Les Halles, les gâteaux et conversation en français

19/3/13 Tuesday
Today l'H meets me after my lesson ends (and after he's had his own little Metro ticket adventure.......you can ask him yourself about that one!) to carry my books home from school - ok, so I don't have any books to speak of but it's the thought that counts........ :-)
We start the walk home together, stopping for lunch at a little bistro where the waiter picks us as foreigners as soon as I open my mouth - how did he do that, I wonder? ;-) - but he's very friendly and helpful and graciously allows me to use my limited French to ask for a table for two ("deux personnes s'il vous plaît" is the best I can do), to order from the menu, to answer his question about where we're from ("Nous venons d'Australie"), and to ask where the toilets are ("Ou sont les toilettes?")! The stress of using a new language "on the fly" is diminishing slowly, helped along by kind French people like him :-)
After lunch we wander through the Les Halles area, which is undergoing a major renovation - unfortunate really, as it's very uninspiring at the moment but l'H remembers it looking lovely when he was here with his beautiful daughter a few years ago. Hopefully it will be as good or better when it's finished but right now it's mostly just an ugly construction site. However, the beautiful Renaissance-built Église Saint-Eustache is worth a visit and we spend a bit of time inside.

It's not only a magnificent church but also seems to be a warm refuge for quite a few homeless who are dozing in the hushed and cozy interior.

On we go towards home, stopping at the window of a taxidermist where there are rats hanging in the window that were caught in the Les Halles area around 1925 - a bit creepy but fascinating!

Some time later,  having forgotten about the stuffed rats, we call in to the pâtisserie for some after-dinner treats - les gâteaux très bon - this is Paris after all, so why not?

20/3/13 Wednesday
Today is a full day at school for me as I have a French conversation workshop after my morning class. Before that starts though, I take a stroll down the street in my lunch break and look in the window of a local realtor. I'm amazed at how much a tiny bit of real estate costs.  This is the 9éme, and a 185 square metre appartement is on the market for a cool 1.9 million € - no wonder everyone rents in Paris!!!

As if the mental demands of conjugating irregular verbs all morning aren't enough, this afternoon we spend 2 hours conversing with Olivier and each other totally en français! It's hard work but turns out to be lots of fun. Olivier is very helpful and encouraging and everyone enjoys the experience. We role play being the customer and the vendor in a variety of shops, and then we practise being dinner guests at a friend's house. What to bring, how to be polite, what to talk about. And this is what we learn:
1. Take "une bouteille du vin rouge" - toujours, toujours, toujours!!!!
2. Always comment positively about the person's home - "Oh quel bel appartement!" and ask how big it is "C'est quelle surface?" and how much rent they pay "Tu payes combien?", but never (jamais, jamais, jamais!!!!!) ask how they manage to afford it!
3. If you greet one person with a kiss (both cheeks please!) then you must greet everyone that way (so in other words, don't start something you can't finish.......)!!!
4. When toasting each other it's important to do it individually and look each person in the eyes as you clink glasses - "Santé!" - and again, if you do it with one person you must do it with everyone (so you could be there for a while!)
And one last little French secret that Olivier shared with us - le croissant is, in fact, NOT French! It was reputedly imported to France from Austria by Marie-Antoinette in the late 1700s (but many French don't even know this so we didn't feel too bad)!! These, and some other pastries, are collectively known as "viennoiserie" (now there's a clue.......!) ;-)

Guitars, motorbikes and wood-turners

18/3/13 Monday
As hard as it is to leave my lovely husband in the mornings, I continue diligently to head off to school each day. I'm determined to get the most out of my 3 weeks of French lessons in Paris. I'm finding it challenging but I'm really pleased with the amount I've learned in such a short time, and that it's coming more naturally to use my French when out and about.
This afternoon after I walk home from school, my beautiful man (who shall hereafter be referred to as "l'H" - don't ask, it's an "in" joke that will forever remain secret!)...... and I head out to explore our local area. I want to show him some shops I discovered in my first week that I know he'll enjoy - shops that cater to his three loves (apart from me and his 3 beautiful kids, that is) - guitars, motorbikes and wood-turning! He's already done some exploring earlier in the day and although he made his own serendipitous local discovery, he also found that unfortunately many shops are closed on Mondays - oops, I forgot about that!
So although the shops are mostly closed, we still browse and enjoy wandering together along Boulevard Beaumarchais, Boulevard des Filles-du-Calvaire, and Boulevard du Temple as far as Place de la République, which is in the middle of a major face lift. Apparently you can book to take a tour of the renovation site.......we were happy just to photograph the impressive statue of Marianne depicting Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.

