Agissez à Paris!

Hello again!  It's been a week since we saw each other, I hope all of you have been experiencing the same delicious beginnings of fall as I have here à Paris.  As of September 23rd, the equinox (you'll have to ask google why it wasn't the 21), we are officially into fall.  And I couldn't be happier about it!  I actually looked forward to getting on the metro the other day, because I knew it would be warm there. The air smells crisper, the leaves are changing, automne est arrivé!

This week was another exciting one, not least because it started with the marche pour le climat on Sunday. This picture pretty well sums up my feelings about climate change:

Parce-que la terre est la seule planète avec du chocolat, preservons-là!!!

This is the Place de la Republique, where the march started, with a banner reading "Because the earth is the only planet with chocolate, let's preserve it!"  Mais oui!

My Grandpa instructed me that if I got nabbed by a flic while I was out protesting, I should blog about it!  Well, rather fortunately, I did not get nabbed, and the march on the whole was pretty festive and genial.  There were lots of kids there, even in our group, and lots of fun costumes.   It ended at the Paris City Hall, where there were speeches and a concert and lots and lots and lots of people!  The New York Times estimated between 5000-25,000....thanks, NYT.  I think it was probably around 10,000, but it's very hard to tell when you're in the centre of something.  Nothing like the 371,000 (ish) in New York, but the point is there were people there, and they were quite literally walking the walk to protest climate change.  I can't post pictures of them because it would have been weird to take them in the first place, but I think the strongest part of the day for me was seeing the little kids on scooters who had "Je suis la future" painted on their faces - doesn't get much more real than that!

If Sunday was about the future, Saturday was a bit more about the past.  I spent most of the day with a lovely new french friend, Célia, who I was put in touch with before I came to France. 

Célia et moi

 We went to the Hotel de Ville (the aforementioned City Hall) as part of something called the Journées du Patrimoine, a yearly holiday where tons and tons of government and other historic buildings around the Ile-de-France region are open to the public.  The Hotel de Ville was, for lack of another phrase, super blinged out.  Frescos on the ceiling, gold leaf everywhere, libraries full of spiral mahogany staircases...if the French were serious about fixing up their economy, there could be a few savings to be made around that place for sure!

Just a bit of light bedtime reading.

No, it's not a museum silly, it's a municipal government building!  Couldn't you tell from all the bright colours and marble statues and gold plate?

Ok, I know this isn't a great photo, but I just couldn't get over the fact that these statues were in the lobby and there was no explanation, nor could the staff provide one.  

Fresco on the ceiling of the main conference room - this is Apollo fighting for the arts.

Numbers on how many cleaners the Hotel de Ville employs - 83!!  And they own 70 vaccum cleaners!  

I guess this is also an opportunity to remind the population about the evils of tax evasion?

And I have to admit, the rest of the week has passed by in a haze of work and social events!  Oh, but for the purpose of talking about french happenings I should add that today I went for lunch to welcome someone new to the office at work, and there are a few things to note about the meal that were particularly 'cultural':

1) They seemed to have either lost our reservation or did away with it when we were 5 minutes late

2)They mixed up the orders, did not apologize, and then forgot to bring someone their food at all.

3) Because we complained about this, they did not bring us any complimentary bread.

4)The guy who asked if we could have complimentary bread got his food last.

5)The lunch took 2.5 hours because service was really....really....slow.

6) The addition, or bill, was a gros bordel, but on our part, because we were so unsure of who had ordered what and how things worked out that we almost over payed the very grumpy waiter.  In France, tips are unnecessary, and while you can pay by card you have to do the math on the bill yourself - none of this separate bills nonsense!

7) Of course, the food was delicious.

And that last point makes up for the rest of them, in my books.  It's pretty easy to complain or make fun of the french way of doing things, but at the end of the day there is a reason why their gold plated mahogany staircases and options to pay by cheque everywhere persevere well into the 21st century - when the traditions produce results that are worth all the hassle.

Et bon, c'est ça.  Bon weekend à toutes et tous!

Le Bordel de la rentrée

What a week!

It’s been a little while since my last post, but I will make up for it in sheer volume of activities.  I now understand why Paris is the city that never sleeps - there is ALWAYS something going on here!  

