Lourve Again, then prepare the house

We leave Saturday morning. We wanted to do something light on our last full day here. But we needed a final trip to the Lourve. Light. Paul read somewhere that you need to go four months if you want to see everything there. There is so much art, it's pouring into the subways, the doorways.

(On our second trip to the Lourve, the one where we got there with 30 minutes to close, Paul misplaced his hat. We looked 'round and 'round, as if our feet weren't sore enough. Finally I asked at Information if anyone had turned in a hat. The guy looked at me and said, "What color?". Had me at hello. Paul's hat returned!!)


We did not have 4 months. So the night before Paul googled, searched the site, came up with a mere 130 versions of the Greek God Hermes he wanted to see (versions: mostly bronze statues, some marble, some even adorn beautiful jeweled boxes). No way. He dwindled the list down to about 30, after 20 we begged for mercy. None of them were in the same room. BTW same god from Rome: Mercury.


A quick visit to the Musee du L'Orangerie where some huge pictures of Monet are. Then back to house to pack and clean.

Two weeks is a long vacation for us, and sadly also for our cats. It took all day Saturday to get home. We left with a 7:00am taxi for a 11:00 am flight. Landed at JFK at 1 pm, left JFK at 6, arrived home early at 9:30 pm. Long day.

Things we not as we left them here, but they did try to clean up. They went a little crazy cooking, so Paul will have to chemically clean the back top of the stove.

I think we re-arranged their living room when we got there, and forgot to put the couches back where they were. Opps.

Lots of laundry, but it was all ours. Spent time looking for Grazers. Hopefully she will notice we are back, and will surface.We sent a leaflet to the Mont Marin Homeowners Association President which he graciously forwarded to the Associations email list. And one to the humane society.

Got Bellina back, thank you Maile! She lost a few pounds, due to the daily beach walks with their crazy dog, yep, called Maya. 

Would we do the home exchange again? Yes, but if we have cats, we think we'll stick to families with 2 kids or less. No matter how wonderful a parent you are, 4 kids is a lot to pay attention to or follow around. And cats just do not do well with things different. Or lively.

Thanks for reading about our adventure, and au revoir!


Maia, Paul and Victoria

Tower Eiffel!

Finally we got tickets online to the tower. By the time we got there, and that was quite the adventure, it was nearly 9:00 pm our reservation time.

Our tickets only got us to first platform, then you have to buy tickets to the second.We met a very nice family there from England. They to were surprised by all the French smoking, don't they read?

The English family seemed to be following us. We saw then again on the third platform. There was a Champagne Bar up there, hard to resist!

We wanted to hit the Louvre yesterday, but because of our late start, the train stations have all had a suspiciously missing ticket agent. Purchasing of tickets thus required coins. Which for us was 9 plus euros. No one gives change. We ended up hitting a hot dog vendor for coins.


By then, we came to the decision (and considered hoping the gates), that if the French were going to make it this difficult to buy tickets, we would just buy child tickets. 3 euro, 3 coins.

BTW, we are paying 20% sales tax to the French here, and if that is in addition to income tax, the French should be rioting.


On with the nice side. So tired, so tomorrow. Miss our friends, and our cats  and dog. Hope Grazers has just decided to protest the French and she is in our bed tomorrow. she is a major purrer, so makes us too happy.


Au revoir!
Maia, Paul and Victoria

We saw What???

The drive to Roeun

We decided that what trip to Paris would be complete without really exploring points drivable in the Red Mini Coop?

Paul wanted to see the impressionists' show in Roeun, advertised all over the subway in Paris, and I agreed. Mainly because on the way is Giverny. Yes, the actual home and gardens of Claude Monet which were donated to France by Monet's son in 1965 and the French have passionately preserved the entire estate.

Monet is one of my favorite Impressionists, so the sadness by the dismissal of the French family by my cat, Grazers (I'm sure Grazers feels we abandoned her first, and she did not abandon us, she abandoned the French invaders...something the French have not been accused of in hundreds of years, only to meet Grazers), well and a few things that happened to Paul. We were yesterday saved by the visit to Monet's house and gardens.

I can not tell you all  how beautiful it was there. So completely do I understand that he left Paris for this peaceful place. His dining room seated 12, and judging by the size of the kitchen they entertained a lot.

