Montmartre Walk

After sitting around most of yesterday we felt we needed to be tourists on le dimanche. So we grabbed our Rick Steves' Paris and headed off to where all of the tourists go on le dimanche... to church! Sacre-Coeur is visible from a lot of places in Paris and Kathleen kept asking about it so off we went. There was no doubt about which direction you should head in once you came out of the metro as there were about a million people crammed onto this one street. Every small shop was there just for le touriste. It was amazing as you could get 12 carte postale for a euro or two! We did manage to get suckered into string bracelets made quickly while the nice, English speaking, Kenyan was talking a mile a minute. At least the next time we were approached we could flash our bracelets and they could leave us alone....no... he would do one for our hair!!!
Once you get beyond the very busy street the view of Sacre-Coeur on the hill hits you. It was a beautiful climb up many steps where MANY people had also decided to check out Paris from atop this hill. It was a beautiful clear day and many of the tourist and possibly many of the natives as well had decided that a picnic would be nice. Rick Steves did warn us that Sunday, in the middle of the day, would be the worse time to go! Fortunately, he also guided us away from the mainstream and we had a nice little walk through streets where many famous artistes had once resided and worked. We could imagine ghosts of Dali, Renoir, Picasso, Toulouse-Latrec, Van Gogh, and Edith Piaf wandering about the streets and visiting the Cabaret de Patachou, La Maison Rose Restaurant, Au Lapin Agile Cabaret or the Moulin Rouge. There was actually a women trying to earn her living by imitating Edith Piaf in the first square we came to. She was pretty good and really set the mood. That mood carried us into the place du Tertre where other artists were trying to earn a living quickly drawing your picture. Some of them were also very good and some of the other paintings were very appealing. We will return again some day soon and we may even purchase a memory.
Back on the trail of dead poets we also found a bar that was made famous by a popular french film called Amelie. Much of the movie took place in the Cafe des Deux Moulins (named so because there are only two surviving windmills where there had once been 30) and groupies of the movie come to see it. We noticed in the window that there was a notice that if you could answer five trivia questions about the movie correctly they would give you a free drink. We need to come back with Megan who knows that movie very well! The tour ended at the Moulin Rouge where one can still see can-can girls dancing except that there was something else going on there on this Sunday as there were hundreds of young people gathered and they were all punked out in glorious black outfits! We stayed clear of the crowd and also avoided the Museum of Erotic Art (the first time I read that I thought it said exotic art and was intrigued) while we headed back to the metro. It was a lovely walk on a lovely Paris day! Then we headed home a attempted to cook an authentic Mexican meal of Fajitas for our Danish friends who had also resided in California for a few years and missed the food. They brought the Corona and we fried the steak and a good time was had by all. I can't believe this is nearly the end of January already! We are excited about the prospects of visitors in the month of February. Until we blog again! Take care and stay dry (CA).

Evening Walkabout

It was a beautiful clear day in Paris, in fact it may be the only day where it was nicer here than in SoCal which, we understand, is getting hammered with rain (and snow). Kathleen had a friend over for much of the day - allegedly to "study" but not much of that happened on this Saturday - and so we all decided to walk Maeva home to stretch our legs and take in some fresh air. Here's a picture of the two etudiantes at the portal to their school (which is in between our apartment and Maeva's). Maeva O'Brien's parents are both here on sabbatical from the Univ. of Illinois - Urbana. The two American girls have bonded together, and as her parents are both fluent in French, there is some hope for the homework situation! They live in a charming (= very old) small flat with "hideous wallpaper" and somehow our finicky elevator now doesn't seem so bad against their 3 story walkup of a rickety spiral staircase.

It was just too nice to stop strolling after departing from Maeva's, so somehow we wound up heading toward the biggest landmark around. On the hour, the Eiffel Tower goes into a little sparkling dance for 10 minutes, and I used the movie mode of the new camera to capture a bit of that. You should be able to see it by clicking on the image below (26M). After that it was back home for some yummy pizza (OK, with French wine naturally), a bit of data inspection, Skyping, emailing, and blogging. Yes, I know it sounds boring, but sometimes that is nice. Bon nuit!

Au revoir, Megan!

We woke up early this morning to transport Megan to l'aeroport. Kevin and she navigated the Metro to the regional trains to the airport ---- and we're all happy to have just learned that Megan is safely and happily in her dorm in Limerick. Surprisingly, she reports that it is raining there :-) We miss her already, but we are excited for her --- she'll have a great time in Ireland.

