An Early Morning Walk

The weather in Paris was beautiful for most of last week, so one morning, as the city was coming to life, I got up early and took a nice long walk before work. I'm still amazed by all the history and beauty that are so close to our new home.

I saw this fountain in a small park near our apartment

I walked through this unusual courtyard near the Louvre

A tribute to the great French playwright, Molière . (There is some Invader street art on the left.)

This tailor shop had antique sewing machines lined up in the front window.

The flowers at this boutique de fleuriste had just gotten nice long drinks.

A fruit and vegetable stand, getting ready for a busy Spring day.

I walked past the entrance to the Banque de France.

And then, as I was strolling by a construction area, I happened to glance to my left and I saw this:

What is that amazing looking building in the distance? I had to go check it out.

I'm not going to lie, as I got closer my breath caught in my throat and my eyes teared up a little. (I umm... must have been allergic to something... yeah... I wasn't crying... it was just allergies.)

This is the Church of St Eustace. It was built between 1532 and 1632.

Cardinal Richelieu, Molière, and Madame de Pompadour were baptized at St. Eustace; and Mozart chose this church as the location for his mother's funeral.

I can't wait to take more walks, as Spring turns to Summer!

Chills Ran Down My Spine

A few days ago someone at Pretty Simple posted a website link promoting a picture book called "Paris. Fenêtres sur l’Histoire." ("Paris. Window on History.")

The pictures in the book feature historical photographs overlaying images of modern Paris.

The infamous "Moulin Rouge" has been around since the late 1800's.

If you have been following this blog then you know that Melanie and I live near the incredibly beautiful Palais Garnier. I used to have to take the Metro to work (until we found our apartment) and every morning the train station let me out right in front of the Opera House.

So you can imagine my shock when I found THIS picture from the German Occupation during the second World War:

My first thought was, "Are those Nazi soldiers??" Then I thought, "Wait, who is that guy in the..."

Recognize anyone in this picture?

I literally got chills down my spine. We live two blocks from there! I've walked within probably two feet of that step he's standing on.

There's so much beauty and history here that would've been lost forever if France hadn't surrendered to Hitler when they did. It makes me incredibly sad to think about that.

When I interviewed here and in Berlin, Melanie and I made sure to tour both cities. They were starkly different experiences. In Paris we saw incredible old buildings, churches and grounds. In Berlin the guide kept saying things like, "Here's what remains of this church, and here's part of the wall from this historic building..."

War is so stupid.

Do NOT Kiss Me When You Get Home Tonight!

It's been a couple of days and my wife still hasn't kissed me. More on that in a bit.

Parisians are known for taking longer-than-average lunches and I've really come to enjoy that custom. At my last job in the United States I had a full 60 minutes for my mid day meal, but the time wasn't strictly enforced... and the hours were very flexible. I often headed out at 11:30 AM to avoid the rush, while other people on my team wouldn't take their lunches until 1:30 PM or even later. (I think the poor folks in Customer Support only got 30 minutes for lunch.)

At Pretty Simple, our lunch period lasts from 12:30 PM until 2:00 PM, but while generous, those times are not negotiable, so there's no beating the long lines that can sometimes form at the most popular restaurants. Fortunately, there are so many places to eat in Paris it's easy to find a delicious meal that doesn't require a long wait.

On a sunny spring day last week I grabbed a salad with my Australian friend Steve, and we took our food down to the the Tuileries Gardens next to the Seine. We found a spot near a huge fountain, ate a leisurely lunch and by the time we finished we still had over half an hour to just sit back and enjoy the sunshine. Awesome!

A large fountain at Jardin des Tuileries (that's the Louvre in the distance)

On Friday, I accompanied Sebastien and Steve to try out a new Brasserie called Café Dalayrac. It was a bit chilly so we took seats inside.

I grabbed this picture off Google Maps, hence the blurred out faces

After a quick gander at their menu I noticed an item that is a french delicacy I have been wanting to try: andouillette. 

Before I continue there's something I need to explain. Upon arriving in Paris, as non-French speakers, Melanie and I discovered that a LOT of words are easy to decipher: the French "carotte", for example, is a carrot, a "docteur" here is a doctor. Want some soup? Look for the word "soupe" on the menu.