We saw the room where he painted. We saw the gardens which were so beautiful, incredibly lovely smells. We thought we had seen it all when we encountered the tunnel to the lily ponds.

Suffice it to say I have replaced Grazers picture on my home page of my iphone with a picture of the lily ponds. And expect something like Monet's ponds on our Xmas card.

Victoria's life picked up at Monet's garden. She actually used her camera quite  a bit. We met a family from Connecticut there who were on their way to Paris. I asked the daughter, about 17, how she was enjoying Paris in August. She gave me one of those, I-am-in-the-most-beautiful-places-ever-and-I-cannot-wait-to-tell-my-friends look, and said, it is "awesome here". I said, the rain isn't bothering you? She just looked at me like I was speaking Russian. And then asked to take a picture of us with our camera. Lovely people everywhere.

That is the exact moment that Victoria realized she was in a very special place. Well, a couple of time the food impressed her. This was the first time a HOUSE, or JARDIN of someone historically significant impressed her.

If you need to understand Monet's historical significance, hmmmm.....you should visit his house. Or yard.  Victoria wants a lily pond.

Onto Roeun

Got out of Giverny. Note to future travelers: spend the night in Giverny. It is cuter than Viroflay and the buildings seem to be older. The narrow roads suggest they were built for horses, not cars. Excellent food, not expensive. It's France, so they have wine. The town is romantic as all and even traveling with the girl, we would have loved to invested an extra night there. Just the feel of the place, and the smells of the garden. It was very thought provoking. Not what I'm thinking. It was true peace. I could have spent the night thinking of nothing but the colors I wanted to paint, and never checking my iphone for stock market prices.

Roeun

Paul wanted to see this exhibit. Roeun is a decent sized town, about 1 hour north of Viroflay, which the Impressionists' flocked to, to paint the town, the quay's, the boats, the rooftops et al. 

At the Art Musee, they had about 130 impressionist pieces. Many were the same artists painting a similiar subject, and the impressionists generally did not paint in bright colors. Victoria was immediately bored. It took 20 minutes for me to become bored, and Paul was  never bored. He is still regretting not purchasing the book on the show, even though it was only published in French, the girl at checkout confirmed you can not buy it online (as if this is to believed...there is amazon and Craigslist).

The town of Rouen is on  the River Seine, which I thought winded around Paris. In fact, it winds around the whole country of France. Driving to Girverny and the Rouen, we crossed the Seine many times. Think it would be very fun to take a power boat on that river (I would say sail boat, but not under those bridges, 37 in Paris).

Ended the day with dinner in Versailles, yes again and again at the first restaurant from the first night. We got the same colorful waiter, and let me tell what he did this time!

Remember he broke a corkscrew that first night and the whole restaurant was amused?

This evening,, I ordered what looked like a good red wine. Actually it was his suggestion. A Pinot Noir. Would you think that wine would arrive chilled? Me, neither.

So it arrived chilled, I could see the bottle wet and then felt it. No good, I am drinking red wines in France and they must be served at room temperature.

So, I am sending the wine back. He takes it back (we figure out his name is Samy- do not know how reliable that is because he thinks my name is Souza.)

So he asks me, do I want a wine that is, here my description is better in person: that is: he holds his arm up to his side, flexes his bicep, and makes his shoulders big somehow, and looks at me and gives me the signal: . Full bodied, but still able to get through the door.  Assertive but not aggressive, a full bodied wine. It was great, and he was funny. Next time you see me, I will show you exactly what he did.

All in a look. So, I took the bait. It was one terrific bottle of heavy red, like a big deal Cabernet. I was happy!

Back to the Lourve tomorrow, but can anything ruin this vacation now? I think not, I have been to Claude Monet's house and garden and I have pictures of the lily pond. You can not wreck this trip for me.

Let me know if you want actual photos of Monets garden, We have 'em and are printing 'em .

Au Revoir.

Maia, Paul and V, finally using camera. Hating Museum's and loving Monet

Thursday we hit the Eiffel Tower, more later

Chateau du Versailles

Saturday we visited the actual palace. We saw on a website that you could picnic on the grounds. There were supposed to have period dancing to watch at 6:45. So we arrived late.

Found out that the Palace closed at 6:30, no eating or drinking on the grounds (yes we had wine, bread and ham and cheese with us) and the dancing needed reservations, but was full. The light show didn't start until 9:30 but by the time we got out of the Palace, it was raining enough that any outdoor activies not promising.