My week actually (yes dad, actually) started last week, when my friend Michael McTaggart came to visit.  McTaggs was a camper when I was a lifeguard at Camp Artaban, and when I found out he was backpacking through Europe I insisted that he come stay with me in Paris.  Little did he know I would be two hours late for our agreed upon arrival time due to a very late doctor’s appointment…but he took it in stride, and continued to take the rest of my scheduling mishaps and business very well for the remainder of his stay.  For a full account of his view on what it’s like to visit Ella in Paris, please see the survey below:

ELLA’S HOSTESS SURVEY

We hope you enjoyed your stay Chez Ella.  Please let us know how we can make the experience even better for the next guest by filling out the following survey (answers can just be bolded):

1. When Ella misses the agreed upon rendez-vous place and time, and then is almost two hours late for the back up rendez-vous, how does that make you feel?              

 a)Excellent b)Good c)Meh, whatever d)Sad e)Mutinous

2.  When the bed that was supposed to be there for you has not been delivered and it is already 10 pm, how does that make you feel? 

      a) excellent b) good c) meh, whatever d) sad e) Like dexter on a rampage

3.  When Ella then tells you that she is going to be very busy for the next few days, but you are welcome to accompany her to various sporting and social events, do you: 

 a) Smile and give her a hug b) Smile and nod c) shrug and purse your lips d) look at the floor e) rip out your hair and scream at her complete lack of planning 

4.  Do you find Ella’s romantic advice to be:

   a) helpful b) fine c) interesting d) iffy e) why is this even a question?

5.  Ella’s friends make you dinner.  Do you: 

     a) Gratefully thank them and chow down b) eat with your hands c) help with the dishes after d)sprint out of the room the second the fruit dessert is offered or e) all of the above

6.  How do you feel after Ella gives you traveling advice? 

    a)excited b) scared to travel c) nothing, the advice wasn't helpful  d) argumentative 

Thank you for your comments.  

My week was surprisingly full, but we went to a soccer tournament on Saturday where I played on an OECD team (we had a very respectable 1-2-2 ) and then on Sunday we went to the Montmartre, where the combination of the Sacre Coeur and Moulin Rouge is enough to make anyone more than a bit confused.  There was also quite a bit of cool graffiti all along our walk:

One of the many portrait artists in the market near the Sacre Coeur.  This guy was a real professional.

But I met a really nice guy!

 

As I mentioned, Montmarte was a bit confusing.

 

 Then we headed down to the Seine and enjoyed one of the pedestrianized quays for a bit by partaking in a couple of games of chinese checkers at an outdoor table.  My record there was 0-0-2. 

On Wednesday I bid Michael a hearty good bye, as he continues his journey on to the east and then down to Toulouse and eventually Lyon for an ultimate frisbee tournament - bon courage!

Take that Pacman!

Also on Wednesday, my former boss and all-round lovely lady Karen Aitken and her husband Jonathan met me for dinner at a great restaurant in the 7th arrondissement called Pottoka. Our reservation was for 9:45, and we weren’t seated until 10:20, but the food more than made up for it.  We had a fois gras starter with some kind of coulis that had been, as Jonathan so eloquently described for us, “blown through a straw” by the chef because it was very foamy and light.  I won’t go into detail about the rest of the meal because I don’t think my blog offers that much space, but suffice to say it was heavenly (AND they had a dessert that was basically chocolate mousse with chocolate cookies mixed in and some kind of chocolate brittle on top.  I think I’ve found my place in the world.) 

How did they already know me so well?!

And of course, while the food was good, the company was also fantastic and it was great to catch up with someone else from home, whilst in Paris.  We talked about all the important things that foreigners think about when they’re in France:  how do the locals consume so much fois gras and croissants and remain so thin?  How do they live in such small spaces all the time?  And how does anyone afford to buy property in Paris anymore?

 This week also marked the first time that I couldn’t get on the metro in the morning because the car was too full.  The platform was also full, and I had to watch 2 cars go by before I was finally able to squeeze onto the third.  Paris is filling up!  La rentrée est fait, et maintenant la vrai travaille commence encore.

Yeah, I think the residents are back from the summer.

Finally, with the fall and getting back to work comes something very important:  the People's Climate March.  This is a huge event happening in NYC, where the UN will be convening to discuss climate change, but there will also be marches in Dehli, Montreal, and tons of other cities, including Paris, all this Sunday. Venez nombreux!

