Bon anniversaire France... et Kevin

Bastille Day, 14 juillet 2008, is now in the history books. We celebrated the rights of Man, liberte, egalite, fraternite, etc., etc., along with a semi-major milestone for one man with champagne and fireworks on the Champ de Mars, in front of the Eiffel Tower. Kevin has now successfully completed 50 orbits of the nearest star, but is feeling none-the-wiser and (so-far) only slightly older for the experience. Still, it was very kind of 500,000 of our closest friends here in Paris - as well as Anders and Karin - to gather together with us for such an historic event.

As for the significance of turning 50, I've recently been offered two conflicting opinions (anonymity protected herein). The optimist points out the "Fifty is the new thirty...", but then the realist mentions that the difference between turning 50 as opposed to 40, for example, is that "it is no longer possible to (reasonably) deny that you are more than half-way.... done." But, as wise as these friends may be (ahem... both are over 50...), it is probably best to get perspective from a true philosopher who has thought deeply about the subject. So, we turn to George Carlin (who denies writing this, by the way):

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions. "How old are you?" "I'm four and a half!" You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key.

You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead. "How old are you?" "I'm gonna be 16!" You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16!

And then the greatest day of your life . . . you become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony . . . YOU BECOME 21. . . YESSSS!!!

But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk. He TURNED, we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed?

You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 . . . and your dreams are gone.

But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would! So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60.

You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday! You get into your 80s and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime.

And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; "I was JUST 92." Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. "I'm 100 and a half!" May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!


All I can add is to note that, at this point in my life, turning 50 is a lot better than not turning 50. And its not so bad to do that in Paris, especially with the ladies pictured here. Finally... dreams are not gone at 50 - maybe, just redefined a bit.


Thanks to all for the happy wishes; we'll see many of you stateside soon!

Bon Voyage, Brian and Janine

Our last Oak Park visitors, Brian and Janine, have just departed for the airport and the long trip back to California, and we have a beautiful, sunny Sunday to look forward to - our last in Paris, at least for a while :-). We'll be joining them back in Oak Park pretty soon now, in only 3 weeks!

Brian and Janine arrived in Paris via Sweden and Italy - so they did not need any time to rest! This was good, as they arrived during a party we were having for our friends from the LEME (Laboratoire d'Étude de la Matière Extraterrestre) and then got up the next morning to begin the 'vertical' Paris tour -- top of the Eiffel Tower and , here, at Notre Dame. Of course there were also the Louvre, l'Orangerie, Champs Elysees, numerous gardens, and Sainte Chapelle to visit. At the latter we can find Janine admiring the stained glass.

But this was not all about medieval Paris - not this time - since on Friday night we all five went to see Paul Simon in concert. The venue was the Palais des Sports - about a 20 minute walk from our flat - it sounds big but was, in fact, a very nice comfortable place. We had excellent seats and the concert was fantastique! Simon played many tunes from Graceland but also some of the old favorites, including a solo version of Sounds of Silence and a funky Me and Julio (down by the schoolyard). Two encores and we all had a great time. This was the start of the birthday weekend, culminating the first half-century of a still-living boy from NY. Here's a snippet of the concert:

Last evening, we got to have dinner with Charlu (of Malibu) and Janine's sister, Nita. Dinner was good and dessert was memorable --- and there are still 3 more opportunities to top it!

EABJM friends do Paris

Hey everyone! It’s Kathleen. My dad asked me millions of times to write about my big, fun week with all of my friends for a while now, so I decided why not today? I don’t really know what to say about it. The whole point of the ‘special week’ was because a lot of my really close friends from my school, EABJM, were leaving and we wanted to like say bye to everyone with tons of fun. Sadly, one of my friends left even before school was over, so on her last day, we went to Champs de Mars, which is the big park right in front of the Eiffel Tower. At the time, there was this HUGE festival/carnival going on, because the beach volley ball competition was going on there, so there was a big stadium, and a bunch of food bars and games and what not. We went on this one ‘ride’ which was just standing on a surf board and the conductor made it spin and toss and turn, and you had to try and stay on. It was really fun; I felt like I was back in California, except I never surfed before, and I was standing on a big blow up ocean thing with the Eiffel Tower right in front of me…..  If you stayed on for a certain amount of time, you got a prize, which was a toilette freshener. Goodie. We haven’t used it yet. ;) Maybe we will leave it for our land lady to take care of. So, that was how we said ‘good bye’ to my friend Lili, who lives in Alaska.

Then the next Monday, the fun began. So what happened was my friends Maeva (from Urbana, Illinois), her sister Lucy, Mary-Claire (Cork, Ireland) and I got together at around, I suppose 10ish. We went to a big shopping street called Rue du Commerce, and we started doing what teen girls do best! We started at H&M, where we looked around for ages, and then started picking out clothes and trying them on. I only got one shirt there, but also a necklace. We were all under a budget because we were spending our own money, and things aren’t always cheap, especially in Euros. After H&M, we went to Pimkies, and we were more in the mood and were quicker at getting stuff. :) I bought a blue shirt and capris. Then we went and had a quick lunch at a Bakery/Café. After eating our baguette sandwiches, we went to my place and hung out for a while, and then went to school for our play.

