Trois éléphants se balançaient...

Tulum, Mexico

2010-03-08T19:03:00.000-08:00

We made our first trip to Tulum five years ago and fell in love with this beautiful, relaxed little corner of the Yucatan. It is far enough away from the major tourist centers but convenient enough to the Cancun airport (1.5 hours by car) to be easily accessible. We knew then that development in the region was inevitable, and we weren't sure what to expect this time. While there's land for sale all over the place and a new, closer airport planned, little had changed since our last visit. The strip of little eco-hotels along the coast where we stayed was much the same. But while five years ago we brushed our teeth by candlelight, they had since installed wind turbines to provide electricity for some portion of the day.Part of what makes this place so magical is its proximity to several sites of Mayan ruins, the most picturesque of which is Tulum, situated right on the sea. This was an important port along the extensive network of maritime trade routes followed by the ancient Maya. The ruins are well preserved, and in a very few places one can even see the original pigments used to paint the stucco walls covering these limestone structures. It is amazing to imagine what these palaces and temples might have looked like in full color painted with blues, yellows, and reds. We also visited the sites of Muyil and Coba where there's a well-preserved ball court.Xcaret is sort of like a Mayan Disneyland. It's a place where you can snuba, snorkel, and swim with dolphins, all within the confines of a protected and well-groomed inlet. So, it's kinda natural, kinda not, and like Disneyland I've got mixed feelings about the whole thing. But, it's also the home of the Mexico Espectacular! which, in our opinion, managed to justify the exorbitant entrance fee. Having no idea what to expect, we followed the crowd through the reconstructed pre-Hispanic plaza where all manner of priest, warrior, and god incarnate stood ready to strike a pose. We were then ushered into an enormous stadium where we watched a very acrobatic but loosely interpreted reenactment of an ancient Mayan ballgame. We then witnessed the first contact between the Spanish and the Mayans, an encounter that involved much more pirouetting than I would have imagined. The portrayal of the Spanish conquest emphasized the complexity of Mexican heritage in that both the natives and the Spaniards were presented in a sympathetic light. The message seemed to be that genocide is an unfortunate side-effect of the noble pursuit of converting heathens to Christianity resulting in... MARIACHI!
The Mexican identity was celebrated with fervor in a gala survey of all its regional music and dance. And when I say all... From the website: "You will be overwhelmed by the richness and variety of the regional dances of Mexico." And so we were... for over two hours! It was quite an experience... and a lot of fun!We also did our fair share of hanging out on the beach, though the weather was unusually cool for the time of year. We couldn't complain though. While we were away our house was buried in four feet of snow, and friends and neighbors were without power for days. We managed to miss the blizzard and return home to a plowed driveway, a shoveled walk (thanks Nate!), a well-cared-for dog, and a house unscathed. The perfect vacation.

November Visit to Grandma Stella

2009-03-06T16:04:00.001-08:00

I'm not sure why it's taken me three months to post these pictures from our last trip to Wisconsin. I suppose because it's just so painful to be reminded that my grandma is so far away, especially now when I have no way to communicate with her. We used to talk on the phone every week. I miss that. I miss hearing her voice on my answering machine. "Holly, it's just me." I wish I'd saved those messages.
Anyway, this was a good visit. Like last time she didn't seem to have a clear idea of who we were, and she never used our names. But like last time she was happy to see us and enjoyed talking and looking at pictures on my laptop.
She liked my watch because it had red numbers, so I traded with her. It was a nice moment. I know it made her happy to have the new watch, and I felt like I'd really connected with her. Then the next day she showed me my watch, and said that some girl had been there and given it to her. She had no idea it had been me. But it didn't make me sad - In a way it was reassuring. I know I'm in her mind somewhere. In some way.
And here we are with my great-aunt Nina who visits my grandma several times a week. They are the last of eleven siblings.
My hopes for this trip were simple. I just wanted to be there and hold my grandma's hand. And I did that. A lot. And when we left I told her how much I love her. And she said, "I love you too."

Maine

2008-07-19T04:32:00.000-07:00

Maine is among our favorite places. Apart from last summer when we were in Europe, we've gone there every year since Lucia was born and since Phoebe moved back there. This year we brought my niece Kathryn along. As you can see, the girls had a great time together! Mostly we go for Phoebe, but we also go for a lot of other things - the best bread in the world (Phoebe's), the best restaurant and farm fresh produce in the world (Chase's), the best ice cream in the world (John's), the best honey in the world (Swan's), the best maple syrup in the world, etc. As Kathryn put it, "It seems like Maine has a lot of the best things in the world." We got to spend some time with Romy, Phoebe's little niece. She showed us the best spot for swimming at Lake Megunticook. It was a really warm week for Maine, and we were able to do a lot of swimming.
Sometimes I get tired of being the official family photographer. When I threatened to leave my camera at home for this trip, Nick took up the task. He took all the following pictures. This is at Kelly's Cove in Bayside where we rent a cottage every year.
Low tide. Lucia found a hermit crab and made it a temporary 'habitat' in her bucket. Later she released him into a tide pool. We also found lots of small fish, brine shrimp, and small crabs. And we rescued a large drowning dragonfly. It dried out nicely on my hand and took off into the air.

Paris in June

2008-07-18T06:47:00.001-07:00

Nick was working in the Paris office for a couple of weeks while we were away, so we were able to enjoy some more time in our favorite city. It was particularly nice for Lucia to have the chance to visit with friends. We attended the dress rehearsal for her old theatre class who were preparing to present The Wizard of Oz. When we were in Paris Lucia was playing the part of Dorothy, and she had a wonderful time doing it. So it was really fun for her to see how the production had come together since we'd left. Here she is with her friend Andrea, dressed in a gypsy costume...and Andrea as the Scarecrow...We revisited some of our old favorites:
The Hall of Paleontology. This may very well be my favorite place in Paris. It's one of those places where you really know you're not in Kansas any more. It is as old, dusty and poorly maintained as your high school chem lab. The labels are mostly handwritten and faded, and there's nothing flashy, technological or modern to be seen in the whole place. And yet, every time we've gone it is filled with Parisian families taking in some comparative anatomy of a Sunday afternoon. Is this my culture, or what! I've many more photos, but I'll hold off for now because they really deserve their own post. In the meanwhile, here are just a couple...
The Cité des Sciences where we spent two days in fact! Here we are in the children's area...Here's a good shot of my freaky, backwards bending elbows. I used to think that everyone's elbows did that, but then some kind peers put an end to my illusions.and Lucia dodging cosmic radiation in the Universe exhibit...Breakfast in America. Yes, we go to Paris and eat bagels and veggie burgers in an American style diner. And I'm not a bit ashamed. The tea room at the Paris Mosque. This is such a lovely place, and the mint tea and halva are delicious.The Saturday bird market on Ile de la Cite.
We also explored some new areas of the city, most notably the sewers! This was truly enlightening. Apart from the incredible smell, we learned about all the special machines that are used to clean out the sewers. That enormous steel ball behind Lucia is pushed into the mouth of a siphon running under the river. It then rolls through pushing the much ahead of it until it pops out the other side. We ate at L'Ebouillanté, a place I'd seen and admired many times because it's situated so nicely on such a picturesque little street...
And we finally got around to the Palais de Tokyo where we got our fill of conceptual art. Here is a representation of an elephant at a distance of 18,000 km from the surface of the earth.Lucia was particularly fascinated by this piece, a sort of makeshift bazooka powered by liquid nitrogen which shoots empty beer bottles into a cement wall at a speed of 600 km/hr. We also visited the children's gallery at the Pompidou where we played around with some hands-on exhibits that accompanied a show of Edouard Sautai having to do with scale and perspective. We made constructions and projected them onto a screen. They also have a good website for kids.

Germany in June

2008-07-01T05:32:00.000-07:00

So, finally! Here are some photos from our trip to Germany in June where we attended the wedding of my friends Claudia and Thomas. Claudia, Mirjam, and I were exchange students together in Norway in 1991. We've kept in touch ever since. We used to see each other very sporadically, but one of the benefits of getting older is that we've become more established and able to travel. So, lately we've been able to visit more frequently. That's a lot of fun - especially since we all now have children. For the wedding we rented this cottage with Mirjam and her husband Arend and their two boys Jaap and Bram. I knew Lucia would have a great time when, within five minutes of our arrival, Arend was setting off firecrackers. Our neighbors, the sheep.
The "town" in which we stayed is called Kius and is in the very northern part of Germany, close to the Danish border. It was quite beautiful - rolling fields of wheat and this tall waxy rape(?) plant used to make rapeseed oil. Early morning visitor...
Bram had a particular fascination with Lucia's hair.
Arend made it his duty to fetch fresh bread each morning from the bakery. This is what breakfast looked like every day! We attended the big regional Garden Festival in the nearby town of Schleswig where we discovered this fantastic playground slide.

There was also a lovely little beach. I really want one of these chairs!

Claudia and Thomas had a civil ceremony in the town hall of nearby Kappeln which happens to be located in an old windmill! I don't have any photos from the actual ceremony. The space was small and dark and already crowded with photo-minded folks. So I decided to just be there. But here's one of Claudia and Mirjam. Marlene awaiting the ceremony...The town hall building.
After the lovely ceremony we had lunch in another little town on the water where there were little thatch-roofed cottages like this one. We crossed the Danish border one day and took the kids to Legoland! It was really nice - low-key and no lines, just the way I like my amusement parks. It was also a new experience for Lucia - the first time she's been at an amusement park together with other kid friends.
Dogs are welcome at amusement parks in Denmark...
And a couple of pictures from our first day in Hamburg. We were happy to be able to spend a little time with Claudia, Thomas, and Marlene before the wedding. Marlene liked the nesting blocks we gave her. And here we are in a really nice botanical park in Hamburg.

