Merry and Happy

This will be very quick, since I head to London tomorrow morning for three days. Cathy, Roberto, and Victor arrived last Thursday, and since then we've been enjoying their company and showing off our city. Sunday night we hosted a Christmas Eve dinner (buffet) party for 16 (11 adults), which was great fun and included ridiculous amounts of yummy food thanks to our friend Chef Meredith. Monday was a lovely, relatively relaxed Christmas full of family, gifts, and more food. The past three days we've been on the go showing off chilly Paris. After I get back and we get through New Year's Eve I'll post some of the many pictures we've taken recently. Also, we found one delightful thing about the French: they don't send holiday cards 'til January, believing it better to wish one a happy new year in the new year. So thanks to that, we have a month go get our cards done! All our best 'til then ...

Happy Holidays in song and verse

Ya just gotta watch.

Sure we're still here!

Hey everybody ... um, somebody is out there, right? We had a very busy weekend, after a busy and tiring week that included Betsy's return. On Friday night, we took it easy, the usual dinner and a movie at home routine. Saturday we puttered in the morning, then I went with Carter to his first soccer "match" of the year. Recall they don't actually play a schedule, they just practice every Wednesday afternoon, with occasional, no-advance-notice "plateau de samedi" mini-tournaments on Saturdays. We got to the stadium to find the plateau had been canceled, but the team scrimmaged on a nearby (grim, dirt- and rock-covered, graffiti'd) "playground" next door to Calvin's old maternelle. Carter and the boys had a blast, even if the team uniform is Tar Hole blue.





Saturday evening we met Betsy and Calvin at the American Church for the Christmas concert, which was lovely, except by the time we got the boys home it was 8 and I had to make dinner etc. But we survived, and the boys even slept in a bit Sunday morning ... or at least let us sleep in a bit. Sunday midday we met our friends David & Melissa near the grands magazins, or big department stores Le Printemps and Galleries Lafayette, to see their holiday windows. Well, the crowds were nuts so we bailed, went into the store to check out the terrace, had some lunch, did a bit of shopping, and headed home. (That's the dome in Galleries Lafayette, and the boys outside La Madeline, below.)





Sunday evening we had a sitter lined up for us to go to our wine tasting group, but it was cancelled, so we went out with our friends Meredith (the chef) and Kevin (from Mandeville) and tasted some wine anyway. Oh, and some Lenny Kravitz-endorsed fallafel, too! The things you can do in Paris ...

Also check out our family photo candidates here. Obviously (to me) we're not going to get out holiday cards in time, but maybe soon after the new year. I have put a 2006 photo album together (for printing) and am trying to figure out how to get that on the web, too! Keep watching this space ...

Now I'm off to bed. As you can tell from this ramble, I'm a bit tired. Carter is home tomorrow (random Wednesday off) then it's off to sports in the afternoon, and I'll play Risk here with my friends Kevin, Micah (from wine group), and David (another stay-at-home dad from Carter's school) tomorrow night. Type to you soon!

Flat Maddie

Our friend Maddie, daughter of our friends Michael & Melinda and sister of our friend Audrey, sent her friend Flat Maddie on a trip to Paris to see the sights. See the results here, and don't worry Maddie, she's in the mail on her way back to you.

United airfares to Europe

United and probably other airlines are still pushing decent fares from the US to Europe through the end of March - see United's here.

Halloween

Remember a time, oh, about a month ago, when the sidewalks were suddenly filled with odd creatures and strange behavior? No, not the final days of the campaign, but Halloween? Yes, we Halloween'ed here in Paris, thanks to Nannan sending some great Star Wars costumes, complete with lightsabers. Carter tricked and/or treated at his school, and Calvin and Carter showed off their costumes to our friend Lisa at Fat Tire. (We didn't take the costumes on our Toussaint vacances so we didn't tricktreat on the actual Halloween evening, when we were in Rochefort.) Check out the evidence ...

Betsy and family in Baltimore

(Left to right order) Cathy, Marilyn, Betsy, Victor
(Visible hair order) Cathy, Betsy, Victor, Marilyn
(Height order) Marilyn/Cathy/Betsy (3 way tie as far as I know), Victor
(Marilyn's favorite order) Victor, etc.
(Order they'll arrive in Paris) Betsy, Victor, Cathy, Marilyn

Mailbag!

Carter and Calvin got inspired to send letters to Grandma this week. We forgot to copy Calvin's picture, but here's Carter's work. They're very proud.

Winey

We followed up last night's tasting of white wines from Bourgogne (Burgundy) with a trip to the Salon this morning, as I mentioned yesterday. We meant to meet up with our friend Chef Meredith, but missed connections, so Mom and I wandered around and tasted several different types of wine amongst the at least 1000 producteurs' stands. (Seriously - look at the pic, the rows went to row T, and there were at least 70 stands per row!) Here's a list of what I brought home in my caddie, and a couple of pics.

Domaine la Voltonnerie 2005 - Sancerre (white)
Le Mesnil Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Brut - Champagne (magnum)
LeTourneau Blanc de Blancs Brut 2001 - Cremant de Bourgogne (methode champanoise)
Domaine du Terme 2004 - Vacqueyras (red)
Gerard Simonnot Tres Vieux Oblonga - Pineau des Charentes (aperitif)
Yvan Auban Recolte 1985 - Bas-Armagnac (brandy)

Home - well, sort of

Chris here ... here being Paris. I returned from Washington on Thursday (Thanksgiving) morning, after leaving Washington Wednesday afternoon. The flight was fine. I arrived at Dulles way early, totally intimidated by the "busiest flying day of the year" thing, and had about 3 hours to chill at the gate and wandering the concourse before my flight. Then after arriving to Paris at 6:40am, it took me FIVE HOURS to get across Paris to chez nous. The train was stopped between stations for over two hours, then terminated at the wrong Gare in Paris, then the bus was slow, then I cried. Well, not really the last part, but come on, it should not take almost as long to cross ANY city as to cross an OCEAN! Hmm, and I thought I'd put that behind me. Oh well.

Thursday night we went to friends for Thanksgiving dinner, which was a yummy fun time. Thirteen of us in total - four of us, Mom, a family with one girl, plus our hosts, a family with two girls and their nanny. Friday morning Betsy left for Washington and Baltimore, where she is now and will be until a week from Tuesday. I pretty much slept all of Friday, and Mom and the boys have let me sleep in each of the weekend mornings as well, so I'm as caught up as I ever am. Friday night we took it easy and the boys watched one of the original Lone Ranger movies, thanks to Marilyn's loan.

Yesterday, Saturday, we went to the kids' adventure garden at Les Halles (see previous post). As on that day, we ate lunch at Le Tambour, then went to the French craft beer store before wandering across the river. We stopped by Shakespeare and Company so Carter could get the final Lord of the Rings book. Nearly 1000 pages in, he's just loving it. Last night we took it easy again, after Carter played chess on-line with Griffin.

He played more with Griffin today, after we'd gone to the market and done his homework. After that, Mom and I and my friend Kevin went to our wine-tasting class taught by our new friend Meredith. Tomorrow the boys are back to school, and Mom and I will head to the big wine-buying salon. Look for a woozy update tomorrow!

Our life in pictures

Just a quick post from Paris, now that the internet is up and running again. The boys (especially Calvin) have been really busy drawing:

Calvin's drawing of himself with Dad and Carter. Carter and Calvin are holding an umbrella, but Dad has a hat. The littlest one is Jack-Jack, aka baby cousin Victor. Note that Jack-Jack has the requisite five fingers on each hand.

Mom as a monster... I leave the interpretation to you!


The boys and I had a really nice weekend together. The main event was getting together with our friend Mary and her family. You might remember them from our adventure a few weeks back where we got stuck hanging out at a suburban train station for several hours. Well, we managed to catch up with them this time (but met at our house just to be safe!) and then got to tag along on a tour of the Ecole Militaire around the corner. Normally it's not open to the public, but Mary's son is in a Boy Scout troop, and their troop leader managed to negotiate a tour. So we got to wander around in the hidden courtyards, visit the (extensive) stables to pet and feed the horses, and visit the chapel where Napoleon himself went while he was a student. We think the stable master might be a college basketball fan... the horses each have their own saddle and tack, which are arranged by number (and corresponding name) in a big stable room, and horse number 1 is... DUC! (We'll forgive the French spelling, it's the thought that counts.) Oh, and I forgot the camera. Genius.

Today Nan arrived. The boys were so excited that they totally bought into our house-cleaning yesterday, picking up all their toys, vacuuming and making banana bread. We left her a few notes to welcome her to Paris since we weren't home when she got to the apartment:

Carter's is on the left, and Calvin's on the right. If you click to open them full-size, you can see that Carter even corrected his spelling. Calvin's writing says "NAN I L(o)V(e) (yo)U."

