Two Hikes, Exciting News, and a Visit - Help!

en français sous le trait après le texte en anglais

Wow, quite a couple of weeks. Each time I thought I should sit down and write, something else came up. So, thank goodness I have my little reminder every two weeks from my Google Calendar that tells me I have to set some time aside and write a letter.
First of all, Claire and Geoff have set a date (well, a month) for their wedding: October, 2009! Too soon for the exact date. Toby and Jon, wouldn't you like to celebrate your anniversary in England or France?
I'm hiking again and will try to do it every week. Really, I should start thinking about creating a hiking expedition in and around Nogent. I'm still happy to rely on Daniel and Mary Lynne to come up with hikes. Last week, Daniel took us along the Marne, to the Château de Champs and then to the Menier Chocolate Factory in Noisiel. It was a long loop with a bit too much back-tracking for my taste, but still an interesting walk. We had a real break with the weather -- not too hot, not too cold. I was lucky because we don't live far from the starting point and Paul drove me there. The new backpack (it attaches around the waist and has a 3 liter water pouch) is great! It's a bit too big for day walks as all I need to carry is the water and lunch. And it has way too many straps that I haven't figured out the use of. But the main thing is that it is comfortable. And I tried the walking sticks. I couldn't quite get the rythym of it; my arm stride is not in cadence with my leg stride. No matter -- the objective being better posture, they are still useful.
This week, we went to the Château de Chantilly starting out from Orry-la-Ville. That took me back to the days when Judy and Paul lived in Coye-la-Forêt (next to Orry). They had a backyard gate into the forest. I missed the RER that would have gotten me to Paris in time to catch the RER to Orry and the next one was in half an hour! Daniel and Alain very kindly waited for me at the Orry-la-Ville station while the rest of the group headed out slowly. Since they started out slowly and we practically raced, we met up with them fairly soon. It drizzled a bit and was raining enough after lunch for us to get out umbrellas and rain jackets, but it was still a pleasant 13 km. About half the group stayed to visit the château. I remembered that there is this fantastic old library and the 15th century manuscript of the "Book of Hours" of the Duc de Berry. And a big art collection. But really, I didn't remember much. The art collection is something else -- like a mini-Louvre. If you are coming to visit, we'll just have to stick it on the schedule. The manuscript is no longer out on public view; they've put out a facsimile open to a page and if you want to see the rest, they've set up the CD-Rom right next to it. In the art collection, however, there is another collection of miniatures from another, less famous, book of hours. And you can see several panels of that.
In between the two hikes, we had a visit from Ken and Sandy and their friends, the Shappirs. We picked them up at the Gare de l'Est, where they arrived from their trip to Germany and Strasbourg. I had suggested we visit the Parc de Bagatelle in the Bois de Boulogne, so we had lunch just across the river in Puteaux. Luckily, we discovered La Terrasse and had a wonderful lunch. Then, we met the Touzés at the garden and walked around. There's a crystal exhibit. I wasn't as impressed as I was last year at the Chihuly exhibit at the Phipps Botonical Gardens in Pittsburgh. I felt that the crystal didn't quite fit in the settings -- looked too small and insignificant.
After a full afternoon of walking, we had dinner in the Touzé's garden. Then I drove the Shappirs to the airport for their flight. Sunday, the Pickars spent the day with the Touzés and Louis and Gwen showed up early (before noon is early for them) to start filling up any space left in the basement not already occupied by Claire's stuff. The basement is packed solid. Louis' apartment is empty and the sale was final as of yesterday! This coming Tuesday, they finalize the purchase of the new apartment.
Monday, we went to Provins. Paul and I had been there last July and thought it might be nice. We started out later than we should have, so by the time we had lunch, we were too late for the underground galleries visit. The rose garden is not in full bloom, but the Tithe Barn exhibit is still as excellent as ever.
There are some pictures in Picasa: http://picasaweb.google.fr/elebelle

