I’ve been having a small, annoying, common medical problem that is entirely treatable by any number of products that you see advertised on TV in the U.S. during sporting events. (No, no, no, it’s not that problem … jamais, jamais in Paris, the city of love!) But here in France, it isn’t possible to just to into a drug store and buy products like that. Such products (and others equally […]
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 […]
[Editor’s note: Suzie continues, with some minor editing and photographic additions from SSS.] We had discovered that our kids would be placed in the worst school in Paris. We were aware that much of what we read could be the normal rumors and speculation that often surround parental discussions of schools. However, the ranking of the third worst school in France was not a parent’s subjective measure. Action was needed, […]
Steve has insisted that I do a blog entry about our experience entering into the public school system in France. [Editor’s note: “Suggested” is more accurate that “insisted.” I also added some links and pictures and extraneous commentary.] So here goes. The dreaded day had arrived when the kids would be tested to be placed in the French public school system. In Paris there is a department of the schools […]
It rained Friday in Paris, a comfortable, cool, gentle, light rain, with no wind, which made it easy and delightful to walk around the city with an umbrella. It also made for a great day for sleeping in, the clouds veiling the sun and the the rain veiling the sounds of the city. So we stayed in bed a long time, then got up and drank coffee and watched the […]
We’re back in Paris after two great weeks in and around Toulouse, during which time we put a fair amount of kilometers on our hosts’ car. (As an aside, our car in Toulouse was a Citroen C4 Picasso, with a diesel engine, and after driving it I will certainly consider a diesel engine for my next car. Diesel engines are more reliable and get terrific mileage per gallon — during […]
As mentioned, Suzie’s father is close friends with a French couple (Francoise and Catherine Recanati) who have a summer house in a small village called Cajarc in the region called Lot. They invited us to stay with them for a night so that we could meet them and explore the surrounding region. So on Tuesday we drove to Cajarc, heading north from Toulouse. We noticed once we got off the […]
We are heading off this morning to some friends of Suzie’s father, who live in a little town called Cajarc, a couple of hours away. Our route today: Yesterday we had a needed “off” day, where we just hung out at home, went for a long walk in the countryside, played tennis, swam, read, did laundry, ate a great improvised Suzie lunch (watermelon, cantaloupe, fresh just-picked tomatoes from the garden, […]
We had a free day yesterday (I know, don’t laugh, your perspective changes on a long vacation, I suppose the word I should have used was “unscheduled”), so we decided to take a quick drive up to the Pyrenees, which on the map look to be less than an hour from our house. It didn’t turn out that way, due to the fact that everyone with a car in France […]
We awoke on Friday and had a great (if somewhat overpriced) breakfast in the hotel, then went to see more of Narbonne. It turns out it is a very old city, having been established by the Romans during the second century B.C. It has an interesting history (which you can read here), which unfortunately has the heyday of the city occurring before the 14th century (it turns out that the […]