où sommes-nous?

the great Polly Platt has left us

2009-01-31T10:03:00.000-08:00

Sometime between 1994 and 1996 I heard a short segment on NPR that made a big impact on my life. The segment featured a book called "French or Foe" which was about French culture and everyday practical French etiquette. The author was an American named Polly Platt. The NPR correspondent (Michael something?) was in Paris testing Platt's recommendations such as: When asking for help don't smile, use your eyes, phrase the question in a certain way, etc. It worked like a charm and for some reason this completely caught my attention and I had to have the book.

I had studied French in high school and college but I was NEVER a good student and could barely Bon Jour my way out of a wet paper bag. Up to that point, I never had any strong feelings for Paris, France, the French language or the culture. But that NPR piece really flipped my French switch. I bought the book the next day and spent the next few days reading "French or Foe" as though my life depended on it. Francophilia had settled in my brain for good and it was all due to that funny little book.

I'm writing this because I just found out Polly Platt passed away in December.

http://www.pollyplatt.com/

What a terrible loss for American francophiles! I know "French or Foe" wasn't perfect. I'm aware of some of the criticism it has received (thank you Amazon comments section) but any American French-nut owes a great deal to Platt's research and insight into the nearly impenetrable world of Frenchness. Because of her, I know the phrase "Excusez-moi de vous deranger, mais j'ai un problème." and I owe my good experiences in Paris to her. Well, I wouldn't even have considered going to Paris at all if it weren't for her.

Anyway, here's the book on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/French-Foe-Getting-Visiting-Working/dp/0964668424/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233428252&sr=8-1

Au revoir Mme Platt.

oh my god

2008-12-22T21:58:00.001-08:00

I'm actually posting something. Stop. The. Presses.

April 16th

2008-04-29T10:38:00.000-07:00

April 16th 2008... Eiffel Tower, cheese sandwiches in Les Deux Magots, and bridges bridges bridges.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/doreenworld/sets/72157604718045273/

more stuff

2008-04-27T20:06:00.001-07:00

Check out what we did on April 15th!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/doreenworld/sets/72157604700114553/

photos on flickr

2008-04-26T11:57:00.000-07:00

Photos and a couple videos from Monday April 14th!!! OMG
http://www.flickr.com/photos/doreenworld/sets/72157604695445646/

Leaving the France

2008-04-22T04:54:00.001-07:00

So yesterday our airport shuttle picked us up at about 6:10am, a few minutes late. Standing on rue Chapon in the darkness, we had some time to comtemplate what we would do if the shuttle didn't come. First, panic. Second, one of us would run up and down rue Beauborg looking for a France Telecom phone to call the shuttle company. Another option would be just to stay in Paris and live in Montmartre and teach English at the Wall Street Institute. I liked that idea but then the shuttle showed and now we're back home.

Our flight home took us over Greenland (we think it was Greenland. Let's just say it was Greenland.). We didn't have video screens (with live geo mapping and games and movies) so we nearly lost our minds but the flight did land early.

Anyhoo... There will be more posts and photos as I learn to blog better (garsh darn blogger html). Yes, it's late and we're home from Paris and no one cares anymore. Yes, I missed the blogging window of freshness. But dammit, there will be more.

Thank you Paris France!

2008-04-20T19:42:00.000-07:00

We had a great time. Thanks for letting us visit and having good bread and statues. We will be back!

More of our favorite signs aroud Paris, part trois

2008-04-20T04:19:00.000-07:00

This post was edited on 4/22 to make the pictures clickable! You're welcome!

A naughty bunny demonstrates what might happen if you get your paw caught in a Metro train door. Doesn't this look like the kind of thing that would encourage a kid to do exactly what they're being warned against? But maybe French kids know that rabbits don't make good role models.

Sarkozy doesn't come off well here:

Perhaps the most important sign of all...

I take that back... This is clearly the most important sign of all:

More of our favorite signs around Paris

2008-04-20T04:12:00.000-07:00

When ascending the Eiffel Tower, be sure to raise your arms thusly.

Sure you speak English... but do you speak Wall Street English?

Edit on 4/22: Ok, so, why is this funny? We saw a tv ad for this "institute" while in Paris and it ruled. Check out the ads here http://www.wallstreetinstitute.fr/Video

No, the other side of the van did not show the other side of the lady

more...

trying again to make the post

2008-04-20T03:49:00.001-07:00

Blogger hasn't been working for us lately, hence so few posts. Here again is another attempt to blog avec success.

Some of our favorite signs around Paris...