Southern Belles

2008-04-18T10:55:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we flew down to North Carolina to visit Jadae and Saxonie at college. Lucia had been missing her sisters terribly and was very excited to finally see them again. The weather was beautiful, and the trees were all in full bloom.Charlotte is a good example of how not to build a city. The amount of quick, cheap development going on there was astounding. For the most part it is a car-centered sprawling city of divided highways and strip malls. However, there were some very pretty residential streets lined with lovely trees and craftsman style bungalows. I think we did manage to find the best of what Charlotte has to offer. We hit most of the hot spots on the Happy Cow vegetarian guide. Zada Jane's was a popular spot and easily the hippest place in town. We had to wait about an hour for a table, but we amused ourselves with the outdoor shuffleboards, and the time passed quickly by. Everyone was happy with the food which ranged from my lovely tofu scramble to Jadae and Saxonie's "Vegless Avenger" - an omelette containing parts from three or four different species of animal.

The Imaginon is actually the children's branch of the public library in Charlotte. It is housed in an architecturally whimsical building that also holds theatre and exhibition spaces. There was a 'healthy kids' fair' going on while we were there, so Lucia got to do some crafts and have her face painted while we checked out the interesting exhibit - fantastical machines based on different letters of the alphabet. Below see the letter 'E': Emu's Egg Engulfs Eggscales. Egads! And this one had something to do with a bouncing ball... for 'B' presumably... We roped Sax into a game of miniature golf. Somewhere around the 11th hole the sky darkened ominously. Look in the upper left corner below...We decided to call it quits when the hurricane force winds carried Nick's ball into the pond - much to Lucia's disappointment. Ah well, it was fun while it lasted!

Parkinson's Unity Walk

2008-04-01T20:13:00.001-07:00

Please check out my post about the Parkinson's Unity Walk at Unschool Days, and find out how you can contribute!

Well, It Ain't Paris...

2008-03-25T22:03:00.000-07:00

In fact, this is something that's probably unknown in Paris. It's called de-icing the wings of an airplane. I took this photo on Friday after we'd landed in the middle of a snow storm in Minneapolis. We were on our way to visit my grandma in LaCrosse, Wisconsin.

flying at the Marriott

the Mississippi from our hotel room window

I've been trying to decide what to do with our Paris blog now that we're no longer living in Paris. We're still doing a lot of traveling. Wisconsin this month, North Carolina in April, the unschooling conference in Massachusetts in May, a wedding in Germany and then Paris(!) again in June, and Maine in July. So I've decided to keep Trois éléphants going as our travel blog to be updated as we make the rounds.

four generations

Stateside

2008-03-04T14:42:00.000-08:00

Thanks for the cake Mary, Grace and Eleanor!

So we made it! It was a long, boring flight featuring some truly terrible movies. But we've been back for four days now, and so far it's really nice. Lucia got a great welcome home present on Friday night.... Snow! And the kind with big, fluffy flakes too.We hit the ground running with a nice long playdate with some dear friends on Saturday and a friend's birthday pool party at the Y on Sunday followed by a big family dinner.

Monday was Fiber Arts (an unschooling creation that started off as a sort of knitting circle, but is mostly a big play party now with the occasional stitch thrown in here and there). Below the fiber arts crew is investigating such concepts as density, bouyancy, and ecology in the frozen pond. It's all very scientific. Age mixing is one of the greatest benefits of unschooling! Lucia is thrilled to be back with her friends and family and is having a wonderful time.
As for me, I'm also feeling really good about being back. Monday was a typically unschooly day filled with great conversation with bright, open-minded, interesting unschooling moms. I'd really missed that. Traveling is wonderful. I love experiencing new places and different perspectives on the world. We will continue to travel as much as we can in the future. There's no doubt about that. And we met some wonderful new friends on our journeys - and reconnected with some old ones. But it's also so nice to be back in my own community of family, friends, and fellow unschoolers where my views and lifestyle are understood, accepted, and shared.

Faux Amis

2008-02-28T12:56:00.000-08:00

False cognates have provided no end of fun during our stay in France. Our discourse may be a bit droll for a while after our return. So to prepare our friends and family I decided to write a little Frenglish primer, and to make it more amusing I wrote it in the form of a story using as many false friends as I could. And here it is. Amuse yourself well! (translation follows)

I was doing the courses for a new throat-support when an ancient friend called on my mobile. "Sorry," she said, "did I derange you?"
"No," I responded, "In effect I was just essaying to enter a magazine, but there's such an affluence of people defiling the port. I'll have to attend for a moment or I might be blessed." She demanded me to assist a spectacle with her that evening. The seance commenced at 21 hours. I hadn't seen her in a decade so I said, "Well sure!" I proposed we eat first. So we accorded on a good restaurant and said, "All to the hour!"
I re-entered the house, gave my corpse a quick douche, and put on a new habit. I tried to take the metro, but I failed to achieve my correspondence, and I didn't want to be retarded. So I found a taxi. I demanded the chaffeur to roll at all allure, but there was much circulation. I wished I had wings like a bald-mouse so I could fly to the rendez-vous and arrive at the hour.
When I finally arrived, my friend demanded, "What arrived?" And I made my excuses for being retarded.
For an entree we all the two commanded the legumes, but the dish deceived us. The plate was better. It was very fresh, and the server raped the cheese right in the face of us.
My friend talked a lot about being celibate and the difficulty of having a relationship when she's so often at the bureau or voyaging for affairs. She said, "I have some chance that I have no envy of infants." I gave her my full audience and wished her good courage.
For dessert I commanded a gross cup of glass and a bio infusion.
The server deposed the addition on the table and I remarked that the leaves were attached with a trombone. We regarded the addition and were in accord that the restaurant was a good market. When we'd terminated we went to the spectacle. It was something she'd chosen by hazard, so we ignored everything about it. We were ravished to find out that it starred our favorite comedian, Daniel Day-Lewis. It was formidable!

I was shopping for a new bra when an old friend called on my cell phone. "Sorry," she said, "did I disturb you?"
"No," I answered. "Actually, I was just trying to go into a store, but there's such a crowd coming through the door that I have to wait a minute or I might get injured." She asked me to attend a show with her that evening. The show started at 9pm. I hadn't seen her in ten days, so I said, "Of course!" I suggested we eat first, so we agreed on a good restaurant and said, "See you soon!"
I went home, had a quick shower, and put on my new clothes. I tried to take the subway, but I missed my connection, and I didn't want to be late. So I found a taxi. I asked the driver to drive at full speed, but there was a lot of traffic. I wished I had wings like a bat so I could fly to meet her and arrive on time.
When I finally arrived, my friend asked, "What happened?" So I apologized for being late.
For an appetizer we both ordered the vegetables, but the dish was disappointing. The main dish was better. It was very fresh, and the waiter grated the cheese right in front of us.
My friend talked a lot about being single and the difficulty of having a relationship when she's so often at the office or traveling on business. She said, "I'm lucky that I don't want children." I listened attentively and wished her luck.
For dessert I ordered a big bowl of ice cream and an organic herbal tea.
The waiter put the check on the table, and I noticed that the papers were fastened with a paper clip. We looked at the check and agreed that the restaurant was a good value. When we finished we went to the show. It was something she'd chosen at random, so we knew nothing about it. We were delighted to find out that it starred our favorite actor, Daniel Day-Lewis. It was great!

We'll Always Have Paris

2008-02-28T10:43:00.000-08:00

Well, I've done all the packing I can at this point. And now there's not much to do. I had to return The Pillars of the Earth to the library. I was on page 577 of 9 hundred something. It's not a great book. The writing is completely mediocre, but now I'm invested in the story, and I want to know what happens to all these people. Will they ever finish building the cathedral?!? Will the scheming bishop get his comeuppance?!? Will Jack become a monk or will he get the girl - or both?!? Such a soap opera. It would have been perfect for the plane. Instead I'll finish Le Petit Prince en francais, underlining my new vocabulary words, and then I'll knit Lucia's scarf (hopefully while watching a few episodes of House).

Anyway, I've been keeping a list of all the stuff we've been doing here, and I realized today that it's pretty crazy! I think it's safe to say we've done Paris. I may have even forgotten some things... One star means we've been there more than once. Two stars means we were there often.

parks and gardens:
Jardin des Tuileries**
Jardin Luxembourg
Bois de Vincennes*
Parc de la Villette**
Butte Chaumont
Bois de Bologne (Jardin d’Acclimitation)
La Ferme de Paris
Parc Monceau
Jardin des Plantes* (et le Menagerie)
Arene des Luteces
Place des Vosges*
Parc Asterix

museums:
Louvre**
Rodin
Picasso**
Pompidou
Musee D’Orsay*
L’Orangerie*
Jacquemart-Andre
Cluny (Musee du Moyen Age)*
Quai Branly
Guimet*
Halle St. Pierre
Cite des Sciences**
Musee des Arts et Metiers*
Musee de l’Homme
Hall of Paleontology
Magic Museum
Musee Grevin

churches/cathedrals:
St. Denis
Ste. Chapelle*
Sacre Coeur*
Chartres
Madeleine
St. Augustin
Notre Dame

chateaux:
Vincennes
Versailles*
Angers
Chantilly
Fountainebleu
Montriou

monuments & miscellaneous:
Cemitiere Pere Lachaise
Arc de Triomphe
Tour Eiffel
Chapelle Expiatoire
Bird market
Organic market at Batignol**
Mosque de Paris tea salon
Angelina** (The best hot chocolate I've ever had!)

For anyone planning a trip to Paris, I'd be glad to answer questions or give tips!