Paul and I enjoyed seeing the Palace, Victoria no. The main rooms we wanted to see were crowded with people who either did not bath, use deoderant or either.

Back to Viroflay for melted ham and cheese on baguette. Watch movies.Drink tasty French wine (hope I can remember some of these! Paul saving corks, in case that jars the mind).

Viroflay is incredibly cute. It looks like your typical french country town, very clean very pretty.

Sunday we got up to go shopping, even the Auchon was closed. Unbelievably there was a 7-11 type store in town open.  We ended up defrosting chicken the French had left us. Got some bad news: one of our cats hasn't been home in 2 days. Had the neighbors go to help look for her.


She is probably hiding, coming out at night. Nothing to do from here so just think good thoughts.

Periodically I get a picture from Maile of Bellina, this one just getting back from the beach. What a stinker dog. At least they don't leave you, dogs, that is.


Monday we hit Paris again. This time eating at typical French restaurants in Arissondment 7. Paul had duck and Victoria and I had french style burgers. Which was on a potato pancake instead of bun. Very tasty.

My friend Victoria told me she went through Italy with a couple of teeshirts and jeans for 2 weeks. I have been in 3 outfits this whole trip. Did  not need that huge luggage.

Eiffel tower going up today!

Time Zone Still Effecting Us, or We Are Lazy Americans

Yesterday, it was took all our energy to make it to the Auchon, buy food for 2 days (and wine for 6  onsumed in 2) then take the train to Versailles for dinner again. This time, we noticed that on the first night here we had dinner surprisingly close to the train. We just walked in circles a couple of times to find restaurant.

Mistakenly ate at Italian restaurant, mistaken because we wanted to eat French. Italian always good, even had to order Italian wine. It's good, but not French...

Today, we took 2 trains to the Champs Elysees. Upon our arrival, we noticed we were very hungry and it was only 6 o'clock. That is not a big deal on the Champs, found a delightful restaurant where the waiter from Belgium (that is my new measure, the waiter) was only to happy to serve us Jambon with Fromage and ourve...with salade. He winked at me when I ordered a glass of the Grand Cru, so that is  my new Red Wine!!! 

Victoria had a banana split for desert, which was my signal to have another glass of Grand Cru. The bill was 99 euros, but 46 of that was for 4 glasses of wine. Not so bad...

We looked for shoes, but no. Shoe sizes too small, and only a few shoe stores. Mostly restaurants. Perhaps the real estate is too pricey. Still determined to buy French shoes before next Saturday!

Tomorrow, we are planning to actually go into the Chateau Versailles, they are having a concert and a light show, lasting until 10 in the evening. It's a bit disconcerting that is does not get dark here until 10 pm. But we are allowed to take food and wine into the Chateau.

Our plan: the Auchon first, then Versailles!  King Louis should have had that plan...

Bonsour!

Maia, Paul and Victoria

Tuesday BBQ in, Wednesday the Lourve

BBQ Tuesday

We decided to kick back at our "home" and BBQ today, can't get in trouble there, right?

Oh! For the second time, we activated the security alarm. Not a soul responded, not even a mouse (possibly scared the mice!) If you have an alarm in the forest.....

Another trip to the Auchon. This store is so big they actually have different butchers for different animals, separate bakeries for different types of pastries, etc. Did we notice this? No, which will explain our pork cheeseburgers. Kind of strange to eat that much pork, and way too salty.  Could not finish it.  The bread was delicious.


Victoria kept pointing out imported vegetables and food, saying, "I thought the French only ate local food in season!" Apparently if you want tropical fruit in Paris, you import it. Just like we do.

Got to bed fairly early, but Victoria is surprisingly homesick. Maybe for her cats? I thought kids would not get homesick if they  were with their parents? Better today.

The trip to the Lourve was another thriller for the child, she couldn't get out of there fast enough, and sees no point whatsoever in the Mona Lisa (ok, nor do I except it's been stolen so many times). The security is fascinating.

As we arrived at the Lourve, we realized that one of us desperatly needed a WC, and one of us was famished, so we located a cute cafe on the rue Rivoli. Real estate must be quite pricey here, thinking the last time I saw a cafe this size I was in the theater district in NYC.  Bathrooms were so small, you had to be facing the right direction as you entered; no turning around!

