Kermesse and Garden Party

We have had a busy weekend and it is not even Canada Day yet.  The girls' schools had their end of year party, which, of course,  had a Western theme  There were lots of kids and adults dressed in feathers and cowboy hats.  Many little boys ran around happily with realistic looking guns.  It is a whole nother country over here.  The carnival is called Kermesse.  I did what I do when I don't know what something means...I Googled.  Unfortunatey, the original Kermesse seems to have celebrated a slaughter of Jews in the 1300s.  I'm guessing the organizers weren't thinking about that when they planned their Western theme.

The amazing thing about this photo is that we are leaving and everyone is still smiling.
The party was held in the courtyards of both schools; the schools are around the corner from each other and the courtyards are attached.  It was an absolute zoo.

Happy Puma



Fierce Puma



Barbe a papa!



Kermesse Cake 
It was the only cake with pink frosting and sprinkles and it disappeared fast. 



 This handsome guy met us a Kermesse and whisked us away home.  The girls had their first French babysitter Delphine (who is French by the way of Columbia and is lovely).   Kermesse may have been the highlight of the girls' Paris experience.  It was, "Awesome!"  "Can we come again next year?"  Since there is plenty of talk about wishing to be back in Ottawa, this was music to my ears.

Pierre and I went to the OECD garden party.  Pierre doesn't actually work at this lovely venue.  There is a chateau and a couple of modern buildings connected by tunnels.  I take French classes in one of the basement classrooms.  It was a lovely party and we met some very nice Canadians and tax and statsistics experts.  For the record, I wore a red dress and some high heeled sandals.  For real. 

The French have sales twice a year and now is one of those times.  I was caught by surprise on Thursday when all of a sudden all of the windows said SOLDES! It is a combination block party and sport.  I am not a shopper, but it is pretty hard to resist.  I have picked up some very fine bargains--such as those sandals.

We are gearing up for a Canada Day celebration with the the Reza family.  Lindenlea, enjoy the pancake breakfast.  We will miss you!   

I am looking foward to seeing these people and their progeny in August to celebrate my parents' 50th wedding anniversary.  Thanks for the photo, Lucy!

Musee Cluny

Musee Cluny is a museum of the Middle Ages.  It is an Abbey built on Gallo-Roman baths.  To learn more about Musee Cluny click on these links:

A brief history of the structures that make up Musee Cluny

Wikipedia on Musee Cluny  

Musee Cluny

This is the chapel ceiling.  The artifacts are housed in the Abbey and the Gallo-Roman baths, so you need to pay attention to your surroundings as you are looking at the exhibits.



Before entering the museum, we checked out the gardens.  The gardens are modeled on a medicinal garden from the Middle Ages.  A nice couple from Green Bay, Wisconsin directed toward the entrance.



This is the frigidarium, or the cold room in the Gallo-Roman baths.  The baths are from the 1st-3rd centuries.  This is a huge arched room and it is truly mind-blowing.  The decorations have been worn away by time, but the stonework and masonary are amazing.

In the room next door, they display the heads of kings that angry Revolutionaries knocked off of Notre Dame Cathedral during the Revolution.  The Gallery of Kings was destroyed and only redone after things calmed down.  The original king heads are at Musee Cluny.

The Lady and the Unicorn is one of the best preserved tapestries from the Middle Ages.  It depicts the six senses; there is much debate about what the sixth panel means and about what the sixth sense is supposed to be.  The tapestries are in their own room and are incredible.  They have captured the imagination of many authors and artists.  Some of the tapestries even appear in the Gryffindor common room in the Harry Potter movies.

If you visit Musee Cluny, make sure to pick up an audioguide.  There is very little information written on the displays in any language.  They have a great audioguide for kids, but it is only in French.  Lil and I enjoyed the kids' addition (Sylvia passed hers on to me) and Meme took advantage of the adults' addition.

Meme flew back to Halifax yesterday.  Thanks for everything, Meme!

Pierre Returns and Sylvia Graduates



Sylvia has graduated from maternelle!  The principal gave a lovely speech about how ready the kids were for grade one (CP) and how lucky we were to have such a great education system.  Sylvia and two of her classmates were the first to receive their diplomas.  They were congratulated for learning French and completing their kindergarten education.  The other two kids are from Denmark and Argentina.


Sylvia and her best friend
The medals are from the arrondissement.  All of the kids also received a book: La France.  The last day of school is not until July 5th.



Look at this popular guy.  He is back from Budapest and we are all very happy.  He returned with lots of treats, paprika, a doll, and a rubic's cube!  Pierre missed graduation, but Meme was there to fill in for him.

  

Sylvia refused to pose for a photo, but she did let Meme watch her eat.





The day before graduation there was a choral performance.  Sylvia was front and centre.


Here is Lillian doing her adult imitation.  In other words, she is pretending to be me.  She is wearing black, wearing sunglasses, and carrying a cell phone.  Perfect.



Happy Anniversary Meme and Pepe! 42 Years!

Look what Pepe sent to Meme--beautiful!
Thanks for spending your anniversary apart so that Meme can be with us.

We stocked up on books at the American Library and stopped for some ice cream near the Eiffel Tower.
Wednesday = no school

Madagascar 3 in 3D!

Adventures with Meme: The Louvre

Pierre is in Budapest teaching the world about Tax Policy.  Meme is helping me hold down the fort and I am glad.  There are not many people who would fly across the Atlantic to help me out.  I am grateful for the company and Sylvia is finally getting all of the attention she needs.  Meme is showering praise on the girls, which means a lot more than anything I can dish out.  Thanks, Meme!  We miss you, Pepe!