Where now?

It's Monday morning in Washington - well, technically in Silver Spring for me. Mike and I spent the weekend at his parents' house on Kent Island, in the Chesapeake Bay. I even played golf, and I don't mind saying, I'm pretty damn bad at it! The weather was nice for mid-November though, so Sunday Mike and I took a long walk around part of the island, too. We headed back to Arlington last night, and I stayed with Cath & Roberto. Turns out the rumors are true, and Victor is a very cute and fun six-month-old. Carter and Calvin are going to love getting to hold him and play with him over Christmas.

I just spoke to my mom in Paris. She and Betsy are off to pick up the boys in the cool drizzle. They even fixed the network so the Vonage phone is working, so feel free to give them a call at 703.908.0796. I'm off to Baltimore for a few hours before heading back to Washington tonight.

Where's waldo?

Chris here again, from lovely Kent Island, Maryland. Mike and I are spending the week at his folks. It was a lovely low-60s sunny day today. We got up late and wandered out the back door to play golf - his parents Bob and Candi live at Cove Creek. Now we're watching the big Ohio State - Michigan football game, followed by Cal - USC. Pretty darn different from what I'd be doing in Paris! Betsy said the cable internet has apparently failed at home, so you won't be able to reach her on the Vonage phone. You can call our Paris phone, from the us 011.33.1.5658.1477 or Betsy's cell 011.33.6.7305.8873. (If you need a calling card, I've had great success buying from speedypin.com. They went to Ecole Militaire, the military school a couple of minutes from our apartment, with some new friends today. It's not open to the public, but the friend's Cub Scout troop had gotten a private tour. It sounded like they had a great time.

Anyway, back to the game for me. I think we'll head back to Arlington sometime tomorrow evening, and I'll let you all know. My mom heads from Houston to Paris tomorrow, arriving mid-day Monday, so send good travel thoughts her way too!

Safely in the U.S., and another fare sale

Chris here. After a harried 36 hours since I bought the ticket to come here, I took off midday today (Paris time) and landed safely at Washington Dulles around 3pm. After the stupid Dulles shuttles, and bags that took a while, the remaining immigration, customs, and rental car were amazingly easy. In fact, I'm driving a beautiful blue PT Cruiser for $17/day - thanks enterprise! We landed right after (well, kinda during) a huge storm that flooded streets and highways, but the evening provided a beautiful cloud-stippled sky and pretty colors. Temperatures are about like back in Paris, 60ish during the day but trending lower over the next few days. I celebrated my solo homecoming by sitting in traffic for a while - seems only right - but now I'm sitting in Arlington's best coffee shop, Java Shack, drinking a triple-shot americano, the first such delight I've had in 9 months. I'm off to meet Mike and then Gary in about an hour. I don't know where we'll be staying or what the next few days will hold, but I'll try to keep you posted. I checked in with Betsy too, and she said she and the boys are managing just fine without me so far.

Checking my inbox I see that Air France is having a big but very quick (2-day) sale right now. I didn't check Paris in particular, but the fares are good through the end of March, so check 'em out.

Visiting season

Update: Chris will have a cell phone with him, 703.587.3362 (Betsy's old number).

Well the next few weeks are getting busy. This just in - Chris will be in Washington starting this Thursday, through next Wednesday (Nov 16-22/23). Then that Friday Betsy leaves for Baltimore for ten days (Nov 24 - Dec 4/5). Overlapping with both of those trips, Glennell will be with us in Paris from next Monday for ten days (Nov 19/20 - Dec 1). Wow! Can you tell it's cheap fare season? I just bought mine today, to depart in 36 hours, for $552. Get 'em while they're hot!

Christmas lists, v.1

The boys have been eagerly compiling their Christmas lists, prompted by the instant appearance of Christmas decorations here LAST WEEK! Yes, being not blessed with Thanksgiving, or of course freedom, the French seem to go straight from Toussaint (Halloween) to Christmas prep. Yikes.

I know that apart from figuring out what to get, figuring out how to get it here is an issue. Here are some ideas. I know that Amazon UK and LEGO France both ship here for relatively cheap - for Amazon in particular you can look up a book or DVD or whatever on their main site, then flip over to Amazon UK to order. Also, there are a couple of good stores here where you could get a gift certificate, or even just order something, though you'd pay in Euros and the exchange rate is tough (1€ = $1.28 today). These are excellent science, book, and electronics stores. Last, if you have something small and light, Betsy will be in the U.S. from November 24th to December 5th. You could send it to her mom in Baltimore and she could schlep it back, so be kind and let us know if you want to do this.

You know that the best gift would be you saving your Euros to come visit us! That said, here are the boys' lists, with my notes in parentheses.

Carter

1. Sky rail (I think this is it)
2. Lightsaber (I told him I'd never ever buy him a sword or gun, so please don't.)
3. Lord of the Rings movies (Think Cath's getting this)
4. Star Wars legos (very expensive shipping from the SW site though)
5. Harry Potter books (Betsy's going to bring some back so hold off)
6. Star Wars episodes 2 & 3 (widescreen please)
7. New bike (we'll handle this one)
8. Cats & Dogs the movie (I think we have it already, so don't)
9. Transformer X-Wing (see here)
10. Remote control boat

Calvin - Tell me if you can find a theme in these. I think I see it, and I'm pretty sure that anything along the theme would be fine with him.

1. Toy motorcycle
2. Toy cars
3. Remote control R2-D2 (like these, apparently rare but I've seen it here)
4. Books
5. Hot Wheels race track
6. Remote control car
7. Robot
   

Vacation!

Alright, here goes. Betsy wrote a bit about our vacation, and I've been filtering the dross out of the, oh, 500 pictures we took. So, without further ado, since we've been at this for 2 hours / 4 days (depending on how you count), here's the first installment. (Don't miss the links to pics below, and I'll be adding more in the next couple days - really! As a teaser, here are some pictures from the Guy Fawkes Night party we went to.)

Hi everyone, sorry for the long silence. Aside from the blog outages, we've also been on vacation, with most of the modern conveniences of about 1980, but not 2006... The kids had a week and a half off school for Toussaint holidays at the end of October (after all, they've had to slog through six whole weeks of school this year already) and my huge meeting finished around the same time, so we rented a car -- another Smart for Four, of course -- for the week and headed down to the Atlantic Coast of France. We stayed at a wonderful gite (basically a rental house) that was part of an old mill. There was a huge yard with a rose garden and a playground, a little stream running next to the mill where the kids tried their hand at fishing (but didn't catch anything, which is pretty much the same as the fishing I've done in my life), and nice walking along the canal and the Charente River nearby.

We also took a few day trips to the coast and other nearby cities. The Atlantic Coast and the region going inland around the Charente River have a really interesting history. It was along Roman travel routes, and has some interesting ruins, including one of the oldest known Roman arenas. In the middle ages, it fell along a major pilgrimmage route to St. Jacques Compostelle, which is reputed to hold the remains of St. James, who was largely responsible for the conversion of Spain to Christianity. There are some amazing Romanesque churches. They're much simpler and more austere than the famous Gothic cathedrals in France, but have very elegant architecture, and it's really incredible about stepping into a building that's 1000 years old. The coast itself has some great beaches and also major ports and marinas. Since about the middle ages, the area was fought over between the English and French for a few hundred years, and there are lots of fortified ports and towns that are reminders of this. Quite a few of these served only briefly or not at all for military purposes (military technology outpaced building technology by quite a bit, apparently, so a few were militarily obsolete even before they were completed), but they were brought back into service as prisons during the French Revolution and other uprisings.

It was a full week, and it will be too much to cover all in detail here, so we'll post a bunch of pictures and here's a few highlights:

(1) The beginning of the week was unseasonably warm, so we headed to Royan. The city was bombed badly by the Allies at the end of World War II, because it was one of the cities the Germans retreated to when they were nearly defeated. There are a few old shore-front buildings that survived, and a beautiful crescent beach. The kids waded into the ocean and built sand castles and generally had a great time while Chris and I wandered around in our jackets and picked out oyster and clam shells. We had a great seafood lunch at a restaurant overlooking another beautiful beach a little ways down the coast.

(2) At Rochefort the next day, we explored the Corderie Royal, which was used to make ropes for royal ships for several hundred years beginning in the 1670's. (Under Louis XIV, a first-class sailing vessel carried over 100 TONS of ropes, which laid end-to-end would cover more than 100 kilometers.) The building is unbelievably long to allow manufacturing ropes of the length needed for ships--almost 400 meters long, which is about the length of 4 football fields.

(3) We walked all through Saintes, which includes the Roman arena, several pilgrimage churches, and a beautiful old abbey.

