blog #6

blog #6 -- juin 2007

June - A tale of two cities! In celebration of our 6th official month in Paris, I think it was extremely appropriate for Air France to launch the first-ever Paris to Seattle direct flight. The significance of this development is twofold: 1) After years of "riding pine," Seattle was just officially thrown a Varsity jersey, joining a short but exclusive list of world-class destinations, and 2) the days of discovering "exciting new boutiques" at places like Heathrow, Amsterdam Schipol, Copenhagen, and my personal favorite, Dallas-Fort Worth, are officially over. The Air France flight is such a well-timed service that one departs from Paris at around 1pm, and with the help of favorable headwinds, arrives in Seattle at...1pm! If that take on modern day time-travel doesn't warrant a "voila!," I don't know what does.

I was so full of anticipation for this event that I put together several arguments for my manager on why it was important for me to be on the June 11th maiden voyage to Sea-Tac ("someone from our team has to test it out...I suppose, if required, it should be moi"). The plan was a partial backfire - I was asked to attend meetings in Seattle a week earlier (not Schipol again!), and spend three days of extra meetings in Toronto on the way home. Which brings me to the tale of two cities, the first being Shannon's un-lonely adventures in Paris.

In college, there were so many school and fraternity-sponsored dances that, there came a time when some individuals would exhaust all of their options for feasible dates (stick with me on the analogy here). That situation led to the birth of a very rationale and common practice known as "importing" a date - namely, inviting a well-known friend or significant from your hometown that resulted in a win-win situation -- the date-less indivual gets a date, the invitee gets to experience a new adventure in a foreign place. What does this have to do with Shannon in Paris? Well, facing 10 days without a date, she "imported" one from DC. And like the kindred spirit she is, Anne graciously accepted.

On such short-notice, Anne didn't exactly have a "direct" flight (or a direct train for that matter), but here she sits impressivley at ease, minutes after arrival...

Since Anne had already seen most of the Paris sights in December, the ladies stayed completely away from the touristy sights. Here they are at Paris' best kept-secret....the Eiffel......Tower.

Okay but honestly, the Pompidou Center is so visually disturbing that, even with one of Europe’s best collections of modern art, it takes a brave soldier to penetrate its walls. And here we find one brave soldier gearing up for the approach:

Most of this eyesore is due to all it’s functional parts – the pipes, heating ducts and escalator are all on the outside – Get it, modern architecture for a modern art museum? I'm not laughing either. But these ladies are having the time of their lives...

"At least the art is...beautiful...well, kind of..."

But what it loses in architecture and gnarly art, it makes up in real estate and scenic viewing areas - the heart of Paris with views of tout le monde? Not bad...

But why just look at the Seine when you could stroll along it?

Okay, okay - Last touristy sight, I promise!

Mandatory culinary moment! When I give Pita Greque the distinguised title of "the Dick's Deluxe of Paris", I do not take that designation lightly. This any-time-of-day snack, filled with grilled pork, greek gyro sauce, and yes -topped with frites brings the oh-la-la right out of you! Warning - it's within walking distance of the apartment...

Mandatory Cultural Experience! As you may recall in the blog of Fevrier, this foot-bridge called the Pont-des-Arts was the backdrop for drinking chocolat chaud to warm up a winter night. Well, in the summer this same bridge turns into a non-stop social phenomenon, hosting young social groups (revelers), musicians, hippies, down-and-outers, up-and-comers, you name it. It also provides the ideal setting for le Pique-nique (not sure how to translate that in English):

"Who invited all of the Parisians?"

"Shannon, pass the Macarons s'il vous plait..."

"Do I hear Bob Marley over there?"

Now, I wasn't there as an eyewitness, but I think its safe to say from the documented evidence that great sisterly bonding was had by all. And since nothing is more disastrous than a failed imported date, we can all breathe a little easier for next time - NEXT TIME? Well, minimally this picture needs to be retaken including the top (how does one say "length-wise" in French?)

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch! Well not all of us in the Johnson family could spend the month of June galavanting the streets of Paris among sisters. There was back-breaking work to be done, including many tough business decisions to be made at conferences in Seattle. And that is exactly what I planned to do...

Conference #1 - Duke's Restaurant on a 90-degree Seattle day. As I recall much progress was made this day (pictured here in tough negotiations with team member Matthew Chase). Those are not visible pints of beer...

Conference #2 - Alki Beach at Sunset. The concept here is that a change in office-setting breeds "out-of-the-box" thinking. Don't mistake this for touch-football on the beach, this is grueling team building...(not pictured, the Free-Ballard Scandinavians team, who were sent packing on a 28-21 loss)...