The food was ok, and the service nothing compared to the guy in Versailles. He could have served you an old shoe, and then convinced you it was Gourmet.

Here, we had to beg for napkins, of course after the tomato landing and stained my white pants.

Speaking of all things vanishing Paris during August, I had heard that was because it was hot and humid in August, no one who is anyone would be caught here then. For the second time, we were rained on, and very cold. A bit London-like.

We still have to finish the Lourve, and are thinking of sending Paul, Victoria and I will take on the Champs Elyses. Sounds fair?

Also being urged to see at least swim in the Med while here. If Victoria's homesickness continues, we might have to have an American day, McDonalds and a Movie. I'm thinking Med.

Good news just in: the cats have taken to the French friends and are purring for them!

Bonne nuit!

Maia, Paul and Victoria

Monday the Tour de Eiffel

But first, the HyperMarche, in Auchon!

We awoke refreshed today, finally, and felt  like we could conquer anything. So, why not the biggest grocery store in all of Europe? The HyperMarche!

Unfortuately, my iphone's computer directions were using the names of the roads. Paul had previously looked on www.googlemaps.com and got instructions with the road numbers. The reality: numbers were small, and road names very hard to find...perhaps because they were placed on buildings, hard to see from the car. We are used to road signs on the corners, with names and bigger fonts.

Finally found the SuperMarket!  They charge one Euro for a grocery cart, and give you a Euro back when you return the cart. Rather a civilized method: all the carts are returned to the same spot, not all littered about the parking lot, and no one seems to be removing the carts for shelter etc.

Of course, we still hadn't converted any money to Euros, so had no coins that would work! We went shopping with just our bags, borrowed from our French friends' car (they don't actually provide grocery bags in much of Europe, making the Europeans ahead of us environmentally, and their trunks lined with grocery bags). This worked to my advantage, as I tired of the shopping experience I was able to hasten the situation by "weighing" down Paul, ie handing him all the bags, with bottles, etc and he tired.

We finally got out of the Marche by 5:30 (17:30) and 115 euros, not bad considering we had about 6 bottles of wine and a bottle of Baileys!

Decided to not cook, after all that, and headed over to the Tour Eiffel to a recommended restaurant of the FF's: Le Cafe du Hommes. It turns out this was a bit pricey, but with a fabulous view of the Eiffel Tower. And in a Museum that is (remember, August!) closed. I think a maritime Museum, right, in Paris. Water fountain in front, dry (except for small pools of water from the earlier rain -August, why run a water fountain?).

In Versailles, we figured out that outdoor dining (terrace) was attractive to smokers, the less expensive the restaurant the more smokers. So coming back from Versailles, we had stuffed noses, and smelly clothes.  From Le Cafe du Hommes, not so much. There were other very appealing restaurants around the roundabout, with good prices and wonderful smells, but smokers everywhere. Paul concluded that smokers likely do not like outdoor restaurants when it is raining, obviously, so another reason the terrace at Cafe du Hommes wasn't filled with smokers. We will use what we've learned as we go forth and eat in public!

Heard that the high speed trains only take 3 hours to the south of France so we will be exploring that option. Will need a place to stay, should try to do that in advance, or not? Probably not, will see how much that bothers these travelers.

Oh!  Our French Friends have emailed, and have had a bit of trouble getting the cats in at night, bugger cats! But did succeed, indeed we were told that Chantal the youngest was awakened with a kiss from the naughty Lea this morning, how charming!

They wanted to know where the litter box was, oh no! Hopefully no one closed the closet door, and the cats decided on a nearby plant to you know what.

They went shopping at Safeway and got a membership card. We got one from the HyperMarche/Auchon, and are promised a discount next shopping experience. Which is a tidy discount at Safeway, sometimes 10%. Glad for them and hope for us.

'till next blog, Maia, Paul, Victoria and the last of the rain....

We're here, and Allons a Versailles!

Arrived Sunday morning,11:15 am, Charles de Gaulle

We're got here this morning, and the airport was very busy. Of course it was, the August mass exodus out of Paris, most of which was bound to take place at the airport.

We finally found The RER B train - Train to Paris - all signs said. We kept walking, and walking, stopped and asked, then kept walking, following the signs. Finally the RER B train! Down 2 flights of stairs, but an escalator.