IN OTHER NEWS.... Kathleen extracted DNA from an onion today! That's more than her father's ever done... and she wears a cool lab-coat while doing her experiments. La petite scientiste. We are proud of how well she's managing (as I write this, she's correcting sa mere on some French grammar as they work on "the family homework").

Grace almost got the TV working tonight. We have until SUPERBOWL SUNDAY --- or else we'll have to find an all-night 'bar les sports' with some big TV screens! We need some codes and frequencies ---- reminds Kevin of CAMECA software! Those of you who don't know what that means should consider yourselves lucky.

Visit to the old cathedrals: Notre Dame et Sainte Chapelle

It's been a few days since we have blogged (yes, in modern English usage any noun may be verbed) and we finally now have a quiet Sunday afternoon (no football here --- unfortunately!) and so it's a good time to fill you in on our ramblings. On Friday night, Grace & Kevin went out with friends Anders & Karin to a nice little french restaurant across town while Megan kindly entertained les enfants (Kathleen, Josephine, and Sara) at their place. We had a very nice meal - from aperitif through the entre, plat principal, the fromage, and of course, dessert (I have a rule never to skip dessert in France). Oh, there may also have been a couple of bottles of wine in the mix somewhere. Very nice indeed; also very expensive, but thank you Grandmas for the Christmas gifts that turned into a nice evening.

Yesterday, it was time to get out into Paris and we decided to start at the beginning - "point zero" (of France) in front of Notre Dame. Here we are getting out of the Metro on the island in the Seine which is the oldest part of Paris on which stands 2 cathedrals - ND and the amazing Gothic cathedral of stained glass and light, Sainte Chapelle, which is surrounded by the Palais de Justice. The facade on Notre Dame has been cleaned in recent years and you can see that they were still decorated for Christmas, with a nice tree in front. You now can get a really good look at the carved figures - all of which were meant to tell stories to the parishioners, the vast majority of whom were illiterate. You don't need to have read the Bible five times to catch the drift of some of these, for example the one below which depicts a final Judgment scene (which strikes me as rather popular in the medieval Church). In the bottom panel we find all different kinds of people, from peasants to soldiers to royalty, rising up out of their coffins to be judged by an angle and a (the?) devil holding a balance while Jesus (seated above on a throne) looks on. Jesus is displaying his wounds (there is a cross to also remind us) and holding his hands up in a manner either to indicate that He doesn't play favorites or that the fates are already determined for each soul (I'm not sure which). The unhappy damned are led off in chains by a couple of devil henchmen, while the saved look piously upward (but also don't appear very happy about the whole ordeal, if you ask me). There is tremendous detail like this all over the cathedral and it boggles the mind to think of the laborers and artisans who dedicated their lives to building it (which took 200 years - probably 10 generations ). Another post will concentrate on the gargoyles, but don't let the little ones see. The inside is, of course, no less spectacular. There is a constant stream of tourists milling through the church, which is a little weird, but at least no services were going on (Saturday midday). The Rose windows and other works of art are truly impressive. I'll paste a small version here, but you can also access the entire slideshow at the link on the top left to PicasaWeb (under Useful Links). We also visited Sainte Chapelle, and I have decided that its worth a repeat on a sunny day - hopefully when some of you are visiting! According to our guide book (Rick Steves) this is the pre-eminant Gothic cathedral and I am not going to argue. The stained glass is awe-inspiring and I'm sure that is how it was meant to be. Pictures will not do it justice, but neither will words so.... what can you do?

Today, we had success in the local market - the lady didn't even laugh when we mistakenly asked for the tarte with potatoes ("apples of the Earth"), instead of just plain apples . Maybe she didn't hear? Now, speaking of that tarte.... it's time to end this post!

Cheers all - and remember, don't feel too sorry for Bret Favre, he is a sentimental favorite, but he'll still look better with a very dirty uniform.
Go Giants!

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRIP!

L'Opera Garner

Sorry we haven't written in a while but in all honesty there hasn't been much to report! Grace and Megan have been lazy just watching it rain doing some shopping and catching up on some reading. Kathleen has almost finished her second week of classes and is going swimming tomorrow!! Kevin is settling in at work except the time difference with California keeps him up at night catching up on e-mails.

