I mentioned that we were planning to go to the Champ de Mars to see the fireworks for the 14th of July. We did go, and it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We were concerned that we had not left early enough to get a place, but we managed to squeeze into an open area right in the middle of the Champ de Mars dead in front of (or in back […]
Travel is interesting in part because you never know what will come day-to-day. The boys have made friends with a boy in their class from Madrid named Fernando. The three of them have done a fair amount of hanging out together (and are, at this moment, out Velib-ing). Yesterday evening, the boys wanted to get together with him again, so they made plans to meet him and his Dad at […]
Andrew and I took advantage today of a marvelous, marvelous service of the City of Paris, called Velib. This is a system of several hundred stations, located throughout Paris, where you can pick up a bicycle, ride it to a destination, and leave it at another Velib station. The cost is amazingly low — only one euro per day. The only catch is that you must return the bike to […]
Suzie decided today to treat the boys (and herself and me, of course) to lunch out today and some very nice restaurant. We decided to return to a restaurant called Le Reminet, at which, longtime readers of this blog will know from this post, we had eaten during our first trip to Paris. So after a leisurely morning sleeping in and lounging around the apartment, we took the Metro to […]
Even though I am on vacation and tell myself that I should be relaxed and stress-free all the time, it hit me yesterday that the fact is that stress is an integral part of the travel experience, particularly where you are trying to learn a foreign language and integrate into a foreign culture. Indeed, to an extent the stress and the difficulties are what make the experience interesting. Nevertheless, the […]
Another day, another afternoon at the Prefecture de Police in the 14th Arrondissement. We arrived at 1:45 p.m., took a number (184 with 158 being served when we arrived) and waited in the crowded room. More than a little ripe, the room was, being warm and humid and packed with lots of people whose situations in life seemed not to lend themselves to purchasing deodorant. Why no one opened the […]
I had another frustrating day today in Paris, although at the end of the day, we’d accomplished quite a bit…. The day began with our trip on the Tram to our language school. The Tram is much, much nicer than the Metro, because it is modern, air conditioned, and travels above-ground. Unfortunately it is not quite as fast for most folks, because it has to deal with traffic (although the […]
A little better day today after the experience yesterday, although the French language school still does not seem to comprehend the word “efficiency.” Today no one showed up to teach my class; we all sat there staring at each other for 30 minutes until someone finally showed up, apologized, and started teaching the class with almost no preparation. As it turned out, she was an excellent teacher, if a little […]
Up at 6 a.m. Coffee, cereal, shower. Wake up the kids. Nag the kids to get out of bed. Repeat. Repeat again. Reconfirm address of language school and reconfirm mode of transit (the new tram running east-west on the southern edge of Paris). Nag the kids to get dressed. Leave at 7:30 with the kids for the Tram. Get to Tram stop at Porte de Orleans. Wait. Get on Tram. […]
Steve, the boys and I got invited to a party by our neighbor directly above us. I happend to meet a friendly woman on the stairs who asked me if the elevator was working yet, and I was able to deliver the great news that the elevator was no longer “en panne.” She was thrilled as it had been out of service for a week and she was having a […]