Sun and Rain

Today I drove to Orly to collect Jarle and Mia.  They are home with lots of Norwegian chocolate, yum.  

The sun came out briefly so Jarle and Mia went out for a spot of rollerblading!  I just watched....

All quiet

I´m really getting the hang of this expat wife thing.  I had a champagne lunch on Thursday AND Friday.  Thursday was a friend´s birthday lunch get together, we had a lovely lunch prepared by the birthday girl and great company.  On Friday I was at our Scandinavian lunch which the Scandinavian ladies take turns in hosting.  I´m pleased to be warmly welcomed despite the fact I´m not Scandinavian, but get in the group by being married to one.  It is about the only time I speak Norwegian so I am a bit rusty to say the least.  However, it is a lovely group of women and we always have a great time.  Thanks to Lena for Thursday and Anni for Friday!

Yesterday Mia and Jarle went off and left me and Ben all alone.....  They flew to Stavanger for the weekend.  So it´s a quiet time for us.  Today Ben had a dentist appointment to get his brace fitted.  They do it in stages here apparently so today he only had the basic line thingies glued in.  Next time he gets the brackets or whatever they are called fixed on the top set then the bottom set get fixed on a third visit.  So it´s a never ending saga.

Warm today, about 12 degrees so I hope that it is finally Spring....

Mia´s Poem

In first grade, the children wrote poems about Spring.  Here is Mia´s;

Spring Blossoms

Oh blossoms when you fall down 

from the tree 

you look like pink snow.  

And when you fall down

you fly like a butterfly 

and you are so fragile.

By Mia

Wednesday already

Today I met Jarle for lunch at La Defense and we went to a restaurant that is hugely popular and always packed out at lunchtimes.  We´ve been there a few times before and often said we would probably not go back for various reasons but today we vowed never to return.  Last time we were there I ordered the vegetarian pizza and found 5 or 6 pieces of ham on it.  It wasn´t much fun peering closely at every mouthful before eating it!  This time I ordered a goat cheese and spinach lasagne.  It looked and tasted as though it had been cooked yesterday and kept warm for 12 hours.  Boiling hot on the outside and lukewarm on the inside.  Chewy cheese and floppy pasta swimming in a dish of something, I think maybe melted cheese and butter perhaps.  Anyway it was horrible.  There´s only two vegetarian things on the menu and the other (the pizza) comes with complimentary meat, so that´s it, no more visits there for us........

After that I had an appointment with my chiropracter (ongoing saga......) but couldn´t get into the metro entrance because the police were cordoning off the area.  I stood there thinking "what on earth" when I spotted a scruffy looking wheely suitcase all alone at the edge of the area.  Scary - looks like they were treating it as a suspicious object.  I just had to go around to the other entrance so it didn´t delay me but it got me thinking......

Tomorrow I´m going to a friend´s house for lunch.  She has invited quite a few people I think, to celebrate her birthday.  She´s not shouting about it, being very discrete, but it is her 50th.

p.s. the restaurant is called Le Paris Paname

Musee Toile de Jouy

This morning Lotta and I went to visit the museum of Toile de Jouy.  Toile means material and Jouy is the place near Versailles where the famous fabric was first produced around the end of the 1700´s.  The museum showed lots of original pieces of fabrics and the shop was lovely too!

I bought a tablecloth with matching napkins.  

Snow! - What´s that all about?

Yesterday we braved the cold for a whole five minutes to roll our eggs in the back garden.  Nobody could be bothered venturing further afield.  Then in the evening it started to snow!

Today we walked to our local Italian restaurant (I seem to be becoming a regular there...) for lunch.  So we got some exercise and a lovely lunch! 

Happy Easter

Today our "guests" went home.  Lotta and her family came to lunch before taking Lexus and Milou back home.  It has been fun looking after them, especially when the bunny hops around our feet at the dinner table.  It was lovely to have lunch with friends and enjoy a bottle of Sancerre. Later the kids and I decorated eggs, Mia doing Jarle´s egg as he declared himself to be "useless" at drawing......