Amboise

2008-02-26T23:22:00.001-08:00

We went to Amboise and visited the Château du Clos Lucé where Leonardo da Vinci spent the last three years of his life. I had trouble deciding whether to post this here or on Unschool Days. There is so much I could say about da Vinci in relation to unschooling. He was pretty much the ultimate unschooler. But frankly, I haven't the time for it right now... So much time, so little to do. Wait. Strike that. Reverse it. Maybe later... It's amazing how many lovely places one can reach on a French train. Amboise was a gorgeous little medieval town. A lot of the buildings looked like this:
Leonardo was invited to live in Amboise by François I with whom he had a close friendship. François must have loved to hear Leonardo talk. He gave him the residence of Clos Lucé (below) as well as a handsome pension and the freedom to pursue his artistic and scientific passions in exchange for nothing more than his conversation. It was a pretty nice deal that lasted for three years until his death in 1519. The day was surprisingly cold and gray after several springlike days with plenty of sunshine. So I was a little unprepared and spent more time shivering than shooting. Also, photography wasn't allowed inside the chateau. But anyway, here are a few shots to give you an idea.
Lucia had recently read a book about Leonardo da Vinci, so she was very interested in these large-scale models of his inventions. They are scattered throughout the grounds of the chateau. Most of them have moving parts that can be operated by children. Above is an early helicopter concept. Below is the first tank. Those are guns sticking out of the sides. Inside there was a wheel that could be turned to rotate the tank and aim the guns. Leonardo da Vinci designed a lot of machines for warfare.
They look way too happy about operating this early machine gun complete with fan-shaped array for maximum coverage in battle.

New View

2008-02-23T14:58:00.001-08:00

So, long story short, we switched apartments for our last three weeks in Paris. We are in the same general neighborhood, but in a much nicer building and a much nicer apartment. This one has space and light and... a view! Above you see the Eiffel Tower from the kitchen window. And below is looking directly south.
That big green rooftop below is the Madeleine Church, and the tall skyscraper is the Tour Montparnasse.
And here's the view from Lucia's window at bedtime. Eye of Sauron... duck!

Kim Was Here

2008-02-23T14:40:00.000-08:00

We went for a nice walk one night and watched the Eiffel Tower sparkling from the river. That beam of light shooting out of the top is is a rotating searchlight. Lucia calls it the eye of Sauron and makes us duck every time it swings past. I didn't take too many pictures when Kim was here. Too busy chatting, I suppose. Speaking of speaking, Kim gets highest marks for learning French for her trip. She had many successful communications - even with snooty waiters. Bravo!

Tout Va Bien

2008-02-19T02:21:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I got this group of photos all ready to post, and I guess I forgot all about them. So, here they are. These were from the end of January. Lucia had been very homesick. But then we had a really good talk about it and the sun came out(!) and she started feeling much better. There were also plenty of distractions with all of Nick's birthday week surprises...
Lucia and I choreographed a little swing dance performance and made ourselves some costumes out of plastic bags. Lucia had kind of a bustle skirt (above).
In December we'd gone to Angelina, our favorite place for hot chocolate and pastries, and, feeling inspired, Lucia had invented her own pastry recipe which she wrote out on a napkin. She'd been meaning to try it out, and Nick's birthday was the perfect occasion!

It looked beautiful, but Lucia decided in the end that it was a bit too dry and dense. She altered the recipe, but we haven't yet had the pleasure of sampling the improved version...
In any case, dad was quite pleased...
We also made a game to play at the Musee D'Orsay. It was kind of a bingo game in which we each had to find paintings or sculptures featuring different characteristics like warm colors, seascape, balanced composition, self-portrait, etc. Kim was visiting, so we had some good competition. Nick won the first round, so he had to give us a tour of his choices. I don't remember why this painting of La Republique was chosen, but I like the image of the little kids breastfeeding.

2008-02-18T15:51:00.001-08:00

Seen on the wall at the American Library in Paris:

This could get ugly

2008-02-14T13:45:00.000-08:00

So, I've tried to manage our peanut butter stores while we're here so we'd have enough to make it through to the 29th. Our supply has been replenished a few times by visitors (thanks, guys!). And yet, after lunch today, here's how things stood: Two weeks to go.
Not. Looking. Good.

The day is beautiful, and so are you.

2008-02-11T12:01:00.000-08:00

Stonehenge

2008-02-09T08:54:00.000-08:00

Stonehenge is an incredible thing to see. The people Nick was working with in England told him he shouldn't bother, it's just a bunch of rocks. In a very literal way I suppose that's true. But it's by far the most impressive bunch of rocks I've ever seen. Especially when you consider that some of these rocks were transported up to 250 miles without the help of the wheel by stone age people thousands of years ago. The stones were also worked and shaped probably using methods involving heating and cooling the rock to force it to expand and contract. Lucia is reading a book about it now. That incredible golden light is produced by some of the first rays of the rising sun at 8:00am. We arrived early, before the monument was actually open to the public, because we'd applied for a special permit to enter the inner circle. During regular hours the visitors have to stand back from the monument, behind a rope. You can get pretty close, but you can't actually walk in among the stones. And you can't walk all the way around and see it from all angles. Another advantage to arriving early was that we had the place completely to ourselves. It was amazing.
We walked around this magical place in this incredible glow. Nick had arranged the whole thing so he was really pleased.On the application form there was a space for describing our 'ritual' and informing us that open flame was not permitted. We left it blank of course and joked about it a bit. But then when we got there it was so beautiful and special that we felt like we should do something to mark the experience. So we kissed each other and made our wishes for a great new home in the mountains, and I took a moment to appreciate my wonderful family and all we've had the chance to see and experience over the past seven months. It's been an extraordinary time! Some graffiti above. This is why you can't usually get close to the stones any more.

See how small Lucia looks in front of those stones!

And then on to Bath for some more kultcha! These naked street performers were rude, crude, and pretty funny. I should mention it was absolutely freezing that day!

And here are Nick and Lucia at the Roman baths. I had been here before in 1999. But they've added an audioguide since then, part of it narrated by Bill Bryson. I've just read two of his books, so that was fun. Lucia also enjoyed the audio guide especially for children.
And yes, we did try the water. It tasted absolutely horrible.

Avebury

2008-02-08T13:52:00.001-08:00

Nick was in Wiltshire in England last week on business, so Lucia and I joined him for the weekend and did some sightseeing. We were in the vicinity of Stonehenge so we went there of course, but we also visited Avebury. The stone circle there is older than Stonehenge. Its construction was probably begun around 3000 BC. It is also larger. In fact, the outer circle, about a quarter mile across, surrounds much of the town of Avebury which must make it one quirky place to hang your hat. But it also means that the site is very accessible. You can walk amongst the stones. You can touch them. At Stonehenge you're not allowed to actually enter the circle unless you get a special permit... which of course we did (more on that later).
Unlike those of Stonehenge, the Avebury stones were not shaped. They vary greatly in appearance and are very sculptural. In fact Nick had first heard of Avebury from one of his sculpture teachers, Bill Tucker, whose works look an awful lot like these standing stones.
There were originally 98 stones, some weighing more than 40 tons. But in the middle ages the local Christians went on a rampage to destroy the offensive pagan symbols. They knocked them down and broke them apart and even used pieces in building construction. The site was excavated in the 1920's and 30's and restoration work was carried out by Alexander Keiller, archaeologist and heir to a marmalade fortune. This is my favorite (above). Somehow to me it looks like an elephant.The site is encircled by a man-made mound of chalk and stone. Nick and Lucia are standing on top of it above. And below, some more stones:

We also visited the Salisbury Cathedral.

And here, Nick finds his thrill at Silbury Hill, the tallest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe. Nobody knows what it was for. It was never used as a burial mound. Any ideas?

Excellent Blogs

2008-02-05T22:39:00.000-08:00

Kelli at Our Joyful Life recently sent me the Excellent Blog Award. Thanks Kelli! I'm to pass it on to ten other excellent blogs. Check out this post at Unschool Days to find out who the lucky winners are...

Million Dollar Baby

2008-01-31T00:03:00.001-08:00

Some of you may be wondering why I'd choose to post a video of soggy carpet when I could be posting something more like this - shots of our posh quartier. I'm afraid they're also rather soggy... but it's an honest representation of the typical winter weather here. The building that looks like a Greek temple is the Madeleine church. The fancy shopping street is Rue Royale. The park where we play soccer is the Jardin des Tuileries. In the first shot of the playground you can see the Eiffel Tower peeking out above the trees in the upper left. I would have added narration, but we're getting ready to go meet Nick in England, and I don't have time! Enjoy.

Mystery Solved

2008-01-29T22:55:00.000-08:00

After we moved here we started noticing these pieces of carpet in the streets, near the curbs in our neighborhood. The carpet pieces are rolled up and fastened with plastic bands. The carpet itself is not one standard kind. I've seen all colors. It's usually an anonymous sort of industrial carpet, but once in a while you see something Persian. It was my friend Joe who pointed out that they're actually all over the city. The theories flew - castoff bits of homeless peoples' camps (of which there are quite a few around here), stepping stones for high-heeled women on wet days (of which there are also quite a few - both high-heeled women and wet days), chew toys for off-leash dogs (also numerous)? Anyway, the mystery has been solved. The carpet rolls are the result of ingenuity on the part of the street cleaners who use them to deflect the flow of water when they open up the pipes for cleaning the streets. Coincidentally, the day after making this discovery I stumbled upon an explanation of it in a really terrible novel that I wished I could stop reading but couldn't because it contained all sorts of enlightenment about things like this that I'd been wondering about for ages. Another useful observation from same book is that Parisians always walk as if they're driving in a traffic circle. It's so true, and it's been incredibly helpful to view it that way. I'm getting jostled and shoved a lot less frequently. I've been marveling about this since I got here. I've walked the streets of New York City all my life without ever touching a single person. Yet I come to Paris and suddenly I'm a magnet for physical abuse by strangers. And Lucia must be invisible judging by the number of people who've tried to walk through her. I assumed there were some kind of cultural walking cues that I wasn't picking up on, but I've concluded that it's simply road rage on foot.
Hey, we've been in Paris for six months, and I think this is the closest I've come to a rant on my blog! Forgive me, I love Paris! It's just, as my friend Amy put it, New Yorkers are the only people who know how to walk!