I have to start with Orangina because it's been freaking me out all week. These ads are all over the place and they all depict animals in highly erotic human poses. Please make it stop. This "male" bear has nothing on the busty lady giraffe that we've been seeing.

more....

my turn

2008-04-16T11:35:00.000-07:00

so i guess it's my turn to start blogging with some pictures. D has been taking pictures with the real digital camera, and i've been doing some with my blackberry (for the most part). the pics have been coming out pretty good. here are some of the best from the first couple days.

these are in no particular order, because i am too tired to care to put them in order and blogger is inserting them in the wrong places and it's too much of a mess to deal with right now.

i pretty much just liked this little car in the foreground. the eiffel tower is visible in the way-way-background.

this is a shot down our street, taken just as our airport shuttle dropped us off in front. we waited about a half hour for regis (ray-ZHEE), our apartment landlord to arrive and let us into the building. it was kinda raining, but not too bad. it's a pretty narrow street and there was hardly anywhere to stand with our large luggage. regis is kind of a skinny youngish hipster looking guy who was really nice and spoke good english, which we appreciated. we of course, are trying our best to get along in french. D knows more french than I do, but i've been picking it up here and there and know enough to order in french and ask simple questions when necessary. so far, no one has been overtly rude to us, which we were totally expecting to happen.

here's D in front of the louvre. i am somewhat unimpressed with the weird i.m. pei pyramid in front. what is that? a modern glass pyramid in front of a really really really old grand building. i don't get it. but there it is. the louvre building itself is amazingly beautiful. we haven't gone in yet, perhaps tomorrow, as it's supposed to rain.

these are some boats on the seine. i LOVE the seine, and all the bridges crossing the seine. we have probably walked across 4 different bridges so far, going from the left bank to the right bank, and also from the marais to ile saint-louis and ile de la cite. (i am ignoring french punctuation marks, but there should be some accents on some of the letters in those names).

here's an interesting paris parking job. they get pretty close here. while we were waiting for a bus yesterday (a bus which was never to arrive, as we couldn't really read the sign telling us the bus was no longer coming to that stop; we were saved by an elderly french woman who spoke to us in english telling us the bus wasn't coming due to road construction), we saw a delivery van ram into the back of a car, and the GIGANIC argument that ensued from that. they were really going at it. i wish i had some footage of it. pretty exciting.

the eiffel tower. i particularly like how they prune these trees at a straight up-and-down angle. the tops (which you can't see) are also pruned like a flattop haircut.

we went here, les deux magots this afternoon for a late lunch. it's a place where people like ernest hemingway and pablo picasso used to hang out. the food was pretty good, we had sandwiches.

this is a croque monsieur... it's basically a ham and cheese sandwich, but it was AMAZING. i don't know what they did to it, but it's the best ham and cheese sandwich i've ever had. the top has this bubbly crusty cheese on it. we bought these in our neighborhood (la marais) and walked to the jardin tuilleries to sit and eat.

this is a chocolate macaroon we got today at Laduree (a place pretty famous for its macaroons) in St. Germaine. it was amazing. we found this place totally by accident, but D recognized the name and we went in. totally worth it.

here's a view of some of the bridges crossing the seine from the top of the eiffel tower.

this was dinner the first night. wandered into a random brasserie/bistro (not sure what the difference is) and ordered the special, boeuf bourginon. it was pretty good. a little salty, according to D, but just right for me. i have tried to make this dish (it's listed as the easiest dish to attempt in the Les Halles cookbook by Anthony Bourdain), and mine came out a little sweeter than this version. i liked this version better.

after long treks around the city, with our legs aching, this "bag online" store is a welcome sight. it means we are going to turn right, and our apartment (and bed) is waiting right there.

tuesday april 15th, A day in pickchurs...

2008-04-15T14:36:00.000-07:00

me on the stairs leading up to our apartment

I swear we were at the Eiffel Tower on the same day but these photos do nothing to prove it.

Everything in Paris looks like this.

Notre Dame

2008-04-14T15:50:00.001-07:00

Sunil guards Notre Dame.

Hôtel de Ville

2008-04-14T15:44:00.000-07:00

Doreen wearing the HdV on her head.

first day

2008-04-14T15:23:00.000-07:00

Ok. CDG airport. Who or what designed the user experience of that place?

Our flight, however, was totally smooth. No one kicked the back of my seat and there were no screaming babies. One little boy did manage to throw up just after we landed so that made it all seem more real. The fun ended there, though, as we found ourselves herded onto a tram-train thing that took us to a another building which turned out to be terminal 2 for passport control and baggage claim. Immediately upon deplaning I lost my little yellow "nom et prenom" (nationality) card but no one cared. I got through immigration faster than people who hadn't lost their cards. Therefore, I am not fully legal and I share the blame with a stone-faced French dude who sits behind a glass wall in CDG.

Anyway, got to the apartment. It rules. Pix of that tomorrow.

After a long nap we got up and walked down the street and said hi to the Hôtel de Ville and Notre Dame. You know, just the regular things you see when you go for a stroll.

Had dinner at a pretty good place in St. Germain.

Photos soon. Must sleep now.

leaving in one week

2008-04-06T09:24:00.000-07:00

We leave for Paris a week from tonight. Still trying to decide what kind of Metro/Museum pass to get. Our apartment manager guy has written back to say that everything is in order for our arrival on the 14th. Now we just have to pack and try not to go insane over the next seven days.