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Oof, c'était long en anglais. Je vais essayer de faire plus court en français.
D'abord, Claire et Geoff se sont dit que se marier au mois d'octobre serait bien -- l'année prochaine! On a le temps de se préparer.
Nous avons eu la visite de mes cousins, Ken et Sandy et leurs amis, les Shappirs. Nous sommes allés à l'exposition de crystal au parc de Bagatelle dans le Bois de Boulogne, mais j'étais un peu déçu. Les pièces sont un peu petites, perdues dans les étangs.
Les Shappirs sont partis le soir même, après le diner chez les Touzés, mais nous avons gardé les Pickars quelques jours de plus. Nous sommes retournés à Provins avec eux, mais malheureusement un peu trop tard dans la journée.
Avant leur arrivée, j'avais fais une randonnée locale (Château de Champs et Chocolaterie Menier à Noisiel) and puis ce mercredi dernier, une autre dans la forêt de Chantilly. Il faudrait maintenir le rythme.
Je suis désolée de ne pas écrire autant en français, mais c'était vraiment très long, déjà, en anglais. C'est dur!
Il y a des photos: http://picasaweb.google.fr/elebelle

A walk along the Canal de l'Ourcq

vf sous le trait à la fin du texte en anglais

Daniel and Simone led an Ile de France walk along the Canal de l'Ourcq near Meaux. I think most Anglophone readers think of French mustard (the other mustard city is Dijon) and cheese (Brie de Meaux) when they hear of Meaux. It's has archeological remnants that go back to the gallo-roman times (late Roman Empire). It was occupied by the Vikings in the 9th century and was a major city in the Middle Ages as part of Champagne. The cathedral is a Gothic cathedral started in the 12th century and there are still other buildings around the cathedral from that period. The city was a major prize in the Hundred Years War and was occupied by the English for a short time. So, when you get off the train to find the canal, you do a little sight-seeing, too.

As we walked through the town, one of the Americans among us remarked on the beautiful Bossuet gardens. (Did I mention that Bossuet was the Bishop of Meaux in the 17th century and has a street, gardens, buildings, etc. named after him, so you can't not know that Meaux is very proud of him?) Back to the gardens - they are not very big, but they are impecable, and the remark was that the French take great pride in their public gardens and spend the money to maintain them. That led to some discussion of public spending, public servants and taxes. My own feeling is that the French do not enjoy paying high taxes, but they do understand and appreciate public service, including beautiful gardens.

I met Ann again. Our first walk together was last year at Provins, but I guess, since she and her husband went on the long hike and Paul and I stayed in the town to sight-see, we didn't talk much. We did partner up on a later walk in the fall - the stragglers. And we straggled last Wednesday, too. And here comes the "small world" story: Ann and her husband do not live in Paris; they are here on a temporary assignment. They live near Alexandria, VA. So, I reminisced that I had an aunt and uncle and cousins who had lived near Alexandria, in Hollin Hills, for a long, long time. BINGO. Ann has lived in Hollin Hills for the past 45 years and knew Hal and Bobbie! She says it hasn't changed much. The swimming pool is the same. The woods have grown and some of the trees are so tall, they allow more sun to get through for new growth - more flowers. But many of the people are the same. Children of the original owners have come back. And it's still a politically liberal community.

It was a very hot and sunny day last Wednesday. I guess it was a bit over-ambitious of me to think I could handle a 16-17 km. walk on a hot day just four weeks after the operation. I had to give up after about 12 km. Fortunately, we were near the intersection of the canal with a road and just down the road was a garage for agricultural equipment. The owner of the garage kindly drove me to the train station in Meaux and I had just enough time to get myself some more water (I'd already drunk all that I had started out with) before the train back to Paris arrived.

What else has been going on? Well, Louis turned 26. We celebrated his birthday with the Lebelles home from China on vacation. That's always a treat - well two treats: celebrating a birthday and seeing Pierre-Frédéric, Nadine and the kids. They look and sound great. They've got a busy couple of weeks of vacation, visiting family in the east and the south of France.