Kicking Off Nick's Birthday Week

2008-01-21T14:05:00.001-08:00

In August we decided that one birth 'day' just isn't enough. So we've started celebrating our birthdays over the course of a whole week. We started Nick's birthday week celebration this weekend with a trip to the Musée Grévin, a wax museum that opened in 1882. The admission is very expensive, so we'd been saving it for a special occasion, and this was it! As far as wax museums go (and I'm a sucker for this kind of thing) it was very well done. I haven't been to Madame Tussaud's in Times Square, but I'd imagine you'd find fewer French philosophers and poets there. There was also an exhibit that showed the process of creating the wax figures. Each of the 500,000 hairs on each head are placed and inserted by hand.
We exited the museum through a different door than we'd entered and found ourselves in one of the passages couverts (basically 18th century shopping malls). I'd been meaning to go and check these out, so it was rather serendipitous. The one pictured dates from 1799.
We poked around for a place to eat and came up with this - Victoria Station. It's an Italian restaurant in Paris dressed up to look like the Orient Express and named after an English train station. The pasta was cosi cosi.
Then the movie we were trying to catch at the Champs Elysee was sold out. Who knew 'Bee Movie' would still be such a hit weeks after it had opened... So we started wandering aimlessly in the surprisingly balmy January weather. But, the thing I love about Paris is you don't have to wander too far before you stumble upon something completely magical - an outdoor puppet theatre (and one that claims to be the oldest in Paris...)!
I have to say I'm really loving the way that these things just continue on throughout the winter. I expected all the carousels and ferris wheel and puppet shows to shut down at some point when the weather got too cold. But it seems that the weather here really never does get too cold for outdoor diversions. Gotta love that Gulf Stream! Even the farmers' market is still going strong. We're there just about every Saturday eating crepes and galettes and hauling home loads of organic vegetables! Anyway, it was a good start to Nick's Birthday Week!

London

2008-01-16T05:27:00.001-08:00

We went to London for a few days. We saw the Tutankhamun Exhibition at the millenium dome. This exhibition went on tour thirty years ago, and Nick saw it then as a child. I would have been two at the time, so I guess that's why I missed it. It made a lasting impression on Nick, and maybe it will on Lucia as well. It was quite impressive. My favorite objects on display were the shabti - like little action figures for the afterlife they came complete with tools and cases. The deceased could bring them to life by reading a spell (spell no.6 in case you're in need) from the Book of the Dead, and then the shabti would take care of all his or her work - picking up the dry cleaning, dusting the sarcophagi, that kind of thing. It's such a great idea. They didn't allow photography, so here are some pictures from the London Eye instead, the enormous ferris wheel that was built as part of the millenium hoopla. It is owned or maybe sponsored by British Airways, and they refer to a ride as a 'flight' as in "Enjoy your flight!" Maybe I'm particular, but when boarding a ferris wheel, especially one as tall as this, I'd rather be assured that at no point will I actually find myself 'in flight.' And here's a view of the London Eye by day with Big Ben. Here we are in front of the gates at Buckingham Palace. We didn't visit the queen, and we didn't go inside. It was on our route, so we just stopped by to wave from a distance.
Then we walked through this park which was such a refreshing change from all the French style gardens we've been visiting. The heavily controlled, geometrical symmetry of the French garden can be quite striking and impressive when done on the scale of, say, Versailles. But in general I prefer more rolling, gentle, organic sorts of parks and gardens. This park reminded us a lot of Central Park, and we wondered whether Olmstead had been influenced by the English style when designing it.
After a while we found out that we were on the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Walk. We had planned to go to Hampton Court on this trip - something I've been wanting to do for ten years. But it seems the English decided to dismantle half their railway system in honor of our visit, so we had to make a quick change of plans. We ended up at the aquarium where we found out just how cuddly and affectionat a ray can be. Check out the smile on the one below.

Then we went to the reconstruction of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. This was fantastic! Unfortunately the sun was just setting as our tour group made its way into the actual theatre, so I wasn't able to get such great pictures. But I literally felt chills go down my spine when I stepped in (out, technically speaking) and looked out over the groundlings' pit. It is like stepping into the 16th century. They do performances there starting in April. Some day we will have to go and see one.

There's also a musem exhibit there that deals with all different aspects of theatre and life in Shakespeare's time. Lucia's favorite part was the costume area. There's an emphasis on the challenges faced by the costumers today in trying to recreate period costumes with some degree of authenticity.
And for those really tough stains...

If you look carefully you can see me and Lucia sitting in the third tier just to the right of the stage.
Just kidding! That's a small cut-away model of the Rose Theatre. And below is a diorama. Have I mentioned how much I love - have always loved dioramas? One of my great regrets about our time in Paris is that I didn't find out about France Miniature until after it had closed for the season! (some day... some day... )Anyway, this is a diorama of a market held on the frozen Thames during the 'Little Ice Age' of the 17th century.
We also visited the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre, but that was such an inspirational experience that it will soon have its own blog entry over at Unschool Days.

Superior to Cracker Jack

2008-01-11T14:31:00.001-08:00

I never understood Cracker Jack. I mean really now, would anyone ever voluntarily eat caramel corn if not for the promise of a prize inside? And is an inky fake tattoo really worth all that? When I discovered Kinder Surprise eggs as a teenager in Norway I couldn't believe what we miserable urchins in the US had been deprived of! OK, so it's a hollow egg, right, made entirely of chocolate, and inside there's a little plastic capsule containing a toy. But get this - the toy is always something very cool and well designed. Most of the time there's some assembly required. This is carried out with the aid of an illustrated instruction sheet and is half the fun. The photo above is the fruit of five months of kinder egg consumption - about one egg a week (she always gives me half the chocolate part). I found that particular construction on Lucia's floor one day. She enjoys arranging and playing little games with her kinder surprises.

Une Petite Fille Sur Une Balançoire

2008-01-01T13:32:00.000-08:00

Galette du Roi

2007-12-27T13:43:00.001-08:00

The Galette du Roi (king's cake) is traditionally eaten for the feast of the epiphany, but we decided to have one for Amy's last night in Paris. There's a little prize hidden somewhere in the cake, and the person who finds it gets to wear the crown.
Here they are chewing carefully... The cake was really good, by the way - with an almond, almost marzipan filling.
Guess who found the prize!
Lucia in her crown:

Joyeux Noël

2007-12-27T12:57:00.000-08:00

I got a tree at the flower market at Madeleine. Nick and Lucia were both recuperating in bed - Lucia from a mercifully mild case of chicken pox and Nick from a bad cold. So I carried the tree home myself. Lucia told me to carry it under my arm like a baguette. So I had to laugh when the woman at the flower stall did in fact advise me to carry it exactly that way.
They don't have tree stands. Instead the tree is kind of pointed on the bottom and set into a half log like this: There's no watering involved, and our tree has certainly gotten very dry by now but still hasn't lost any needles...
Because we had no ornaments with us we made them all out of paper and recycled packaging elements. The sun on top was made from a cardboard cake tray.
We also did an ornament exchange with some friends and family and received a bunch of really lovely creations. We felt much more at home with some special and thoughtful ornaments hanging on our tree. Here's one from my mom and stepdad:
After the tree was all decorated the really serious business could begin - the assembly of a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle of Veronese's 'The Wedding at Cana.'
Much to our surprise it seems that Papa Noel actually brought his reindeer into the apartment with him on christmas eve. Not only did they nibble at the carrots, but they made a lot of progress on the jigsaw puzzle.
Christmas morning - some exciting presents...
Marzipan for me! my favorite...
We took a walk in the late afternoon. Here's Sacre Coeur at twilight.
And of course another opportunity for a carousel ride - this one free for christmas.
We had a lovely dinner of lasagna, and then we ate a 'buche de noel,' the traditional French christmas cake. It tasted as good as it looks.
Next day Amy, Lucia, and I set out for the Ile St. Louis to try out one of Lucia's presents, a set of kids' adventure maps of Paris.
We had a lovely day and ended up at the playground behind Notre Dame.
The completed puzzle:

Chateau de Fountainebleau

2007-12-26T15:18:00.000-08:00

The Chateau de Fountainebleau was home to many French royal families over the centuries. They all added wings and redecorated at various times and in various styles. After wandering around inside one kind of loses track. Like Versailles, it's an enormous place filled with room after opulent, gilded, tapestried room. For a time Napoleon hung his hat here, sat on his throne here, and eventually abdicated it from here as well. Nick, Amy, and Lucia on the swervy, curvy staircase. Notice the Caduceuses (Caducei?) of Mercury adorning the balusters.

The salamander was the emblem of Francois I.

Dancing in the ballroom.

In the council chamber.

Solstice

2007-12-24T01:13:00.000-08:00

We spent the first waxing day of the year at the Chateau de Fountainebleau. We didn't intend it specifically as a solstice celebration, but upon wandering the grounds for a little while we became very aware of the constant, strong presence of the sun hovering low on the horizon, peeking in and out between trees, and casting long, elegant shadows ahead of us on our path. Here we are at 4 o'clock, our shadows reaching far ahead of us. This frost is the closest we've come to snow.We saw swans sliding around on the ice . This is the charming square in the village of Fountainebleau. There was a Noel festival going on, and Papa Noel was making the rounds in a horse drawn "sleigh" fitted with wheels for the snowless streets.
And in France, nothing says Noel like an outdoor carousel.
Ever since living in Norway I can't help but think of pigs as symbols of Yule (they make and exchange marzipan pigs there for the holiday) so I thought it appropriate that this carousel did in fact have one.

Forgotten Memorial

2007-12-18T14:59:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things about our quartier is that we live around the corner from one of the most celebrated monuments in Paris, the Chapelle Expiatoire. Haven't heard of it? Well, neither have the Parisians. (That was a joke about it being celebrated.) It is a memorial to Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, built on the former Madeleine cemetery where their bodies, and presumably their heads, were dumped in a mass grave after execution. We are living in the heart of the Reign of Terror. Thousands of decapitated bodies fresh from the guillotine at Place de la Concorde (formerly de la Revolution) were carted up our cross street, Rue D'Anjou, and dumped in our local square.