Lotta and I are hoping to plan a girls weekend trip to Champagne soon, great idea.  Also we have a list of things we want to do in and around Paris so we´d better get our skates on.  Watch this space.

Påske Aften (or Easter Eve??)

Today we have had blue skies, hailstones, rain and sunshine.  Typical March weather it seems.  Jarle and I went to the market this morning as usual.  Jarle bought a couple of Dorade which we had to look up on the internet to find out what it is in English, sea bass!  We also bought lovely fruit, flowers, bread, cheese and asparages.  It gets expensive, these trips to the market.....

So we started on the Easter chocolates at coffee time today, as you can see.  Jarle "checked" on his wine cellar (a place down the road where they rent little cages in the hillside) but apart from that we´ve not done much today mainly because of the unreliable weather.  Maybe tomorrow.....  

Påske Godt

Wild weather last night, torrential rain as we drove to school then sunshine and blue sky and now it is raining again.  Oh and it´s cold....

Enough about the weather.  Time to get some serious chocolate eating done, see picture.  

Tuesday

This morning when I opened the windows to open the shutters in Mia´s bedroom I was greeted by birdsong and bright sunshine and blue sky.  How lovely!  Mind you it is freezing today and the forecast is for snow over the next few days.  But it has stopped raining.  

Today I am meeting some British mums from school for a lunch at the local Italian restaurant to plan for the British stall at our school´s International day next month.  I have never met most of them so it will be a nice opportunity to get to know more people.  I didn´t even realise there were so many British families at the school.  

Our animals are doing fine.  They make strange little squeaks and rustles which I´m just getting used to.  Right now Lexus is crunching on some Swedish knekebrød (it´s that cardboard like stuff we have in Uk called Ryvita I think...) .

House Guests

We are happy to be taking care of our friends rabbit Milou and guinea pig Lexus for a few days.

Catacombs - Not today!

Today we decided to visit the catacombs of Paris.  These are underground quarries that began to be used for storage of human remains at the end of the 18th century.  Sounds like a horrible way to spend an afternoon but the place is a tourist attraction and we thought we would like to visit.  However, when we got there it was closed for renovation.  How annoying, after driving all the way into Paris and dodging mad traffic to eventually find a rather risky parking spot!  

The metro entrance directly across the street is one of the original Art Nouveau ones, see picture.  

I had checked the website which stated that renovation were going on at the beginning of the year and would be finished by February the 18th.  Seems like they are behind schedule.........

Catacombs of Paris Museum

So we drove towards Montparnasse tower (ugly blot on the Paris skyline in my opinion) and discovered a cute little artists market to browse through.  After that we were ready for coffee and something yummy but ended up walking out of the cafe we chose because the service was so awful.  Everything that is said about Parisian waiters having an attitude problem is true in our experience.  Okay not all of them but there are a fair percentage that really don´t care.  Customers?  Oh they are just a nuisance!  Anyway, so we drove home and had coffee there instead.    

In the garden

This afternoon it is about 15 degrees outside.  Our first lunch in the garden this year was called for!  Mia discovered that the "fire bugs" are back in abundance too.  I don´t know what they are really called but the kids at school call them fire bugs.  They are some sort of beetle I think.

Jarle had a day off

Jarle and I drove into Paris this morning after dropping off the kids at school.  We visited the Musee Rodin which is situated in the house which  Auguste Rodin lived in and has a big garden where several of his statues are displayed.  Inside is a big collection of his work and also pieces by his fellow artists and students.  

Out in the garden there is a cafe and so I think it would be nice to visit again when the weather is warmer.  FYI entrance to the garden costs only 1euro which is a bargain because two of Rodin´s most well known pieces are there, the gates of hell and the thinker.  

Afterwards we went for lunch in a restaurant on the top floor of the Musee Branly called Les Ombres.  Ombres means shadows and it is named this because it is in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.  Lovely view all around and a very chic restaurant with attentive staff.  Quite pricey though.