Yesterday Kathleen had a half day so we went to L'Opera Garner! There was an English tour at 2:30 so after using the subway to get there, we waited around a little bit and let the learning begin! It was so cool, especially being that we are all fans of the Phantom! We got to learn about how the design was chosen because it was an anonymous presentation and they Queen thought it was the work of this very famous architect, but in fact it was Garner who had never done a single project before this one! He ended up inventing a brand new style "Napoleon III" and because everyone believed him to be very expensive he was never really hired again afterwards!

The tour started on the 1st level so after asking us to look only at our feet so as not to ruin the full affect of the first glimpse of the world famous Grand Staircase, we made our way down to the entrance for the season ticket holders!There were two towers on the Opera house, one for Napoleon, where his carriage could go directly into the tower and he could walk from his carriage to his private box without passing by anyone! The other side was for the season ticket holders who basically had their seat (with their name on it) for the entire season which meant they were attending 3 or 4 shows a week. They didn't go for the shows in fact the best seats in the house were in box seats where you actually couldn't see the stage at all without having to lean completely out of your box. They went to be seen. Our tour guide told us that the theater was done in the dark red because Garner knew that all the lady's would be wearing these bright dresses that would liven up the room, of course now a days everyone wears black and the room becomes way too dark.

Of course the people who rented a seat (as in only came for a couple of performances here and there) were forced to use the side staircase that is nothing special and would often times arrive early so they could get a balcony and watch as the season ticket holders entered.

We got to sit in the Orchestra section and learn about the painting on the ceiling. The painting was very controversial but they needed something new because the original one was too damaged by the smoke from the chandler which used to be gas. After a closer look we realized that the colors are the same as everywhere else in the opera house and that the themes are actually pictures of famous plays and ballets and places throughout Paris.

Then of course she told us the story of the phantom. We were sitting right below his alleged seat, box number 5. Apparently when they first started making the Opera house they came across some water so they spent days and nights trying to pump enough of the water out so they could build. The neighbors would see the shadows of the workmen during the night and thought the place was haunted. Then there was the case of the chandler, which didn't actually break but a piece of it did. One of the ropes that held a weight to raise and lower the chandler broke and hit this poor woman in the fourth balcony on the head and killed her. It was her first time at the Opera. This story later turned into the author of Phantom of the Opera, Leroux's story of the chandler falling down on a poor woman who was there for the first time when the director tried to take the box away from the Phantom. There were voices heard behind box 5 but nothing seen which of course was because the acoustics are fantastic in the theater and people used to close their curtains and just talk during the whole show because no one went for the show they went solely to be seen at the show! We got to knock on the phantom's box!

As well there is the story of Napoleon the III who asked for the Opera house to be built in the first place, but before it was done there was a war and the Monarchy in Paris was ended and Napoleon fled to England where he latter died before the Opera house was even done, so he never actually went there. The republic of France did not want to pay for the rest of the Opera house so they told Garner to finish with what money he had left so since no one would ever see the Emperor's wing he never finished it. You can see the slabs of stones waiting to be carved into pretty sculptures and there are also sculptures on the outside that were never finished that most people don't even see as they pass by!

We then went over to Dad's colleague Anders' house for a true French dinner. With some meat fresh from the market, some fresh bread, and some cheese, we spent a couple of hours just enjoying the company and the wine (and champaign parce que Bein Sur il est mercredi!)

Bonsoir

Mercy me it's mardi!

Kathleen and I have now been away from California for two weeks. This is about the time that most vacations are ending and you head back home. Not for us! We miss all of our families and friends.

The last two days have been very boring but then we are here for many more days, weeks, and months to come so we don't have to be on the run everyday! It has been cold and rainy these last two days so there hasn't even been much desire for a walk. Instead, yesterday Megan and I did 5 loads of wash then walked three blocks to the laundromat to dry four of those loads! It took nearly 24 hours for the last load to dry hanging in the apartment. Our landlord is testing out a machine that both washes and dries! If it works for her mother than she will install one here! Fingers crossed.

School continues to go pretty well for Kathleen. Kevin is enjoying his non-driving commute! He even walked in the door tonight with two fresh baguettes for dinner! Bon nuit!