The chapel is almost always closed, but one day back in September, its doors were open to the public, and I was able to get these exclusive photos of the inside:We found out that the imposing outer building hides some lovely gardens surrounding the chapel itself. This frieze inside the chapel depicts the intense sorrow and mourning that took place as Louis's remains were removed to Saint Denis. I'd say that's a bit of an exaggeration.
The apotheosis (apotheoses?) of Louis (above) and Marie (below). Can you believe it? Writing this entry I suddenly remembered I once wrote a poem about people being guillotined. I think it was in 4th grade we were required to keep a writing notebook and to hand it in every Friday with one new piece of writing for each day of the week. We could write about anything we chose in poetry or prose. So naturally I'd put it off until late Thursday night and then write five awful poems about the most random and unpleasant things I could imagine. For some reason my teacher always loved them. I actually remember two lines of the guillotine poem:
'Next come Louis and Marie,
Losers in French history.'
I can't remember any more, but that's probably for the best.

Giant Dodo Terrorizes Paris During Hanukkah Festivities

2007-12-13T12:15:00.001-08:00

There's our menorah this year. I made it with an egg carton and some aluminum foil. And those are a couple of Lucia's little gifts - a miniature Paris and a DIY Dodo. Lucia wrote numbers on the buses. '03' was supposed to be '30'. She occasionally reverses numbers (but never letters). Anyway, we've been taking the buses a lot lately - it's good to stay above ground when the days are so short. And this city is so beautiful - even if it takes a bit longer to get around, I'd rather see all the things we're passing on our way from A to B. And of course we're in no rush. So, Lucia's becoming familiar with the different bus routes. Living so close to Gare St. Lazare we have quick access to many of the bus lines and can get pretty much anywhere in the city that way. Today we took the 29 to the Marais where, in the Jewish quartier, we'd purchased our Hanukkah candles and a musical dreidel which, oddly enough, plays Beethoven's Für Elise.

The Hanukkah Elephant

2007-12-09T14:19:00.000-08:00

We went to the Guimet Museum this week. It's an Asian art museum with a really nice collection of digestible size. Lucia was particularly interested in seeing the Hindu gods and goddesses, of which Ganesh is her very favorite. While working in her children's activity guide she learned something she hadn't known before. Apparently (and please chime in if you know this to be inaccurate - I haven't confirmed it myself) there is a tradition in India of children writing letters to Ganesh to enlist his help in solving problems or doing well in school. Lucia got really excited and decided to make a wish to Ganesh. She asked for the spinach dumplings she really likes at this hole-in-the-wall Chinese takeout place on 8th Ave. near Times Square. She thought Ganesh would be sympathetic to her request since he likes dumplings so much himself.That night Lucia opened one of her Hanukkah presents (she gets one small gift each night), and she asked me, "Who is supposed to bring the Hanukkah presents?" She knows they're from me and her dad, but she was asking if there was some myth or fairy tale associated with presents at Hanukkah like the Santa Clause story for Christmas. I said I didn't think there was one, but that we could make one up. I said, "How about a Hanukkah fairy?" Her eyes lit up and she said, "I know! Ganesh could bring the presents at Hanukkah!"Last year we read a great book of stories about Ganesh from the library. I just went on Amazon to see if they had it, and I couldn't find it, nor can I quite remember the title. I'll have to check the library catalog later. But my recommendations on Amazon were: Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan, Aidan's First Full Moon Circle, and The Portable Atheist. What a combination. Good discussion topic: What does one's Amazon recommendation list suggest about one as a person?

Night at the Museum

2007-12-05T13:02:00.000-08:00

We were finishing dinner one Wednesday night a couple of weeks ago, and Nick mentioned that he'd really like to go to the Louvre. I said, "Isn't it open late on Wednesdays?" We got out the book and checked. Yes, the Louvre is open until 9:45pm every Wednesday night. It was just 7:30, so we left the dishes in the sink and went. We got there before 8, but unfortunately they were closing early that night due to the transit strike. We decided it was a great idea anyway. We've gone the past two Wednesday nights, and we intend to make it a weekly thing. It's nice because Nick gets to come with us. For our first night at the museum we really had to go to the Egyptian wing. I mean, really, what's the point of looking at a mummy during the daytime? And the Louvre has an actual, real mummy. There she is above - look at the amazing pattern of her wrappings. We learned a lot about the ancient Egyptians' obsession with death and the afterlife. Wealthy people had their mummies placed within multiple sarcophagi that fit one inside another like Russian nesting dolls.
Tombs contained lots of representations of servants, offerings, food, everything the deceased would need on the other side.
Here's Lucia in the chapel of the tomb of Akhethetep, a priest and wealthy land owner who lived 4,400 years ago. We found Akhethetep's name written in hieroglyphs all over the chapel.
The museum has a different atmosphere at night. It's quieter, less crowded. There's no line at the ticket counter. The many large windows that usually bring in the light instead just reflect the inside space. It's like being in another world.

Working From Home

2007-12-01T11:27:00.001-08:00

During the transit strike Nick spent a couple of days working from home. And that's what it looked like from my perspective.

Thanksgiving in France

2007-11-28T02:34:00.001-08:00

Our friends Blossom and Kevin visited over Thanksgiving. It was nice to have company for the holiday. It made everything feel much more festive - especially since this is another one of those American holidays. That's our coffee table all set with Lucia's turkey place cards(above). She got the idea from her grandma Judy who always has clever place cards on the table. Lucia also attended a Thanksgiving program at the American Library. I am thankful for that place!
Here's our feast - tofu turkey with onion and sage stuffing, brussels sprouts with shallots and balsamic, sweet potatoes with rosemary, Johnny cake (a sort of corn bread recipe Lucia found in a Louisa May Alcott book about a traditional American Thanksgiving), and Ocean Spray cranberry sauce straight from the can - smuggled across the Atlantic by Blossom and Kevin - seam still visible down the side (I can't belie my roots). We also had experimental pumpkin pie and pumpkin pudding. I say experimental because baking in this kitchen is always an experiment.And here they are before the holiday lights on the Champs-Elysees.

Good Fortune

2007-11-23T09:02:00.000-08:00

Nick had to go away for a week on business - first to London and then to Dublin. Lucia wanted to do something special for him when he got back. So she found a recipe for fortune cookies! She made her own personalized fortunes for each of us. Baking is not an easy task in our mini-Euro-kitchen. We have no baking equipment to speak of. Our rolling pin is a bottle of balsamic vinegar, our cookie sheet is a deep glass casserole dish, and our oven seems to operate at only two settings: hot or not. But we managed it somehow, and those are the results!

Holiday Windows

2007-11-19T14:27:00.000-08:00

The windows at Au Printemps and Galeries Lafayette are all decked out for the holidays with some rather surreal animated scenes featuring hungry wolves, frightened reindeer, cake-theiving mole creatures, and floating bubble babies. This is one time of the year I'm happy we live within walking distance of the Grands Magasins. Check it out:

Couper Les Pointes

2007-11-19T05:08:00.000-08:00

Lucia and I just got our first Parisian haircuts. We went to a place called Franck Provost which is one of those chains where the stylists all wear uniforms. They did a great job, I think. Even with my limited vocabulary the stylist was able to figure out my hair and cut it exactly the way I like. Lucia's hair has never been silkier. The whole thing took about twenty minutes and cost 77 Euro for the both of us. Un peu cher, but considering we only do this about once a year, it was well worth it!
Lucia is writing her own post about her hair cutting adventure at Lucia's Adventures.

Le Château de Montriou

2007-11-12T08:23:00.001-08:00

This is where we stayed during our trip to the Loire Valley. The Château de Montriou has been in the de Loture family for over 300 years. The current owners, Régis and Nicole de Loture have been putting a lot of work into the gardens which, as I hope you can see in the photos, are quite magical. We were there November 3-4, so it wasn't exactly growing season, but there was still plenty to appreciate, in part because there's been no frost yet, and in part because I have a fondness anyway for fall gardens. As you'll see below there were even plenty of tomatoes! Unfortunately we missed the pumpkins, for which these gardens have become known. In general, pumpkins seem to be something of a novelty in France. the part of the chateau that we stayed in (on the left). To the right is the chapel. Both are from the 15th century. the interior of the 15th century chapelexterior of the chapelour room was a little draftythe view from our window

more of the grounds - "the enchanted forest"

The owners were really lovely, somewhat eccentric people. I guess you'd have to be a bit eccentric to live in a 15th century castle. Nicole immediately won me over by declaring that school is completely worthless and it's great that we're homeschooling. She had been homeschooled by her grandmother for some years before attending school herself. She wrote a children's storybook that takes place in the gardens of the chateau and features watercolors painted on site. So we bought a copy, and I'm in the process of translating it for Lucia.

Below is the nearby Château du Plessis-Bourré which we admired from the outside, but didn't tour because we were all castled out by the time we returned from Angers. It was great to see though because it has an actual moat!

