I went to the Franprix just down the block this afternoon to get a few groceries. I had a problem buying apples. Most grocery stores in France require you to weigh fruit or vegetables that are sold by the kilo at a electronic scale, which then spits out an adhesive price tag that you stick on the outside of the plastic bag holding the fruits or vegetables. To get the […]
On Saturday, Suzie and I, craving the outdoors, took the Metro to the Bois de Vincennes, the huge mostly natural park on the east side of Paris. It was an absolutely glorious fall day: Cool but not too, a blue sky with a few puffy white clouds, a warm but weakening sun. The trees here are in the middle of turning color and losing their leaves, which made the walk […]
Big controversy here in France this week. During a so-called “amicale” or “friendly” soccer match at the Stade de France on Tuesday between the national teams of France and Tunesia, a large number of the Tunesian fans decided to whistle (the equivalent of booing) during the singing of La Marseillaise, the French national anthem. This caused a strong reaction (one could say, an overreaction) from the French government, as noted […]
I’m sure some of you have heard me piss and moan about my kids. In fact, they are two amazing boys, whose adaptation to being thrust alone into the French public school system has been absolutely remarkable. For example, the first day of school, my youngest son Andrew, who is 13 years old, had to go off on his own to his school, which is located quite a good distance […]
I’m sitting in the cafeteria (actually, the so-called “cyber-cafe” portion) of the Alliance Francaise in Paris, having the goal in mind of seeing how much I can write in two and one-half hours. I apologize for the recent absence of posts to anyone who is missing them. Primarily that’s been because I’ve been focusing on trying to improve my French, and to do that I have to study and also […]
I realize that I am about a week (or is it more) behind in my posts, and the reason for that is that I’m starting to get a little worn down. I know this won’t draw much sympathy given the context, but it is difficult and wearing to deal constantly with foreignness, even if the foreignness is a foreignness you have a great affection for. Class is four hours a […]
Yesterday I had the afternoon completely free, and it was a perfect fall day, clear and bright, so I decided to take a walk around Paris. Sometimes I think my readers (viewers?) prefer pictures to words, so here are a few, with some limited commentary. First, a couple of political pictures: The Assemblee Nationale, the U.S. Embassy (sadly behind rows of concrete barriers and police), and the Elysee Palace, home […]
From Paris, John McCain’s selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin seems bizarre. Step back from the moment-to-moment campaign jostling and ask this question: You are John McCain. You think you will be elected President. Who do you want as your V.P? You’d think that the independent, strong, leader McCain would step up to the plate and give us someone just as solid and substantial as he is, someone who he […]
Someone asked today for a link to the location of our Paris apartment. So here it is. You can of course zoom in or out and move the map around to see our location vis-a-vis more well-known Paris sites.
Meanwhile in France, Le President de la Republique, Nicolas Sarkozy, continues his post-Carla Bruni meltdown. The latest … during a trip to an agricultural exposition in Paris, Mr. Sarkozy had a few, um, unkind words to say to a man whose hand he tried to shake who was, to put it mildly, obviously not a Sarkozy supporter (bad translation mine): Man: “Don’t touch me” Sarkozy: “Piss off” Man: “You make […]