We also take a peek inside the military barracks which has housed the French Republican Guard since 1947, and enjoy the quintessential Parisian buildings through the (still) bare deciduous trees.

The main shop I wanted to show him will be open tomorrow - a guitar shop that has the potential to delight and occupy my man for a good few hours while I'm busy conjugating irregular verbs :-)
I also show him a wood turner's premises with a selection of hand planes in the window, and several motorbike shops, some of which are open and just asking for us to go in and admire the bikes within. Now motorbikes take my husband's attention frequently so when we walk together we invariably end up looking at several bikes as we go, and I'm learning to say which ones I like - usually based purely on aesthetics ("I like that one, it looks sleek like the Bat Bike" - you know, that sort of thing........) ;-) There are bikes everywhere in Paris, so needless to say we stop frequently for the necessary admiring of the various bikes :-)
Heading back towards home we stop in at a local boulangerie for "une tradition, s'il vous plaît" - the most delicious type of baguette according to Parisians - then gradually make our way back to Place de la Bastille with it's iconic symbol of the revolution in the centre.

It's the landmark we search for to orient ourselves, and which has now been christened the "chick on a stick" by my gorgeous husband. It worked for a bit, the only problem is that when we looked more closely we discovered that she's clearly no chick at all......... never mind, the name has stuck now! ;-)

Mon amour et moi à Paris

16/3/13
What a productive morning - waking up at 3.45am allows me loads of time to get stuff done ;-) Okay so I'm too excited to get back to sleep, I might as well make the most of the time! It does mean a relaxed morning and I even have time to go to the market for some fresh flowers to welcome my man :-)
So I'm at the airport an hour early - who's surprised? But having never taken the Metro and RER (train) to the airport I'm not sure how long it takes nor how complicated, and........ oh never mind, you know what I'm like! My proud moment is asking for my ticket using complete sentences totally en français.........and being understood!! :-)
So being early gives me time to get our return train tickets and have a look around Terminal 2C - hmmm, well that takes all of 10 minutes, it's not the most exciting airport in the world ;-)

An hour later (and several chapters of Tim Keller's book "Generous Justice"), at 12.30pm I'm waiting with excited anticipation in front of the arrivals door for what feels like hours! He's flown on an Airbus 380, which holds between 500 and 850 passengers and I'm pretty sure 90% of them must have already come through the doors. I stand there for about 40 minutes, peering through the doors every time they open to try and catch a glimpse into the customs area. No sign of him so far and I'm just starting to look around at the rapidly dwindling crowd of welcomers, wondering how much longer when, as the next group of travellers comes through the door, I see his beautiful smile ..............

Later in the afternoon we head out for some daylight to help avoid the jetlag, walking along the promenade of the Port de Plaisance de Paris Arsenal and down to the Seine. We wander on and cross at Pont Charles de Gaulle, continue along Quai St-Bernard on the other side of the river until we get to Pont de Sully. It's almost dark and getting cold so it's back up Boulevard Henri IV for a "Bienvenue à Paris" dinner and a glass of red in our cosy little home away from home.

It's wonderful to be together again :-)

17/3/13
It's Sunday, so late morning we head off to church with enough time to wander via my earlier wonderful gastronomic discovery, Rue Mouffetard on the Left Bank. One of the joys for me over the next few weeks will be sharing such experiences with my lovely new husband :-) We stroll along this gorgeous cobbled street, past restaurants to which we may well return for an authentic French dining experience.
After church we slowly make our way back. At a corner on Boulevard Edgar-Quinet we stop to watch a talented trio playing swing music, the sounds of Paris :-)

We continue through the Jardin du Luxembourg, and along Carrefour de l'Odeon to Boulevard St-Germain, where we pass a lolly stall that smells divine and is very tempting........! We walk through St-Germain des Près to Place St-Michel where we find a brasserie that looks warm and inviting for lunch on a cold grey Paris day. One Coq au Vin and one Boeuf Bourguignon later (not to mention Oeufs en Mayonnaise and Mousse au Chocolat......) and we're ready to keep wending our way back.

