A New Beginning

by Danielle

Our friends Jamie & Xavier invited us over to watch the Obama Inauguration at their home and we were thrilled. Not just because they are nice fun people, but because they have a big TV with CNN. Therefore we did not have to resort to watching the event on our computers, like we did on election night. With the time difference the swearing in happened right at cocktail hour, so we raised a glass to our new President and felt that for once in a looong time, the future was bright.

It was a bittersweet day for me. As a native Washingtonian it was tough to see all the celebrations going on back home. I had been working for the Newseum before we left for Paris, and they played a prominent role in media coverage of the event. My friends and coworkers had prime positions for all the festivities, as they are barely two blocks from the Capitol on Pennsylvania Avenue. We finally have a potentially great President in office and now things are going to get interesting, and I hate feeling left out!

Only one French person said anything to me about Obama recently, it was this morning at the outdoor market where I bought some fruit. He said, “How about Obama? Good guy!!!” Good guy indeed.

Yesterday I was a little early arriving to pick up Joseph from garderie, so I took a walk around the block and explored a little street I had passed countless times but never turned down. It was an explosion of colorful graffiti, teeny artist studios and a cafe or two. An unexpected delight. There was evidence of Obama fever even in this little gritty corner of the world, as you can see here:

observations

By Dan

I have two American friends who went back to the States for the holidays.  The first one I asked what it was like being back and he said “I can’t believe how FAT everyone there is.”  He was in South Dakota visiting family.  I asked if it was just those relatives or that town and he said no, he’d been there many times before, it is just the juxtaposition with France.  He couldn’t wait to get back to Paris.  The other friend I asked about her trip, she had been in Philadelphia visiting family.  She immediately said “everyone there is so overweight and they’re all slobs.  I couldn’t believe it.”  She, however, by the end of her two weeks there wasn’t done seeing everyone and doing everything she needed to do and really did not want to come back.  Her other comment was about the service in restaurants.  In France, you can sit in a cafe or restaurant for hours and only see the waiter once.  This isn’t considered bad service – they expect you to come in and just sit and visit with your friends and not necessarily order more than one thing.  It bugged her when she first got here but now she has gotten used to it.  On this trip back to Philly, she said she got really annoyed with how often the waiters kept coming to the table to ask questions, to the extent that she had to tell them to back off.

I just got back from 24 hours in London but didn’t return with any profound insights.  It was a nice trip – the train from Paris is extremely quick and easy and comfortable and convenient.  It was nice to be in an English-speaking country and not to feel any fear trying to order lunch or ask for directions.  It is a great city, definitely cleaner than Paris, and I had a nice time.  But I was also very happy to get back, see Danielle and the kids, and get back to my daily fix of baguettes and pate and cheese and wine.

a day in the life

By Dan

Today’s post is in video format.  It is a video that I shot two months ago, and finally got around to editing this week.  I shot it all in one day in early November when my parents were visiting.  I had intended to shoot a “day in the life” video around Halloween, which is when I have done one each of the last two years.  I was simply too busy that week though, so I did it two weeks later.

 

If you can’t see or play the video embedded on this page, here is my YouTube page.  (2006’s day in the life video is called Run Joseph Run, 2007’s is Three Little Birds, and 2008’s is Une Journee.)

I know the video quality isn’t so hot – it looks good in the original but in the process of compressing and uploading it to YouTube it came out worse for wear.  C’est la vie.

Barcelona Recap

by Danielle

Over Christmas we spent six days in Barcelona, a place I have always been curious about. It was my first visit to Spain and Dan’s second (he was there to see the 1992 Olympics). After a 90 minute plane ride we stepped out of the airport into full sunshine and temps in the 60s, the perfect antidote to gray, cold Paris. Thanks to vrbo.com we rented a great two bedroom apartment in the pleasant, centrally located Eixample neighborhood. 

 

We got our bearings by taking a double-decker tourist bus ride, something

On the bus

I would have turned my nose up at before I had kids!  But it was a great way to get a feel for the city. We got a crash course in all the Barcelona neighborhoods and top attractions.  I really got the feeling that the city was a little down-and-out until the ‘92 Olympics when there was a big push to make improvements. 

 

Ultimately we admired the Antoni Gaudi architecture (visiting the Sagrada Familia church and Casa Bastilo), saw the

Dan and kids at Park Guell

marina and the beach, the zoo (Joseph loved the monkeys) and several wonderful parks (including Park Monjuic, Park Guell and Parc de la Ciutadella). We saw the Miro museum, the Museum of Catalan art and the Cathedral of Santa Eulalia just to name a few. Oh and we managed to have some sangria and tapas too! 

Sadly because of the kids’ bedtimes we did not venture out after 7pm at night. We noticed that the city really operates on a different time frame than we are used to. We walked by restaurants at 4pm and they were packed. I said, “They sure do start happy hour early.” He said, “That’s not happy hour, that’s LUNCH!” Dinner starts at 10pm.

 

The city is very appealing for families. It’s stroller-friendly with lots of elevators, escalators and ramps. It has a great mix of urban area, parks and beach. The streets and sidewalks are wide and clean, and there are special lanes for bicycles (and a bike rental program much like the Paris Velib). Even in the “city” the buildings are generally less than 6 stories high so it never felt dense or claustrophobic.  A lot of signage is in mulitple languages including English, so getting around on public transportation was very easy. We don’t speak any Spanish but at times French came in handy to fill in the gaps.

 

Last night was New Year’s Eve and we invited our friends Jamie and Xavier over with their two children to enjoy crepes and champagne. This is a tradition that my mother started long ago and I have picked up on it, probably because crepes and champagne and two of my favorite things.  Our friends surprised us by bringing bubbly, and also fillings to make crepes Bretagne style (with eggs and ham) which were delicious. 

 

In the morning Joseph opened up family Christmas presents which delighted him (especially the Play Doh kit and Curious George Visits the Hospital)… and delighted us too because it kept him very busy the entire day.