The inherent glitch of the "tale of two cities" narrative is that there is no second portable camera to document both tales. However, rest assured there was more good progress made in Seattle, but not pictured:

Conference #3: Glen Johnson birthday celebration at Italian favorite Mama Melina's, including our first experience at the new Roosevelt High School musical theater auditorium
Conference #4: Weekend "summit" at the Pendergrafts which included a check-up on baby Luke

And for those of you patiently waiting for a review of the Air France flight (wine choices, recommended temperature of filet de beouf, best Audrey Tatou movies), fear not! We will give you an update in August after we give it a whirl...

More Visitors, More French Homies! As soon as I stepped in the front door to say "Honey, I'm Home..." I was stopped mid-sentence with the good news: The Winchesters are in town!!"

Ah, the Winchesters, those crazy-fun Canadians. Gretchen and Shannon served in the trenches together as 1st grade teachers at Clark Elementary for three years. And Steve is well-known in the Microsoft and Seattle consulting circles - but more importantly, as a perennial long-laster at the annual Good Grief Maple Leaf party. It's about that time of the year when I shed a tear in memory of such a historic, but no-longer-possible event, so having Steve as a shoulder to cry on was timely.

Bienvenue! Who needs sun when you've got matching North Face jackets and Eify a la derriere?

Steve: "When the cafe waiters don't cooperate, sometimes you just have to take the picture yourself..."

Gretchen and Steve were here with their family and so we also met Gretchen’s dad, stepmom and younger sister and brother. Table for 8? Does France know what do with that scenario?? This officially called for a favor - we crammed in our corner restuarant and ordered our favorite drool-worthy dish - Cassoulet. Smiles all around!

Merci Vendredi! While it's not a 100% accurate translation of TGIF, someone in the Microsoft Paris office had to get the message across to co-workers about this fundamental concept - getting out of the office, and into the Pub after a hard week of work. Call it a natural talent for me, but I coordinated the first of what I hope becomes a successful tradition. The inauguration occurred at Le Pub Saint Germain, a familiar local 6ème landmark for those who have visited.

Pictured with us below from left to right: Thomas, Raphaël and his wife Marcia, and David Shell (David, as in, my first manager at Microsoft - small world!).

I'm really working on the tough-Frenchie look, here sandwiched between two naturals, Thomas (left) and Raphaël (right)...

Our next June visitor was a fellow ex-pat and native Washingtonian, Suzy Hanson. Suzy lives in London and has hosted us many-a-time during our visits, so it's about time that we could return the favor!

Two years ago we had an unforgettable time with Suzy at Covent Garden in London, sipping wine and listening to free musical entertainment. Can Paris compete? Naturally. Enter classic Parisian outdoor café, add vin rouge...

Now cue the private musical performance (we swear this wasn't a setup!)...

But why talk about one little street performance when we could show you a glimpse of 18,000 of them, all in one night! Introducing the pure madness of the Paris tradition: La Fête de la Musique!

Now - I've seen some well-organized events in my day. There are some really nice things to be said about the University Village Sidewalk Sale, or the Annual Queen Anne Garage Sale Blowout. But this all-night, mid-summer music festival in Paris brings spontaneity and celebration to a whole new level!

Here's the lowdown -- On the summer soltice, an estimated 1 million musicians take to the streets, and several million spectators pack in the city streets to witness both organized and improvised concerts. Music is all around - and regardless of talent, everyone plays (note: when applied to karaoke machines this can be a hazard)! Some are amateur teen bands, others are professional - it doesn't matter as long as "You've got Rhythm!"

In their own minds, these guys are one-song away from their first record label...

Who doesn't love a good tuba right in their ear...

In Paris, drum circles do exist outside of April 20th...

Even Café du Metro, our favorite home base - opened all of the windows and hosted an all-out jam session! Who wanted to sleep, anyway!

But quite possibly the best news of Juin came in the closing days- or rather the 11th hour. Two days before Shannon was scheduled to depart for an education conference in Bucharest, Romania, we received word from the French Labor Authority that her work-permit was approved! (Background Note: I appreciate while this may seem like a "no-duh" moment for many of you readers, understand that this application was filed 5 months ago in February, and with the French goverment taking much of the summer off, we weren't really in an position to count chickens...)

This means that in the photo below, you are looking at the newest 1st grade teacher at the International School of Paris, packed and ready for her trip to Romania! What's the deal with Romania when she's teaching in Paris? To find out that, and more - you better tune into next month's version of le blog! Bon été!

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