We take the route along the middle of the islands, past Notre Dame, stopping for "un baguette traditional" (crusty and chewy and soft in the middle, mmmm!) and some delicious and warming Chocolat Chaud when the rain comes. Then it's home to our warm apartment, hand in hand through the city of love, the way it should be :-)

One more sleep.......!!!!!! :-)

15/3/13
Ok so I'm a newly-wed, what can I say? This morning when I wake my wonderful husband is already on his way to the boarding gate at Perth International Airport ready to travel halfway around the world to join me in beautiful Paris for our much-anticipated and somewhat delayed honeymoon :-)
He'll be in transit for over 30 hours before he walks through the arrivals gate in Paris, so I'm glad to have school to keep my mind occupied today and to help the day go by quickly!
The sun is out again this morning and it's a little less icy than previous days, but with such low temperatures a couple of degrees makes little difference - minus 3, minus 1, zero, all feel much of a muchness!
The last couple of mornings I've given a few coins to a man who is in the same place on Boulevard Poissonnière each day. I assume he's homeless and he always smiles and says "Merci". It's still an unresolved issue for me in terms of what response to the beggar dilemma is the most appropriate, and since I've been in Paris I've tried a few options, none of which have felt right. This also feels like a completely feeble effort but the brief interaction with this man has somehow resolved me, at least for now, to make it a daily event, until school ends anyway. This morning he smiles as he sees me approaching and says "Bonjour". I reply "Bonjour, ça va?" and he nods and replies "Ça va" which seems ludicrous under the circumstances but what else is he going to say? I wish I was confident enough with the language to ask him a little bit about himself - maybe next week :-/
School is fun today, we have a full class and we learn how to change the form of an adjective to fit the gender of the noun - la semaine dernière, le mois dernier, une pomme ronde, un melon rond, etc. There are helpful rules and patterns for this, but it all rests on the gender of the noun, and there are NO helpful patterns or rules or even logic to assist here - whoever decided that "beard" should be feminine, I ask you??? - the bottom line is that you just have to learn them, and the most useful advice I've received is to learn the noun together with its article from the outset. Hmm, I guess I'd better make a start on the thousands of nouns currently in use............. :-!
To finish off the week we have a game of "Celebrity Heads" which results in much hilarity but gives us all a good opportunity to practise using adjectives correctly, asking questions independently and refining our pronunciation :-)
There's nobody to Skype this afternoon (yes, my big brother, after our recent conversation I can just see you rolling your eyes and saying "harden up!") ;-) so I decide to walk home a different way and take my time, and as a result I find myself in a lovely street called Rue des Petits Carreaux, which is more or less a mall with almost no traffic.

It's a bit like the street I enjoyed in the Latin Quarter, with lots of restaurants and fresh food vendors. The day is sunny and I enjoy strolling. Further down is the Les Halles area in the 1ème arrondissement, which houses an underground shopping precinct - another area to explore more fully with my lovely husband :-)
Walking on down Rue Saint-Denis I pass Café Oz, the Australian Bar, complete with crocodile on the front, and I just have to take a photo, it's so classy ;-)

A little further and I come to the Seine, and turn east towards home. The wind is icy coming off the river and gusting along Quai de Gesvres and Quai de l'Hôtel-de-Ville.

