Troyes

Last Wednesday we took the train from Paris Gare de l'Est to Troyes, a town about 1.5 hours east of here that is also the capital of the Champagne region. The entire trip we played an Italian card game called Buracco, too difficult to describe but a game that can be played with 2, 3 or 4 people and one that is played pretty cut-throat in southern Italy. When we arrived a woman who had been traveling across the aisle from us nicely escorted us outside the train station and pointed us in the direction of the hotel we had booked. It was late afternoon, cloudy and cold but we were full of anticipation as this was the first time either of us had visited this town. We immediately found the tourist info office where we picked up a local map then walked about 5 minutes to Hotel l'Arlequin in the historic center.
The hotel was simple but nicely renovated, bright, clean and quiet so we were happy. After dropping our bags, we ventured out to make use of the last couple of hours of daylight. We first started by following one of the walking tours designated on the tourist map but soon gave that up as we stopped in the first church along the way. The town center still has many of the original half timber structures from the 16th century, some leaning quite strikingly to one side or the other so that one can see the only thing holding them up is the tight fit between two other buildings. The town has done a great job of ensuring their upkeep and many are in use as businesses such as hotels, restaurants, groceries, wine shops, etc. It was fun just to see all the varieties of uses these buildings still have. That evening we found the local movie theater and went to see the newly released French film Les Femmes de le 6em Etage, the women of the 6th floor. The next day we spent exploring Troyes....
Troyes has been a town center since Roman times (although there are no visible signs left) but a local museum says that there is evidence of human habitation since 400,000 BC, pretty amazing! There seemed to be a grand church at ever turn and the ones we could get into were colder inside then outside. We froze, welcoming the warmer but rainy weather outside, but it was worth seeing some of the remnants and artworks from the 13th-18th centuries. In addition to the majority Catholic population, the town has always had a thriving Jewish community. The historic Synagogue has been preserved and there is now across the street a contemporary Jewish studies center, L'institut Universitaire Rachi. The town also has several museums, two of which we visited. The Musée d'Art Moderne was our favorite with works by French artists from 1850 through 1950 shown in a magnificently renovated building dating from the 12th century. The art collection was small but wonderful with some works by Millet, Courbet, Degas, Gauguin, Matisse, Rodin, Maillol, Cézanne and many others not so well known. It was a joy to view the pieces leisurely, close-up and without having to stand on tiptoes to get a glimpse that is often the case in Paris.
We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Troyes and recommend it to anyone who wants to explore towns outside of Paris and actually close enough by train that one could go for a day trip.

Conversation group in Paris

I know it's been far too long since I have written here, and if it weren't for a couple of kiwi friends who are always bugging me to write more, I'd have likely already given it up. So, to keep them happy, and anyone else who is interested in my comings and goings, I will try to do better in 2011. Plus, after finishing another semester of French classes, I suddenly have more time to dedicate to it.

For anyone looking to brush up or improve her/his French conversation, there are tons of options but most will cost you dearly. However, there is one exception that I found through word-of-mouth in one of my previous French classes. It costs 10E per year (yep, you are reading that correctly, that's ten euros per year) and one can go as often as s/he likes. Each afternoon from 2-7p.m. in a windowless basement room at the Institute Catholic de Paris, four native French speakers, all retired professionals, volunteer their time to sit at individual tables directing conversations with people from around the world who want to improve their speaking abilities. Each Tuesday evening there is also a special presentation or activity that lasts from 7-9 pm and one Saturday per month they offer guided tours in different parts of Paris. The place is located on the side street behind the St. Germain des Prés Catholic Church at the metro stop (lines 4 & 10) with the same name on the Left Bank.

Yesterday, I attended the group for 1.5 hours after having a coffee at a nearby café with a friend from El Salvador. That was interesting as we only spoke French, he with his strong Central American accent and me with my strong Anglo accent. I would like to mention that I've been told by a couple of teachers and other native French speakers that my accent is identifiably Anglo but it is not strong nor is it particularly identifiable as American. My aim of course is to speak like a native French....well that might take some time but I do try.