Our French class was performing ‘Alice in Wonderland’, but of course it was in French, so it was actually called ‘Alice au Pays des Merveilles’ (translated directly it means: Alice at the country of wonders….or marvels if you want). We had too many students for each of us to play one sole role, so I played the king, or le roi, in scenes 7, 8 and 9 where as in the whole thing. We got in our costumes, mine just being all in black with a belt and boots, and a red cape and crown. We then did a bunch of rehearsals, and watched French group 2’s play, ‘Le petit prince’. Finally, we performed what we had been working on for so long. Everything went well. I almost starting laughing at one point when my queen, Mary-Claire, starting making funny faces at a witness during the tribunal scene, but thankfully, I didn’t… :) When it was all over, we said our good byes to our french teacher Mme. Buille (it is not pronounced like Bwheel, it is like Bwee, sort of). Then Maeva, Lucy, Mary-Claire, and Lulu (my other friend from french group 2, from Providence, Rhode Island) came over to my place for dinner, and we talked and laughed and did silly teen things in my room, and then watched Aladdin! :) After watching the last of Genie’s jokes, and Aladdin’s “heroics”, they went home.

The next day was just as full and fun as Monday. At around 10 again, we all (Maeva, Lucy, Lulu, and Mary-Claire) went to Notre Dame, and waited for around and hour and a half to climb the tower. We did some souvenir shopping while we waited, and then finally started to climb. We counted the steps, and giggled as we tripped occasionally, or messed up our counting and had to count previous steps. After that tiring climb up and down, we met up with my mom, who chose to stay on the low grounds, and we went to the park right out side of Notre Dame. There we played on this wheel that is at a slant and turns. It was SO much fun! Maeva and I both got small teddy bears which we named Nina and Naboo. We took pictures with them everywhere. Then on a search for Falafels, we walked into the old parts of Paris. We bought purple bunnies for Lulu and Mary-Claire whom we named Ninja and Nibbles, and finally we found food. We all had Falafels at this restaurant, but mine fell apart, so the last bit was in piles on my plate!

With our stomachs full, we set out again to go back to Notre Dame to have Berthillon, which is really famous, and really good french ice cream! Then everyone else went to an old prison, called the Conciergerie, but I already went there just a little while ago with my sister, so I didn’t feel like going again. I went home and just hung out for a while until they were done and Maeva and Lucy came over and we had drinks, AKA juice (pineapple… or anana in french) and soda. We went on the computer and watched stuff on You Tube. Then I went over to their house for a sleepover. We finished watching Aladdin, again…. :) Then had dinner which was the famous pasta and meatballs and tons of baguette! And after dessert, Maeva and I watched Aladdin 2, which we HATED so, then we decided to watch Aladdin 3, praying it would be better, and stayed up to 1 in the morning finishing it! The next morning, we had to wake up at around 8 so we could go to the Eiffel tower and climb it. We were exhausted, but after pastries for breakfast, we got going. At the tower, there was absolutely no line, so we were quickly climbing to the second level. There we took the elevator up to the top, which was packed, but there was almost no line to get in. At the top, we took pictures of Nina and Naboo and the view of Paris. When we got back down, we met up with my mom again, and had a picnic lunch of sandwiches and fruit, and what not.

We soon met up with Lulu and Mary-Claire, and went to Les Invalides, and Napoleon’s Tomb. Mary-Claire and I had fun laughing and talking and we took a bunch of pictures with all our stuffed animals. Then we went to the Opéra house but the auditorium was closed, so we decided to go shopping instead…. :) We went to Lafayette, where they were having sales, so we had fun looking through stuff. Maeva got the most, and spent around 30 euros! I only got one shirt there, but after that, we went back to H&M, and I bought yet another shirt, and a summer dress. After exhausting ourselves from shopping, we went home, and got ready for the next day. So Wednesday morning, I got up and went to the metro and we all went to l’Arc de Triomphe. After taking tons more pictures with our animals, we started walking down Champs Elysées and looking in shops. We picked up baguette sandwiches at a Deli, and ate them at a small park along the way. We made some movies on Maeva’s camera full of us acting goofy and laughing around in the park. Finally we made it to Les Tuilleries which are the gardens right in front of Le Louvre. We had ice cream, and then, after walking and talking in the gardens, we caught a bus and took it back to Lulu’s house. We walked to Rue du Commerce, where we were going to go shopping, but instead we decided to go to Mary-Claire’s house to get her stuff, and then Maeva’s house to get her stuff, and then go back to my place. Mary-Claire, Maeva, Lulu, and I were all having a big bash out sleep over that night. We played on the computer and then had home made pizza for dinner. After goofing off a bit, we got our beds ready, and started our big plans of the night…….. watching Star Wars!!!!!!!!!!!! Maeva was addicted to them, and none of us had seen them all before, so she wanted to pass on her addiction. We watched the fourth one, and when it finished, we of course had to watch the next one. Mary-Claire fell asleep in the middle of the 5th one, and was asleep the rest of the night. But Lulu, Maeva and I were having SO much fun watching the movies, and laughing at certain parts we were afraid we would wake her up with our laughter! We decided to watch the beginning of the 6th, but when we realized that it was 2 o’clock in the morning, we thought it best that we should finish it later. And that’s exactly what we did.