(4) La Rochelle was our favorite city of the visit. It has been an important port for hundreds of years, continually fought over, and the harbor is flanked by three towers for defense. Between the two at the very mouth of the port, they used to run a giant chain to block off the entrance (not to mention the ramparts for shooting cannons....). We climbed up all three towers and the kids got to ride the oldest carousel in France. It's been in operation since 1883 and only three families have owned it during its entire history.

(5) On our last day, we drove around some of the coast, the second-largest island of France (after Corsica), and visited the La Palmyre Zoo. We were pretty amazed that they actually sell popcorn intended to feed the animals (but "in moderation," and you're not supposed to feed the monkeys). After visiting zoos our whole lives with warnings about how bad it is to feed the animals, we just couldn't bring ourselves to do it. But we saw tons of cool animals, pretty up close and personal, including lots of babies (elephant, kangaroo, monkey, zebra, wildebeast, and sea otter babies).

Whew. And that's just the highlights... we had no tv, no internet, no telephone, so we felt a little out of touch with you all, but had no problems keeping busy. Lots of wine, great seafood, and the chance to just hang out. Now we're just trying to get used to our normal routine again.

Love, us

p.s. Yes, we were gone for Halloween. The French don't celebrate Halloween quite as much as we do, and the costumes didn't easily fit in the car, so we didn't have a chance to celebrate much on the day. But Nan sent them Star Wars costumes which they're getting plenty of use out of... you would be surprised at the number of occasions that call for kids to be Obi-Wan and Darth Vader. Every time someone comes over to dinner, for example... Tomorrow they're going to go model their costumes for our friends at the bike shop, with light saber battle demo too, no doubt!

Blog issues

Turns out blogger has been down much of the week. That's at least part of my excuse for not posting. The other is that we head out to the Atlantic Coast tomorrow and have been getting everything(ish) ready(ish). I'll try to post some pics tonight, but if blogger is down AGAIN you might check the new blog I just set up here. (It's intended to be urbanism pictures and thoughts, prompted by my friend Lee's occasionally wheedling.)

Some good fare sales, buy before Friday or Oct 31

Finally, some very nice fare sales, from United, Air France, American, and maybe others. Check 'em out, please come!

United

Atlantic E-Fares :

*Purchase by October 27, 2006
*Travel outbound October 30 - November 2, 2006
*Return November 6 - November 9, 2006
*Refer to International E-Fare Facts for more details
*Additional taxes and fees:

Fares do not include the September 11th Security Fee of up to $10 maximum per roundtrip or Passenger Facility Charges of up to $18, which may be collected depending on the itinerary. All international fares are subject to U.S. arrival and departure taxes and agricultural, immigrations and customs fees of up to $41. For travel to some countries, additional airport, transportation, embarkation, security, duty, and passenger service taxes/surcharges of up to $140 will apply depending on destination. For return travel from some countries, fares do not include airport and/or departure taxes of up to $36, which may be collected by the foreign government.

Departure city Destination city Price
Washington (IAD) Amsterdam (AMS) $452.00
Washington (IAD) Frankfurt Am Main (FRA) $399.00
Washington (IAD) London (LHR) $316.00
Washington (IAD) Paris (CDG) $501.00
Washington (IAD) Zurich (ZRH) $555.00

Air France
- I don't see DC-Paris but Houston-Paris is under $500 and DC-London is under $400!

To France
New York - Paris.....................................$188*
Houston - Paris.......................................$248*

To the United Kingdom
New York - London..................................$179*
Washington D.C. - London.....................$183*

and many more!

Departures through March 31, 2007 - blackout period December 15 through January 7
Purchase by October 31, 2006.

American - includes Houston-Paris $486, DC-Paris $578 (not so great).

American Airlines is offering special sale fares for travel from the U.S. to Europe. Outbound travel is valid November 1, 2006 through December 14, 2006. Return travel must be complete by January 13, 2007. To take advantage of these fares, purchase your tickets on AA.com by October 31, 2006.

A mixed-up day

The boys kindly let us sleep in this morning, and after brunch we got ready to go visit my friend Mary and her family in the close-in Paris burbs. Turns out I had failed to get her home phone, so the plan for us to call her from the train station to be picked up turned into us waiting at the train station for 90 minutes then heading back to Paris. Drat. We saved the day by going to the Gare de Lyon, the prettiest of Paris' remaining stations, and having afternoon tea at their historic restaurant, Le Train Bleu. We then took a stroll down the Promenade Plantée, an old elevated railroad that's been converted to a wonderful linear park. The boys even got to ride a smart car on a carousel! After, we had a lovely dinner at Au Metro by Daumesnil before heading home. The boys are out cold, Betsy's working, and I'm going to call it a night. Sorry for the delay getting more pictures up, but I'll get some done before next weekend when we head to France's mid-Atlantic coast for the Toussaint holidays. It's 10 days, but we have to stay here for the first three while Betsy works. Then we'll stay at this place for 4 nights and maybe here for the next few. What do you think?

Friday and out

Friday ... OK, Saturday 1:20 a.m. ... very tired ... long week ... 10 mile hike ... dinner party for 5 ... must sleep ... post pictures first ... figure out where to go on vacation next week ... sleeeeeeeep

That's me in the back, you know, the one who looks like a guy

Here's a picture of the group from our randonnée a couple of weeks ago. You can probably find me. We go again on Friday, and you can read (in French) about the walk.

We do too exist!

Oh yes, I hear you all out there, wondering if we've forgotten you, or home, or this journal, or how to use the camera, or all of our passwords, or all of the above. Well 'tain't true. We're here and leading our daily (en français, quotidien) busy lives. I'll skip the excuses and go on to the meat of a quick update. Since returning from Köln a week ago, I started back to french classes at the Alliance Française. It's 3 hours per day, 3 days per week now (it was 2 hours for 5 days last spring), and last week it was actually 4 hours per day to make up for the teacher's absence the week before. If you're wondering, 4 hours of french per day is too much for a 38-year-old brain, though our strong soldier Carter is managing at it quite nicely. In fact, his and Calvin's french has totally started bubbling over, just in the past few weeks. They've had conversations in french with each other without us, and if we ask in french they'll eagerly answer in much better french (than mine, at least). Their teachers all report that they're having fun and working hard.

Last week we had to say goodbye to our friend River, who we met as a guide at Fat Tire. He came for dinner to see the boys one last time, and then he and I went out for drinks. Just in case you're checking, thanks, man.

Last weekend, we started by taking it as easy as possible Friday, being all beat after a long week and traveling weekend. Saturday we got up late, then headed to the Jardin d’Aventure des Halles. (I *swear* I wrote about this before, but darned if I can find it via the blogger search. Hmmm.) It's this excellent kids-only play area tucked into the mostly horrible public parkscape at Les Halles, that after 900 or so years replaced the largest meat and veg market in Europe in 1969. By kids-only, I mean it's usually open only to kids ages 7 to 11. I took Carter sometime in August, and he was so excited to take Calvin and us on a Saturday morning, the only time it's open to us bigs and littles. Weirdly, Calvin was hesitant to go in, but man did he, and they, and we, have a blast. It didn't hurt that it was another 67-degree October day here. Check out the pics of the park here - they're better than mine.

Afterward we visited St. Eustache, a beautiful church with an amazing pipe organ. We hadn't been inside before, but outside is where Calvin faceplanted in a fountain a couple of months back. After we went wandering the rue Montorgueil, a great market street, one of the oldest in Paris. We found a brocante (thrift market) specializing in mid-20th-century furniture, and wandered through marveling at the miracle of plastics and pleather until we got starving. Thankfully, Carter and Calvin spied a neat resto where I'd had drinks with Kevin once before - Le Tambour, on rue Montmartre. It's decorated in, um, urban eclectic style, and in fact bills itself as "un bistrot de l'urbain bucolique." We met the proprietors, the charismatic André and his harried wife Christine, and their exchange student from Massachusetts, Maya. The food, atmosphere, and environs were first rate, so we'll definitely show it off when you come visit. After lunch, we wandered some more, buying fruit and veg and ice cream and beer, before Calvin and I headed home and Betsy and Carter went to the sporting goods store at the hideous underground mall.

Sunday we did homework and straightened up before heading to the Jardin d'Acclimatation at the Bois de Boulogne. It's the 50-year-old amusement park we visited back in April or May. Both boys had also visited over the summer with their camps. Carter had a birthday party in the afternoon, and we had another pretty day, so we all went along and wandered the park while he partied. Calvin rode his first roller coaster, and after Carter finished we rode three more coasters! They're all the tiny, tame kind, but you wouldn't know it from the looks on their faces.