However, please be aware that "andouillette saucisse", despite how the name might appear, is NOT... I repeat NOT... the creole dish we Americans know as "andouille sausage". You have been warned.

A few months ago Steve and Deborah introduced us to an amazing French restaurant called Auberge Pyrénées Cévennes. Melanie had been planning to order the andouillette saucisse until Steve explained that it smells and tastes a bit like... well... poop.  (Melanie got the cassoulet instead, which was fortuitous because she fell in love with that dish!)

I used to be a finicky eater but anymore I LOVE to try new foods, so when I saw andouillette on the menu on Friday I knew I had to order it.  I texted Melanie: "just ordered some of that poop sausage. will let you know how it is".

She promptly texted back: "if that wasn't a typo do NOT kiss me when you get home tonight".

After a fairly long wait -- they don't just heat stuff up in the microwave at Café Dalayrac -- my meal arrived. Despite having a stuffy nose (bad cold) I could smell this sucker before the waitress even arrived at our table. Uh oh. What the hell had I gotten myself into?

Naturally, I was served first so I got to sit there and stare at my foul smelling fare for several minutes while waiting for the other meals to arrive.

Here's a picture of my plate. Strange, it doesn't LOOK like the bottom of a public outhouse...

My andouillette saucisse from Café Dalayrac

So what exactly was I about to eat?  I didn't find out until after I got home Friday night. According to Wikipedia: Andouillette is a coarse-grained sausage made with pork colon, intestines, pepper, wine, onions, and seasonings. True andouillette is rarely seen outside France and has a strong, distinctive odour related to its intestinal origins and components.

Finally, it was time to take a bite. I expected it to have the texture and firmness of a normal sausage. Nope. It was soft and a bit rubbery on the inside. In fact, the casing on the outside was there to hold in all the wiggly bits on the inside:

This is what andouiellette looks like on the inside

Fortunately, despite the horrific smell, it didn't taste all that bad. Unfortunately, it coated my tongue as I chewed, like I was eating mud or dirt.

The stone ground mustard was a nice pairing and when I mixed the sausage, mustard, and potatoes together I had a relatively palatable lunch that I was able to finish.  Steve is more gastronomically adventurous than me and he likes this stuff, so after I was done he asked for my opinion.  I told him, "If someone at a dinner party served it to me, I'd have no problem eating it. But I probably wouldn't order it off a menu again."

Last year I tried blood sausage (called "boudin noir" over here) and REALLY enjoyed that, so I'm still excited to try other French delicacies.  Hopefully, they will smell a little better.

Now, cross your fingers, I am going to try to steal a kiss from my wife while she's not paying attention...

A Warm Spring Day in Paris

It was a beautiful day in Paris and there was an antiques fair happening at Bourse, just up the road from where we live, so Melanie and I decided to check it out.

After a little shopping we stopped at a famous brasserie called "Le Vaudeville" for some lunch.

Le Vaudeville is right across the street from Bourse

Though a little cool the sun was shining brightly so Melanie and I sat outside.

And we sat.  And we sat.

We knew the place was open because we could see people eating. After about 20 minutes I went inside and asked if it was okay for us to have lunch on the sidewalk. The maître d' said something about it being cold outside but he agreed to serve us.

The meal was very good but it got even colder while we were eating, so when our desserts arrived I said, "L'addition, s'il vous plait?" ("The bill please"?) Asking that early is kind of a breach of French etiquette, so the maître d' gave me a funny look.

I said, sort of sheepishly, "Nous avons froid" ("We are cold" or literally, "We have cold".) He burst out laughing and told us we were welcome to bring our desserts indoors. We politely declined but thanked him for the offer.

I suddenly realized something cool so I said to Melanie: "Wow! That's the first time I said something in French that made someone laugh!"

Without even a moment's pause my wife patted my arm and said condescendingly, "Oh sweetie... trust me... that's not the first time."

Anyone know the French word for "bitch"?

Status Report

Wow, I haven't posted since November! I didn't intend to completely abandon my blogorial duties, but you know... life... and stuff...

No promises, but I'll try to start posting again, though probably with less regularity than before.  To be honest, writing has always been sort of difficult for me and I think my last post took several hours to write, proof, and edit.  Who has that kind of time?  Maybe if I keep my posts shorter and more informal I'll have time to do it more often.  We'll see.

