blog #5

blog #5 -- mai 2007

Exposed! Many of you regular consumers of le blog have uncovered some strangely unpredictable activity with the home page countdown clock - which seemed to be actually ADDING time whenever it was getting close to the publish date! Could it be explained by a change in global time zone differences? Or has Microsoft Office Live technology gone bad? Alas, I must admit that it was neither, but rather my work travels to Seattle and Canada that caused me to push out the May narrative until this weekend. I can only hope that this deliberate, but necessary delay has not cost us too much distrust from our loyal readers...

But let's be honest - you are still getting a treat if you still have the patience to take in the below editorial. The month of May marked a decidedly important shift for Shannon and I, from "americans living in foreign city with proper permits" to "americans with a new home (albeit temporary)" How to explain this? Well, in the absence of any visitors, we spent our weekends becoming much more Parisien via a conscious four-step process: 1) being lazy 2) understanding local politics 3) spending time with new friends, and 4) traveling to the French countryside (Normandy and Brittany). But why talk when we could show you...

Being Lazy. Becoming French requires a healthy dose of the anti-busy, which is foreign to Americans that have adopted a "work hard / play hard" attitude. My progress in this arena has been documented - case in point in the lazy Sunday couch picture below. While Ole has clearly mastered this art, it has taken some adjusting for me...but honestly what could be better in life than sunlight, a good book, a spread-eagle fat cat, and Coca-Cola Light?

Sunny-day views like this make it difficult to leave the apartment. Here Shannon captures the Pantheon in all its glory...

But when we did leave, you could put beaucoup de Euros on where you would find us - allow me to introduce the only Lux Gardens approved grass sitting area, which is the epi-center of our laziness strategy. We have this fabulous northwesty Pendleton picnic blanket (thank you Erika and Rich!), which is getting great mileage these days. Picture us among our people!

"Hey mon amis - any room left?"

"Excusez-moi...your feet are blocking my view of the..."Palais du Luxembourg!"

As the household's primary cartographer, Shannon would also chart out some long lazy walks around Paris...Spectacular, Spectacular!

And as the household's primary historian, she would also provide suggestions for exploring history-packed Rick Steves'-friendly places like the Carnavalet Museum, housed in a restored mansion. Someday we will model our garden after it...

Understanding Local Politics. You would have to be buried in Nutella crepes to miss what was happening in French politics in the months leading up to May - it was literally the only permissable topic of conversation that was allowed between countrymen.

All of the action was in preparation for the May 6th French Presidential Election - where 85% of the population turned out to vote! For the primary round election there were 15 candidates, later narrowed down to two, and advertised on the election posters that were visible everywhere -billboards, cars, cafe tables, dogs, etc., throughout the entire city. Here are two such posters for the final two candidates, Nicolas Sarkozy and Ségolène Royal (these were some of the few posters not decorated with drawn-on mustaches and/or devil-horns)...

Not to be mistaken for a 4th of July celebration...Here is a picture of the Hôtel de Ville, or City Hall, decked out in French Flags in preparation for the big election day:

The results of the election are not tallied throughout the day like in the US, but rather, at 8pm sharp the winner is announced on national television and radio - what suspense! Here is a picture we took of the results on TV, seconds after they were posted:

With all of this political excitement in the city we weren't about to stay inside and ponder the future of US / French relations. We decided to hit the streets and take in the fervor...

First Stop - the gracious losers. Madame Royal's supporters were actually quite festive given the outcome (no, contrary to reports of thousands of burning cars, what you see isn't a revolt)...

Here we are in the core of the "Ségo-sphere" - and Madame Royal is thanking Shannon and I for our support....

Next Stop - the confident winners. The city-wide party at Place de la Concorde held in honor of the victorious President-Elect, Sarkozy. Champagne (check), dancing in fountains (check), "big name" French musical acts (check)...

Generalized flag-waving (check).....

Spending time with new friends. There comes a time while living abroad when you just have to stop eating your meals via video-chat with friends and family thousands of miles away...need I say more? We were lucky enough to be able to try out our mini table that confidently advertises expansion beyond 4 people...

Here we are at Rue Cassette hosting friends from Microsoft and from Shannon’s French Class. (Gokhan & Yasemin on the left and Diane & Harold on the right.) Not one, not two, but three nations represented at the table (four if you count my distant Scandinavian contribution)...

Brad Peterson (left), a family friend who is working on his MBA in Switzerland joined us for a night on the town and introduced us to his fiancée Christen and friend James...After a top-notch meal near the Eiffel Tower we naturally migrated to the cutural center of the 6ème called Odeon, securing a prime people-watching table at Café Mabillon.