Well, I promised myself this would be short so I can get some sleep, so off I go. Post a comment to encourage me to get the pictures and movies together - they're very cute!

Fwd: Kayak Buzz Daily Alert

Check out the fares between Paris and DC (and other US cities) below.  I highly recommend Kayak for fare searches - it's the only one I know that let's you check flexible dates for international fares. Hit Kayak.com - you do have to register to get to use the flex dates search, but it's worth it.

Buzz: Paris (CDG) to "Kayak Top 25" in USD
Rank Best Fare* From CDG Travel Dates
1 $431 to Philadelphia, PA on United 5 Dec - 13 Jan
2 $109 to London on Easyjet Airlines 10 - 18 Mar
3 $373 to New York, NY on United 31 Oct - 7 Nov
4 $389 to Newark, NJ on Lufthansa 9 - 13 Nov
5 $419 to San Francisco, CA on American Airlines 8 Jan - 15 May

Buzz: Paris (CDG) to "Kayak Top 25" (United States) in USD
Rank Best Fare* From CDG Travel Dates
1 $431 to Philadelphia, PA on United 5 Dec - 13 Jan
2 $373 to New York, NY on United 31 Oct - 7 Nov
3 $389 to Newark, NJ on Lufthansa 9 - 13 Nov
4 $419 to San Francisco, CA on American Airlines 8 Jan - 15 May
5 $426 to Washington, DC 8 - 14 Jan

Livin' on borrowed wifi

Greetings from the land of the failed internet connection! The cable modem has been stupidly blinking its one green eye at me, which must be bad, because it's usually got a regular riot of combinations of fast and slow blinks to entertain all who bother to peer into the dusty corner by the power cords and trash can. Sigh. It's been useless all day, and I'm only now on a weak borrowed wifi. (Thanks, N9UF_TEL9COM !) So I'll save the stories of our Carter waking up moaning about twelve times during the night, Carter being in fine form this morning, our new morning dropoff routine, my four hours (!) of french class, a beautiful mid-70s day, and the mysteries of Carter's makeup homework for another day, and go buckle down to turn some of our recent pictures and movies into something presentable. G'night all.

P.S. This means the vonage phone doesn't work right now either. You can still call us the good ol' international way at 011.33.1.56.58.14.77 (home) or 011.33.6.73.05.88.93 (my mobile).

P.P.S. Calvin's fine too, and Betsy called to check in from Köln between meetings and dinner, so she's also OK.

Back from Köln

The boys and I have returned from Köln, arriving home just after 8 this evening. The train both ways was a piece of cake, just under 4 hours. When we got back to Gare du Nord this evening, it was drizzly, so we decided to take a cab. Between 25 minutes waiting in line, and 25 driving, it took almost an hour back to the apartment. I think Carter has a bit of a fever, which is very unusual for him. Tomorrow I will take him to school though, unless he's really out of sorts, since he missed today, and I missed my first day back in French class today too. We'll have to figure out the logistics, since my class starts at 9 and the boys can't be at school until after 8:30. I think I'll try riding my bike tomorrow, since it's supposed to be 73! (The average high here in October is only 59.) We'll see.

I still have to get all Carter's work signed - about 7 notebooks I think - then dig out my ID card and other info about the Alliance Française class. Tomorrow I'll get the pictures and videos from Köln ready to post. The city was beautiful, especially with the sunny mid-60s weather, and we all had a very nice time. Betsy reports lots of shopping today once she got rid of us, and the boys will gleefully relate the number and relative quality of the many hot chocolates, cones of fries, museums, churches, and riverfront walks.

G'night all.

Off for the weekend

We're going to take a quick weekend jaunt to Köln. Betsy has to work there Tuesday and Wednesday, so the boys and I will go with her tomorrow morning, then we'll come back Monday afternoon. Our first hooky day in France! Carter and I spent a few hours in Köln on our way to Essen & Gelsenkirchen for the World Cup in June. It looks to be a lovely city, with the Rhine riverfront and cruises, a beautiful cathedral (The Dom), cool museums, and good urbanism. We'll let you know how it goes.

P.S. Be sure to scroll down for messages from the boys.

And from Calvin ...

Calvin wrote this to his friend Avery from the Smithsonian school.

hi avery, we're going to germany in two days and then we're going to come back and then what else? we're going to find ... what ... a hotel and some chocolate and we might take a boat ride 'cause i really want to. we took a ride on a bateau-mouche which is a boat on la seine, a big river in the middle of paris. that ride was with my summer camp. if you come here you might want to see some of the things around here like some chocolate and some candy and the eiffel tower you might want to see 'cause it's very cool and it sparkles and there are elevators that go all the way to the top so if you want to come you can see the top with us 'cause we know where it is. i miss you, i hope you like your new school, bye.
calvin

A visite from Melinda

Also from Carter, a couple of days ago. Melinda Rinehart was with us for a couple of weeks until Wednesday. We had a wonderful time sharing our apartment and city. She reports that we make reasonable hosts (honest), so come visit. Well, not over Christmas, when Cathy, Roco, and Victor (Jack-Jack) will be with us!

Anyway, from Carter:

Hello everyone! As you can tell from the title,this weekend Melinda came to visite. Me my mom and Melinda went to the musee Picasso. There are so many pantings (that Picasso panted of corse)!Pantings from a guitar that looked like a house that had been burnt down,to a panting called "Bathers waching an airplain" that looked real.

Love,
Carter

!@#$%^&*()_+{}:"?><-=[];'./`~

Carter wrote this a couple of days ago:

Hello, today I went to school even though I don't know French it is a
lot of fun. Today we had a science lesson it was very interesting the
experiment that we did was to put a Kleenex into a plastic cup and put
it all the way down in to a tub of Walter,and try to put it in and
take it out without letting the Kleenex get wet.Are table was the
first table to find the answer,the answer is to turn the cup over and
put it in to the tub of Walter and it will come out dry because there
is no place for the air to get out because the Walter and the plastic
are barricading it on every side.

Love,
Carter

audioboys

Paris by night

This Sunday's NY Times has a nice piece on how lovely the city is by night. To show Melinda it's not just hype, we walked out a few minutes ago to see the Eiffel Tower's last sparkle of the evening - well, night, since it's from 1-1:10 a.m.



Also, check out this awesome panorama of the city at night that our friend Coertje sent to us.

tap, tap, is this thing on?

Hello friends and family,

Je regrete that I haven't been able to update lately, and this will be but a quick mea culpa. Since Betsy returned from japan two weeks ago, things have been quite hectic here. On the day she returned, my friend Geoff from EPA and his wife arrived for a few days of meetings and touring. I was lucky to be able to spent several days exploring the city with Geoff, and several evenings dining with them and others here for the meetings. Our friend Melinda from DC arrived the next Friday midday (a week ago now) and we've been spending days and evenings wandering and hanging out since then. I know we owe you lots of substantive updates, but we just haven't had time or energy to pause and write it down. Maybe it's time to explore that audioblogging feature some more .... If not, we'll get a real update to you by the end of this week, if the bridge don't burn and the river don't rise.

Love, all of us.

Last Day in Tokyo

I was on a waiting list for the Saturday flight back from Tokyo to Paris, but they didn't clear the waiting list, so I had a free day in Tokyo today since my second workshop ended yesterday (and went well, but was exhausting). Believe it or not, I actually dragged myself out of bed at 6 this morning to head over to the Tsujiki fish market. This is the main wholesale fishmarket, where they sell some of the prime tuna in the world, plus tons of other seafood too. Apparently you can actually see the crazy fish auction -- they aren't supposed to allow spectators, but as long you keep out of the way, no-one will bother you. Keeping out of the way isn't so easy, though. The scene outside the fish market is insane enough. There are several shopping arcades along the way, three or four main wholesale buildings, and a bunch of parking lots, with hundreds of trucks, cars, bikes, and forklifts zipping around -- and seriously zipping. The sign out front with the map of the market has a warning, whose English translation (theirs, not mine) says, "Be careful not to be injured all the time please."

I had hopes of seeing the auction, but in the end the parking lots were just too much to get past -- I really can't convey the pace. Plus, I wasn't totally sure where I was going, and I also got sidetracked by the shopping arcade. It has a mix of food stalls selling everything from restaurant supplies (bulk chopsticks, huge knives, 1000 paper placements, fancy aprons) to food (a million different kinds of Japanese pickes, kelp, exotic fresh product) and random stuff like sandals and china plates. Here's a couple pictures to give you an idea (note the entire display of salmon roe. Carter and Calvin would LOVE this, it's their favorite!)