I take a detour along Rue Mornay and find myself back at Boulevard de la Bastille alongside the lovely canal again. I decide to go a little further east to explore the 12ème, my home turf. They say you often don't know what's right there under your nose in your own backyard, and today I have another serendipitous discovery not 10 minutes from home. I come upon the Marche d'Aligre, a lovely little undercover fresh food market that reminds me of Il Mercato in the San Lorenzo markets in Florence (but on a smaller scale). It's a great discovery because it's so close to home, is open every day, and has just about everything - boulangerie, patisserie, charcuterie, fromagerie, poissonnerie, boucherie, triperie (that's tripe and offal, for the uninitiated - eeuuwww!) as well as flowers, fresh fruit and vegetables and a range of cafés and bars. I'll definitely be back! Heading home from the opposite direction, I realize that this area is worth exploring further!
Around 8pm I get a Viber message from Dubai airport - my lovely man has arrived safely and now has a 10 hour wait but luckily gets a complimentary hotel room for the night. I cook Boeuf Bourguignon to add to last night's creations - all this so that we can gaze into each other's eyes all weekend and talk about how much we've missed each other and not have to worry about cooking (this information is especially for your edification, my lovely brother!!!!!) ;-) I'm so excited I think I'll have trouble sleeping tonight!
I do plan to continue blogging throughout the next 5 weeks but anticipate that it may not be a daily event from now on - it is my honeymoon after all!!!!! :-)

The snow comes, the snow goes.......

14/3/13
This morning the sun is shining again and the snow is melting away - c'est la vie! Last night I watched the Papal announcement live on BBC World News, as the faithful gathered in the rain in St Peter's square. If the temperature in Rome was anything like Paris then they truly were the faithful!
Today has been the first real "same same" day I've had since being here - I go to school, I learn more vocabulary and practise my pronunciation, I walk home. Not that I'm complaining, it's a nice feeling to have a routine and to feel so at home in this beautiful city. I like to think of myself as a "temporary citizen" rather than a tourist ;-)
I think I'm coping fairly well with the amount of new vocabulary and the rules of the French language, although occasionally at the end of a school day it feels like total information overload! Today our lesson focuses on words to describe clothing, the body and face, and how to talk about pain and illness - always helpful :-) More and more Stephanie engages us in conversation, requiring more complete sentences, correct grammar and word order, and precise pronunciation. And these days she never speaks "en anglais" at all, which means we have no choice but to work it out - she's really a very good teacher and clearly loves her job!

The footpaths are mostly clear of ice and snow when I set off for home. The only hazard to avoid is the sudden and random waterfalls of icy water as the snow melts on the roofs and drips off the eaves and awnings onto unsuspecting pedestrians below (me included, thank goodness for waterproof jackets)!
After what will most likely be the last Skype before my gorgeous husband gets on a plane to join me (ok, it's had its fun and novel moments but by now I'm pretty much over digital conversations......) I shop and cook tonight, and fill the fridge and freezer with yummy meals to share when he arrives on Saturday - so excited!!!!!

Now, dishes done, I have homework to write, some French TV to watch (great for improving the comprehension), and a glass of vin rouge awaiting me :-)

Paris is a picture postcard!

13/3/13
I'm sooo tempted to "wag" school today and go see Paris in the snow. It stopped snowing last night and this morning the sun is shining from a perfect blue sky. Out my windows the drifts of snow are pristine white on the roofs and windowsills. But as tempting as it is, I'm committed to my course and so I dutifully rug up and set off for school :-)
Outside in the courtyard the snow covers a collection of bikes in one corner and has settled right up to the steps - that wasn't here when I got home yesterday!

The footpath in my street is treacherous this morning with trampled snow compacted to ice and very slippery. Everyone is walking tentatively and aiming for whatever clear patches are available. I'm glad I don't have far to walk.
At school we do lots of speaking French today, and Stephanie is very encouraging and helpful. We have conversations about our favourite foods and about the traditional foods and meals of our countries of origin - I refrain from describing the Aussie pie and chips ;-)
All this talking is really helpful for remembering vocabulary, getting the verb conjugations and prepositions correct, and refining our pronunciation. We make Stephanie laugh several times when our pronunciation is slightly off, giving the word, and therefore the sentence, an entirely different meaning!
By the end of class, the snow and ice on the footpaths has started to melt away, although many cars in the street are still thickly covered in white. I'm not hopeful that there will be any snow left by the time my lovely husband arrives on Saturday, unless we get another snowfall between now and then.
I decide to risk my coccyx and walk home, having missed out on a walk yesterday. A little way along I stop to make a snowball for my youngest son, who enjoyed the snow so much when we were in Europe 7 years ago. This one is for you my lovely boy :-) xoxo

l have to choose the least icy side of each street as I go (the side that's seen sun today!) but still a couple of times I feel my feet slip a little on the residual ice. I wonder if I'll have sore muscles tomorrow from having to walk so weirdly all the way home! I stop a few times to take photos of the pretty snow and ice, and having to take gloves off is no fun!