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Mercredi, il y avait une randonné le long du Canal de l'Ourcq autour de Meaux. Le cathédral est impressionant, mais je suis devenue un peu indifférente à l'architecture gothique. Et il n'y a pas de beaux vitraux. Il y a, bien sûr, la statue de Bossuet, l'évèque de Meaux à la fin du 17è siècle. Ils sont très fier de Bossuet à Meaux et on trouve son nom partout: rue, jardins, bâtiments, .... Les jardins sont impeccablement entretenus, ce qui a enclenché une discussion sur le service public vu par les américains et les français. (Nous étions sept: quatre français, deux américains et moi, un peu des deux). Mon sentiment est que les français n'aiment pas particulièrement payer des impôts mais ils reconnaissent et apprécient à quoi cela sert: les services publics, y compris les beaux jardins.

J'ai rencontré une autre marcheuse, Ann. Ce n'était pas notre première randonnée ensemble et comme nous ralentissons au bout d'un moment, nous nous retrouvons en queue ensemble. Et voilà - le moment "que le monde est petit !"Ann et son mari sont à Paris pour quelques mois seulement ; ils habitent dans la banlieue virginienne de Washington, DC. Alors, j'ai raconté que j'avais de la famille (tante, oncle et cousins) qui avaient habitaient un certain temps, eux aussi, près de Alexandria, à Hollin Hills précisément. BINGO. C'est justement là où ils habitent depuis 45 ans et ils ont connus Hal et Bobbie Williams ! (Harold était le frère de mon père.) Ah, que le monde est petit !

Il faisait très chaud mercredi et j'ai du sur-estimé mes capacités pour faire une marche de 16-17 km. J'ai du abandonné le groupe au bout de 12 km. environ. Nous étions heureusement près d'un pont où une route passait sur le canal. Un petit distance plus loin sur cette route ce trouvait un garage de matériel agricole et la propriétaire m'a très gentilement conduite à la gare de Meaux. J'ai eu tout juste le temps de prendre une bouteille d'eau avant l'arrivée du train pour Paris. J'avais bien bu pendant la marche, mais ce n'était pas assez, je présume. Le temps d'arriver à Paris, j'allais beaucoup mieux, déjà.

Quoi d'autre ? C'était l'anniversaire de Louis - 26 ans. Nous avons fêté son anniversaire au restaurant avec les Lebelles de Verrières, de retour de Chine pour les vacances. Ca fait toujours plaisir - 2 fois: fêter l'anniversaire et voir Pierre-Frédéric, Nadine et les enfants. Ils ont l'aire très en forme et ils ont quelques semaines de vacances bien remplies à rendre visites à la famille dans l'est et dans le sud.

