Go Figure…

by Danielle

A while back I told some friends how much Dan and I enjoy Mexican food, and complained that it’s hard to find in Paris. During the course of the conversation I learned that my French friend had never heard of a piñata.  We laughed about the impossibility of finding such an item in Paris, and joked that in the U.S. there are probably entire stores devoted to piñatas. 

Fast forward to a few months later. American friends are hosting a Mexican-themed party which includes… a piñata! I asked where they got it (suspecting they made it) and go figure, just a few blocks away from me is www.lapinata.fr  (check out the gallery). Paris never fails to surprise me.

Splash

by Danielle

I know you will appreciate that I’ll spare you the horrors of bathing suit shopping in Paris. Suffice it to say that there are a plethora of expensive string bikinis available, and not much else. Why I left my favorite Target brand tankini in storage, I will never know…

There are not one but two new indoor swimming pools within a short walk of our apartment, and I’ve been eager to take Joseph. My brother and I grew up swimming on a highly ranked team (Go Tuckahoe Tigers!) and spent our childhood summers at the pool, so I’ve been eager to expose Joseph to the intoxicating scent of chlorine mixed with SPF 1000.

It was on impulse that I decided one day to take him. We’d shopped for suits the week before but I’d hoped to check out the pool once on my own before going together. I was certain I’d misunderstood the opening hours, or that there were some rules I was not aware of that would preclude us from swimming. I wanted it to be perfect, without any disappointments.

You pay at the front desk (1.80 euros), and head downstairs (after admiring the skaters on the ice rink) to the locker room. I was not prepared for a coed experience! Not that there was any nudity, but I am so used to the sexes being seperate, that each time I saw a man I was startled, thinking I had made a wrong turn somewhere and was in the wrong place. It didn’t help that signage was poor and the flow of the space, especially the changing cabins, bizarre.

Joseph was a great sport as I stumbled through the rooms, and he seemed especially tickled to have to walk through a teeny wading pool (not sure why, to clean feet?) before climbing stairs up to the pools.  Oh by the way, two things you should know about French pools; swimming caps are required (cruel), and so are speedo-style suits for men (cruel? you decide).

There were four pools in addition to a huge lap pool. We spent most of our time in the kiddie pool which had about a foot of water and a few playful features (fountains, some levers that controled waterflow into a sculpture) that were not operational at the time. Joseph loved it, we spent easily an hour in the kiddie pool and then moved on to the next size up, where he practiced jumping in from various locations. I was thrilled that he wasn’t afraid of the water and even when his head went completely underwater (twice) he did not get upset at all. Could he be a Tuckahoe Tiger in the making? Only time will tell.

Tell it to the Hand

by Danielle

Last weekend I took a weekend trip to Antwerp, Belgium to meet up with my dear friend Leslie and her boyfriend Menno, who were there for a concert. Leslie and I have been friends since college days, and this was pre-internet, where we would hand write each other five page (front and back! college ruled!) letters, because we were too broke to make long distance phone calls. She has been living in Holland for many years, most recently working as a translator.  

After two hours on the Thalys train, we met in Centraal Station, dropped off our bags (at a beautiful guesthouse on the water) we were off exploring. First stop: frites! I chose to have them the true Belgian style, with mayonaise, which I normally detest. You know what? It wasn’t bad. Kind of gross to look at, yes, but yummy.

For the entire visit we were on foot and burned major calories. The city is manageable in scale, not too crowded (around 500,000) and it’s so CLEAN. It puts Paris to shame. It has a great energy, a combination of relaxed urban vibe (but not many tall buildings) with history and charm (old churches, beautiful architecture, many secret little passageways and nooks) with a strong arts influence. 

There are excellent museums, we saw the Goya/Redon/Ensor exhibit at the Fine Arts museum which I found disturbing (Leslie loved it   But we missed what appeared to be a more lighthearted show of paper clothing at the Fashion Museum. The city is known for fashion, due to the top rated design school and famous Belgian designers like Ann Demeulemeester.

Public art is everywhere, even in very unexpected places, like poetry written into street crossings, or sculptures in ‘transitional’ spaces (like an abandoned lot). Add to this many nice, casual restaurants, friendly multilingual locals, great shopping and amazing friends, you can pretty much conclude that this was a heavenly getaway.

Fun side note: Antwerp got its name from a legend about a mythical giant that guarded the river, demanding toll from those who wished to pass. If they refused he would cut off one of their hands and throw it into the Scheldt. Eventually he was killed, and the name “Antwerpen” comes from the Dutch “hand werpen.”

Un-Vélib-able

by Danielle

I have been wanting to try out Vélib (a bike rental system) ever since we arrived, and last week I had my chance.  Guess what, it’s fantastic! I hope more cities continue to replicate the idea.

Paris’ system is supposedly the largest in the world with 20,000 bikes and nearly 1500 stations. Bike stands are everywhere, each with spaces for about 15 bikes. As an example, there are about 4 stations within three blocks of our apartment. At a station you choose a rental term (1 day= 1 euro, 7 days=5 euros, a year= 29 euros), swipe a credit card, select a bike and you’re off!  The first 30 minutes are free, and if you go over the additional price is around 1-4 euros depending. This is to encourage high turnover of bikes for maximum availability.

There are some “gotcha’s.” For example there is always a chance that a station might not have any bikes, or only broken ones. Or, when you want to return your bike, there might not be any space to leave it. In both cases you just go a few blocks to another station and hope for better luck.

The next hurdle is larger, depending on how easily intimidated you are. The actual biking! Bike lanes are common on wide busy streets, but when there are no lanes you must fend for yourself. Even on small one-way streets, cars, motorcyclists and even other bikers are aggressive. And then there are a pedestrians, constantly walking into the street without looking. I have been guilty of this myself and now I am much more respectful of the bike lanes in particular.

For my first outing on Vélib I ventured just west of the Louvre to the Jardin de Tuileries, Gallerie Jeu de Palme and the Musee de l’Orangerie.  Gallerie Jeu de Palme is a contemporary art museum in a gorgeous building (but sleek and modern on the inside) that was formerly tennis courts during the era of Napolean III. The name (translating to “game of hands”) is derived from the original French name for tennis, before it was played with racquets. Here I saw an exhibit of video art which was interesting but not too noteworthy.

Next up was the recently renovated Musee de l’Orangerie, where eight of Claude Monet’s famous water lily paintings are on display. I was so happy to finally see them, so now I’m eager to compare them to the real water lilies at Giverny. I’m glad I poked around the museum a little bit because there was a large exhibit space for paintings on the lower level.

My reward for this glorious day out? A 20 minute ride home on Vélib, mostly uphill! No need to hit the gym that day, I can assure you.