Pierre flew away on Father's Day and the ladies headed to the Louvre.  Lillian took this shot of me and Meme in front of a Roman? urn.  Lillian likes the Roman and Greek Antiquities section and Sylvia prefers the Egyptian section.

These sketchers were very busy.  Lillian copied down lots of hieroglyphics and Sylvia sketched many animals.

The Venus de Milo sketches will make great souvenirs.  The girls had to keep moving so that they weren't trampled by eager photographers.




  I took this photo of Egyptian cows to e-mail to my Dad for Father's Day.  He is a Wisconsin farm boy and an Economic cow expert.  No joke.

After all that sketching and small motor skills work, we headed to the play structure in the Tuileries to work on our gross motor skills.

Although a lot of this play area is "for babies" the multi-kid seesaw is lots of fun.  There are lots of opportunities for injury, which always raises the fun quotient.



The gardeners are working overtime and the Tuileries are beautiful.  It was a sunny day and the place was wall to wall people (This photo looks empty because no one is allowed to walk on the grass.)  Across the Tuileries and the Seine you can see Musee D'Orsay.

This afternoon Meme and I headed to Musee Marmottan.  We can walk to the museum from our house and fit in a visit between lunch drop off and after school pick up.  There is a special show on Berthe Morisot, a female impressionist who lived in our current neighborhood, at the Marmottan right now.  The museum is housed in an incredible mansion.  It has lots of different collections, including Claude Monet's collection of art that his son gave to the museum when he died. 

Pierre is away until Friday and Meme and I plan to have many more adventures before his return.  He has no cell phone and a bad Internet connection (so he says).  He borrowed a cell phone and called me from a restaurant this evening.  I could hear what Pierre told me was "Hungarian folk dancing"" in the background.  Very suspicious.



Meme has arrived!

Meme is here and we are thrilled.  We had a busy day yesterday.  We started off by walking to the market.  We stopped for a quick photo shoot at the Eiffel Tower.  Sylvia was too busy running around to be photographed.







The fountain behind Palais de Chaillot has been turned into an enormous area to watch the Euro Cup--Europe's World Cup.  There is a huge TV and people love it.  Wherever you go people are wearing scarves and wrapped in flags to support their teams.

These girls were very excited to see their Meme.  She delivered all of our Canadian desires and more.  The girls are becoming word search pros.


Happiness is a visit from Meme (and peanut butter!)



 





We took the metro across town to the 13th arrondissement to visit Oya a game store where you can pull up a chair (and pay a fee) and play some games.  We played one with turtles and one with ghosts.  This photos would not behave and is out of order!



Meme bought the girls bouquets at the market and Sylvia got a watch!















The gracious winners.
We played five different times and these two cleaned up. 

We walked through Chinatown in search of dinner.  Most restaurants don't open until 7:00 or 8:00 and this can be a problem for us because our Canadian tummies start rumbling around 5:00.
  

We found a Cambodian restaurant that was open.  We went to the raw buffet and cooked everything up right at the table.  The girls were a little scared of the grills--and I was glad.


 After dinner we went to Parc Choissy and tried out their excellent play equipment!



Meme is coming!

Meme is arriving Friday and we are getting ready.  The girls love their Meme and can't wait until she gets here.  The futon made it up to our apartment and, after much struggle, was assembled.  The diagram included with the futon showed a futon that was quite different from the futon that we actually bought.  We hope that it will make a comfortable guest bed.  Meme is our first guest and will have to be the futon tester.

Here is Meme in the near future, wearing a beret near the Eiffel Tower.
By Sylvia

Here are some flowers in a vase to help brighten up Meme's room.
By Lillian

Lillian and Sylvia are excited and spent yesterday afternoon creating art to decorate the walls in Meme's room.

Sylvia painted and Lillian stuck with the pastels

Good company at the market

We had friends over for dinner last night and the girls helped us prepare.  Pierre and Sylvia went to the grocery store and Lillian and I went to the market.  There are tourists swarming the market with cameras.  The first local produce is beginning to appear and it is a feast for the eyes.  There were stacks of roses and peonies filing an entire table.  We bought some delicious cherries.

We managed to make a Parisian version of pulled pork with many substitutions, which actually tasted good.  Thank goodness for the crockpot and the transformer!

Lillian will be 8! in July.  She was great company walking to and from the market and we had a great time checking everything out while we were there.  She helped me pick out all of the produce and the flowers.  She skipped, jumped, giggled, and ran the entire way. 

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The market was crowded and it was hard to get any photos of the flowers because there were too many people in MY way.

Parc Andre Citroen

Meme is coming and we are excited.  Yesterday we purchased a futon, which we hope will be very comfortable.  When it is delivered, Pierre and I will need to get it to the eighth floor.  I am hoping that at least some of it can fit into our tiny elevator.  After we purchased the futon, we walked to Andre Citroen Park.  It opened in 1992 on the site of the old Citroen plant. 


It was a hot day and the many police who were supposed to watch the fountain turned a blind eye to the masses of bathers

Lil and Sylv joined in the fun and were soon soaking



We explored some of the gardens

Wet Girls

Most days you can take rides in this enormous hot air balloon

Monsieur LeBlanc
Today is La Fete des Meres and Monsieur LeBlanc and the girls are treating me well.