Short visit to Six-Fours and an Afternoon Tea

Last week (it's getting scary how time goes so fast) Paul, Anne and I went to visit Paul's mother. It was about time! We hadn't been down to see her since Christmas 18 months ago! For just three of us, taking the TGV was not only the most practical, but also the cheapest solution. We switched to a local train at Marseilles. Gillette met us at the Oullioules-Sanary station and took us home for a scrumptious lunch. After lunch, we went over to see Marguerite.
Paul's mother is going on 99 and is in great shape. She's re-reading Clavell's Tai-pan, inspired by our stop in Hong Kong. She also remembers seeing the TV series The Thorn Birds, set in Australia. Her DVD player is kaput, and we all have problems speaking on the phone with her, so Saturday we went shopping. We also went up to the apartment to try to dust and clean a bit so that she can go for a visit, soon. I don't think it's a good idea -- there's just too much dust.
In addition to a new DVD machine and a set of phones, we picked up a few new DVDs for her, including The Thorn Birds. She loves watching DVDs and interesting TV shows so she prefers staying in her room for that rather than the TV room. We showed her the pictures from our trip, of course, and loaded up her digital picture frame with recent pictures. Generally, we had a fine visit.
It was also nice visiting with Pierre and Gillette. The house is settled. The weather wasn't great, though; they've been having lots of rain, so the garden looks wonderful. We ate well (every meal Gillette prepares is a feast, even if it's "just soup and leftovers". She has a knack for dressing it all up to be elegant.
We did go out for lunch all together on Friday. Marguerite is always glad to get out once in a while.
We left on Saturday, after lunch. Having arrived in time for lunch on Wednesday, we truly felt that we had spent four days - four visits with Paul's mother, at least - down there. If we had driven, we would have lost 2 whole days on the road.
Yesterday, I went over to the Genelins' for afternoon tea. It was a pleasant visit; Charly and Christine were there (from the Ile de France walks group) along with others from WICE and the anglo community. Michael's book is just out! Siren of the Waters (Michael Genelin's web site) All I managed to read was the jacket; the heroine is from Prague (I think) and her investigation takes her all over Europe. It's a mystery, just the kind of book I always pick up. In my haste, I ordered it from the Amazon.fr site, so it might take some time for me to actually get it. Susan Genelin is an artist and the apartment has some wonderful paintings she did during their stay in Jerusalem (during his job as consultant to the Palestinian Authority on criminal justice) and some more recent views of Paris. There's a great one of the trees all lined up in the Bois de Vincennes.
Michael was very excited about his book. In fact, his advance copy had arrived just before we showed up, earlier in the afternoon. So, the book was the center of conversation -- closely shared with the end of the Democratic Party candidate selection! There seemed to be a fairly clear division of Clinton and Obama supporters and I didn't sense any McCain fans, at all. What I really loved, though, was watching the non-American faces among us. Because of Michael's past life as prosecutor, we also collectively reviewed the R. Kennedy assassination, the O.J. Simpson trial, and the Sal Mineo case, which Michael handled.
On the personal front - I mowed the grass again. It's something that does come up every couple of weeks. The thing is that I'm mowing the moss, not the grass. It's time to dig the whole thing up and start over! And, I saw the Dr. yesterday and he is going squeeze a spot onto his schedule for an operation early in July. Hope this is the end of the series. Also still hope I can make a trip to the States in August.

Quiet Week - Semaine tranquille

We had a quiet week. A few more complications for me, but I'm still confident all will be fine in time for our trip. And if it's not all fine, then I'll just go in less than fine shape.

There was an Ile de France walk this week. It was very conveniently in the Bois de Vincennes, (the wikipedia page) so I didn't have to do the whole walk back to the starting point. We started out at the statue at the Porte Dorée which was the main entrance to the Colonial Exhibition in 1931. The museum of Immigration is one of the remaining buildings. Until becoming the museum of Immigration earlier this year, it was a museum of the colonies. We used to go there with the kids. In addition to the North African exhibits that attracted us, there was the aquarium in the basement. I think the aquarium is still there.

From there we went off to the right, to the Lac de Daumesnil. We could see the fairgrounds of the Foire de Trône; the fair just got started on March 22. We saw the Buddhist temple and had a moment of thought for Tibet. We kept walking close to the edge of the woods, from the Lac de Daumesnil to the Lac de Gravelle, next to the race track. Wednesday is not a race day at Vincennes so we didn't see any trotters out exercising. I used to ride my bike over there when Emma was a toddler; we'd drop Claire off at school and go for a bike ride. She loved watching the horses. I miss that. It was relaxing and beautiful to see.

We went around the race course, past the police academy, towards the back of the horticulture school, along the edge of Mortemart (but we did not go down to the playing fields, so baseball and softball fields there are still well-kept secrets). At the new round-about at the intersection of the wood, and Nogent, we continued along the edge of the wood towards the Institute of Tropical Agronomy and that's where we split. The others continued towards the Lac des Minimes and I headed into Nogent to go home. I treated myself to a pizza and some ice cream.

For the first outing since the operation, it was long enough for me. Next week is a walk in Paris from the Butte-aux-Cailles to the Cité Universitaire. I don't know if I'll go, though.

Such Blue Skies

Most people who know the Paris region in winter will tell you it's rainy and gray. We've been having some beautiful weather. It's even been warm. (OK, today it's freezing, but the sky is cloudless!)

On February 6, Daniel led the Ile de France walk to the Abbey of Royaumont and last Wednesday, Krystina led the walk to Neauphle-le-Château. In order not to take up too much room on the blog, I've put the photos up on Picasa: http://picasaweb.google.com/elebelle/IleDeFranceWalks2008. They are not great photos; some might only be interesting to those who were there.