That got us to Notre Dame station, where we were to catch the RER C train (which we now understand is a lovely way to travel to the airport).  The RER C is closed from there to another station until Aug 20 (if you're going to shut down a train route in Paris, why not in August, no one is here?!?!!!?) , so we had to take alternative rail, which was up 2 flights of stairs, down 2 flights of stairs, then a train which stopped everywhere.

Then up 3 more flights of stairs, across the street to the RER C,which was a very nice train. Then Viroflay, where no one knew where rud Raidherbe was ...a policeman looked it up on his map, then promptly gave us the wrong directions. Finally, we actually saw the front of the  house we recognized from the homeforexchange.com website!

We had the 3 sets of keys, and had memorized what I thought was the security code. Plus we had used the SAME security code for our key on the lock box on our front porch. Thinking using the same code would help both families.

Having been awake since Friday morning at 7:30, and it was now 3:00 pm (or 15:00) Sunday, we were not all  thinking clearly. I said $#%#.  Paul keyed in $$#%##. The next thing we hear is....BLAST, BLAST, BLAST, BLAST. Security alarm went off. It might have been  a scary situation, the police, killer German Shepherds, cannons etc, HAD IT NOT BEEN AUGUST!!!!  The alarm blasted, anyone home ignored us, and daughter Miss V, put her hands to her ears and made a alarming face. About it.

Finally, Paul got the proper code in and we disarmed the system.

Allons a Versailles!

Our french friends are not kidding about Viroflay being dead in August/Sunday.  But from the look of the place, cute as it is, it is not the happening place that Versailles is, probably at any time of the year. We looked for one of the recommended restaurants tonight, and apparently walked right by it. Le Potager du Roy  it was closed. Upon returning from our meal, we did notice the Le Potager, and had a glance at the menu. Our french friends said it was VERY good, and hopefully, we will try it.

We ended up at a street closed to cars (not motorcycles, bicycles or people walking dogs, and had a lovely meal at a brasserie on rue Marechal Joffre. Very fun experience, lovely food and wine.

The waiter was so gregarious. He would solicit customers, seeming to know which ones would become customers, and which he could ignore. He was very good at that!

He quickly figured out we don't speak much French (Paul speaks enough French to get answered back in French, then looks like he would like the English version, which happens soon thereafter).

Paul had typical French food, braised pig knockles and pomme frite, while Victoria and I had pasta. At last, we had a bottle of Bordeaux, and Paul had a delicious Chardonney from the Loire Valley. The Waiter broke a cork screw on our bottle of Bordeaux, which the French couple next to us found quite amusing.

For desert, creme broulee. Victoria had borrowed my sweater for this outing. While realizing that we were all very tired, I did not expect to find my sweater with red sauce and broulee on it, so Sunday night we washed a load of clothes. Another experience, suffice it to say the washer and dryer were in french.

They're here, they're here!!! French Friends in California!!!

Heard from our French Friends...

They are this morning past San Luis Obispo, having seen Santa Barbara as well. And they are admiring our beautiful beaches! I must quote, so you all may have the feel of how we liking our new friends:

"Dear Maia,
we are now near San Luis Obispo, after visits of Los Angeles, Santa Barbara,... et we are very very happy!!!!!!!! What fantastic beaches you have!!
This email just to say that you will have to be careful when you will drive in France, because there are a lot of 'automatic speed controls' everywhere, in Paris too (speed in town is limited at 50 kms/hour (about 30 miles per hour)).
We left our home very fastly so I hope I forgot nothing!
Have a very good trip, and our house is your house!"

It sounds a bit like they've been speeding around LA, right?

... As if!  Our plan is to drive as little as possible, starting with tomorrow morning. The taxi will be here at 9:30 am and we will next be challenged with a car in Viroflay Sunday afternoon. Our goal is to see if we can easily take a train to Versailles on Sunday evening for dinner. If not easy, we MAY have to take their car.

Note to Jeopardy players:  Got Versailles right, answer  to question Friday night. Something about King Louis and a revolution...

Stay tuned, Versaille? Dinner I hope on Sunday... fois gras??







Thanks everybody for following our blog, sorry it's not so easy to click into follow. Let me know if you try and it still doesn't work. otherwise, I guess we just know you are there, as always.