Weather

It keeps raining!  All the trees and bushes outside are pretending that is is Spring but I´m not fooled.  We have had wild winds too.  Our recycling wheely bin blew over this morning before it was emptied so I had to scurry about the street collecting bits of paper and plastic bottles, fun!  Nothing has happened to report on except that I got my hair cut and coloured yesterday.  They know me at the local hairdresser now so I don´t need to talk much.  It is not ideal though, I can´t explain exactly what I want with my limited french and their non existent english.  Oh I look forward to the day when I can do these sort of everyday activities in my OWN language......  Imagine the luxury of speaking to the lady at the post office in English!  It´s one of the drawbacks of living in a country where they speak another language.  I am not super dedicated to learning french so I know I only have myself to blame but hey, I speak more French than most of the French people I meet can speak English.  Okay, complaining over for the day.....

Foire brocante et jambon

Well it was pouring with rain all morning but it finally stopped around lunch time so we set off to visit the Foire brocante et jambon.  This is a twice yearly flea market/antique market on an island in the Seine in the town of Chatou.  It is really big and full of all sorts of interesting stuff.  There is also stalls selling food and drinks so you could spend the day there.  Somehow we managed to not buy any antiques or bric-a-brac but instead came home with a bottle of wine and some sausages, or saucisson sec in French......

Typical Saturday Morning

One of the great things about living in France is the markets.  Our local market is just 4 minutes walk away and is lovely.  The quality and choice of fruit, vegetables, cheese, fish etc is fantastic.

Jarle was a bit embarrased that I took pictures in the market though, a bit touristy!!

Shopping

Today I decided to be a real expat wife and do some serious shopping!  Off to Parly II I went.  See Photo.......  

High heels and sore feet

Today it was below freezing and we had to scrape ice off the car before going to school.  Then after drop off Lotta and I took the train into Paris.    We were heading for the Swedish Embassy to collect something for Lotta when we saw a beautiful magnolia tree in full bloom.  Then we passed the Invalides and the Musee Rodin.   Both of these I really want to visit one day.  Then off to a cafe for brunch.  It was on Place du Marche Saint Honore and is called Le Pain Quotidien.  I think it is a chain with a few places in Paris.  They sell organic bakery products and jams.  It´s a lovely place with old uneven (I nearly tripped twice!) floorboards and wooden furniture.  They sell salads and quiches and things too.  

After that we sauntered slowly towards Place de Madeleine and to the train station St.Lazare. On the way, we found a lovely English bookshop close to the Opera.  

My feet are sooooo sore.  I have to admit that maybe I need to sacrifice style for comfort.  It just isn´t practical to walk all day in Paris in high heeled boots.  

Spring???

Today I went to our local shopping centre or "Mall" as the Americans call it, Parly II.  I decided that as the weather was changing and Spring was in the air that we all need some new clothes maybe.......zero degrees this morning!!  I´m hoping it´s just temporary and that warmer weather is really just around the corner.  A bit like the Japanese with their cherry blossom, I can measure the arrival of Spring by checking our wisteria tree.  The little furry buds have appeared already.  It will be in gorgeous full bloom by the end of March I believe.  So anyway, back to Parly II.  Isn´t it always the same when you decide to spend some money that you just can´t find something you like?  I thought I might get a couple of new things that are not black for a change and ended up buying nothing for myself and clothes for Mia and Ben instead.  Oh well, next time.  

Bye the way, the flower above is something I bought at our local garden centre last week.  I´m not sure what it is, but the flowers are just starting to open and bring a splash of colour to my coffee table.

Musee Gallerie d´Évolution

Well, today we managed to get out of the house by 11.30!  Drove into Paris and spent half an hour trying to find somewhere to park near the Jardin des Plantes.  We visited the Gallerie dÉvolution.  It´s a nice building inside and full of stuffed animals which was interesting if a bit macabre.  The skeleton of a blue whale is very impressive......  Afterwards we went to the mosque for lunch, yes a bit of deja vous for me and Mia but it is handy and they do a vegetarian cous cous. Our waiter was rude and unhelpful today though, so no tip for him!