Abbaye de Royaumont

It was a large group -- over 30 -- to the abbey. Although it was cold and it had rained the day before, the weather report was good. We had a fairly long train ride to get to Seugy, on the edge of the Chantilly forest, where we started our walk. It was muddy. My boots felt like they were carrying their weight in mud. But as we walked, the clouds lifted and we actually started shedding layers.

I had been on a similar walk to Royaumont a few years ago with the group of Diabetes Club hikers. It was in the summer. The abbey is very interesting, probably at its apogee in the 13th century when Louis IX, Saint Louis, spent time there. After the French revolution, in the 19th century, it became a cotton factory. Now, it's a cultural center - music mostly. It's a good hike destination. You go around fields and through woods to get there. There are some nice villages you walk through. I'm not sure it's the kind of place I would make an effort to visit by car, so I'm glad I discovered it on these walks.

Of course, the nice thing about the walks is meeting new people and seeing other familiar faces from previous walks. Tom had the book Sarum with him. He had just finished it. Coincidentally, I finished reading Sarum the week before. (Alison lent it to me at Christmas.) Sarum is an epic novel about Salisbury, England. It starts in prehistoric times -- when the glaciers started receding and Great Britain became an island. A small group of nomads arrived in the region on their search for better hunting grounds. Later, Stonehenge was built. Then the Romans made it a minor intersection. In the Middle Ages, they built a great cathedral. And so on. All through this, you keep finding descendants of the original families. Tom loved it. I read it all the way through, but I didn't love it. It was like a Mitchner novel -- once you get into it, you want to find out how it ends, but I wasn't impressed by the quality of writing.

Neauphle-le-Château

This week, Krystina, led us through her neighborhood, from Plaisir to Neauphle-le-Château, near Versailles. Plaisir, or at least the part we walked through, is one of these new cities around Paris -- a succession of residential neighborhoods that all come out of the same catalog. Then, all of a sudden, there are fields with horses grazing and you find yourself at the château.

The Château de Plaisir is a municipal building with the music conservatory, a theater and a pony club. The park was devastated in the storm that hit France on Dec. 26, 1999. Most of the trees were uprooted. That was one of those events that brings out tales of where you were (we were in Florida for Christmas) and what damage you had (we lost some tiles from the roof) and how long it took to be repaired (we waited more than a year and had the roof replaced). So, all us permanent residents told our tales to the newcomers.

We cut through some woods and fields to reach Neauphle-le-Château. I think Americans, if they know the name at all, only know that it is where ayatollah Khomeini lived before returning to Iran in 1979. He didn't even live there for six months.

Historically, Neauphle-le-Château was a major market town. Probably for that reason, Mr. Lapostolle chose to found his distillery there in 1827. Fruit liqueurs were quite the thing in the 19th century and he made them. During the Franco-Prussian war, the family went to the southwest of France to escape the war. There, they got to know Cognac. By this time, Miss Lapostolle had married Mr. Marnier and they came back to create a new kind of drink, a blend of essence of fruit and cognac. They still make the Cherry drink created then.

Later, Mr. Marnier discovered the Caribbean, especially the sour oranges used for marmalade. They bought plantations in Haiti and the zests of unripened sour oranges are the base for Grand Marnier. There's a free tour of the distillery -- very interesting. To start, you get a presentation of how they make Grand Marnier, a history of the drink, the different varieties of Grand Marnier (variations of the orange-based liqueur, the ancestor Cherry, and the new Navan, which is vanilla-based). Then they take you into the distillery. It smells wonderful. And it's an interesting visit. At the end of the visit there's a little tasting session. I compared the "red ribbon" with the "yellow ribbon" and my conclusion is that the "yellow ribbon" is undrinkable. I did like the Navan, which is not available in France (only the US and Canada). It's made from vanilla blooms, so it's very sweet, like vanilla ice cream actually. This would make a nice side trip to a visit to Versailles.

Lots of Activity

I'ts been pretty busy these last few weeks. How on earth did I manage to do anything when I was working?