Our best, 2  6 hour flights and a nap from dinner in Versailles. Promise to find my Vin-o-aerator by then...

Au Revoir, Mes Amis!

and finally: bon voyage!

Maia, Paul, Victoria, at home:  Gracers and Lea, and at family friends: Bellina! Miss you already Bellina girl!

XO   ;-0

the cats are soooo suspicous. Lea won't leave our bed, and she's 3 times been kicked out of Paul's suitcase. Bad kitty. How cats end up in France.

Ok, ok the cats have NEVER spent the night outside!

The Difference Between Cats and Dogs

It is this basic: the dog thinks it is part of your family, the cats think they are letting you use their house.

Every night, the cats come inside. They are hungry, and need to check on their beds. It is just that some nights, Lea escapes, and we have to go retrieve her. It has never been later than 7:00 pm, though. Trips up to open space are probably futile, me thinks she would come back anyway.

As Famous English Veterinarian James Herriott once said, "If you want to find the warmest, coziest place in a barn, look to where the cats are sleeping."

FYI, the dog will be on holiday with family friends, probably adopting them. Dearly hope to get her back, she is that awesome. And she is BFF's with Lea the bad, go figure.

Back to the Exchange........

We suspect our new French friends are in California, their plane was outbound on July 27th. We have not heard from them, but they were very anxious to know when exactly our house would be available for occupancy. We leave Saturday morning at 9:30, and suspect they will arrive around noon. And hoping they are enjoying the lovely coastal route up from Los Angeles.

Between Now and Saturday Morning

We will finish cleaning, finishing our notes for our guests and packing like you-can-not-buy toothpaste in France. We have acquired two new bags from Costco that clearly will not fit overhead. They are nearly full.

It is almost Bon Voyage time, with luck the next post will be from a restaurant terrace in Versaille, keeping the champagne a fair distance from the laptop.

Au Revoir, Mes Amis!

Differences

The Difference Between The Them and The Us

We had a lot in common, but some of our differences were comical. We needed to trade keys,  right? Or, at least devise a method of getting into each others house. Marie sent me 3 keys, and the following instructions:

There will be 3: one for the gate (it can be hard to open if it is warm because the metal dilates), one for the shutter of the front door (the second one on your left when you come inside the garden), and the last for the front door......and the alarm code is: ##### and "off" (the keyboard is just on your right, on the wall, when you come inside).

We just have one key, and it will be in a lock box on the front porch.Code #####.

We also have cats, and they have no pets. We are very concerned about our cats, as we live next to "open space", a "preserve", call it whatever. It is land which will never be developed into houses or stores and has been preserved naturally. With all associated wildlife.Have not confessed about the fish.

During the day, not much happens up there. At night, the coyotes, raccoons, skunks, owls and more come out. Some have been known to prey upon the domestic cats. So we really, really, really want our cats in at night. Our trick is to feed the cats only at night, inside, which seems to get them in the house. One cat is very tricky and an escape artist.

Our French friends think they will be fine with the cats. We can hope.

Speaking of Trust....

One has to advance some amount of trust to do a home exchange. After all, we will be oceans away from our house while strangers are in our house. And of course, we will be in their house.

More than a few friends have asked about this. A surprising number of friends have not even mentioned the trust thing. We have agreed to leave each other's house as we found it, including watered plants.

I think the basic trust issue is overcome because both families are in the same situation: we are in their house, they are in ours. Perhaps even bigger is the enormous amount of communication that occurs between the families, negotiating the dates, what will be available for each family and more.

At some point, it felt like we were really getting to know each other and we had a lot in common. Then something terrific happened. We began to treat our families as special guests, not just the cleaning, leaving some food, wine and instructions, but favorite dining spots. We have been wishing each other excellent holidays!

Ghost town: Viroflay in August

Ghost Town Vacation

I finally was able to view the lists of  stores, restaurants, tourist spots, museums etc that Marie had sent me. (Through the acute detective work of my Dr. Wonderful, who had many iterations with Microsoft word -pffff- rtf files to text edit to get to Word format)

What a thorough list Marie sent! I am now shamed into perfecting my list for her: no small feat, we're talking the Bay Area...San Francisco, wine country, beaches, the coastal drive up  from Los Angeles and of course the lovely Marin County.

