SSS BLOG

Leave a comment

Guest Blogger: How to Get Your Non-French-Speaking Kids Enrolled in the Paris Public Schools

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 […]

Continue Reading →

3 Comments

La Bonne Vie a Paris

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 […]

Continue Reading →

Leave a comment

Road Rant (Warning, Some Political Commentary Included)

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 […]

Continue Reading →

1 Comment

Our Incredible Trip to Cajarc

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 […]

Continue Reading →

Leave a comment

Another Trip Today

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, […]

Continue Reading →

Leave a comment

A Quick Trip to the Pyrenees

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 […]

Continue Reading →

Leave a comment

A Vacation From Our Vacation From Our Vacation, Day 2

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 […]

Continue Reading →

1 Comment

A Vacation from Our Vacation from Our Vacation — Day One

We returned last night from what my son Andrew called a vacation (to the Mediterranean) from our vacation (to Toulouse) from our vacation (in Paris).  We left Wednesday morning and drove from Aigrefeulle to the beach between Gruissan and Narbonne-Plage.  For orientation, here’s a map showing the spots we visited (zoom in to get the details): The beach was very broad, and very relaxing and sunny, and not at all […]

Continue Reading →

3 Comments

Surprised by Toulouse

We got a late start today because of the rain, which fortunately cleared off by late morning.  Since we’d driven the prior two days, we decided to keep close to home and visit Toulouse, which we had not yet seen.  It was an easy 15 minute drive to the Metro station (free parking, too) and a quick 15 minute tram ride into the older part of the city.  I had […]

Continue Reading →

1 Comment

Castres and Burlats

A short post today … on Sunday we drove east to the city of Castres. It was pretty, located along a river, but absolutely dead on Sunday. There was a museum dedicated to Spanish art in general, and the painter Goya in particular, which was interesting (but hot). I think that Goya was a very disturbed man. After the museum, we had a short picnic and then traveled further east […]

Continue Reading →