Suzy's life of crime

So, March is finally done, so I'll confess the crime I've been committing all month, and how I capped it off with style last night.

Last night I had a truly Parisien experience. Because I had a late dinner with some work colleagues (Rob, thanks for recommending Les Galopins), I missed the last bus into Paris. Ugh. So I took the longer tramline to La Defense. For the Tram, you pass your ticket thru the turnstiles to exit. You have to go thru the turnstile, and push the door aside. Both the door and turnstile lock after you go thru them.

Why am I telling you details about going thru turnstiles? Because Suzy ended up at 10:15PM in the La Defense station without a valid transit pass, and she had to follow someone else thru. She bolted over the turnstile, and grabbed the door before it locked shut. We won't mention how delicately she foisted herself over. I see high school kids do it all the time. Funny it's not quite as easy when you are middle aged, and have been drinking wine with a nice heavy dinner.

You see, I accidentally ended up with a pass this month that was only valid in Zones 1-2, and my place of work is in Zone 3. The Tram was also in Zone 3. All month I've been quickly flashing my pass when I board the bus in Zone 3, then I'm home free because all the rest of my entries are in Zones 1-2. Next month I'll be dang sure I get the right pass.

Traditional English afternoon tea

I didn't have any photos of our lovely afternoon tea, it was just too quaint to mar the moment by dragging out the camera. So the camera stayed stowed in the jacket. We had a very traditional English afternoon tea at the famous Cadogan Hotel in the intimate drawing room of the hotel. We met up with some friends, and it was really fun. Prim and properly attired waiters with deep serious voices waited on us hand and foot. They keep bringing sandwich bits, then scone bits, then pastry bits until you can eat no more. I even had a cucumber sandwich, and it was quite nice. They served clotted cream with the scones, it sounds icky, but tastes great. I'm still listening to my arteries clog up, and dreaming of another yummy scone.

I did get a nice pic the day before of Big Ben and a red doubledecker bus, so I've included that. 

Pomp and Circumstance in London

London is a crazy mix of old and new, I captured some different sides here. They have lots of impressively dressed guards and ceremonies. The guard in the lower right is trudging back and forth in front of Buckingham Palace. In the lower left is a fairly succinct statement from one of the protest signs in front of Westminster, there were all sorts of anti-war signs. And in the upper left are some ideas for my next haircut. 

London Eye, ...or London Eyesore?

This monstrous beast is the London Eye, which slowly creaks around at a clip of 30 minutes per rotation. It looks like a giant bicycle wheel. There are 32 glass enclosed capsules that hold 10-20 people each. While it is pretty cool, it doesn't look quite right to be standing in front of Westminster Abbey, where they have been crowning kings and queens since 1066, and see this lurking behind Big Ben. It clashes a bit.

The building on the left is London County Hall, it used to be the seat of London's government, now it's a hotel. We stayed here, really odd to be sleeping in some former bureaucrat's office. 

Delving into the French....over lunch

Sunday we were invited over to the neighbors for lunch. They're French, which is soooo cool because it's harder to make inroads with the French here than the English speaking expats here. The expats all share the common trait of being outsiders, and it draws us all together. And I think especially in Paris it's harder to make inroads into French society because people here are constantly under seige by the hordes of tourists that flock here.

This is the second set of neighbors we've socialized with, they have also lived in this building for over 30 years. Really amazing when you come from our 'I wanna build a new house' mentality in Texas. Their apartement is the same layout as ours, unfortunately someone had remodeled it before they moved in, and had gotten ride of the details that I find myself admiring in our own apartement every day (finely detailed crown molding, elaborate art deco fireplace). Their place was filled to the brim with beautiful decorating.

They had also invited a friend over, and their adult son joined us as well. It was really interesting, the conversation was roughly 75% in French. I know Sarah was much more engaged than I was, it was like drinking from a firehose for me. We covered all sorts of topics, one thing I find amazing with the French is the depth into which they dive with their conversation. They have a patience for detailed discussion of small topics. We spent quite a while discussing the pattern painted on the coffee service. While you might think "gosh, that's boring", it's actually interesting in its own way, and insightful to me as someone trying to work with the French.

We had a very nice lunch with a wonderful cheese course. I'm hoping we've made some new friends. Some new *French* friends.

Restoring Paris (and my peace of mind)

I captured this on one of our loooong Sunday walks. It's of the reconstruction of Pont Neuf. They are really doing a number on it, they remove quite a bit and rebuild it. It won't be finished until late 2007. Since Sarah and I have a print of the famous Brassai black and white picture of Pont Neuf on our wall, we would really really like to see it in all its finished glory.

Also, look in the distance. See the tower that looks like a bell tower? It's actually a temporary construction elevator on the Palais de Justice, where they are doing some renovation. Interesting how they disguised it to blend in.

Paris is waking up from the long grey winter slumber (or at least I hope it is). We've had some better weather lately, including some nice sun. This translates into Parisiens with cabin fever taking to the streets, and sitting bundled up in the sun on sidewalk cafes. For Sarah and I it means walking. And walking.

Today I realized how much the long Parisien lunch on the weekend relaxes me and lowers my blood pressure. It's awesome. Sarah and I had lunch today at La Rotiserie de Beaujolais, a French Bistro owned by Tour d'Argent. It's on the river, I had a nice view of Ile St. Louis. I started with escargot, which were perfect (not too chewy), and in traditional parsley garlic butter. Sarah had a very beefy (not pun intended, it was made with a strong beef broth) onion soupe. I had a nice roast chicken with to-die-for mashed potatoes, and Sarah had a nice confit du canard, which was very tender. For dessert we shared a rich chocolate gateau still gooey inside with a very nice vanilla bean sauce. Every once in a while we just have to have a nice enjoyable relaxed meal. While it was pricey, I definitely left with a calm peace of mind and much lower blood pressure. Shouldn't this be covered under my medical insurance? :-) 

When in doubt...Strike!!!

There always seems to be some group in France upset about something, and the French show it by having a strike, and also a 'Manifestation', or demonstration. For instance last November, the railway workers had a strike, and also marched in the streets of Paris. Right now, University students are striking over new labor laws that make it easy to fire people under 26 years in age. Sarah emerged from a movie theater last week, was trying to cross the street, and ended up getting sucked into a march across Paris of students.

France takes the plight of the common worker very seriously, I think it's hardwired in from the French Revolution. When a manifestation is scheduled, loads of policemen show up to manage traffic around the demonstration, and deal with anyone who gets out of hand in the demonstration. Small groups who are having a manifestation get bent out of shape if there aren't a lot of policemen there, they feel that the government isn't taking them seriously if there aren't a lot of police there.

The student protests have become quite large, many universities are affected. Last week a group of students at the Sorbonne barricaded themselves inside the school. More demonstrations are planned for next week. We watch for notices of demonstrations because we live right by Bastille, which is *always* the start or the finish of a demonstration. It's bewildering when it happens because we sometimes can't get across the street or we aren't sure how peeved people are, and if they are going to get rowdy.

In other news, Suzy made a quick trip to Houston last week to get her new Visa pasted in her passport. Her employer had to re-doodle her work permit to a different type, which kicked off a storm of delightful paperwork, approvals, and a lovely trip to Houston. Suzy also had to get another physical with the French Immigration doctor, and yes, of course, her chest x-ray from 7 months ago was deemed to be 'too old', so she got a nice dose of radiation to go with it all. If the French Immigration Authorities are so concerned about Suzy's health, why do they keep shooting her full of radiation?

Suzy is greatful to be back in France, it was weird landing at CDG last week. Paris now feels like 'home', and the US feels like a foreign country.