And so, I descended into the cave of French conversation where I sat at the table with an Irish man and women from China, Venezuela, Columbia, and Iran. It's always quite an interesting mix of people and the French discussion leaders are often interesting as well. I did learn yesterday--well I likely learned it before but can't remember all the quirky rules in French--that when you use "si" instead of the usual "oui" for "yes" it is to give a positive response to a negatively posed question. Okay, so that's your French lesson for the day and if you know someone who is visiting or lives here and wants to brush up their speaking for little cost, have them check out the website for Cercle International de l'ARC at
http://arc-cercle-international.over-blog.com/

Le Théâtre du Soleil

This past June Gabriella purchased tickets to see a 4-hour French play by the famous Le Théâtre du Soleil. So, for the past month I've been whining about how this was such a waste of money for me since I would never be able to sit through, much less understand, a nearly 4 hour play in French. Last Friday was play-day so I had to request that I leave my French class 15 minutes early in order to make it to the outskirts of Paris where the theater is located. And, to top it off, I had had a very rough night with very little sleep so I already knew that I would be sleeping through most of the performance, which is my usual pose during long sedentary performances in the evening....I just can't sleep in a bed! So, at 5:15 I zipped out of class, caught the metro, met Gabriella at the Bastille then re-entered the metro that took us to the end of the line Chateau Vincennes. Here we had to wait for a Navette, shuttle bus, that took us about 10 minutes away to La Chartoucherie, an old munitions factory complex that has been converted into a theater, s0me shops, and night clubs, a very interesting and great reuse of space. Le Théâtre du Soleil actually refers to the avant-guard stage ensemble founded in the late 60s by Ariana Mnouchkine and Phillip Léotard and other students. She was actually taking tickets at the door. It's quite a production to get seats as it's open seating so everyone rushes to get through the door as soon as possible. The building itself looks like a large warehouse where we entered into a large restaurant area, proceeded quickly through the center part that looked like a storage area for sets, and then into the theater space. The seats were bleachers with cushioned seats and back and each had a paper number attached to a leather holder. The seats that had already been claimed were missing their numbers. So, we quickly found seats, took the number off the back of the seat, and attached it to our ticket. We then backtracked to the restaurant where we ate home cooked food, mine was simple salad with boiled potatoes, and Gabriella had the meat stew. These were the only choices with dessert which I had with coffee in order to stay awake. Everyone sat at long tables or benches or other types of unusual furniture around the room. All the people serving food, directing people, etc. were also the cast members.

The play began at 7:30 and ended 3 hours 45 minutes later with a short 15 minutes break. The stage was open with one exit down a set of stairs stage-left. At the break, we saw that the steps lead to the dressing/makeup room, located directly under the bleachers. The open end was draped with see-through lace material so the public could see the actors preparing for their roles. The play itself was mesmerizing and I never even thought about falling asleep! It was about the filming a silent movie concerning the worldwide events and political movements/ideologies leading up to WW I. Actually, it was hilarious watching how they re-enacted the filming process. In one scene the ship was in a huge storm at sea and they drug in a square metal box about one foot high, 4 feet long and 3 feet wide full of water with a toy ship in it. The camera person was holding a wooden box-style camera turning its crank while people directed fans at the ship, someone else used a wooden paddle to create huge waves, and a couple of musicians created the sounds on cello, piano, and symbols. There were several scenes with snow so cast members would stand on the sides throwing handfuls of fake snow in front of the fan while others pulled on ropes that were attached to long planks above that were piled with the fake stuff. As the ropes rocked the planks, the snow would fall...it was all fascinating to watch. The most helpful aspect was that since it was about the filming of this silent movie the speak was written above just like in the old silent films. Between scenes the actors would carry on in verbal language so I was able to understand quite a bit of the material. I am really thankful I got to see such a creative, fascinating, interesting, and fun play! Voila!

After a Long Absence--THE MOVE

I disappeared from here without warning in early May but my life became so busy that I couldn't get the time to write so I apologize to anyone who may be a dedicated reader. My busy-ness started with buying the new apartment. At the time, it had not yet been completely vacated by the previous owners but we had to get someone in there to repaint and do some minor repairs. The closing date was 27 May and the move date was 12 June so was there wasn't a lot of time to get everything done. On top of everything else, I was in the last 3 weeks of my French class and had to take the final exams on the 18 & 20 June.

The move itself was much more than I had anticipated...we were living in a 4th floor walk-up so hired a company to move all our stuff. The company dropped off a slew of boxes at the beginning of the week and we had to pack all of our lives into them by Sat. Needless to say, every moment of my days, outside of class time, was spent packing, packing and packing! Come Saturday morning three slightly older than middle-aged men showed up to move us. Seeing the age of these guys and considering the number of steps, I was worried that we might have to call the French equivalent of 911 sometime during the day. We had everything ready to move except the fragile items since our agreement stated that they would pack those but as it turned out the movers were overwhelmed with the amount of stairs and our stuff so we ended up stuffing paper around the glassware and packing them as well. By 3pm they had everything jammed into the back of their truck with our plants and a few odds and ends placed under their feet on the floorboard in the front seat. Once they started the engine and pulled out, Gabriella and I headed for the subway to meet them at the new residence.