Obviously there hasn't been any crime in Paris for a couple of days........ ;-)

On the way I make a spur of the moment decision to go and see an exhibition at the Hôtel de Ville. Several times I've passed billboards advertising the exhibition, and as it's on my route home it's an easy one for me to get to. And luckily today there is almost no queue (unlike other days when I've passed by) which is a bonus! The exhibition is called Paris Haute Couture and is a presentation of the Musée Galliera's prestigious collection of 100 dresses, basically forming a chronological history of haute couture fashion from the most famous Paris fashion houses.

It's worth the visit, there are some beautiful gowns on display, dating from the late 1800s right up to the present day, and from the likes of Chanel, Dior, Gaultier, Balenciaga, Yves St Laurent, Pierre Cardin, and Lanvin, to name a few. There's also a series of drawings and photos that give a "behind the scenes" look at the making of a couture dress from initial design to production. It's just a small exhibition in the overall Paris scheme of things and only takes about half an hour to see, but I enjoy it and what better place to see such an exhibition!
I continue on my way, avoiding the icy patches as best I can and get home safely, feeling very happy with yesterday's purchase - a pair of fur-lined Goretex boots which have kept my feet both dry and warm all day. Not exactly haute couture, I admit, but I saw a lady on the Metro wearing a pair of shiny black gumboots the other day so I figure that in this weather anything goes, and hey, it's Paris, that makes me "glam" by association ;-) Besides, I'd like to see one of those emaciated models getting about in a Balenciaga gown in this weather!!!

Winter goes out with a bang

12/3/13
Last night I watched the French news channel - it's a good way to practise my listening comprehension, especially when it's news readers and politicians who speak more slowly and clearly, so as to be understood by the common (wo)man ;-) - and there's been a big dump of snow in Normandy, with "orange alerts" for some communities. Winter is definitely going down kicking and screaming in France!
This morning it's -3 degrees C at 6.30am so I reluctantly get the thermals out again. I really dislike them, they're so uncomfortable. It reminds me of when I was in primary school and I hated my school uniform - stiff shirt, tunic and tie (what's with that?) - and I used to have "tanties" about having to wear it (stop laughing Mum!).
At 7am I look out the window and it's snowing and the snow is settling in the courtyard and on my windowsill!

It looks beautiful (even the bins look pretty when they're covered in snow!) but somehow it's not quite so magical when you have to walk to school in it!!! This is the heaviest snowfall I've seen since I got here :-)

It's an icy and slippery walk to the Metro this morning, and I take it slowly; the last thing I need is a broken bone! Some vendors are sprinkling salt or sand outside their shops and with good reason. The Metro is fairly busy this morning and I make the mistake of taking the first train that comes along - BIG mistake in fact. By the time we've gone 3 more stations we're packed in like sardines, to the point that I can barely move. I think this must be one of the more ridiculous things we humans do - see a full carriage and stuff ourselves in anyway! When I manage to extricate myself from the train and exit Grands Boulevards station it's still snowing and I enjoy the short walk to school in this flurry of snowflakes. It truly is beautiful as it settles thickly in pristine drifts on the parked cars.
All morning, as we review our homework, learn how to express quantity (une question, deux problèmes, du café, des champignons) and learn some new vocabulary (le lait, les oeufs, une pomme de terre, un poulet, une saucisse........) we can see the snow continuing to fall steadily outside. By lunch time the cars that have been there all morning are covered in several centimetres of gorgeous white snow :-)

For the first time I forego a walk home in favour of the Metro. It's still snowing and it's freezing and the ground is slushy underfoot. It's so good to get back to my warm apartment and Skype my lovely husband, who is envying me the snow and hoping there will be more when he gets here - who knows, it just might happen! As for me, I'm just hoping that things will clear up so flights can land with no problem! Only 4 more sleeps now......... :-)