As intimidating as it can be, we must also open our Rue Cassette doors for local frenchmen, to 1) receive necessary critique of our cultural ignorance, and 2) validate that Shannon's interpretations of French cuisine are as well-praised by others as they are by the family (namely myself and Ole). Bernard and Shwu (the latter in Shannon's class at Alliance Francaise) have given us high hopes and expectations on the culinary front, but the cultural ignorance is clearly a work in progress. To use an age-old Star Wars quote: "We shall double our efforts!" Note: By double our efforts, I do not mean the visible deuxième bouteille du vin rouge sur la table. Surely a blurred lens issue...

Travels to the French countryside. We offer you the right to ask the question "Didn't three weeks of traveling through French countryside on your Honeymoon allow you to see it all??" The answer, as you will witness in the following Normandy & Brittany section, is a simple "Non, Madame."

Note: I would have offered a complimentary "Non, Monsieur" but let's be honest, if you are a male browsing le blog you are skipping the text (and the scenery) and going straight to the pictures of my French-ified wife, maybe stopping occasionally to determine how french friends compare to you. I don't fault you for this, so carry on, c'est la vie.

Our first stop was Honfleur – a picture-perfect little port in Normandy. This is my kind of place, where the sites are the town itself and the primary activity is a drawn-out lunch port-side. Here we find Shannon surveying the scene from the crow's nest (aka our hotel room)...

Move over Friday Harbor...

Mastering the french-guy "tough, yet content look" is a work in progress. Easier to do during an Honfleur sunset...

The next day we visited the D-Day Beaches, including the WWII American Cemetery and Memorial. The cliffs you see are the ones that American, British, and Canadian soldiers stormed up as in Saving Private Ryan, and the barges are remains of the the sea fortress that was created to enable the massive invasion. I'll let the next three pictures speak for themselves...

A great base-camp for visiting the Normandy beaches is the town of Bayeux - where we stayed and had a memorable multi-course meal at le Pommier (recommended by both Rick and Lonely Planet!). For all of you Escargot novices, here is the place to take the leap of faith...tastes like...chicken...

The next day we ventured to the coast en route to the picturesque Mont Saint Michel. Built on a small island, the 1000 year old castle-like abbey and tiny town surrounding it make it an old-school Disneyland fairy-tale...

But with all Disneyland dreams there is reality - and in the heart of this village the consequence is the swarming pit of tourist inferno. This picture was carefully taken while screaming "Shannon, save me quickly............now..........PLEAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSE...."

Don't be fooled by the "I'm the king and these are my subjects" pose...I had to wait in line to take this shot...

A rare peaceful moment atop the abbey, documenting one of Europe's best "cloisters." There have been many a book written on what it takes to build a world-class cloister (inspiration, meditation, heavenly peace, etc.) but whatever the ingredients, they nailed it with this one.

As an escape from the madness, we took a scenic drive along Brittany’s coast...

This included a stop in the beach town of St. Malo, which has mastered a brilliant formula: Beach Town + French food + Close Proximity to UK = All of England comes to visit.

All of England plus two American transplants I should say. Is the Fleur-de-lis a trademark of France, or of Kappa Kappa Gamma? Shannon wins either way...

You can see it's not a stretch to call this region the Riviera of the North....

We stayed our last night in a small medieval town in Brittany called Dinan. Don't believe that medieval times still exist in France? Witness pictures of half-timbered buildings, cobblestone streets, a port with aging fortress walls, and a man-drinking mead being beheaded by a battle axe. We'll we didn't manage to get a picture of that last one...

Shannon inspecting the Great Wall of...Dinan (not quite the same ring)

There have been some key wisdom-earning moments while traveling in France. This advice I will give to the exclusive readers of le blog: "When in medieval towns, carry cash (or gold, silver, or copper)" Here I am pictured after a 3 kilometer hike to le distributeur, after being presented with a dinner bill that I couldn't pay in credit. During those moments the wine doesn't taste nearly as sweet....

Having provided a detailed pictoral review of May's "live like locals" strategy - you make the call! Is this progress or what?

If you're not convinced, I present one last photo that screams "La France, Je t'aime!" It also shows that there is plenty of space left in our rental mini-van (You call that a "compact?"), so get on over and strap on a seat belt!

-Je habite-----------------J'apprends-----------------Je mange-------------------Je bois---------------------J'adore-