Speaking of working, I went to a job interview at a small company in Fontenay sous Bois - very near home. They are not really paying for a technical writer; it looks more tlike they want a part-time office assistant who can print out whatever is needed for bids as they come up and write new material when necessary. I suggested they use me (through an agency) to do the writing and find someone else for the lesser tasks. It was interesting, though, and I enjoyed the atmosphere of the company.

I saw Yamina - always pick up where we left off - as if it was yesterday. Well, yes I did see her a couple of months ago, but before that, it had been years. She told me about her trips to the States as supervisor of groups of French kids on linguistic trips. The organization she goes with seems to be hooked up with a weird group of host families, mostly evangelical Christians who seem bent on converting their guests. I don't know if it is giving these kids a warped vision of the United States or if I've been away so long, I'm the one with the warped vision.

I also went to a lunchtime AARO meetup at a pizzaria at Montparnasse. That was fun. Most of the 25 or so attendees were members and I already knew several from AAWE and other meetings. Just a pleasant social event.

It's amazing how many Americans are in Paris on a temporary basis. I'm used to seeing the ones like me who are married to French people and even the ones who came to work and have stayed on, but I've been meeting more of the kind that are retired and have come here to spend a year or so and others who still maintain residences in the States, but come here for several months a year. I meet them in the Ile de France walks, too. The falling dollar is an obsession for these people. A few years ago, they were really well off and now, they can barely get through the month. Even for me - when I calculated what I might draw from US funds, I wasn't thinking in terms of almost $1.50 per €1.00.

Last week, I went to a Democrats Abroad for Hillary meeting. It was a conference call with meetings in many major cities around the world and one of the head honchos for Clinton's campaign - a fund raiser. I was hoping for some help in deciding. The meeting was for Hillary supporters, but there were a few of us there who are undecided. I got invited to the Democrats Abroad for Obama meeting the next evening, but didn't go. While we were waiting for the call to begin, we were asked if we had any questions and I offered mine: Why should I, an American living abroad, want to vote for Hillary Clinton? It was deemed a good question and I got to ask it during the conference call. Unfortunately, it didn't get answered. I don't know that there is an answer. Considering all the problems in the States, why should we (some 3-7 million Americans abroad) be of any consequence? Why? Because there are so many of us, we could almost be a state! I could give an easy answer and say that we need tax reform - have our income abroad removed from the tax declaration if we are declaring and paying tax on it where it was earned. But there are other things - when the kids were growing up and I didn't have a clue as to how to pass on the "American" part of us, I could have used some help. In Paris, it is not all that difficult - just join AAWE. But there are many who do not have such help, who can't afford even what is there. Medicare extension, too, for people who paid into the US system all their lives and are now abroad. Again, it doesn't concern me, but it does affect others.

I saw Chilla again at both the AARO meetup and the Dems Abroad for Hillary meeting and yet again at the Jay Gottlieb recital at Neuilly the other evening. This time he played a full program of American composers: Copeland, Ives, Bernstein, Gershwin, Glass, Jarrett, and Adams. I find Ives a bit hard to listen to; the Copeland and Bernstein pieces were not the usual things you hear. Iwas totally hypnotized by the Glass and loved the Koln Concert (Jarrett). Jay is totally absorbed in the music as he plays; he's amazing to watch. And of course, Rita came to this recital, too.

On Mondays and Thursdays I go to an art class in Fontenay, just 10 minutes from home. This replaces the art classes I went to in Paris, before. Last week was the first time I went on a Monday and everyone was doing his or her own thing until the end, when Francine, our hostess and instructor, asked us to bring over our work for group comments. There was the portrait of a man - and I immediately recognized him - our neighbor, Bruno. (Actually, he moved away a few months ago, but still, he was our neighbor for 20 years!) Turns out I'm in class with his sister, Isabelle. And she's a damned good portraitist. Just another instance of the small world phenomenon.

So now, I've spent too long at Anne's computer and it'll be too late to call FNAC to get help getting my own computer in order. I think I screwed up some settings and can't find my wi-fi connection. I'll see if I can get it done on Thursday. Tomorrow, I'm going on a walk at the Parc Citroën. Last week, I joined the walk through the Parc de la Courneuve but did not continue to the Basilique St. Denis.