Tucked in between the tiny shops are tiny restaurants selling breakfast for workers and tourists. There are places selling noodles and rice balls, but mainly a bunch of sushi and sashimi places -- conveniently located to the source. The restaurants are incredibly tiny, literally one counter that seats maybe 8 people. At the good (or cheap) ones, there is a long line outside the door of people waiting to get in, but the Japanese don't really linger over breakfast, so it moves pretty quickly. I took the plunge and had sashami for breakfast -- tuna, toro (they translate it sometimes as "fatty tuna," but that doesn't really capture it -- this is really the most tender and best tuna you can normally find), and uni (sea urchin). Here's a picture of the "menu" at the place I ate. It was great sashimi, even the uni, which I've only just got up the nerve to try again after being totally grossed out by it for years. I had a few minutes waiting in line to work up my courage, and in the end it wasn't quite as weird as I expected to have raw fish for breakfast... although now that I put it in writing, it sounds pretty gross. It helped that I'd already been awake for three hours and that tons of other people were doing the same thing.

Afterwards, I visited a couple lovely Japanese gardens. The first (Hama-Rikyu Gardens) was originally laid out in the 1600's and was used by various shoguns. The second (Kyu-Shiba-Rikyu Gardens) was laid out around the same time and was originally the site of the residence for a shogunate official of some kind. Both were severaly damaged in the 20th century -- by WWII and by earthquake and fire, respectively -- but have been restored very nicely. They run right next to freeways and train lines, but it's really amazingly peaceful inside the gardens, and it's an incredible contrast to see the traditional plantings and craggly trees with super-modern skyscrapers in the background.



I grabbed a late lunch, and then took a long nap. Now my plan is to pack my bags and get to bed at a decent hour, since I have to be up to catch a 6:30 shuttle to the airport. I love and miss you all.

Finally, a decent fare from DC to Paris - $590

Check it out at

International E-Fares Specials
Sample fares are for travel beginning Monday (September 25, 2006) through Thursday (September 28, 2006) and returning Monday (October 2, 2006) through Thursday (October 5, 2006). Additional taxes and fees apply.*

Washington (IAD) - Paris (CDG) $590

Forecast for tomorrow: 38!

Not the temperature, which will be a lovely 29 (84F), but my age. Yes, another birthday is upon us, or at least me. Betsy was thoughtful enough to leave some presents, and the boys were practically bursting to give them to me ever since she left. I finally relented tonight - birthday eve, I guess. The three of us had a small "party," with them first opening my presents, then us eating chicken wings in front of Star Wars, followed by ice cream cones and then bed for them. Soon it'll be bed for me too - this single parenting thing is very tiring for me!

Like everyone else today, I've thought of the events of five years ago. It was actually the very first time I set foot in Paris. I started to write it up, but it was getting long (and late), so I guess I'll save it for next year. As my Mom said, it's a lot easier to get in touch now than it was five years ago!

We got cousins

Last November, Carter and Calvin had one cousin, Derek & Lisa's son Peter, who was approaching two and who we haven't seen nearly often enough. Since then, they've quadrupled their complement of cousins, with the additions of Peter's sister Ashley in November, Michelle & Josh's son William in March, and Cathy & Roberto's son Victor in May. We had a heckuva time explaining this to the boys, the exchange last fall going something like this.

Dad: Boys, how many cousins do you have?
Boys: One, Peter!
D: Right, so how many cousins all together?
B: One!
D: No, three.
B: (stunned)
D: Peter, Carter, and Calvin are cousins, that's three.
B: But we're brothers, not cousins!
D: Right, but you're Peter's cousin.
B: Oh.
D: And how many cousins will you have soon?
B: (counting on fingers) Two? Five? Twelve?
D: Uh, four.
B: Oh, right, Peter, Carter, Calvin, and Victor.
D: Uh, what about Ashley & William. (Note: we didn't know their names yet, but play along.)
B: (triumphant) So we'll have six cousins!
D: Well, close, you'll have four cousins, but there will be six cousins all together!
B: Why can't we have six cousins???
D: Because you're brothers. None of your cousins have six cousins either, it's just that there are six of you all together!
B: Can we have six cousins? We want six cousins!
D: It's a lot more likely than you getting more brothers.

Anyway, check out some pictures of the cousins, with parental appendages.

Quick update from Betsy

Damn, the day went so smoothly, I feel like I have nothing to say. So here's the quick recap:

1. Slept in a little
2. Managed to figure out the trains to my target today, and get a ticket with no problems
3. Wandered around a nice park, including a couple temples, a boat pond, and tons of families having a day out
4. Had a great lunch of unagi (grilled eel, one of my favorite Japanese foods) -- even though there was no English outside, I figured I could get by, and it turned out they had an English menu inside
5. Went to the Tokyo National Museum, which has a great collection of Japanese Art, and really nice English translations
6. Had melon ice-cream
7. No problems getting back to my hotel, and had dinner at a little place near here -- no English, but pictures on the menu so I could just point

I spent the evening going over stuff for my meeting coming up this week, and am desperately wishing that I could just be coming back home tomorrow instead of heading into 5 days of technical field trips and meetings. I haven't even started this second meeting, and I already feel burned out just thinking about it.

Not sure of my plans for tomorrow. I have a meeting in the afternoon -- a pre-workshop check to make sure we have everything ready for Wednesday (tuesday is a field trip to one of the Japanese labs). ugh. I'm feeling pretty sorry for myself, can you tell? I think I'm more homesick than I realized. I finished my last book today (it's amazing how much reading I do when I travel), so maybe my mission tomorrow will be to get a new book... international travel can be so glamorous.

I miss you all.

Love, Bets

First audio blog

Betsy has the camera in Japan (see previous post), but here's our first attempt to capture some audio of the boys. I am pretty dim on the topic of recording audio on the computer, getting in the right format, and then getting it on the web in a way that you can easily listen to it. Even my mac couldn't help me, but I think it's me. Here's what I've got so far: record using Sound Studio on my eMac, then ... dunno. I found that Blogger includes "audioblogger," but it seems the only way to use it is by calling and recording basically a voicemail that posts to the blog. So, this is the result of holding the Vonage phone up to the eMac speakers. Hi-tech, eh? Here ya go, first Calvin and then Carter. Let me know if/how it works for you.

Betsy's Day Out in Tokyo

Today after sleeping in, I headed into Tokyo proper (my hotel is towards the southern edge of the city). For some reason, I was feeling particularly intimidated by going on my own, not helped by the fact that my first task was to figure out how to get there on the trains. It's possible to take taxis, but they're not cheap, and even the little tourist information I had says consistently that train is the best way to get around the city. The train network in and around Tokyo is incredible. There have got to be about 150 stations, tying together various lines of the monorail, Japan Rail trains, and subway system. But here's the challenge: it's a distance-based fare system, so you don't just buy a standard ticket. You actually need to know where you're going, and to figure out how much it costs to reach it. At each station, there's a bank of automatic ticket machines, and above it a giant map of the train system showing each station and the cost to get there. So you find your target station, see the price, punch it into the machine, put in your money, and voila -- a ticket. Only problem is that the whole map is in Japanese, and it's stretched way out on a horizontal grid which is nothing like the shape of the map in my little tourist guide from the hotel, plus the colors don't match the ones on my map either, so I had pretty much no hope of figuring out which station was the one I wanted... the only way I knew which station I was AT on the map is that it was marked in red. Thank goodness there was also a ticket window at my station. The guy at the window didn't speak any English, but I gave him my little English map of the system and pointed to where I wanted to go, and he proceeded to puzzle over the map for about 5 minutes, holding it upside down the whole time, with me trying diplomatically (and unsuccessfully) to indicate that he should turn it around... not that it would have helped, probably. It took about 10 minutes and a little sign language, but he was a very good sport and finally figured out what I wanted and helped me to buy a ticket.

I made it successfully to Harajuku Station, which is west of the harbor. Just outside the train station is the entrance to a huge park (Yoyogi Park) and also Meiji Shrine. Meiji Shrine (Meiji Jingu) is dedicated to Emperor Meiji (who was instrumental in modernizing Japan) and his wife, Empress Shoken. (According the web site I just checked, in Shinto, it is not uncommon to enshrine the deified spirits of important personalities.) The shrine was built originally in the 1920's, destroyed in WWII, and rebuilt. It's very traditional architecture in the middle of some really peaceful gardens and feels very timeless, despite the fact that it's really not very old. Before entering the shrine, you are supposed to do a ritual washing of your hands and rinsing your mouth, and there is a little building with a small pool and a bunch of bamboo ladles for this purpose.
There are a few courtyards leading up to the main temple, which also has a small courtyard of its own. You enter the temple on the far side of the courtyard from the main shrine, and that's the closest you get. You throw a coin into a large coffer, bow twice, clap twice, make any prayers you wish, bow again, and that's the ceremony. You can also leave a prayer written on a wooden tablet -- they are hung on hooks all around a tree in the biggest courtyard, gathered up each night and offered to the deities the following morning.
You can also buy charms that have been pre-blessed for certain purposes -- good health, happy marriage, good luck passing entrance exams (no kidding), traffic safety... I also saw a couple wedding processions. Being a Japanese bride is very impressive but doesn't look terribly comfortable. It was really neat to see the elaborate traditional kimonos, but I have to say I was more fascinated by the hair and the shoes. I think the stereotypical shuffling walk of a traditional Japanese woman isn't just tradition, I think it's the only way to walk in the sandals without falling over. They're narrow, for starters, with heels which are not terribly high, but the back of the sandal isn't designed to go all the way to the back of your heel, it ends just past where your arch meets the front of your heel, so if you pick your foot up more than about an inch off the ground, the shoe will slide right off. The bride's hair was super elaborate, I can't even describe it properly, you just have to look at the picture.

