Pretty

Paris is just brimming with creativity.
On Sunday I went to the Bastille, and was astounded by the gentleman juggling and balancing a fish on his head. From there I walked along the Viaduc des Arts, which is a series of galleries and workshops, on top of which is a lovely tree and flower-lined walkway. In one of the galleries I saw the installation to the left; plastic soldier dolls in glass jars. I would love some of these on my counter, so much better than a vase of flowers-and it would last forever! Whoopee!

And this morning I went to a lovely park in my neighbourhood and saw this wee fellow. A lifesize topiary dolphin. Cool! And he is not sideways in real life, it's just that I can't figure out how to turn that photo around.

At the market

There is a live goldfishin that bowl.
Originally uploaded by nz fille.

door-knocker at Sacre Coeur

Sacre Coeur
Originally uploaded by nz fille.

Can't think of a title.

Another week in Paris. They are speeding by, and tonight I have to fast foward one hour due to daylight saving. It has been miserable rainy cold weather, no chance to play in the park and not much desire to leave the house!
Have had a lovely Saturday hanging out with a fellow kiwi. Tim is traveling through Europe for a while on his way to Romania, and got to Paris a couple of days ago. We went to a street market near the Eiffel Tower to buy lunch and then metro-d to the Sacre Coeur to eat it there in the drizzle. I love Sacre Coeur, not only is it in the fascinating and lively suburb of Montmarte but it gives a gorgeous view of Paris and it's great to get some elevation in this relatively flat city. We happened upon an antique fair just below the cathedral and had an amusing time perusing ancient oddities from cash registers to leopard skin hats. I bought a comic book about firefighters called 'The Fire of Love', mwahaha. Driving rain forced us indoors at this point so we went to the Modern Art Museum which is free (hooray!) and was well worth a look around. I'm so tired from much walking that I think I will finish with pictures, cos ya know, a thousand words and all that.

gourmande

Okay folks, just a quick wee post because I absolutely most go to bed soon! (It's past midnight here.)
The week is going well, I seem to have shaken off my cold am feeling much better. The weather is dreadful here right now; snow, sleet, hail and hand-chapping temperatures. But after this spring arrives...or so all the Parisians keep telling me.
Tonight the children had their 'spectacle', which was like a school concert but very brief. Either this is just the French way of doing things or my childhood memories of our school concerts are somewhat warped. Now that I reflect, it must be a cultural difference because I've watched the videos of my primary school concerts and they are loooong.
So after the concert we celebrated the birthday of the children's mother with delicious cake and champagne (the real stuff from Champagne!) After putting the kids to bed we adults sat down for our meal (at 10.30pm. I'm slowly adjusting to the mediteranean timetable) I have to write about it because it was so incredible; scallops covered with freshly grated coconut, asparagus and chicken with black truffles - the truffles amazing experience in themselves! - fresh bread, cheese platter, and for desert an 'opera', a cake with layer upon layer of yummy things, garnished with gold leaf. oh wow.
Next Friday the family want me to cook them a 'typically Kiwi meal', gulp. I am thinking roast lamb and pavalova - any other ideas people? I feel the need to impress somewhat after all the incredible food they have been feeding me!

Not very chic

I would have liked to have been this girl today. Strolling, gaily around the Eiffel Tower in my beret and stylish white collar. But alas it was not to be, and all my hopes of visitng the Musée d'Orsay were dashed when I woke up with a nasty cough. On the upside though, I awoke from a dream in which I was conversing in French, something I don't think I've ever noticed before. So I thought of the advice my nearest and dearest would give me and decided it would be wise just to stay at home this weekend. I did wrap and warmly and briefly visit the supermarket for oranges, apple puree, eggs and other such invalid food. Since then I have been reading, learning some new vocab, and praising the inventors of youtube. Sad but true, without the internet I would not have been so happily entertained today! Speaking of entertainment, I wonder if 'Nouvelle Star' is on the telly tonight... (French equivalent of Pop Idol, just too funny when they chose to sing a song in english!)

Rot the Baby

Morbid title huh. But it goes quite well with the cleaver and skull handbags which I spotted in a shop window. I love the juxtaposition of the cute pink-patterned dresses with the deathly accessories.
Last night I babysat the kids and the little one would not go to sleep, she napped too long in the arvo. I sing a lot of songs with her as it is the only way I can get any words of english out of her. The firm favourites are '3 Little ducks went out to play' at bathtime, and 'Rock-a-bye baby' at bedtime. She has not quite understood the words of the latter, and asks me to 'sing rot the baby!' Always gets a smile out of me.
I don't actually have any news, maybe I will do something interesting this weekend. I'll make sure I have charged my camera batt too!

Add your voice!

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ca change la vie

This post is dedicated to my most demanding reader. Anna hopefully this should be online by the time you get to work! I'm just relaxing at home and watching ads on tv. Maybe I'm not used to watching tv but there seems to be about 5 minutes of program followed by 5 of ads. At least the French ones are fairly amusing, more amusing than the dubbed version of Bruce Almighty - they've got Jim Carrey's voice all wrong!
So, life continues in La Belle France. I did end up going to Salsa on Saturday night, it was great fun but we didn't know the area very well and finding the car afterwards was quite stressful. Caroline stayed over and the next morning we braved the traffic on the peripherique and headed to Fontainebleu. It was a really sweet little town, narrow winding streets, lovely little cafes and a cool castle to top it all off! Sadly my camera battery dies after I had taken two photos! Here they are, one of the castle entranceway, another of one of the lakes. The lakes were amazing, full of big fat carp that obviously get fed lots of scraps by tourists.
The sun was shining and we sat in the gorgeous gardens and read and ate chocolate. Drove home through the green countryside and the sun was setting behind the Eiffel tower as we entered Paris. It was so beautiful and we agreed that we were thrilled to be living in such a wonderful city.

musings and wanderings

Blue was the sky over Paris today, and it was delightful.

