Claire's leaving Paris

Fall has arrived. It's turned cold and grey. The heat is on. And tonight, we turn back the clocks. I usually hate the weekend we turn back the clocks. It means winter is coming, the days will seem even shorter since it gets dark even earlier. But since I don't have to get up before dawn to go to work and I won't be holed up in an office all day to come home when it's already dark, it doesn't seem to be depressing me as much this year.

Tonight we're going to drop in on Claire's going away party. Then, next Thursday we all set out to accompany her to Northampton. I'm looking forward to it. It's exciting, I think. I enjoy having my kids living near me, but I also like the idea of them being off, getting on with their own lives, and of us having the chance to visit them. I guess I'm thinking of how my parents felt when I told them I was going to get married and live in France. They latched on to the idea of visiting France and loved it. It only became difficult when we had our children and could not afford to visit them as much as we'd've liked and then when they became too ill too travel. For a while, a pretty long while, it was great.

One of the disadvantages, however, was that my children didn't see their American grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins as often as they might have if we had lived in the States. But I'm not so sure because who knows where in the States we would have lived. An advantage was all the traveling we did because we often just managed to stop and see the folks on the way to or from somewhere else.

I see our friends and family, as they have started being grandparents, how involved they still are in their kids' lives. I wonder if we will be, if our kids will call on us, how we will react.

Thinking about this is a result of our visit to Caroline and Jeremy in Brussels last week. They've just had twin daughters and their little girl, Manon, has just turned two. They've got their hands full. It's obvious that when you visit at this stage, it's not a social call; you expect to help out a bit. We loved every minute of it - giving bottles, burping, taking Manon to the swings, letting the sleep-deprived parents take a short nap - everything. There's no doubt that if any of my kids needed me under similar circumstances, I would come running. But once the urgency passes I think I would like my grandparent role to be more exceptional - special. I think my kids remember their visits to or from grandparents because they were so special. I don't know; time will tell.

Canada

I did not see much of Canada - a couple of days in Toronto and then a few more in Montreal - but it was enough to enjoy.

Toronto is such a modern city! It seems fairly clean, too. Of course, traveling with Michel and Christa, who had never been to North America before, made it an adventure. Christa was totally fascinated by the buildings, comparing the architecture to Germany, what would be allowed or not allowed. In Toronto, it looks like anything goes. There are still some old structures mixed in with the new, but it's definitely not like Europe, where preservation of old means creating a protective circle of 500 m. around the historic site so nothing disturbs the setting. The result is that modern buildings tend to be grouped together in specially zoned areas. La Défense, just west of Paris, is a good example. The Tour Montparnasse is an example of zoning gone wrong. The area was targeted to become modern, with skyscrapers, but there was so much fuss during the building of the first one, the rest of the plan was dropped and the tower stands alone. In Toronto you find a mix of all types of architecture: some 19th century, early 20th, art déco, 50's and 60's, all the way up to the present.

Paul and I were less surprised by the buildings. We visited the Bata Shoe Museum. I was afraid this would be about Bata shoes, but not at all! It's a collection of footwear that goes back to the neolithic "iceman" found in the Alps with leather shoes stuffed with grass. The museum is divided into geographic zones. There are moccasins with porcupine quill decorations dating from before Europeans arrived and then you have the bead-decorated moccasins. The thong is the most used shoe type. There were wooden thongs from Africa so large that the wearer's feet could never touch the ground, which was the idea, since he was considered a demi-god. The museum covers shoes from a religious angle, too. And professional footwear. It was an excellent visit.

Something else we did in Toronto was me taking Paul and the Chaussemys to a ball game. It was September 11 and the BlueJays were playing the Yankees. There was a commemorative ceremony with Toronto and New York police and fire companies. Paul spent the day trying to dissuade the Chaussemys from going to a baseball game, but I think they enjoyed it. Michel certainly caught on quickly and it was a good game. In the first five innings, we saw good pitching (an all strike-out inning), some walks, stolen bases, a double-play, good outfield action, a solo home run and a grand slam home run. They did not want to leave after the fifth, so we held on until the end of the seventh and left. The Yankees won, 9 to 2.

The next day, we went down to Niagara Falls. It is a beautiful sight to see, but the hotels on the Canadian side detract from the beauty of the falls. After lunch, we headed towards Midland, which is north of Toronto, near the Huron tourist sites. We got there just in time to go to dinner. Midland is a tiny town trying to survive by making the most of its location on a lake. It's a bit high-priced for what it's worth. We stayed at a very nice, and pricey, b&b. And this is where I left the others to go back down to Pittsburgh.

I rejoined the group in Montreal, a few days before our flight back to Paris. They seem to have had an enjoyable trip up and down the Gaspé peninsula and then down the St. Lawrence valley. We spent the days walking around in Montreal - the old area, the university areas, the shopping areas. The hotel was not far from the airport, so we left the car at the hotel and took a bus to the metro station and the metro into town. Our travel passes paid for themselves the very first day!