After the shrine, I headed to Takeshita Dori. As my mini-guide from the hotel describes it: "Stores containing miscellaneous character and idol goods popular among teens are lined up along the street." The street is about 5 blocks long, with cheesy stores lining both sides, and is PACKED with people. It was really fun window shopping. I am a total sucker for kitsch, and the Japanese have it in spades. They have better collections of Coke, Snoopy, and Nightmare Before Christmas stuff than I have ever seen, even in the U.S., not to mention all the Japanese characters like Hello Kitty. It was also excellent people-watching. There seem to be three main fashion trends among Japanese teenagers: goth, retro-Madonna (including a lot of fingerless gloves and over the knee stockings with pink lace), and something that's a cross between a nursery rhyme character and a five-year old girl dressed for church on Easter. The last was definitely the weirdest -- from the frilly bonnet thing, including the little Bo-Peep type dress with apron, down to fold-over ankle socks with lace around the edges, and white patent leather shoes. Actually, I take it back -- the weirdest were the couple girls I saw who were mixed Bo-Peep and goth. The teenage guys were mostly just goth, not nearly so interesting.

After the teen haven, I walked along the Omotesando. It's a big boulevard modeled after the Champs Elysees, apparently, but feels a lot different. The main similarity is that they both have really fancy shops... and they're both really crowded. Also very good people watching, but most of the stores were out of my range, so the shopping wasn't quite as entertaining. It was a funny mix of shops, though, and extremely international. There were big fashion names (Chanel, etc.), lots of high-end jewelry and watches, but also lots of American fast-food places and a See's candy shop, for example. It's definitely the only place I've ever seen a Chanel boutique next door to a Shakey's Pizza.

It gets dark much earlier here than in Paris, and people also eat dinner much earlier -- restaurants even in Tokyo seem to stop serving dinner by 9:00 or so, which in Paris is still during the first seating in a night. So I grabbed an early dinner at a small Thai/Indonesian place on one of the side streets. It's a shame, because there were some really good looking Japanese places, but it's a tough thing to tackle if there's no English or no pictures on the menu -- it's not like I can take a stab at pronouncing the name of the dish because I can't deciper a single written Japanese character. My dinner was really pretty good, though. It seems a little silly to eat Thai food instead of Japanese, but there you have it.

On the way back, I made the happy discovery that the ticket machines in the train stations have an "English" option for the touch screen -- doesn't solve the problem of the Japanese map, but at least if I can guess at the amount, I can figure out how to buy a ticket on my own. Tomorrow I'm going to see if I can buy a weekly pass so I can avoid these complications altogether...

Miss you all,
Bets

p.s. And for today's random afterthough regarding Tokyo... they are very strict about smoking here, but more outside than inside. Public buildings and train stations don't allow smoking, but most restaurants do. But you are not supposed to smoke while walking in the street, or outside building entrances. There are designated smoking zones -- they will have a place marked off along the sidewalk, or a little enclosure, and basically you can only smoke inside the lines. People seem to observe the rules, more or less, at least on the main streets. Who knows, maybe if a policeman catches you smoking, you're forced to stand on the street corner for a week, bowing and apologizing to all the passers-by... I took some pictures of the signs at the smokers' station along the shopping boulevard, they were pretty interesting.

Air France sale

Another decent sale, tho not as good from DC as other places. Purchase today or tomorrow for travel through the end of 2006.

And a report from the home front

First, don't miss Betsy's update from Japan, just below this. It's much more informative and entertaining than this. We had a fine if tiring week, and the boys both seem to be settling into their new school situations. Monday and Tuesday we took it pretty easy, with me dropping off the boys at between 8:30 and 9 and picking them up at 4:30. Each day we went by and saw our friends at Fat Tire, then went home to watch the Star Wars episodes 2 and 3 we'd borrowed from David & Melissa.

Wednesday Calvin didn't have school, and Carter had a half-day. Calvin and I took Carter, then went to the market for general goodies and picnic supplies, as another EABJM family had called Tuesday to say they'd be picnicking with others on the Champ de Mars. We picked up Carter at noon - a change from Wednesdays last year when he'd stay for lunch - and had sandwiches in the park. His soccer practice started at one - actually, turns out it starts at 1:30 but he can arrive to get ready any time after one - so we headed from the park over to stade Emile Anthoine (seen here from the third level of the Eiffel Tower). We found Coach Lautric and got Carter started, then Calvin and I kicked the ball around for a while. The day was the warmest we've had in a while, probably 85, and we ended up under the shade trees. Calvin started playing with two other four-year-olds named Benjamin, and I ended up talking to their Canadian and Irish moms. Their 4s will start a multisport class at the same place and time next week, so Calvin will try that too. After practice we were all burnt and beat, so the boys napped (hard) before we went out to picnic.

The picnic was fun and the boys didn't want to come home, but we did about 8:45 - France played Italy at 9 and Kevin was coming over for the game. I let them stay up for the first half-hour or so, enough to see France up 2-1 on the way to a 3-1 victory and a small measure of revenge.

Thursday the boys were back to school, and I rode my bike cross town to meet Kevin at a games shop and for lunch. The day was beautiful again, a bit cooler than Wednesday, so I took a long leisurely ride back along the Seine. If Betsy didn't have the camera in Japan, you'd get to see! Thursday evening brought a school meeting mainly for anglophone new parents/families. I picked up the boys and we played some ping-pong, then grabbed sandwiches before the meeting. (Calvin will tell you the highlight was he got to use a Turkish toilet!) The kids loved the meeting because some of the peer leaders (high-school students from EABJM) played games with them while the parents met. I also got to see some of my friends from the parents' activities last year. By 7:45 though I was realizing that if I stayed for the last couple of topics, then they'd break out the champagne and snacks and we'd be there until 9:30. We were all getting pretty drained, so I pried the boys out and we walked home. They complained about having to leave! Must've been a good meeting.

We made it through today, and played some more ping-pong after school (after visiting the bike shop, of course). Be sure and ask Carter, though he'll probably tell anybody he talks to - he beat me today for the first time. The boys were amped about watching (wait for it) Star Wars, so we headed home. I'd roasted a chicken and potatoes during the day, so we ate that and a 10-minute fondant cake in front of the movie. Calvin crashed on the sofa bed during the movie, but Carter made it through the end just before 10.

I've been avoiding the dishes since then, but it's time to attend to them ... or maybe go to sleep as it's midnight now. Maybe the dish fairies will come ...

Our weekend is pretty unscheduled. I hope they'll sleep in and we'll get rested up for next week. Hopefully tomorrow evening (our time) we can catch up with some of you on the phone or video. G'night.

Report from Japan

Here's an update from Betsy, who's in Japan from this past Monday through next Sunday (or Saturday if she clears standby).

Hi everyone,

Sorry for being so out of touch these last few days. Even though internet access was promised at the hotel in Wakkanai, it turned out not to be the case. Normally the Japanese seem to automatically agree with whatever you say, especially (but not only) if they don't really understand English and so don't know what you're asking -- one guy in our group was telling the story of a previous trip, when he was at the train station trying to find the train to a certain town. So he went by the first train he saw and asked,the conductor, "Is this the train to X?" And the guy bowed to him and said yes. But the problem is that every person he asked, standing next to every train in the station, said the same thing. (Another good Japanese train story: a different guy said he had an unforgettable experience in a train station where they made an announcement to notify people that the train was running late... by one minute. Someone said he heard that train operators who run late in Japan are punished by having to stand in the station for a week bowing and apologizing to the drivers of all the subsequent trains coming through, for possibly making their trains late as a ripple effect. I'm not sure if it's true, but it could explain a lot. As an aside, they did make a special announcement today to let us know that our airplane would be leaving five minutes late.) Anyway, the point of this long diversion is only to say that when they guy at the front desk actually said no about internet access, I believed him...

