trying to pack Paris in our bags... along with the French country side... and it won't fit. There's the olive oil from Nyons, a few bottles of wine from the Rhone, fleur de sel from Normandy, the poele from Dehellerin, the herbal soap from Provence... and the fabulous Nespresso machine (I already had a 220 plug installed in our kitchen!).

But, I have solved a mystery! I now know why all the Asian tourists take photos of every painting in a museum! They cannot carry all the books! And I am spending 45E for 7 kilos of the Louvre, Emil Nolde exposition, Musee d'Orsay, the Bayeux Tapestry, and then all the churches!



Easy to transport to you:
The Thinker in the garden at the Rodin Museum.
Shadow puppets from the Chat Noir theater at the Musee d'Orsay.
Winged Victory at the Louvre.






And this is going to our house!