I''ve put some of the pictures up in my picasa albums but since there are pictures of us and the Chaussemys, I prefer not to make it a public album. If you really want to see them, just send me an e-mail and I'll send you the link.

A walk from Paris to Versailles

I'll get back to Troyes and Canada eventually, but since the walk to Versailles is still fresh in my mind, I'll do that first.

Wednesday was such a pleasant fall day - not too hot, not too cold, a bit overcast in the morning with sun in the afternoon - a great day for a hike. And for such a nice walk, there was just the right turnout; there were 17 of us, with Daniel in the lead.

As usual, it was a day of conversation. The day started out in the lead with Michael, then I started to lag and spent some time with Suzie, and continued to lag and met Joetta, and so on. But with all that talking, I still managed to see some of the scenery.

We left from the metro station Boulogne-Pont-de-Saint-Cloud and, after crossing the bridge, stopped briefly at the Saint Cloud church before heading for the Parc de Saint Cloud. One of the first things we saw as we started out was the Albert Kahn museum in Boulogne Billancourt, almost next to the metro station. There is a temporary exhibit (until March, 2008) called "Les Couleurs du Maghreb" and since Pierre and Gillette were looking for an outing, I called them to let them know. They went and told me that the exhibit was ok, but the highlight was the garden. I hope to visit, soon.

Paul and I used to go to the Parc de Saint Cloud all the time, almost every weekend, back in the early days of our marriage, with the Gavettis and the Maymous. I can't remember the last time. By the time Claire was born, we gravitated more to the Parc de Sceaux. This was the first time that I actually walked through the park. I think we entered from the Northeast corner and walked though a wooded area until we came out of the woods with a beautiful view of the fountains. There was also a belvedere somewhere nearby where we had a view of Paris before the fog lifted. It looked like the Eiffel Tower was still under construction. The trees still had leaves on them, just turning yellow and brown and with enough leaves gone so the sun came through.

We came out of the park in Sèvres on "avenue Gambetta", where we stopped first to admire a sculpture to the glory of Leon Gambetta. (I keep confusing him with an Italian hero.) I'm not much a fan of this kind of sculpture, but I noticed it was done by Bartholdi, who is famous for having sculpted the Statue of Liberty, so I pointed that out to the others. Next to the sculpture is Gambetta's house.

From there, we proceeded to Ville d'Avray for lunch at the ponds. The ponds (étangs) have always been fish ponds. The first one was created late in the Middle Ages and the second in the 17th century, I think. Corot painted the scene and it hasn't changed much. On the way to the ponds we saw some nice architecture from the 1960's - not the bland apartment buildings, but the clean-cut houses.

We crossed the Forêt de Fausses-Reposes; Ville d'Avray is really surrounded by woods. I found a map on the internet and tried to retrace our path, but I'm not sure I managed very well. But I do know that we "entered" this map in the upper right corner and "exited" in the lower left corner.

Actually, I think we came out on the main boulevard "des Etats-Unis", really at the corner of the map. We entered Versailles and made our way to the train station "Rive Droite". This is where I left the group. I was not alone. A couple from Saint Maur joined me for the ride home. The others either continued on to the other Versailles stations or stayed for a tour of the Hameau de la Reine.

Arrêt sur Images

How many of you ever watched Arrêt sur Images on France 5? It was a wonderful program dedicated to reviewing and analyzing television programs on a given subject. They usually gave themselves a more than a week, so it was not always the latest unfolding story. This gave their analysis a decent perspective. Daniel Schneidermann was (and still is) the leader of the team and since the show was not always politically correct, he got in trouble and the show was pulled.

There was an outcry of protest, a petition, etc. They've set up a website and will begin programming from that in January. Until then, they are still reporting and calling for subscriptions. Take a look: http://arretsurimages.net

A little time

Hi,
I need a little time. A lot happened during September, since my last posting. Some of it is good - just before leaving, Paul and I went with the Ile-de-France walking group to visit Troyes and then Claire and I went to California to go to Rob and Lara's wedding. We also got to see Terry and Roger in San Diego and stopped off in Pittsburgh to visit Jon's family and see my mother, Louette. Dave joined us for the weekend.

But then, just as Paul and I were starting our vacation in Canada with our friends, the Chaussemys, Louette died, something we all knew was coming. Still, it hurts when it comes. And then, during the night after the service for Louette, Dave fell and was overtaken by septicemia. He died just a week after our mother. This shook us all up. With hindsight, considering his poor health and everything else, it was good that his fall happened while he was still in Pittsburgh, that Tony and Barbara were with him at the hotel so that he was taken care of immediately, that Jon and I were with him and that we also had the family support we needed.

So, I will be getting back to writing, but I need a little time.