Well, here goes (well, here continues...) with my stream of consiousness recap of my trip so far... sorry, no energy to be coherent. So the last few days, I was in Wakkanai. This is a port town on the northern side of the northernmost Japanese island (Hokkaido). The coast of Russia is less than 50 kilometers (so less than about 20 miles) away. It is definitely not a tourist destination, so 15 foreigners traveling there got a few raised eyebrows (you're going to WAKKANAI?) The island is quite rural, especially on the northern side, raising a lot of cattle for milk production. I was expecting to see some very traditional looking Japanese buildings, but honestly, except for the Japanese writing, from the architecture and the landscape, it would be hard to tell where exactly you were. Wakkanai itself had the aura of a bad beach town, with lots of videa arcades and a "100 Yen" store (yes, it's about a dollar), but without the benefit of any real beaches. There is a really nice national park on some nearby islands that are accessible by ferry. And the landscape was very pretty, with rolling hills, and cows grazing in the fields. We had an hour drive back and froth from the hotel to the meeting site every day, so I had a good chance to think this over... Did you know that the Japanese drive on the left side of the road? It's a little disconcerting to see all our usual cars (Suburus, Toyotas, Jeeps, etc.) but with the steering wheel on the other side. The roads along our drive had arrows on lightposts all along the edge pointing to the correct side of the road to drive on... or so I thought... personally, I would find it very useful, because it's really disorienting. But it turns out that they have really harsh winters with lots of snow, and the arrows are actually to show people where the edge of the road is so they won't drive off it during blizzards or when there are big snow drifts. yikes. We also drove through a free-standing "parking tunnel" about two blocks long, set over the road in a random flat stretch, where you stop for shelter if you get caught out in a snowstorm.

The meeting I was helping run went well. Did I mention that this is a bunch of geologists? That means it's a bunch of dorks, basically. I mean, two guys were debating what type of rock was used in the little decorative tableau at a restaurant. But they're nice, sociable dorks. We had a couple really nice dinners. The first night, one of our Japanese colleagues took us out to a very traditional Japanese restaurant. The menus had no English, but he solved the problem by getting us beers and doing all the ordering for us to share dishes. We had sushi (great scallops sushi!), grilled pork, crab claws, more stuff than I can remember, but nothing too out of the ordinary for Japanese food except that I did try conch sushi. It's even chewier than octopus, so it took a while to work through, but tasted fine. The real bummer was that I had two slide presentations to write after a few beers. I think it contributed to the brevity of my presentations, but maybe not the clarity. The nice thing was that everyone went out of their way to make me feel welcome, and I got some nice compliments on the meeting being productive.

I'd love to write more, but I need to go to sleep. I'm wiped out... I imagine it's a combination of jet lag and meeting stress. I was thinking of getting up early tomorrow to go see the crazy fish market, but it turns out to be pretty complicated (the women at the front desk couldn't even agree on the best way, and what they finally recommended includes two different transfers -- including from monorail to regular Japan Rail train, to subway -- and then a cab ride at the end. So on second thought, I think I'll sleep late and head into the city later to see some of the gardens.

More news soon. I miss you all,
Bets

p.s. I forgot to mention the toilets -- unbelievable! They have these fancy add-on seats to toilets here, that include a seat warmer, a bidet spigot (adjustable temperature and pressure), and... a butt spray. For... well, you know, cleaning off your butt. And then, they have a button you can push to have faux flush sounds in case you want extra privacy. Even the toilets at the airport had these features. The Japanese must feel so unsanitary when they visit other places and find regular old toilets.

La Rentrée must be French for Labor Day (updated)

While today is Labor Day in the U.S., France celebrates labor on May 1st. For us today it's "La Grand Rentrée," the big return to home, work, and school. (Betsy's been at work, of course, but leaves tonight for two weeks in Japan.) Today Carter and Calvin made another school transition, after finishing up at summer camps last Friday. In preparation, we took it pretty easy over the weekend, only going out for errands and marketing, plus on Saturday a picnic hosted by the teens from Carter's school, and on Sunday a dim sum lunch with our new friends David & Melissa.

Since Betsy isn't leaving for Japan until later, we got to start the first day of school all together. (Check out the pics.) Calvin started first, at the usual 8:30am start time. His new school is about a 5-minute walk for us, between the apartment and Carter's school. (See him in a movie.) The place was crazy with kids and parents. (Brief rant: the French, or at least preschool-parent French, have NOT figured out how to wait in line or that if they don't let you OUT of a crowded room, they can't get IN!) The directrice, Mme Monzat, greeted everyone at the main door and told us that Calvin's class was upstairs, and that his teachers speak english. Very thoughtful. We found the room without problem, and met Mmes Marianne and Marie-Pascal (I think). Calvin headed in to play and when we left him he seemed chipper and curious, though a bit subdued amidst all the chaos.

Carter's school staggers the start times by grade to avoid all the chaos, so he wasn't due until 10. That gave us time to stop at a café, read with him a bit, and talk about "quoi de neuf" (what's new). We also said hi to Lisa and River at the bike shop, and got to his school just before 10. The scene at the front gates was, again, chaos, with a couple hundred parents and kids all milling about. The directrice, Mme Lascar, started calling out names, and everyone smashed against the fence and hushed their kids trying to hear. Thankfully, Carter wasn't in the first class - not because it's taught by his teacher from last year, Mme Autenheimer, but because we couldn't hear half the names. He was in the second set of kids called, to be taught by Mme ... no idea, didn't catch her name. Oh well, he'll know by the end of the day! Betsy walked with him to the front door, through which no parent can ever pass. We waved goodbye and he headed in.

I'm sure some of you have already had your rentrée, but we hope they all go well and please know that we're thinking of you. I'll be single-dad for the next two weeks, so I'm eager to make good on all those long-deferred catchups by phone call, email, and video chat.

P.S. Thanks to my friend Kevin, I was able to update the movie of the grand spectacle from last month so the water cannon is right side up. Check it out, and thanks Kevin!

Quick week/end recap

I'm pretty bushed and it's already 11, so here's the quick weekend in review. Yesterday we started off slowly, but after a late breakfast we went by a local furniture store that's having a sale on nice armchairs. We'd scoped it out a couple times during the week, but finally pulled the trigger and bought a leather floor model with it's matching "pouf" (ottoman). I tried to find a picture on the web, but the store is called Pickup (or Pick'up) and the chair is called Swing, so YOU try googling "pickup swing paris" and see what the pictures show! Good thing the boys are in bed.

After that errand, we headed to the Musée des Arts et Métiers, a remarkable collection and setting dedicated to invention and discovery. The entire self-guided tour was interesting, and the last part is housed in an old church. As Calvin said, this is the best church I've ever seen. (Check out the pics.) Last night, we had our friend Amelia over to watch the boys, and Betsy and I went out for Indian food, which was actually spicy, a rarity for any cuisine here in Paris from what we've seen.

Today we got going even later, then after lunch headed down to the southern edge of Paris for a randonnée along the not-yet-open tramway route. We ended up walking, checking out the neighborhoods, and playing in the Parc Montsouris for over four hours, as it was a beautiful day and we didn't have any other plans.

Tomorrow the boys head back to their last week of summer camp - school restarts next Monday (Labor Day). Betsy has a big meeting here in Paris this week, then next Monday heads off to Japan for two weeks. In France and Paris, rentrée is a VERY big deal, and we've started to have friends return, shops reopen, and sense that things are about to get bustling again. A great time for a visit, eh?

Calvin from SEEC last fall/winter

Some of the parents at the boys' old preschool, the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center (SEEC), spent a LOT of time putting together yearbooks of the kids at work and play. I haven't seen the finished printed products yet, but they posted a bunch of the extra photos on Shutterfly. I nabbed some of them with Calvin - they're low-resolution but still kinda cute.

Discount(ish) fares to Paris from ... everywhere but Washington

Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Miami, New York, from just over $500 round trip. Purchase by August 28, travel in September and October. Learn more here.

6 months and 6 miles

Today marks 6 months since we arrived in Paris, plus one day extra since we left home. We really do miss you all very very much. Really. But as you can tell from talking to us and reading this blog, we are enjoying our time in Paris, and the constant discoveries of our new and challenging life here.

Today we went for a looooong bike ride through the city - not by ourselves, as we're not THAT bold yet! But every Friday night, and one Sunday midday per month, there's a big Paris Rando Velo through the city. The Friday routes look like lots of fun, but they're too late for the boys. We hadn't made a Sunday ride until today ... and today's included the ride up Montmartre, the highest hill in Paris at 430 feet above the river. I actually don't know the length of the route. I had ambitions to use Google Earth to map and measure it out, but I am totally beat and heading to bed in a sec. The ride was very fun, with temperatures in the upper 60s and occasional sprinkles with the sunshine. I didn't see any of the 250 or so riders younger than Carter, and he was a total trooper, very proud of himself for making it up all but two climbs without walking. The guides block traffic on cross streets, we get to blow through stop lights, it's like owning the city.