Château d'Angers and Chartres

2007-11-10T10:13:00.000-08:00

Château d'Angers was built on the site of a Gallo-Roman fortress which was later controlled by the dukes and counts of Anjou. The enormous castle was built in the 13th century by Louis IX. Its 17 towers still stand today, though in somewhat altered form. Most notably, their conical tops were removed during the 15th century in order to allow for artillery posts. The chateau is extremely well preserved and offers a great education in castle design and function. Another big attraction is the 100 meter long Apocalypse tapestry which was commissioned in the 14th century by Louis I of Anjou. It's a feel-good tapestry complete with plenty of fire and brimstone, burnings, beheadings, and plagues, all beautifully worked in colorful silk and wool thread. the dry moat surrounding the castle

herb and ornamental garden atop the ramparts - the garden contains many of the plants featured in the Apocalypse tapestries

We also stopped off at Chartres. Below you see Nick and Lucia about to cross that little bridge and enter the historic, medieval part of the town, with the cathedral in the background.a street in Chartres

wabbit season

This is one seriously impressive cathedral. The enormity of the interior with its soaring vaulted ceilings was just amazing. This place defines gothic. The atmosphere inside is magical and mysterious. It just reeks of intrigue and would make a great setting for a murder mystery. If I lived in that town I'd totally become Catholic.

the goddess

Chez Nous

2007-11-09T15:09:00.000-08:00

While we do spend quite a lot of our time at museums, parks, castles, and national monuments, we're also not tourists. We actually live here. So, we have plenty of downtime at home - time to dress up as pirates and eat frisbee-sized merengues,time to decorate the apartment for an impromptu dance party,
time to knit,
and time to write stories.

The Tooth Mouse

2007-11-09T15:07:00.000-08:00

In France it's not a fairy who comes to collect your tooth, but a mouse. The tooth is placed in a little box like this one given to us by our Parisian friend May.

A Visit From Grandma and Pa

2007-11-05T13:07:00.000-08:00

Crêpe No.8: Lucia orders for her grandparents at the usual Saturday morning haunt

Ellen and Marshall were here for a week, and in that time we managed to consume more chocolate and pastries than we had since our arrival in France. Some were from Fauchon, a very trendy place close by. Here's a sampling:While Ellen and Marshall were here we explored some new corners of the city. The park of Buttes-Chaumont was a great find. Built in 1867 it reminded us all of its contemporary, Manhattan's Central Park. It has the same sort of whimsical atmosphere with winding paths, footbridges, sculptures and enchanting little structures. The playfulness in design is reinforced by the collection of rather odd botanical specimens.
We didn't manage to find our way to that little gazebo on top of the cliff, but I'm sure there's a great view. We'll definitely be going back soon. And, finally, what does one do with leftover Halloween face paint? Paint yo' mama!

Pictures From Joe

2007-11-02T16:29:00.001-07:00

I'm usually the one behind the camera, but here are some pictures from Joe's camera in which I make a couple of appearances...

extremely rare - a shot of all three of us together! Look how long Lucia's hair is getting.

Lucia took this one of me and Joe on the carousel near Sacre Coeur.

Out and About

2007-10-31T14:04:00.001-07:00

Cimetière du Père-Lachaise.
Père-Lachaise is not only the final resting place of famous people like Oscar Wilde, Sarah Bernhardt, Jim Morrison, and Chopin, it is also a rambling and gorgeous green space. It's a wonderful place to get lost and wander. The little roads lined with mausolea give it the appearance of a strange little village. And the hills, layered with tombs, provide some striking visual effects. You can take a virtual tour of Père-Lachaise here.

coupla ghosts In search of a letterbox, Joe ventures into an abandoned rail tunnel in Belleville. He emerged unscathed but empty-handed. The box was no longer there. Basilique St. Denis. This is what I love about Paris. Here you have this gothic basilica of major architectural, historical, and cultural importance, the final resting place of nearly all the crowned heads of France (those that had them anyway - they never found Marie Antoinette's...), the Royal Necropolis of France, and what do you have right outside, smack up against the building? A carousel, of course. Lucia may have been excited, but these guys (below) don't look so happy about it...Saint Denis was martyred in 250 CE. He was beheaded on the hill at Montmartre (which actually means mountain of martyrs). But he didn't let that stop him. He purportedly picked up and carried his head for two miles, preaching the entire way, before finally dying at the site where the basilica now stands.

Many of the tombs at St. Denis have effigies of the kings and queens on them, and some of them are ticklish...
In striking contrast to the silence and repose within the crypt, there is a large, buzzing open-air market right outside of the church. A couple of random pictures... This is the ceiling of the Galeries Lafayette, one of the big department stores right around the corner from us. When Lucia first saw this she declared that it shouldn't be in a department store. It should be a church or a museum. But the building was actually built as a department store in 1893.
Our neighborhood is not really a neighborhood - it's more like living on Madison Avenue, right down the street from Bloomingdales. It's a little weird, but we've managed to find little pockets of reality here and there.

And here's a picture from our last visit to the Picasso Museum a few weeks ago.

Irish Invasion

2007-10-17T10:55:00.000-07:00

It was an action-packed few days while Mary, Grace, and Eleanor came to visit. The girls had two sights on their list - the Eiffel Tower and the Mona Lisa. We accomplished both with plenty of time to spare for frolicking in the playground and eating plenty of good food.
As you can see, the autumn light is gorgeous here at 48°N. That's 8 significant degrees further north than New York, making a big difference in the quality and the quantity of the light. I'd been wondering why I was having lots of trouble getting up in the morning until I realized that the sun wasn't rising until after 8am.

On the Ferris Wheel at Place de la Concorde - part of the Rugby World Cup to-do. France lost to England in the playoffs, by the way. So we won't experience the big celebratory parade and weekend of fanfare. We did, however, experience a transit strike today.

Thai Massage.... aaaaaaaaahhh

2007-10-11T13:21:00.000-07:00

I feel like a piece of Kobe beef. Not that I would know what Kobe beef feels like. OK, bad simile – let’s move on. I feel loose like a rag doll, relaxed, slightly buzzed. My head is swimming, and I can’t seem to control the impromptu dance steps while moving from one room to another. I just had a one and a half hour Thai massage at the spa down the street. It was my birthday present from Nick and Lucia.

Nick had experienced this while away at a conference in Bangkok last year and had reported on it with great enthusiasm. The massage integrates pressure, stretching, and yoga-like body manipulation. It’s my understanding that the cost was considerably less in Bangkok than in Paris. In any case, it was worth every Euro cent. My neck has lately been a hindrance rather than a help. This is a consequence of our Brangelina lifestyle, as Blossom termed it. And in no way am I complaining. But when I’m lacking any kind of regular schedule I do tend to forget all about my body. Lots of flights in quick succession also take their toll. While in NJ the other week Shirley, perceptive as she is, took pity on me and rubbed my neck for a while. This served to remind me how urgent it is for me to get back in touch with my body.

So tonight I cashed in my gift certificate. The place was lovely – strewn with orchids and infused with the scent of eucalyptus. I was served some sweet, invigorating tea before being led to a softly lit room with a tatami floor. There I was given a really comfortable – and adorable! - cotton outfit to wear. I was a little thrown when my masseuse turned out to be a masseur. I’ve never had a massage by a man before – not professionally anyway. But he was friendly and unimposing, and by the time he was rocking back and forth while actually kneeling ON my butt I’d decided to just go with it. There was no raised massage table, by the way, just a mat on the floor. Anything else would have been hazardous. The massage was now and then punctuated by a resounding series of percussive taps, the most exhilarating of which was aimed directly at the bottom of my heel and traveled like a shock wave up to my skull. At one point I was asked to sit up with my hands behind my head, elbows out, while the guy sat behind me and twisted my whole upper body in some kind of crazy windmill maneuver. Being so close and contorted with a total stranger struck me as really funny, and I had to resist the urge to move beyond myself and picture the scene from the outside. I would have started laughing and not been able to stop.

In conclusion, I’m just feeling really good right now.

Lucia's Adventures

2007-10-11T09:24:00.000-07:00

Lucia has published her first post on her "Adventures" blog. Check it out here.

Art, Chocolate, Technology, and Teeth... oh, and a couple of goats

2007-10-07T09:37:00.001-07:00

Jason and Lucia by the whimsical reflecting pool at the Pompidou.

I really liked the Pompidou - the space is fantastic, and the galleries are explosively colorful and exciting.
In our neighborhood I am literally surrounded by chocolate on all sides. We're in walking distance of at least six centers of chocolate worship including La Maison du Chocolat, Laduree, and Angelina. I may look a bit bigger when I get back...

Hot chocolate and a pistachio almond mousse at Angelina. mmmmmmmm

As you can see, Lucia's baby teeth have overstayed their welcome. There may be a genetic predisposition. Her Uncle Boris said his mouth looked like this when he was kid.

Our membership at the Cité des Sciences has already paid for itself. We've been there three times already. It's an enormous place with a planetarium, 3-D theatres, IMAX, children's interactive exhibits, a submarine, aquarium, library, and permanent and changing exhibits. Here we are in the Space area learning about life in zero gravity.

This is in the children's 'communications' area - a blue screen where you can watch your superimposed self soaring above a landscape. There's also a newsroom where the kids can present a newscast, operate the cameras, and splice the footage together.

In the nature area Lucia teaches me about 'faux yeux'.

This is in an exhibit about sustainability in Madagascar. These mini-gardens are being developed for use in urban areas.

one good lookin' Parisian This weekend we also visited the Ferme de Paris, an educational farm in the Bois de Vincennes. We were there in time for the goats' milking. Here the goats are running at full tilt into the barn, so eager are they to be milked!

And here you can see why - the poor girls are fit to burst!

Lucia's Eye View

2007-10-03T12:56:00.000-07:00

Lucia's been recording our travels with her own digital camera. I just put all her photos on my computer and found lots of interesting shots. This one is from the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo:
You can expect to see more on Lucia's very own travel blog coming soon...

Crêpe no. 6: Parc Asterix

2007-10-02T13:28:00.000-07:00

I won't say much because Lucia is working on her own very detailed blog entry about our day at Parc Asterix (basically, the French "F you!" to the American cultural imperialism of Euro Disney). It was just as commercial and tacky as I'd imagine Euro Disney to be, but as it's all French, I guess that's ok. Amusement park geek that I am, I had a great time. However, I did not get to ride the Thunder of Zeuss, the largest wooden roller coaster in the world, because Lucia is of course too young, and it's just no fun by yourself. And I will say you know you're in (or near) Paris when

the ride attendants have to fill in paperwork between unloading and loading each ride.

