Now that the weather is warmer, we try to get out to explore different parts of the city on the weekends. This past Sunday, we took a stroll over to visit the Luxembourg gardens, which I had last visited in January. Needless to say, it was a totally different experience, and is an awesome place to spend an afternoon dining al fresco and meandering around the different sections of the park. I'm sure you recognize the handsome man on the left; but on the right is the beautiful Medici fountain, built in 1630. We then spent the rest of the afternoon at the Saint-Sulpice church, which is the second-largest church in Paris after the Notre Dame. It is beautiful in its own right, and definitely worth a stop through if you are in the neighborhood. My favorite part was the statue of Mary by Pigalle in the Lady Chapel (pictured below). The statue is so different from what you typically find at the back of a Catholic church, and so ethereally beautiful. But our day really took a turn to awesome when we realized that a 4pm concert we happened upon at Saint-Sulpice was a full-on organ concert. Now, I am not typically a fan of the organ. But there is something really fantastic about sitting in a surprisingly-crowded 400-year-old church listening to an apparently-famous organist make beautiful music out of wood and pipes. The "Grand Organ" is apparently the "most impressive instrument of the romantic French symphonic-organ era." Who knew?
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We had the pleasure of meeting up for dinner on Monday with one of my favorite colleagues from my time working in standards in DC, who happened to be visiting Paris for a few days with his lovely wife. While I completely failed to get a group picture of us with Gary and Judy at dinner, I did snap a shot of the incredible Belgian chocolates that they brought for us, direct from Brussels. They are indeed as good as they look! In the six months that we have lived in Paris, we have been fortunate to have quite a few good friends and colleagues pass through, and I always feel so honored when visitors take time out of their trip to visit us over dinner. From Kim to Julia to Yasu to Gary and Judy, we are averaging dinner with a good friend about every 6 weeks - if this is what it's like living abroad, I can get used to this!
And our summer line-up of visitors is just beginning! We have the pleasure of seeing a friend of Michael's from college next week, along with family; Lady Casey for several weeks in July (and an adventure to Italy!); and Mama Burns for two weeks in September. Keep on coming, folks! I came home from work last night to this set up in our living room: In honor of this moment 6 months ago... And what a six months it has been!
We have been through a lot together in this journey called life, even before getting married. And for me, to mark the days since that beautiful day in November, surrounded by such dear friends and family, is to recount an extraordinary story of love, adventure, joy, sorrow, pain, hope, and a profound peace for having found such a perfect partner with whom to experience it all. The Eurovision 2014 finals were held last night in Copenhagen, marking the 59th year of the annual song contest. Eurovision is an amazing spectacle that is best viewed while drinking gallons of cheap wine, then sitting back to watch it all unfold. Every year, countries submit a song to be performed live on television, and then vote for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition. France submitted this little ditty, reconfirming the stereotype of French pop music: You're welcome. I woke up with this song in my head, so I figured I'd share the love. And in case you were wondering, they came in last place of 26 performances in the finals, which was the first time in the history of the contest for France - ouch.
This year's winner was from Austria, and is known in the media as the "bearded lady," Conchita Wurst. There was actually a lot of controversy about her nomination in the first place, as Conchita was born a man, and now performs in drag and identifies with the female pronoun. Online petitions were started in Belarus, Armenia and Russia - whose government, as we know, passed a law last year banning "gay propaganda" to minors - to have Conchita removed or edited out of broadcasts in their countries. No dice, guys! She won the whole shebang with a fierce bearded diva performance of Rise Like a Phoneix - check it out here. Apparently, this is the preferred way to move furniture and boxes into a Parisian apartment : This view is actually from our living room onto our courtyard (where cars don't normally drive!).