I took a promenade this morning along the Canal St Martin, pausing a while on the bank to read and watch the world go by. The canal was very interesting in it's variety. I'm not sure if you can make them out in the photo but there are red tents lining the banks of the canal for about 150m on either side. These have been provided by the government as 'housing' for the homeless. Although as for who gets first dibs I'm not sure how it is controlled. People were cooking outside them and generally going about their lives, while just metres away on the other side of the street, well-heeled Parisians were lunching at pavement tables. It was quite surreal, like an orderly slum? I'm not really sure how to describe it. I saw one old man being lifted into an ambulance, it was really sad, he looked so alone and defeated.
It was too warm to be on the metro so I walked for a couple of hours to get back to the 1st arrondissement. Here I inadvertently stumbled into what was the absolute opposite of the morning's scene. It was a section of rue St Honoré which was dripping in fur and diamonds. Gucci, Chanel, Cartier, Dior; all perfectly gleaming spaces with cloned sales assistants and generally only one immaculate client being shown the latest in 24 carat beach towels. How ridiculous. There was so much wealth and no one looked in the least bit happy about it.

I'm back home resting up now before salsa. Although to be honest my eyes are drooping and I might continue the book instead.

Jolies Fleurs

Yesterday was 'Fête des Femmes' in France...and possibly elsewhere in the world too. I was first alerted to this fact when a gentleman outside a big department store offered me a scented ribbon, wishing me a 'happy woman's day'. That's nice I thought, it's not everyday you get a smelly piece of fabric from a total stranger. In french class we discussed the fête and our teacher told us that these days the occasion is most often marked by 'manifestations' for women's rights etc.
I had a busy afternoon with the kids and was totally worn out by 8.30pm when it was time for dinner with guests. My fatigue soon evaporated however when the delightful guests arrived and the champagne was served. I met the first nanny that the twins had when they were born, a lovely Canadian woman who has since married a French man and settled in Paris with him. His parents also joined us.
Conversation was rapid and I tried to hold my own in a debate about the upcoming presidential elections, mostly I nodded and smiled.
The four courses were amazing and with desert the children's father gave all the women at the table a beautiful bouquet!
Canadian nanny met her husband at an Italian restaurant in Paris, I'm joining them there tonight for dinner with some of their friends.
Their parting words at the end of the evening were "we'll make sure we find Sophie a French husband too."

Chez Sophie

My dear sister, this post is for you. Some petit pictures of my humble abode. It's not exactly very tidy at present but je m'en fiche. So as you can see, there is a couch where you can sleep when you come stay, and I can make you coffee in the morning with my classy yellow percolator. Which, of course, we can drink with fresh croissants while perched on animal-print stools.

All I have been doing so far this week is working. And on Monday I started advanced French classes in town (by town I mean central Paris, as I live outside the periphery). It's kind of like being back at school again, which is not cool, and I don't like the fact that I have to study for a test most Fridays! But I must remember that it is good for me to review my subjunctives, find synonyms and identify the direct object pronoun. Blah.

Okay here is a little idea I got from an email which a friend sent me...perhaps you got it too...
I'll call it Four things.

4 new things I have eaten this week:

1.a religieuse (two iced eclairs, filled with runny chocolate and joined with cream)
2.Endives. Like slightly bitter, white silverbeet.
3. A kind of creamy chestnut whip, can't remember the name but it is apparently very typical french food and very yummy!
4. Lays. well actually I have eaten these before but not by the same name. It's a brand of potato chip.

images

Moulin Rouge, little birdies living in the window of a cafe, Still Life with Chair Caning at the Picasso museum.

Paris=so much art!

Rodin Museum
Originally uploaded by nz fille.

Today I went to the Rodin Museum. It was so fantastic, housed in a gorgeous old mansion with lots of space to move around and not too many tourists. There were lovely big windows giving plenty of natural light to view the sculptures. It was really nice to be able to take lots of time over it, photograph every thing that I wanted to and sit in the gardens writing letters while the sun was shining.
Rodin produced some amazing stuff, and his life story - especially his relationship with the sculptress Camille Claudel - is fascinating. There is a great film called 'Camille Claudel' which I recommend you track down if you're interested in this kind of stuff. And especially if you think you might come to Paris one day and want to visit this museum you should see it as it will really bring Rodin and Claudel's works to life!

The Kiss

The Kiss
Originally uploaded by nz fille.

The Waltz by Rodin

The Waltz
Originally uploaded by nz fille.

water water everywhere...

food wot I eat here.
Originally uploaded by nz fille.

Salut tout le monde!

The more I immerse in french the harder I find it to speak/write english well! But i'll try to keep focussed and give a petit summary of the last few days.

•Flooding from a blocked pipe in my kitchen, creates large puddle in main foyer and results in visit from very latino plumber (lots of loud exclamations and big arm movements). Verdict tomorrow - will my whole kitchen have to be ripped out?

•Take trip to Monoprix, where everything is not one price but good value nevertheless. Realise that it doesn't matter if I don't have a kitchen as will happily live on chocolate, fresh algerian dates and fromage blanc for the next few weeks. Decide that as a tourist attraction Monoprix is so up there with the Eiffel tower, visting local supermarkets great education for anyone in a foreign country.

•Have to pretend to have an american accent like previous au pairs so that children don't get confused by the instruction to 'go to bid' and 'get in the buth'.

•Spend an evening getting valuable lessons in 'real french' from 3 lightening-tounged french girls. They speak so fast and with so much 'verlan' that my head spins trying to keep up.
*verlan is where a word is inverted, like blog would be 'golb'.
So anyway, better leave the golb now and get some peels.