But first. We are arriving in France on a Sunday morning. August 1st the double whammy. August in France, and Sunday morning. Will we be able to get dinner and wine? One would think stores are open in France on Sunday, but they are not!

I pondered the list and noticed no mention of the August/Sunday possible problem. So I emailed Marie. She is candid, and she first did phone/inquire about this for us, arriving after 2 long flights, pretty jet-lagged, can't speak the language...what are we to do about a meal. And thankfully they are FRENCH, and understood the wine problem??!!?

Marie has offered to leave us some chicken, some fois gras (and other typical french products, Champagne...). The restaurants and wine shop in Viroflay are closed on Sunday, Marie found out, and much of August.

Fortunately Versailles is a 5 minute train ride, and quite a big tourist attraction. Wouldn't dare close Versailles during tourist season. We are saved by Versailles, and that is not what Versailles is noted for. "Restaurants with the best terraces!"  She offered us again to take their car. "Why not take our car to Versailles for dinner?" Is this sounding like a vacation or what?

If we are too tired, we can order pizza, and Marie sent the phone numbers for Domino's and Pizza Hut. All the way to France and Pizza Hut?

We will be eating in Versailles on Monday, but more likely, a nap and a drive to Versailles on Sunday.

International Drivers License

Do not know if this is necessary, but afraid I will not be able to drive a car without one so planning on getting that before we leave.

Our Preparations Continued

I finished sorting through the linen closet. We do have towels for a family of 6, heck, we could towel up a family of 12. But some of the towels have been in the closet for some time, so the washing and sorting of towels has commenced.

During the Sunday meal panic-emails, Marie asked about touring Alcatraz while here. It's your basic prison on an island in the middle of the bay, but the views from the ferry required to get there are fabulous, so we recommend and recommend tennis shoes, lots of walking.

This inquiry did inspire us to complete our recommendations for them, easy for me. Mr. did a google map with recommendations of restaurants, attractions, etc, check out one:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=105016267495495024567. 00048bc5007d09b0de14c&z=9

You must copy and paste the entire url into your browser, then wait for the upload. Quite something! and apparently kind of time consuming to do. Also a first pass, so no critics!

I have begun to do an itinerary for us. Much of what one does in the Bay Area during these economic times does not require a reservation, nor does one need to get very dressed up.

Not true for Paris! Marie suggested reservations for dinner, even if you just call the same day. And the boat ride with dinner around the Seine requests suit and tie. Note to self: add tie to Paul's list. Marie said yes to the cruise, but not  dinner on the boat, expensive and not so tasty. We will not argue food with the French.


Next: Emailing restaurants and boats in France...

The list

The List!

I heard back from Marie today. She was so worried about my concerns that nothing would be open. Of course we will not have to go to Paris for groceries! She emailed me a list of lots of places to shop in Viroflay, a couple of towns within 5 kilometers. Who said French people are not nice, these people are over the top.

Unfortunately the list was created on a PC, I am MAC, and she sent it as a .rtf. So I now await Mr PC genius to open the file. Can't wait!

Thank God for Google maps...I'll be able to see the shops before we even get there. Stay tuned.

Bastille Day

I didn't really expect a response from Marie today. Maybe tomorrow, those French! (They have a different word for everything!?!)

Paris in August?

Paris in August

The advisability of a vacation in Paris in August continues to rear it's ugly head. Friends and acquaintances are telling us that folks in Paris pack up and take a collective vacation every August. What will there be for us to do, let alone eat?

In preparation for our trip, I bought and was loaned a few books. In the eight chapter of A Year in Provence (the chapters are months...), author Peter Mayle makes a huge point of the big city slickers coming into Provence from Paris. He even describes the, "twenty-mile traffic jams..reported on the autoroute at Beaune, and anyone getting through the tunnel at Lyon in less that a hour was considered lucky.." all routes south of and out of Paris. "A traditionally awful start to the month, and the ordeal woud be repeated four weeks later in the opposite direction during the exodus weekend. "

Another friend brought the Food Lover's Guide to Paris, by Patricia Wells. Looking at some of the chic swanky restaurants, I noticed they were closed in August.

How does an entire City take a vacation at once? Right now, I am taking solace in the fact that both books were written in the 1980s, and surely the chic citizens of Paris have seen some light, or value in staying open during what is someone else's vacation time?