Yesterday was another national holiday here in France - Victory Day, which marks the anniversary of the end of WWII in Europe. Now, I know what you are thinking. Why the eff is VE day celebrated in France with a nice day off of work for everyone, and not in the United States, whose fine soldiers bailed these guys out in the first place, right? All I can say is I agree. Days off should be passed around out for everyone. For me, a long weekend could not come soon enough. I'm sure it seems like all I do is sit in cafés and stroll around gardens, but I can assure you that there is a good amount of work crammed in there as well. In fact, these past few weeks have been incredibly exhausting at work, leading up to the OECD Ministerial Conference this week. For those of you not in public service or part of the DC crowd, this event is exactly what it sounds like. Ministers and business folk from across 40+ countries descend on the OECD for a few days and confer about the global economy and such. I got to see Japan's Prime Minister Abe speak, shook hands with a few important people, but otherwise, these kinds of things are really just a LOT of work for those of us who push the papers and put out fires. So after the Ministerial ended on Wednesday, I was absolutely ready to celebrate MY victory day over the chaos of the previous few weeks, and my first real test under pressure on the new job. I didn't fail - victory! Michael and I also finished our second Whole30 yesterday, which basically cuts out processed foods, dairy, sugar, gluten, alcohol, and legumes for 30 days. Not an easy task living above a boulangerie and in a country that considers cheese and wine basic food groups. It was just as hard this time around, but for different reasons - I wanted a glass of wine so bad at the end of some of those stressful work days, and lemon water just doesn't substitute. And at the end of the 30 days, we now start to reintroduce food groups to see how our bodies react - for us, it was life-changing the first time around, and has been good to reset over the past few weeks. And although I reeeaaaaalllly wanted to shove a baguette and cheese in my face on more than one occasion, washing it down with a crisp, cool glass of rosé... I didn't - victory! And today, I conquered my arch nemesis: the dreaded blood test. As part of the process to identify what I'm actually allergic to, my doctor prescribed a RAST blood test. After one bad experience with needles a few years ago, I now have mild anxiety attacks while giving blood. Did I lose partial vision and almost pass out on the kind French phlebotomist? Why, yes I did. But what I will choose to focus on is that I didn't pass out. And after a glass of water and a few minutes lying down, I even stood up on my own accord - victory! As a final nod to this year's Victory day (which I shall now celebrate as victory weekend), Michael and I took a trip to visit a Frenchman actually deserving of the holiday - Napoleon. Here are a few shots from our visit: With picture-perfect spring weather luring us outside this morning, we decided to head to Le Jardin des Plantes - France's main botanical garden, which is open to the public. Not only is the garden a great place to retreat for an afternoon with a picnic basket (though we did't think to bring one this time!), but there is also a menagerie attached to the gardens.
We hadn't planned on a zoo outing, but we thought what the hell - what's a few more hours strolling around in the beautiful weather? I didn't take a lot of pictures of the zoo - other than our friends the flamingos - but we actually really enjoyed it. There is an entrance fee for the zoo, but the botanical gardens are free, and absolutely lovely. Yes, this is a picture of a giant public recycling bin that is so filled to capacity with wine bottles, that the hundred or so additional wine bottles from the evening before could not fit. Go France!
Sprigs of these little delicate flowers are EVERYWHERE today.
After a little investigation (and a small purchase of course!), I've discovered that it's tradition in France to offer your loved ones a sprig of Lily-of-the-Valley on the first of May to bring luck and prosperity in the coming year. This is definitely a tradition I can get behind. France-bashing has been going on for centuries. Some of it is well deserved; but a good deal can also be attributed to political spin, cultural misunderstanding, gastronomic envy, an ancient Anglo-Gallic grudge, and a hint of media hype. Over the past several weeks, one story in particular has made headlines : Workers in Socialist France can now ignore telephone calls and emails from their bosses when they are at home. It is all part of a new legal agreement which confirms President François Hollande’s country as arguably the laziest in Europe… The law specifically makes it illegal for workers in the digital and consultancy sectors … to respond to emails or phone calls after 6pm. As it turns out, the journalist who first reported the story kinda sorta got it wrong.
Which got me thinking - if the majority of people reading the original article and countless spin-offs do not actually dig to find the facts of the story, does it really matter? The story feels like it should be right - those lazy 35-hour per week Frenchmen, right?!?! - so I can see how it would be accepted at face value, and voila!, a new version of the truth. In reality, most French people do in fact work longer than the 35-hour "official" work week (mine is 40), and many still struggle to make ends meet. This is a country with deep cultural history that is evolving, just like every culture in the world, with each new generation and the absorption of immigrant communities. There are shades of grey in every society. BUT... in solidarity with the world's perceived/occasionally-accurate view of France, I'm not at work today. And neither is the rest of the country. Because today is not only May Day, it's also the Fête du Travail - or Labor Day. Yep, instead of heralding the end of summer and a new school year, Labor Day in France is also a celebration of springtime, as it was traditionally a good time to give farmers a day off after the crops had been planted. Unfortunately for me, this is actually the busiest time of year at work, so my electronic device is most definitely on and it's humming. But never mind - it's time to celebrate the end of a long winter, and work/relax along with rest of Europe. Happy May Day! |
AuthorBecause why not get married and move to Paris to really kick off your thirties? Archives
December 2016
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