Okay, what has been going on with those two old farts living in Paris?  I'll probably forget a bunch of stuff but here are some highlights:

THANKSGIVING
Francis, a lovely (and rather feisty) writer at Pretty Simple, invited us to our first Parisian Thanksgiving dinner party. We had a great time, ate some wonderful food, and met a very nice and rather eclectic group of people, including a jewelry designer from Cartier, a pastry chef, some burlesque performers, a woman who works for Yves Saint Laurent, a graphic artist, and more. We had a wonderful time.

CHRISTMAS
Our lovely daughter and her fiance came to visit us for Christmas! We spent a day at the Louvre, went on some walks, took a trip to the Christmas Market, had some great French food, shopped for wedding dresses, ate Chinese food on Christmas Eve (a family tradition) and more! It was too bad they couldn't stay longer, because before we knew it they were gone. :-(

Autumn and Mike puzzle over an ornate sculpture at the Louvre

A few days before Christmas we walked over to the incredibly beautiful (and crowded) Galeries Lafayette to do some shopping.  While eating at the food court a French gentleman about my age overheard us talking and asked if we were Americans.  We struck up a conversation and he introduced us to his mother. We learned that this poor little Jewish woman had lived in Paris during the Nazi occupation, and the recent terrorist attacks a month earlier had stirred up some painful memories. Pretty soon she was crying, Autumn and Melanie were crying, Mike and I were tearing up...  It's amazing how those special "moments" in life can really sneak up on you sometimes.

VISAS
With more help from Carole we got our Visas. Yay! We had been told that they would need to be renewed every year (which everyone says is a real pain in the derriere), but apparently, because of my many years of experience in my field, our papers are good for the next THREE years! That was a pleasant surprise!

SUPER BOWL
Melanie and I stayed up all night to watch the Super Bowl, which was tough because I had work the next day.  But Denver won so it was absolutely worth it!!!

Go Broncos!!

FRENCH LESSONS
We have French lessons every Monday and Wednesday night, for two hours at a time. The lessons are going well but we still can't parlez le Francais worth a merde. Despite that, earlier this month we somehow managed to graduate to a slightly more advanced class and now have a teacher who doesn't speak much English. Her first lesson was completely in French so we were pretty lost for most of it. But she seems like a nice woman and I'm sure we will learn a lot. She was Steve's teacher and he says she is great, so we'll see how it goes.

Our last teacher, Julie, was super nice and every one in the class loved her. (Melanie even cried a little when she found out we were getting a new teacher.)  I think I would've learned more during her class but instead of studying French in my spare time I spent several months working on a web app to... ironically... help me learn French.  It's basically French Flashcards using the vocabulary Julie taught us.  If you're interested, click on the picture below:

EXPLORING
Now that the weather is a little warmer, Melanie and I have been going out one day every weekend to explore Paris.  We pick a direction and just start walking.  When we get hungry we stop at the nearest outdoor cafe and get something to eat and drink, then we sit and talk for several hours before heading back home.  It's awesome!

A few weeks ago we stopped in front of an old Church and when Melanie said, "Bonjour" to an old French woman who was leaving she smiled and came over to speak with us. She spoke very little English but we managed to communicate anyway.  It was the highlight of our walk!

Saint Roche is a baroque church built between 1653 and 1740

DINNER OUT
Steve and Deborah invited us out to dinner a few months ago and we now have a new favorite restaurant: Auberge Pyrénées Cévennes. This place serves French comfort food for cold winter nights and boy did it hit the spot! Melanie and I both had a kind of peasant stew called "cassoulet" and it was outstanding!

Serving up some of their delicious cassoulet

WORK
Things are going well at work.  Our project is really coming along well, and we just reached the stage where the game is fun to play!  That's always a good sign as we still have lots of work to do -- so hopefully the game will just continue to get better and better.

All employees at Pretty Simple get hired on as contractors.  After a set period of time the company can decide whether to cut them loose or hire them on as full time employees.  I was very pleased to learn, recently, that I have officially become a full time employee!

PARENT'S VISIT
My mother and father are coming for a visit next month! Melanie and I are very excited to see them again, and to share all the things we have discovered and love about our new home!

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Well, I think those are the highlights of the past few months.  As I said, I'll try to post a bit more often when/if anything really cool or exciting happens.