City of Light

Somehow, everyone felt like sleeping in this morning - which is OK. We've been here a whole week now, and it was time for some R&R. After breakfast, Kevin & Grace went to the big Sunday marche; who knew buying veggies could be so much fun? One guy had a good laugh when Grace asked for zucchini - he couldn't believe that's what we call la courgette! We're still a little intimidated by the meat, however. The parts we recognize well are très cher (no Costco cuts here) and then there are the other bits.... hmmm, we may need some friendly assistance at the boucherie this week. In the meantime, we eat more veggies - and they are very good, indeed. Even the kids are eating them and liking it. We've also not watched any TV (somehow, Kevin just hasn't gotten around to fixing the connection) and have had seven consecutive dinners together - a frightening trend may be developing.

After some homework this afternoon, we decided to go for a walk before dinner. It was breezy and cold and wonderful--- this city shines at night like no other. Our destination was a big Ferris wheel that we saw last week at the Place de la Concorde - a very large square in the center of Paris that used to be the sight of some gruesome events (Louis XVI and his bride, Marie Antionette, among many others lost their heads there), but now hosts an Obelisk (one of three Cleopatra's Needles; Kevin and his Regis friends know well another one) and numerous statues, fountains, etc. It's at the head of the Champs-Élysées and one can see clear down to the Arc de Triomphe. The Ferris wheel is seasonal; fear that it may disappear soon prompted tonight's hour-long trek. The Christmas lights are still up in most parts of Paris, in particular the trees down the Champs-Élysées are decked out with these cool blue lights that move to give the illusion of falling snow. (If it would snow here, with the lights still up, this place would be pure magic!)

Kevin and the girls went up in the huge wheel (Grace is nursing a cold and decided to stay earth-bound). It was a bit scary, actually, and very cold and windy --- but also a lot of fun. You can check out some of the pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/mckeegans/Jan13NightWalk. (You may have to open a Picasa account (free) to see them - I'm not sure. ) Please leave a comment if you can't see the pix or there is some other problem with the blog.

Now to something a little less exotic --- let's go Giants!

Let them eat cake!

We took a nice day trip today to Versailles. It was a beautiful day, brisk but clear, and a beautiful place... not the kind of beauty to lose your head over, well OK - maybe it is.

There's a little slideshow that I've added to the blog - click on it, it should work. I'll update this some more tomorrow with deep thoughts about the nature of monarchy (right!), but for now the pillow calls (it took longer than I thought to get the slides working).

It was fun to talk with Carol and Joyce today on the video-skype! More tomorrow....

C'est Vendredi!

We missed a day! Sorry! I can't imagine that we will actually be able to enter everyday but we will try to keep you all informed. Yesterday while Kevin was at work and Kathleen was at school Megan demanded that I be tourist! We navigated the metro, which is very simple, toward Musee d'Orsay for a little art education. It was drizzly and cool but the museum was tres magnifique! The first thing I saw was a jeune fille sketching one of the sculptures, (I should do that sometime), then we saw people taking pictures (we should do that sometime since we forgot our camera this time), and then we saw lots of beautiful paintings and sculptures! It is a massive building, mostly open for five floors, that used to be a train station. We successfully metroed (new verb!) our way back to the apartment. We picked up Kathleen from her long day at 4:30 and went to the market yet again!

Today Megan tried to get me out to be a tourist again! It was NOT my fault that we did not succeed! We headed down to the metro, purchased le carnet (ten metro tickets), and headed to the left bank. We were heading to the Catacombs where Paris dumped beaucoup de bones in the 1700s! Unfortunately, the catacombs were closed for repairs. Change of plans. It was at this point that we realized that we did not bring the map and it began to rain. We wander through a nearby cemetery and then wimped out and headed home via le metro. So now we rest inside and wait for Kathleen to get out of school! Au revoir!

Un autre jour a Paris!

Bonjour! Kevin and I seem to be taking turns on the blog! Today was Kathleen's short day since we are not paying extra for sports like horseback riding or rock climbing! When we picked her up we took a nice long walk to the Seine, then over to the Tour Eiffel, walk through the park, and then through town back to 23 rue Ginoux. Lot's of photo opportunities presented themselves and of course we took advantage of them. Let's see if I can get one of the pictures in for you to see what we saw. That yummy looking thing that Kathleen is about to eat is a crepe with nutella and banane! We were told that there was a lot of dog droppings to watch out for. Well, Megan found her first lovely pile! The dogs were very cute as they wandered around the park prior to that mishap! Megan I also navigate the local outdoor market and actually managed to get the food we wanted from several different stalls without insulting any of the frenchmen in the process. Kevin is home so I guess I need to cook dinner! Until next time.....Bonsoir!