Let Them Eat Macaroni and Cheese!

2007-09-24T13:40:00.001-07:00

Lucia had been anticipating Jason's visit, both for the company and for the Annie's Mac n' Cheese he'd promised to bring in his carry-on. I do a home-made version, but apparently it's just not like Annie makes. Maybe I need to get a bunny...
So, it was a weekend of fine weather, fine mac n' cheese, and a visit to Versailles. We were there during Les Grandes Eaux Musicales, so all the fountains were going and an orchestra played classical music that was piped in to all corners of the park.
For someone as committed to Catholicism as Louis XIV he sure liked his pagan imagery. The Sun King surrounded himself with symbols of Apollo. In the photo above Apollo in his chariot rises from the waters of the fountain.
This place is so enormous. It's the second time I've been there, and I still haven't seen the whole thing. We did make it over to the Domaine de Marie-Antoinette to see the precious little country hamlet and farm she had built for her own entertainment. Here she played at being a peasant. She even had the sweetest little farming couple installed - along with their quaint offspring.
It's like an 18th century Disney World. Fascinating, disturbing, and fun all at once...
... kind of like Jason.

Jason with phone-cam and audio guide

the newly restored Hall of Mirrors

the bed chamber of Louis XIV- where the levee and couchee of the king were public events to be observed by the nobility

Norway: the North Cape and the Viking Ship Museum

2007-09-18T23:46:00.001-07:00

71°10'N: Well, here we are at the top of the world, or close enough anyway... We would like to come back to the island, Magerøya, on which the North Cape is located and spend more time there. Our next trip to Norway will include lots of hiking in the areas that we liked the best. While this trip was excellent for getting an overview of the coastal areas, it was a bit frustrating to have so little time in each place. We also found out that we're really not cruise people! It was kind of a tease to see all this beautiful scenery going by and not be able to get out into it. Of course we're glad we made the trip. We feel very lucky to have had the opportunity. But we're not done with Norway yet!

part of the Children of the Earth monument - created by 7 children from different parts of the world to symbolise peace

This picture is especially for Katie. We took this plane from Tromsø to Oslo. The flight attendant asked me and Lucia to switch places in order to better distribute the weight.
heh heh...

59°56'N: Back in Oslo at the Viking Ship Museum. The Oseberg ship seen here behind Lucia held the remains of a Viking woman and her servant. The remains were just re-exhumed last week while we were still in Norway. You can read more about her here.

Norway: Tromsø and Hammerfest

2007-09-17T12:10:00.000-07:00

69°38'N: Tromsø is where the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen was last seen before disappearing while taking part in a rescue mission in the Arctic. He is of course famous for winning the race to the South Pole in 1911 against Robert Falcon Scott of England.

At the Polar Museum in Tromsø we learned about the life of overwintering hunters and trappers in the far north.
This is an actual overwintering hut relocated from Svalbard. Five men would have lived in these close quarters throughout the long, dark winter.

70°39'N: Our boat docked in Hammerfest at 5:00AM on September 6th. Determined to see something of the city before our 6:45 departure we got up early and carried Lucia sleeping from the boat. Nick was so cabin crazy by this point he insisted on carrying Lucia up this hill to see the view.
Then we went back to the boat and back to sleep. We woke up at 8:00 to find that we were still docked in Hammerfest. There was a problem with the cargo doors, and we were stuck there until the repairs could be made. In the end we spent eight hours in Hammerfest. That gave us a chance to retake the following photo:

5:00AM11:00AM

And a chance for Lucia to climb that same hill on her own two feet... That enormous plume of flame is part of a new gas processing plant - one of the first in Europe to use a subsea production platform. The flame is supposed to be temporary. Nick was really interested in the sod roofs. A possibility for Mt. Tremper?

Lucia found these dwarf blueberries and fed them to the (invisible) trolls.

Norway: Arctic Circle Crossing, Weird Norwegian Rites of Passage, and a Sea Safari

2007-09-17T03:28:00.000-07:00

66°33'N: We crossed the Arctic circle early on the morning of September 5th. Later there was a ceremony to commemorate the event. We were all asked to gather on the deck of the ship where Poseidon was waiting to express his general disapproval of us and the captain ladled ice water down the backs of people's shirts. It's a Norwegian thing - don't try to understand. We even received certificates.

Here's Lucia bravely undergoing the initiation. I think this is Stamsund... There were so many ports...

67°17'N: In Bodø we suited up with some serious gear for a safari on board these crazy little speed rafts. We were looking for sea eagles, of which we saw several. We were also heading for Saltstraumen where the sea water forcing its way in and out of the fjord through a narrow strait forms the strongest tidal current in the world. The whirlpools can be up to 10meters wide and 5 meters deep. Given a choice, I wouldn't necessarily sail towards that kind of thing, but I figured the guides knew what they were doing. When we reached Saltstraumen however, the tide had already gone out, and the last of the whirlpools weren't so impressive. You can kind of see them below:And we saw these really interesting rock formations.

The sea safari was definitely the most exciting part of the trip. The waves were particularly high that day, and our boat caught plenty of air out on the open sea. We quickly found out why the big suits, gloves, hats, and goggles.

the only people crazy enough to be up on the deck...

Norway: Trondheim

2007-09-16T23:31:00.000-07:00

Personally, I think it unjust that in the event of an emergency only the Vikings get evacuated.Playing in strong wind on the deck. 63°36'N: In Trondheim we visited the open air museum. The stave church you see here is from Haltdalen and was built in 1170. It is a relatively simple example of a stave church from the early Christian era in Norway. Some of them are quite ornate. This church was from a rather poor area. While it is very small and dark inside, it would have seemed quite grand to the people attending services. While inside our guide closed the door, lit candles and sang a hymn for us in Latin.
King Sverre's castle, Zion, was built in 1182. Here is some information from the museum literature: This was the first stone castle in Norway, and it was to play an important role when Sverre the King of the Birkebeiner fought against the Kuvlungs and Baglers to rule the country. Twice the castle was broached and ravaged, but it was rebuilt. By the entrance was a large stone house with a gate, a gate citadel, and around the rock a stone wall. Up on the plateau there were wooden houses with turf roofs. When the civil-war years ended, the castle no longer had a role to play and it was abandoned and deteriorated. However, the strategic importance of the castle rock was recognised once again when it was used by German troops for fortifications during World War II (1940–1945).

The rest of the buildings are mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries . the house of a very wealthy family.

storage houses for grain

This house, the Vika house, is quite special because it was built by a very wealthy family as a festival hall - only to be used for weddings and funerals. The walls are built of extremely thick logs. In fact, after a fire in 1976, the restorers were able to scrape away the burnt parts of the logs and still have enough of the original wood left over to restore the house. The painting on the walls, ceiling, and cupboards was done in 1795 by Knut Honne, the best painter in the district. It had to be redone after the fire of course, but it is identical to the original.

Part of an interesting and unexpected art installation at the museum - the sign reads, "Car from a boy in Tanzania. Train from a boy in Trondheim. Car from a boy in Kenya."

64°51'N: Approaching Rørvik in the evening.

Norway: Bergen, Ålesund, Geiranger Fjord

2007-09-16T11:43:00.001-07:00

60°20'N: We arrived in rainy Bergen Saturday evening. The climate there is very much like that of Seattle, which is fine by me. The city is surrounded by mountains, and the clouds tend to get trapped there. The first time we were here we stayed at a hostel overlooking the city, and in the morning we could watch the mist rising up from the valley and dispersing over the hilltops. This time we just got really wet and ended up buying Lucia the very expensive but very functional wind and waterproof Norwegian jacket you see above. On the boat: the jacuzzi was our favorite place from which to take in the scenery.

62°28'N: Ålesund was the first town we explored from the boat. There was some lovely art nouveau architecture, but, as you can see below, the rain and the wind prevented me from taking many photos.From Ålesund we sailed into the Geiranger Fjord which was probably my favorite part of the trip. The rain persisted, but this made for dramatic light and striking cloud formations. I hope I was able to capture some of it in the pictures that follow.

The abundant rain also enhanced the effluence and number of waterfalls in the fjord.

The group of waterfalls below is called the Seven Sisters.
Here, at the mouth of the fjord, at the town of Geiranger, the boat turned around and headed back towards Ålesund.
The little ferry docked alongside our boat is there to pick up passengers who were participating in an excursion that would take them overland to Molde.
Many more photos coming soon...

Crepe no.4 and Some Very Sad News

2007-08-30T10:37:00.001-07:00

Crêpe no.4: Nutella yet againThis one was from a crêpe stand close to our apartment - right outside Au Printemps department store and down the street from the organ grinder with the cats in the basket.

The guy making this crêpe asked me - in earnest - if Lucia was my sister! This might be my favorite crêpe stand in all of Paris.

Crêpe no.5 was eaten off camera. It was a nutella and consolation crêpe eaten at the Parc de la Villette after Lucia and I discovered that the dragon slide will be closed until spring of 2008 for renovations! There's a high fence surrounding the whole structure. Lucia sat down in front of it and refused to move for twenty minutes. So I waited and watched the parade of little Parisian children and their parents coming to gaze up at the fence in disbelief and despondency. It was a dark day at Villette.

But after spending her entire allowance at the gift shop in the science museum and eating crêpe no.5 Lucia was ready for the playground of the wind and the dunes where she used the crazy James Bond zip line for the first time. As we walked past the fenced in dragon on our way back to the metro Lucia closed one eye so she wouldn't have to see it in her peripheral vision.

