We’re back in Sonoma County after a long, stressful, long, hard, long, hectic, hard day of travel, which started when I woke at 4:30 a.m. in Paris and ended 25 1/2 hours later when I finally climbed into bed in Santa Rosa. In between, it was a combination of stress, boredom, irritation, and anger … anger like I haven’t felt in a long, long while, at the rude, smug, arrogant, […]
If only for the sense of completion, voilà the last two days in Paris: On Sunday Suzie had arranged to see her French conversation partner and some of his friends for lunch. As the boys were off on their own, this left me with a free afternoon all to myself. I decided to go to the Louvre again, because I love it and still feel after 4 or 5 visits […]
Several times during previous trips to France, we got caught up in horrible traffic while returning to Paris. About the only good that had come from those experiences is that we learned the two French words bouchon (literally, a cork) and embouteillage (something bottled up), both used to describe congested traffic. Suzie had timed our trip to Normandy to avoid a repeat experience. Unfortunately, as we were having breakfast our […]
It didn’t disappoint, but like all good travel days, this one was improved make more memorable by the several wonderful people we accidentally became acquainted with along the way. I had researched suggestions for the best viewing spot. The Champs Elysees is obvious, since you can see the riders go both ways each circuit, but it is also the most crowded. Several sites suggested the Rue de Rivoli, adjacent to […]
What a great, great day in Paris. Following a good night’s sleep, we got up and out by 11 a.m., slowed down by blogging Dad, and took the Metro to the Opera stop. Our mission — our once-every-trip experience with Orange, the French mobile phone company. We had three phones left over from our last trip, and in order to revive them (and thus be able to let the boys […]
This is really silly, an annotated video I shot of myself a few weeks ago (not great camera work, I know, especially the big hand coming at the lens at the very end; I was trying to be inconspicuous). So upon my return to the States, when I am raving about such-and-such a wonderful thing in Paris, you can simply say, “Chatelet, Chatelet.” But, of course, Chatelet is also pictured […]
I took the bus today to my favorite museum in Paris, the wonderful and interesting Musee des Arts and Metiers in the Marais. The fact that it’s my favorite museum probably proves that deep down (or maybe not so deep down) I’m a real nerd, as the museum is completely dedicated to the history of science and technology. The museum contains the collection of the Conservatoire National des Arts et […]
So I returned, after my horrible first experience at the Phonetics Lab, for a second session, because I’d paid for it (mostly) but also because I thought maybe the second time would be more useful and not quite so discouraging. Wrong. If anything, it was even worse. I was greeted this time by a friendly, vivacious, middle-aged woman whom I’ll call “D”, who asked me for the results of my […]
Today had to be the low point of my time in Paris. Where to begin? Well, first of all, I’m getting sick, or am sick, or am fighting off sickness, I’m not quite sure which. I’ve picked up Suzie’s cold, which makes me feel like I’m running at fifty percent. This morning I woke up and my throat felt like sandpaper and I wondered how I could possibly get out […]
Last weekend we drove to Luxembourg to visit a friend of Suzie’s from high school. Longtime readers will recall that we made the same trip during our last visit to Paris, and encountered there the horrible Vaches Sauvages de Flaxweiler. This time, the plan was to have (belatedly, on Saturday) a real American-style Thanksgiving, with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, the whole, real deal. The trip had an inauspicious […]