When we finally woke up, we finished watching the movie, had a quick breakfast, and then we had to go. We all trooped out to the metro, and went to The Museum of Natural History and Le Jardin des Plantes. There, we met up with my Dad, who works there, and we got into the Grand Gallery (for free….) and looked at all the awesome animals. We took tons of pictures with Nina, Naboo, Ninja, and Nibbles in mortal danger; such as in a stuffed shark’s mouth, or in between the teeth of a killer whale! Then Lulu and Maeva got in the normal hyper mood, and starting singing, but a while later Maeva had to go, so we all said our good byes for then, and went on to the ‘special exhibit’. It was all about dolphins and whales, and for those people how know me, I love dolphins, so I was very excited! 

After looking at all the pictures and watching movies on them, and me begging and getting a stuffed animal dolphin called Nala, we went and got crêpes for lunch. We waited a while for Lulu’s mom to come, and then we went into the Gem Museum and got to go ‘behind the scenes’ into the storage room and looked at the meteorites. They were very cool and really interesting! After that, we looked around in the museum, where Lulu freaked out every time she saw a purple mineral because that’s her favorite color!  Later, Lulu went shopping with her mother, so she said good bye to Mary-Claire, who was leaving the next day. Then Mary-Claire, and I went to the Eiffel Tower where we met up with Maeva and Lucy again, and we went on a bateau mouche. We got to talk, and laugh, and look at Paris from the Seine, while taking pictures with Nina, Naboo, and Nibbles. After that finished, we went to Mary-Claire’s house where we said our sad good byes to her and gave plenty of hugs. Of course, the parents took tons of pictures of this, but we finally had to leave.


Maeva’s family had to go to dinner with friends, so we said good byes until the next day. Then Saturday, which was two days before Maeva had to leave! ;( So I went over to Maeva’s house at around 12, and we watched star wars, again with Lulu. At around 2, we went to a park called André Citroen and had a lunch full of chips, pain au chocolat, pretzels, and juice. Then, Lulu had to leave, so Maeva, Lucy, and our parents went on the ‘balloon ride’ which is a big hot air balloon that goes up around 2/3 of the Eiffel Tower. It was tons of fun!! It was really windy too, so we were rocking, but we could see a lot of Paris. After giggling and being a little freaked out, we were firmly back on the ground. I went over to Maeva’s house again, and we finished watching more Star Wars. I then had to leave, to go to dinner with some scientist friends of my Dad’s. After having a delicious dinner, and playing games with their daughter, we went home. The next day, Maeva’s family was packing and went to their last Museum, so I only got together with them at around 2ish. Lulu and Maeva both came to my house. And how does Maeva choose to spend her last day in Paris with her friends? Watching more Star Wars of course! 

At around 6 or so, Lulu went home and Maeva’s family and I went to a fancy restaurant for their last dinner. We had great steak and then I had chocolate cake and we all devoured chocolate from our parents’ coffee! The waiter really enjoyed having three kids and plus we had Naboo with us, so he even gave us an extra spoon for him!  After a filling dinner, we started walking home, but right below an apartment, Maeva almost got hit in the face by a flower dropping from the sky. Some people were trimming their flowers and dropping the bad ones down. We started collecting them! We were running around catching flowers dropping from the sky! After collecting an entire bouquet of flowers, we started walking to Maeva’s apartment.

Maeva and her mom were going to come over to our house to say a final good bye, and they need to get something on the way back. So we asked my dad, who was up in their apartment watching a soccer game, to throw the keys down….from a four story apartment. So, of course he did because he didn’t want to miss too much of the game. And I can bet you can guess what happened then. He threw them too far behind me and they broke. Praying that by putting the battery back in, it would still work, we walked to our apartment. Considering the fact that that was the only key we brought with us we would have no way to get into our apartment building if it didn’t work. Of course, it didn’t work, but when the game was over, Dad came to our apartment and worked his magic. We finally got in, and up stairs, Maeva and I said our final good byes!  And of course so did Nina and Naboo. And that was how our special week ended. Maeva left the next morning at 6. But at least the week ended with a smash! 

It started with Lili, Lulu, Mary-Claire, Maeva, Lucy, and me, but then as the week progressed, we lost Lili first, Mary-Claire second, Maeva and Lucy third. Now the EABJM group is down to just two; Lulu and me. Soon it’ll just be Lulu. But the EABJM group still exists in emails, skype, phones and memories. Throughout the world; from Alaska, to Rhode Island, and Illinois, then Ireland and California, we are all best friends of PARIS!