Even the garbage is romantic

Salut à tous et toutes!  It's been a busy few days.  Since my last post I've been to another softball practice (that's really all you need to know), done some marathon shopping, been to chinatown, strolled the Luxembourg gardens, and eaten approximately une quinzaine des croissants (I purposefully made that number ambiguous!).


This past weekend I started off with a trip to Marché Edgar Quinet, a few métro stops away.  It was suitably cute and french, and I got there early enough that it wasn't tooooo busy, although the people ahead of me in line got the last two pain au chocolat.  You know life is hard when you have to settle for a plain croissant.  The market was in the Montparnasse area, evidenced in part by this mural:

That afternoon, a few friends and I went to chinatown, which also had it's fair share of murals:

Chinatown was cool, although I wouldn't start comparing it to Vancouver.  It's one major feature is a Géant Casino, the (literally) giant version of the french grocery store chain Casino.  

On Sunday, we did a group trip to the Musée de l'Orangerie, which is an art gallery at the other end of the Tuileries gardens from the Louvre (about a 20 minute walk).  It's main feature is a series of Monet paintings, displayed permanently (since 1927) under a specially designed ceiling that diffuses natural daylight into the museum so you can look at the paintings as though you were chillaxing on the grass beside the water lilies.

I told Dad I would add a selfie to the blog, so voilà

I should add, the title of this post comes from something one of my new international friends, Alejandra, said while we were waiting in line for the museum.  We were discussing the griminess of Paris, which is especially apparent right now while we are all still new to the city.  The garbage, the dust, the smell on the métro at the end of a hot day...it's a lot to get used to all at once.  But, we are experiencing all this saleté while in Paris, and so that makes it not just ok, but exciting and exotic!   Or, as Alejandra put it:  "Even the garbage is romantic!"

After the museum and a fortfiying lunch at an Alsace-themed restaurant, we went for a walk to the Luxembourg gardens.   I can't even being to imagine how many landscapers must be employed there.  The french style of gardening is very precise, so that everything is neat and controlled.  

This is a pear tree.

This is the fence that protects the pear tree.

Look at those hedges!  How could they possibly trim them that high?  This is one of the few lawns designated for people to relax on.  Most of the gardens have benches all around the lawns where you can sit, and there is also a huge playground, tennis courts, pony rides, cafés, and of course fountains where there were kids fishing for coins with magnets.  

Alors, à dodo!  Bonsoirée from Paris!

Bon matin Paris!

Welcome to my first blog post from Paris!   I am in the City of Light for 6 months to do an internship  and also to eat lots of cheese.

I arrived yesterday, and took the train to the residence where I will be staying.  Because I arrived during the lunch break, there was no one there to check me in.  This was nice, because it allowed me to rest a bit after being on a plane for nine hours with what seemed like approximately 50 screaming babies.

I am now checked in and rested, and I've been to my first day of work.  It's an easy métro ride and everyone was very nice and welcoming (and impressed that I had found somewhere to stay for the whole six months before arriving!  Finding housing in Paris is super hard).  After leaving work to set up my bank account (HUGE perk with my job is that the process is streamlined; if all goes well I should be able to open an account this week, as opposed to the 3 months that it can sometimes take) I managed to lock myself out of the métro not once, but twice, in the span of about 30 minutes.  The upside to this was that I got to walk, and in doing so found a nice boulangerie.  

First pain au chocolate, fait.

I also found the Paris Musée de Vin.  I'm not exactly sure how reputable it is, but it will probably make a good sightseeing stop when my mom visits!

Musée du vin

There was a nice sunset tonight, so I left the building to go take some photos....and stumbled on a women's softball team!  In Paris!  I did the old  "Hey, can I play with you guys?" and next thing you know they had me paired with the one other anglophone on the team (who coincidentally also had the meanest arm).  The rest of the team was either french or spanish speaking.  I hung out with them until we couldn't see the ball anymore, and now it's time for me to stick it to jetlag by falling asleep at a reasonable bedtime.

OH, before I do that I should explain the blog name:  before I had a place to stay, some friends very kindly offered their completely unfurnished apartment to me in the event that I couldn't find anything else.  They said, if need be, they could put some camping gear there and I could stay for a month until I found an apartment.  I was explaining this, and my housing-search saga (it was a bit of a saga before I found a place), to my cousin's boyfriend and he said "Hmmm, camping in Paris.  Not bad!"

For more amusing anecdotes like that, and further adventures, please stay tuned.  Merci et au revoir!

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