Just a working day... in Paris.

We seem to have dived right into a working routine... and it feels good, if a bit tiring (jet-lag is still there). Kathleen had a good second day, and by now it is clear that les devoirs (homework) will constitute significant family time after dinner on weekday eves. What could be more fun?

Kevin got all connected at the Museum today, and managed to get four abstract pushed through with colleagues all over the place from California to Argentina. The abstracts are for the LPSC (Lunar & Planetary Science Conference)- so it appears that once again he will make the trek to Houston for St. Patties Day week. There is really no avoiding it, but this year there is optimism that there will be spectacular results to report. Stay tuned.

The girls are finding their way around the neighborhood, and are even beginning to do critical comparisons of a couple of bakeries. By the time some of you visitors arrive, we should be in a Parisian groove... now how does one say that en francais?

First day of school

Kathleen survived her first day of school in Paris. She had a rather dazed look when she came out of the door in the wall of the school at 4:30! We had lead her to believe that some of her classes would be in English but we discovered that only her English class is in English! Fortunately there were several new students in her grade today. One girl is in all the same classes with Kathleen. Unfortunately, the person who was suppose to greet us all and get the students started was lated. Even worse, when she did arrive nobody informed her that we were waiting (for 90 minutes)for her! Kathleen missed science today but has it quite frequently this week. Her schedule is CRAZY! Every day begins at a different time. In the course of two weeks, sometimes it is 9:00, sometimes 9:30, one day it is 10:30 and twice it is 8:30. Most days she gets out at 4:30 except Wednesday when she is out at 1:30.......I think!!! Oh and lunch can vary from 1 hour to 1 and 1/2 hours beginning anywhere from 11:00 to 12:30! Then there is the homework! The whole family sat around the table with a dictionary and her text books and tried to understand what was going on! We will learn a lot!!! D'accord! Thankfully her math teacher did not give a lot of homework! Unfortunately, she is studying geometry and not algebra which is full of vocabulary of the french variety! We survived! Now the girls are falling asleep and Megan has chosen to sleep in the living room where all of the computers are (all seven.....not necessarily functioning) so I must end this entry and add more tomorrow! Au revoir....bon nuit!

bienvenue à Paris

Nous sommes ici! We made it! No problems with Air Chance, except for the 15 minutes waiting for the jetway at CDG - but that just meant that our luggage arrived (all of it!) very quickly after our trek through the airport (including a short train ride between terminals). Kevin's colleague, Anders, met us at the airport and, looking at our beaucoup baggage, smartly negotiated with a (probably unauthorized) van driver to pack us all in for the drive to Paris (about 30 minutes). He even managed to make sure that the driver took a trip on the roundabout at the Arc de Triumph (very interesting and amusing traffic flow when you're jet-lagged) and then across the Seine to the Eiffel Tower, which is nearly in our neighborhood. The landlady, Monique, was waiting for us and the first news that she relayed (over the intercom) was a bit daunting - after 2 consecutive nights of sleeping in a chair at 35,000 ft (at least for Kevin and Megan), we now had to haul our beaucoup baggage up 5 flights since the elevator was broken. Now, Kevin has long experience with the advanced nature of French technology, especially how it somehow knows to break down at the most inconvenient time, but never before has that involved 16 bags and 5 (spiral) flights! After much huffing and puffing, we arrived to exchange our bonjours.

The apartment, shall we say, is not extravagant. Shab chic is probably going a bit too far (like, forget the chic part). Still, it's dry and the bed was certainly more comfortable than even the exit row (with its extra leg-room). And the coziness will certainly promote family interaction. We actually had dinner together this evening and we even talked to each other (there are benefits to not having a functioning TV). Here's a picture of our first meal at Ginoux.

Monique is nice, but perhaps a bit technically challenged. The internet wasn't working and the light bulbs in the apartment were mostly dead - perhaps because they would occasionally blow up like the one in Kathleen's room. Anyway, Megan organized fixing the light bulbs and Kevin (eventually) figured out the internet (hence this post). Grace organized the kitchen (details better left imagined) and then this afternoon we succeeded to buy some fresh food. That was the second victory of the day, the first being the croissants and baguettes Kevin captured this morning. It was easy to find the Patissier this (Sunday) morning - just look for the shop with the line forming out the door!

Well, fini for now. A forced bed time is upon us; traveling east is really a pain with the jet lag but tomorrow is a school and working day! Bon nuit!