Half-way through, we stopped at the base of Sacre Couer for a break and snack, and Calvin and I walked over to find Betsy and Carter. While we were saying hi, the small Montmartre tourist train started honking for everyone to move, so we started shifting bikes over. I failed to understand that the tour was starting back up, and Calvin and I couldn't get over to our bike through the crowd. Then when we got to it, he got on (the trail-a-bike) before I got on, and the bike tipped, he fell on the attached flagpole, snapped it off, and fell on his butt. He started crying - again, the ride's leaving at this point - and I and passers-by tried to console him. We got back on, then got smushed up against a temporary metal barricade and he got tangled up in it. So things are going well now, right? Again, passers-by helped untangle him - I couldn't get off the bike or it would have fallen over - and we got going. Now the ride is just visible heading down the hill, and there are several cars and that stupid train between us and the back end of it. Calvin is screaming that he doesn't feel safe, and it turns out part of why is he has one fist wrapped around a sandwich instead of the handlebar. Calvin, drop the sandwich. No Dad, I made it, I'm hungry. Calvin, drop the sandwich. (OK, maybe I yelled.) No no no. OK, give it to me. He does. I throw it. He freaks. Ride over. We pulled over, sat down on the curb, and chilled out for a few minutes. We found his sandwich, complete with pigeons, so made him a new one from the mashed laughing cow cheese and baguette chunk in my pocket. Problem solved - well, except the flag got lost, and we were up on Montmartre. We found our way home alright through, and weren't even troubled by much traffic since it's Sunday in late August.

Betsy and Carter didn't even notice we weren't on the ride until it got to the end. They made their way back, and we all took naps before going to the 3 euro movie this evening to see Lassie. (Awwwww.) Did I mentioned I'm beat? Good night all.

La Pagode

We might have mentioned that Parisians LOVE cinema. We saw the version originale of The Ant Bully last weekend, and today I went to a matinee movie at La Pagode. It's an amazing little 110-year-old pagoda in a pretty garden, or as one web page put it, "salle mythique et temple d'architecture asiatique transformé dans les années 30 en salle de cinéma." The "salle mythique" was built by the founder of Le Bon Marché, one of the grands magasins Parisian department stores, for his wife. The marriage didn't last, and the building has sort of languished over the years, but the 1930s theater-retrofit was updated a couple of years ago and they show a variety of new and older films. Thursday mornings are primarily for seniors, so the "crowd" was about 30 folks all 60+ and maybe 3 people roughly our age. I saw Big Fish by Tim Burton. It's a very sweet story, worth renting. And only 6E, a bargain for a movie around here, though next Sunday through Tuesday every showing of every movie in every theater in Paris is only 3E!

Anyway, here's a couple of pictures of the beautiful theater, inside and out. (This guy has some nice pictures, too.)

Another airfare note: United on sale for the fall, but only through Friday

United sent an email today titled "Catch a low fare starting from USD49." Now Paris is nowhere near that low of course, but they're quoting $680 r/t for travel from August 22 through November 16. Check it out here. (Oh, and for USD49 each way you can go from DC to NYC!)

United airfares

On the off chance anyone's looking for a weekend trip, uh, right now, Washington-Paris showed up on United's list for this week.

International E-Fares
Sample fares are for travel beginning Monday (August 21, 2006) through Thursday (August 24, 2006) and returning Monday (August 28, 2006) through Thursday (August 31, 2006). Additional taxes and fees apply.*

From: To: Roundtrip:
Washington, D.C. (IAD) Brussels, Belgium (BRU) $690
Washington, D.C. (IAD) Paris, France (CDG) $791

Brussels is 90 minutes on the high-speed train, so that could work too. I'd even meet you there. Mmmmm, Belgian beer ...

By the way, I know only a few of our friends and family live in DC, but I don't see a lot of fare listings for other places direct to Paris. If anybody knows how to search for "anywhere in the US to Paris" let me know.

Cyclists' holiday

Today is Assomption - memo to France, why bother with a holiday when everybody's on vacation? I mean, seriously, everything is closed today, but 90% of it was closed yesterday, and 80% was closed last week too!

Anyway, Betsy had the day off, and the weather finally looked decent so we got the bikes out. We hadn't taken them across to the Bois de Boulogne yet, partly because the on-street routes to get there are kinda intimidating with Carter pedaling himself. With the promise of 75 degrees and partly sunshiney weather, we took the plunge. After sleeping late, of course. Our new expat friends Tom & Carol had bought and brought a new trail-a-bike for Calvin's use, and we hadn't taken it out yet. Carter's close to outgrowing his $8 thrift-store bike, so we headed to the bike shop to rent him a 5-speed.



Our trip over there, via mostly bike lanes (some shared with busses and taxis, yikes!) went very well. Carter really tries hard and doesn't complain about all the riding at all, but he has the attention span of a 7-year-old on a bike in a big city with lots of stuff to look at! After we got to the park, where many of the roads were closed down for the holiday, we had a great and relaxing time meandering along them and the many paths through the Bois. We found a lovely lake with shade trees, ducks, and other pique-niquers and boules players and cyclists about. After our bread, ham, and cheese lunch, we rode around for a while longer until it was time to head home. We ran into Mike from the bike shop on an ice cream run, and he brought back a couple for the boys. Come join us for a bike ride soon!

From the archives: Marilyn on pickling with the boys

Betsy's mom Marilyn is currently undergoing chemo in her fight against breast cancer, and can't get out of her house much. She's has been sending lots of great updates, and I thought you'd enjoy her story of canning with the boys. Thank you, Marilyn.

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alan, the girls and i moved to this house in baltimore more than 30 years ago. each summer since then i have done home canning. always making applesauce. usually pickles too. and a variety of other things. most years i can and preserve a couple hundred jars of a handful of different things. it is one of the highlights of my year.

last year at this time carter and calvin spent a lot of time with me. and we worked so hard. the boys have canned with me each year and have a better notion of the fundamentals of canning than most of you might have. carter was 6 and calvin 3, and carter had decided he wanted to enter things he made in the maryland state fair. so we had our work cut out for us.

at the moment i can recall only 5 of the 6 categories he entered. bread & butter pickles. whole pickled beets. pickled green beans. green tomato pickles. hot sauce. carter is a good cook, with interesting ideas about food. and he has very high standards. so he was a bit disappointed that of the 5 ribbons he won, none was a blue ribbon. the whole pickled beets were not very good. the other pickles were appealingly and professionally packed, and tasted great. his hot sauce was terrific! and another year i'll make some again. the first recipe we tried was alright - granny smith and jalapeno peppers. but not up to carter's exacting standards. we tried another combo, tinkered a bit and made a fantastic red haven peach and habanero hot sauce. awe didn't get to taste the other entries, but the only one judged better than carter's must have been a doozy.

carter did all the work on his state fair entries except when it involved anything boiling. he's a terrific worker and it was a treat being his assistant. calvin, for his part, was also an excellent worker. every year for the past several years first carter, and now carter and calvin have made christmas and holiday gifts for their many friends and family. if i had to guess, they might well give a whole lot more gifts than most any of you give. the total is over 100. they are wonderful, generous and very sociable people.

so last year at this time, calvin was hard at work on christmas presents. he made gallons of deliciously flavored vinegars. he filled huge glass canning jars with a peck of garlic cloves and then filled the jars to overflowing with white vinegar. he filled other jars with a peck of fresh red raspberries (carter noted that calvin assiduously tested every handful of berries for quality, and ate any that were bad) and calvin filled those jars to overflowing with white vinegar too. i sliced habanero peppers and packed the jars with them - that makes me the pickle packer. then calvin filled the last jars to overflowing with white vinegar.

since my parisian son-in-law loves his hot sauces, we had one final labor of love. we made a few jars of some very flavorful and very hot hot sauces for chris. his birthday is in september. chris, uncle roberto and a couple of guys named mike were pretty happy with those. (i think i actually got a marriage proposal out of those hot sauces. that’s how hot and delectable they were.)

a year ago my house was filled with busy, happy, tired little boys every night. this year it is just one grandma who seems to be tired not only every night but also every day too. and i am impatient sometimes with myself. even so, my energy levels today and yesterday are prodigious, almost unbounded compared to what i had only days ago. cathy is quick and insistent in reminding me that i have one thing to do right now and it requires my every effort, waking and sleeping: i need to get better. that does take a lot of energy and attention. though in my heart there remains a sparkle of hope that i could get in a bit of canning again this season.