Ireland: Cahir Castle and Rock of Cashel, Tipperary

2007-08-29T23:55:00.001-07:00

Cahir Castle was the largest and best preserved castle we visited, with much of the original structure intact. It is situated in a pretty spot on the River Suir. There was a marked change in landscape when we crossed over into Tipperary from Clare. The area is more woodsy and reminded me somewhat of the Catskills. I'm told that the spiral staircases in the towers were all oriented with a clockwise twist so that the defenders, coming down the stairs, could fight right-handed and the attackers were at a left-handed disadvantage. Ambidextrous soldiers must have been in high demand. Lucia defends the castle

Here's a story for you - see Lucia's blue sneakers in the photo above? Well, that morning we got up early for the drive and put Lucia, still sleeping in pajamas, into the car. I brought her clothes with me, but when we got to the castle I realized I'd forgotten her shoes! There happened to be a shoe store across the street. So Nick ran in to see if they had children's shoes. But they didn't - only adults. But then the saleswoman said she'd check in the back, and it turned out they had two leftover pairs of children's sneakers from some earlier incarnation of the business. They were sizes 32 and 33. Lucia wears size 32! It was the easiest shoe shopping trip we've ever had. Must have been the luck of the Irish.

on the battlements with the town of Cahir visible in the background

The Rock of Cashel was first built in the 4th century as a fortress. St.Patrick baptized the local kings here in the 5th century. In 1101 the Rock of Cashel was given to the church.

the ruins in the background are a different abbey - Hore Abbey which we could reach on foot by way of a cow pasture Notice the two-headed mutant cow in the lower left corner of the photo.

Ireland: The Burren

2007-08-29T00:08:00.001-07:00

"It is a country where there is not enough water to drown a man, wood enough to hang one, nor earth enough to bury him......" Edmund LudlowYet Ludlow commented also on the fine, fat state of the cattle in the Burren. We saw evidence ourselves on our way up the hill in the form of healthy looking cow pies in the most unlikely, rocky landscape. The Burren is a unique landscape of bald limestone fields with deep crevices running all through it. Within the crevices grow all sorts of grasses and herbaceous plants of alpine, arctic, and mediterranean origin. The limestone was exposed by a combination of glacial action during the last ice age and intensive prehistoric farming. Poulnabrone dolmen

Poulnabrone was excavated in 1968 and found to contain the remains of "between 16 and 22 adults and 6 juveniles, including a newborn baby". Radiocarbon dating suggests that the burials took place between 3800 and 3200 BC.

This is absolutely in my top ten of the most beautiful places on earth.

We ended our first day in the Burren on the beach at sunset. Notice that the adults are wearing sweaters while the children are in the water.

Ireland: Inishmore and the Cliffs of Moher

2007-08-28T00:51:00.001-07:00

Dún Aengus, bronze age fort atop a 100 meter high cliff Early one morning Nick and I stole out of the cottage, leaving Mary and the girls asleep in their beds, and made our way to Inishmore, the largest of the Aran Islands. We rented a couple of truly crappy bicycles and rode around the island taking in the incredible scenery and stopping at Dún Aengus, a bronze age fort from 1000 BCE or earlier. Looking out to sea from the cliff's edge, I tried to imagine what life meant to the people who once lived within the walls of this fort. Did they love waking up to this view? Or were they too distracted by the daily grind - gathering food, looking out for enemies, fighting the chill? Has balance always been a problem for humans? The walls are of dry stone construction - built without any sort of mortar. After 3,000 years they're still standing.The rest of the island is also overlaid with dry stone walls - these delineate fields and pastures.

the cliffs of Moher

On the way back to Mary's we stopped off to see the Cliffs of Moher. It was late in the day, so we didn't spend a lot of time, but it was a sensational sight.

Ireland: Bunratty Castle and Folk Park

2007-08-27T12:53:00.002-07:00

The present castle dates to 1425, but the earliest structures on the site were Viking trading camps in the 10th century.

Bunratty or Bun Raite in Irish means bottom or end of the river.
the captain's quarters16th century relief of the last supper.

Who's the chick in Jesus's lap? The folk park is an extensive and thorough recreation of a 19th century Irish village - the kind of thing I adored as a child (and still do). So it was wonderful to see the enthusiasm with which Grace, Eleanor, and Lucia explored the houses and other buildings. The girls were absolutely mesmerized watching the women make apple pie in the home bakery below.

parlor of a relatively well-off family

authentic Irish woman emerges from a thatched-roof cottage

Grace and Eleanor learn a thing or two from the school master, a fascinating guy. After thoroughly depressing us with stories of the subjugation of Irish women he led us in a round of 'Molly Malone' , taught us some Irish, and handed 'round sweets.

Kitty fascinates the girls with stories of the olden days in Ireland.

Ireland: Knappogue Castle, Quin, Co. Clare

2007-08-27T01:43:00.001-07:00

The central tower of Knappogue Castle was built in 1467. An extension was added in the 19th century, and the castle hosts medieval banquets throughout the summer.

Here, the king and queen await their guests.

In addition to a spectacular castle, Knappogue has a beautiful walled garden.

Ireland: Craggaunowen living history project

2007-08-27T01:05:00.000-07:00

Eleanor, Lucia and Grace in one of the castle bedchambersCraggaunowen is a great introduction to pre-historic and early Christian life in Ireland. Of course, this being Ireland, there's a castle there too that dates to 1550. Castles in Ireland are like towers in Italy (and attest to much the same sort of tumultuous past) - if you spit, you'll hit one. While we didn't go around spitting on the beautiful castles, we did admire and explore many of them, as you'll see in the photos.

the Crannog - Iron Age lake dwelling

This type of dwelling was built on an artificial island accessibly only by boat (the bridge you see here is for our benefit). Some were still occupied as late as the 17th century.

a dolmen - Stone Age tomb

The dolmen was constructed in a very particular way with regard for the orientation and position in the landscape. The body of the deceased was left out to be eaten by animals, after which the bones were placed in the dolmen. This is strikingly counter to modern society's treatment of the corpse - the embalming and preservation intended to delay our return to nature for as long as possible and which insures that when we do inevitably decompose we'll be taking plenty of nasty chemicals along with us. Please, just throw me to the animals - or at least compost me. OK, here I've got to recommend the book Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. Moving on...
to the clay pit at the Ringfort which was the normal type of farmstead during the Early Christian period (5th - 12th centuries CE).

Berlin

2007-08-16T13:46:00.001-07:00

Lucia trains Marlene in the proper use of a musket and other skills required in piracy....like appearing innocent while holding a large gun Americans playing war - nothing new there

Lucia's favorite meal in Germany - plain rice noodles skyline photos taken from a tour boat on the Spree

The stormy skies seen here above the train station did indeed open up on us moments after this picture was taken. Luckily the boat was covered.Sebastian and Lucia team up for a serious game of gin The arrival and consumption of crêpe No. 3: nutella at Alexanderplatz station
a sound installation at the water tower in the old cistern now used as an exhibition space - the frequencies of the various strobe lights produced different sounds in the headphonesplayground next to the water towerWhy don't we have these in-ground trampolines in the US? What is WRONG with us??

Hamburg: August 8 & 9, 2007

2007-08-14T14:21:00.001-07:00

A ferry ride on the Elbe.
Lucia was thrilled to discover wild blackberries growing along the path.

Some help from Arend and Nick, our fearless foragers...
Completely worn out - maybe from all that berry-picking.

Notice the enormous container ship on the river in the background. This area of Hamburg is like Port Elizabeth but with parks and cafés and lovely old houses.

In the US this playground structure would be a lawsuit waiting to happen.

In front of the Hamburg city hall.

The St. Nicholas church ruin serves as a memorial to the victims of war and persecution.

The view from the tower.

And, finally, some strange goings-on at Claudia's house.

Hamburg: August 6&7, 2007

2007-08-14T13:24:00.000-07:00

Hamburg is a lovely city with lots of water running through it. Claudia had some wonderful suggestions, and on our first day we rented a paddle boat for a two-hour excursion through the canals around the Aussenalster, the large lake in the center of Hamburg, popular for boating and recreation.

It was a surprise to find such beautiful old homes located directly on the canals with gardens stretching right down to the water.

We had great weather the first few days. It was a popular topic of conversation as Hamburg had been drenched in rain for weeks before we arrived.

Meanwhile, Claudia and Marlene waited patiently on the bank. Here they are - both looking lovely.

The next day Mirjam and Arend arrived , and we all had a barbecue at a pretty spot on the lake.
Here's Mirjam holding Marlene.
And here's the whole group - Arend tending the corn and Thomas in the button-down shirt, having come straight from work - by bicycle of course.
das kleine mädchen

admiring the bangles brought by Mirjam from Pakistan

doing some math

The menfolk try to intimidate an uninvited guest...

...to no avail.

And a good time was had by all.

Jardin des Plantes

2007-08-05T04:16:00.001-07:00

While perusing one of our Paris maps Lucia noticed an advertisement for the Musée National d'Histoire Naturelle. It was a lovely Saturday, so after a very late start (due to Lucia's mysterious swollen lip) we headed over to the Jardin des Plantes which houses not only the four buildings that comprise the museum, but also the Ménagerie. Upon entering the garden gates we were met by two interesting sentinels. One was a statue of Lamarck, the inscription upon which identifies him as the 'Founder of Evolution'. Um... ?As you can see, Lamarck is looking suitably perplexed. In the photo Nick is stretching his neck so that he may pass this acquired trait on to successive generations.
The second was this dragon made entirely from recycled materials - mostly crushed aluminum cans. As you may have guessed, the Ménagerie trumped the museum, and while I generally avoid small zoos that haven't embraced the natural habitat concept, I was intrigued by its having been founded in 1794 and by its spotted past. During the Prussian seige of Paris in 1870 most of the animals were eaten by starving Parisians. But, did they eat THIS??Probably not, as I don't think this thing was around until the 1970's when it was specially designed by Jim Henson. The 'Baudet du Poitou' is clearly one of the more unfortunate results of artificial selection.

This Victorian aviary was built in the 1880's.
The animals are still kind of sore about the Prussian seige incident...
More Victoriana - Uncle Monty's reptile room - straight out of Lemony Snicket.
Is that really Nick gazing at the pythons in the apothecary-style tanks? Or is it Count Olaf in brilliant disguise?