Our daughter wanted to go to the Ballet while in Paris. I couldn't tell what show was on there, so I asked Marie for a URL. Sadly, the Paris Ballet company is on holiday during August. However, so is the SF ballet.

I await Marie's reply to my last email: is anything open in Viroflay during our stay? We may be taking lots of train rides. The countryside is supposed to be beautiful, and Bordeaux is open, right?

The Vacation

The Vacation Idea

Every year, we try to go some place new for a vacation. Since the Euro was low (versus the US dollar) we thought we'd go to Portugal. As Mr Wonderful hates the packing and unpacking usually associated with Europe, I decided to try www.homeforexchange.com. Of the 30 families I contacted in and around Lisbon, none were willing to spend the money to visit the US this year.

Now addicted to the idea of a European vacation, we put France as our second choice (thinking a French family would contact us!). Every Friday, the webmistress would send us possible homes to exchange with. After many exchanges (and some advice from a friend who had previously done this: make sure the home your visiting is the size of yours, not a 400 square foot 5th floor walk up, or has the accommodations you are looking for!), we settled on a lovely home in Viroflay, between Paris and Versailles. Lovely, lovely home and family.

The French Connection

It is the first home exchange for us and our French family. Many emails back and forth: was our pool safe, how many could fit in our cars, do we have internet service, could we send a picture of our family so the French family would see who was going to be sleeping in their beds, eating in their kitchen, etc.

There were some language problems. They meant, was our pool fenced so the three year old couldn't get in (the yard is fenced, not the pool). They'll have to be aware of where little Chantal is! We have offered to put bells on the patio doors. Our daughter was three when we put the pool in and was terrified of the pool, but now does swim team.

In The Beginning, The emails

I emailed Marie (my new French friend and Mom of four) many times. We found out our husbands are both engineers, and she (and I ) are in Finance. I decided I didn't need to tell her where the pots and pans were, probably in the same place as her kitchen.


We rent homes for skiing a lot, and we did know that there are just so many places one will put a hairdryer, coffee maker etc. We really wanted to know where the good food shops and restaurants were and fun local stuff to do - we knew we'd visit Versailles, the Lourve, the Eiffel towel, etc. Stephanie is insisting she is makings lists of all their favorite places for us to visit.

The Cleaning

We found ourselves looking at our home in a new way: through another family's eyes. Which meant, we should probably clean up our personal stuff, and maybe the guest room.

I painted our master bath, it had some mold on the walls. First cleaned it with the proper chemicals, the anti-mold paint. Got a new medicine cabinet.

My husband was even more voracious. He began fixing things that had been years in the making. New screen in bathroom, no more mosquitos slipping in!

The kitchen refridgerator's ice maker worked, but no water came out of the water dispenser. That was fixed. Many trips to Goodwill, 4 bags of old tennis shoes from the garage, out! Our guest room now has boxes under the desk, rather than papers and statements and canceled checks on the top. There will be more boxes in the garage as we continue the cleaning, or rather hiding.

Drawers in the kitchen have been cleaned out and put back together, with ancient, broken or just plain gross stuff thrown out. Clearly, people who move every few years do not have these problems. We have lived here for 16 years, and at least one of us is a very bad pack rat.

The Confession

Eventually, I emailed Marie that we were cleaning, but would not be getting to the garage for their visit. Which is the location of our washer and dryer and second refridgerator.

Marie emailed back: their garage was a mess, and the location of the washer dryer, and they weren't going to have time to paint the kids bathroom, which was moldy. The last one was kind of late, I had already painted our bath!

I feel certain there may be other confessions, but it was reassuring to find out our French family was our alter ego.

The Cleaning Continues...

Mr Wonderful is going to clean our kid' play room, which has a single bed and probably perfect for their only son. It's been used as extra storage. There is a possibility that the tile which fell off of the wall between the hot tub and pool gets re-attached. Last night, Mr Wonderful finally matched the grout.

We are scheduled to leave July 31st, and it's July 12th. Not too much more can get fixed around here. We will leave everything clean.

One email, Marie threatened to bring her own pool towels. This was after I asked her to not machine dry ours every time they are used, as the towels are huge and can be dried more frugally by hanging on a chair in the back yard. I didn't want her to bother with this, so I emailed her a picture of our beautiful pool towels.