Here, we encountered the first of several problems left by the painters--first, they had painted shut the locks on the double doors leading into our apartment from the hallway! The new apartment is rez-de-chaussée, ground floor, so we knew, at least, that the movers would be happy they had only 5 steps to climb but the real life-saver was that they could enter directly from the hall rather than by going out a side door through the courtyard and into a smaller single door that we use as our normal entrance. So, upon arrival, my task was to get that darn door unstuck before the movers appeared. Anyone who has tried to get a door or window opened after it's been painted shut knows what a chore this really is, now add to it the grand locking systems they use here in France and one can understand my pure frustration and fury the first moments in the new place. Each of the double doors has a large double square lock box midway down where the key is inserted and through which a metal slide bar moves, extending from the top of the door to the bottom. When locked the bar rests in a slot that's in the floor so before I could get the key tumblers, there are 2, to turn I had to pry loose the entire slide bars from top to bottom--the doors are about 9 feet tall. Since my tools were in the boxes yet to be delivered, I had to scrounge around for implements the painters had left behind to pry them loose. After about 30 minutes and just when the first boxes arrived, I succeeded in opening the doors!

The rest of the day into evening went as well as could be expected and we spent our first night with the bed set up and made....finally, home sweet home. Two weeks later I left for the States for a month then to Italy for 3 weeks....thus, a long pause on the blog.

Claude Monet's house

Last week while a friend from Portland, OR was visiting we took a day-trip to Giverny where Claude Monet had lived and painted. It was about an hour train trip outside of Paris to Vernon then a short hop on a local bus. The bus dropped everyone in a parking area and then we walked about 10 minutes to get to his house. The town itself is very tiny so we packed a lunch and ate under some trees before going to the house. The gardens were in full bloom so it was spectacular to see but unfortunately, it was the day of a national holiday so the place was jammed with tourist. Our favorite part was the pond where he had painted his famous water lilies. In this photo you can see some of that but there were gorgeous reflections all around it with huge weeping willows and numerous flowering trees, bushes, and flowers. They even had a simple wooden boat sitting under the weeping willows showing the exact scene that he had painted. Although the house doesn't have any of his original works, there was a large collection of reproductions in one of the rooms with a listing of where the originals could be seen. I highly recommend the place on a day mid-week day during the off season so you could actually sit and idle away some time enjoying the beauty of the landscape.

Busy week of performances

On Tuesday night we joined two South African friends to go to a dance performance by Gregory Maqom at Theatre de la Ville near Montmartre. I really had no idea what to expect so was thrilled when he turned out to be one of the most movingly beautiful contemporary dancers I've ever seen. He was accompanied by 4 musicians who were each equally excellent. Together they produced a magical performance that explored several topics including the effects of apartheid.

Wednesday night we attended a classical music concert at the Theatre des Champs-Élysées to hear the Rotterdam Philharmonic. I was truly amazed, as was the entire audience, when conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducted the first half, Mozart, without any written music before him. In the second half, flutist Emmanuel Pahud joined the musician, performing exquisitely. The Theatre itself is well known, located on Avenue Montaigne one of Paris' chic-ist streets. This street is located between the Seine and the Arc de Triomphe and is lined with name brand stores like In my French class we are currently watching the French comedy, Fauteuils d'Orchestre, which takes place on this street.

A friend on mine from the States arrived on Thursday so last night we all went to a jazz concert at the famous Duc des Lombards club. We were treated to the great sounds of Jacques Schwarz-Bart (sax) and his group. The club has two sessions per night and since the weather is great at the moment and it doesn't get dark until after 10pm, we went for the 10pm concert which didn't let out until close to midnight. The streets outside were so lively that one would have thought it was 9pm. We went home by metro, which was as rowdy as the streets. By the time we got home it was around 1am, kind of late for these old gals, but we thoroughly enjoyed the evening. Ah, Paris!

Buying an apartment in Paris: Part I

So, this is a subject I have avoided writing about for months since we're in the process of buying and I wasn't sure what the process was...well I'm still not sure but thought I'd attempt it! For us the process is still on-going through the purchase date of 28 May so there will be more info to come after that happens. First, of course, one has to locate a place. This in itself is a monstrous feat of willpower and time commitment. Unlike in the States where you work with one realtor who does all the legwork to identify the choices within your price-range and physical requests, in France each piece of property is listed with one or more real estate agencies, or independently by owner. Among all of these, the buyer must locate the places she wants to see then call or visit the various agencies that handle each of the properties. Within those agencies, often there is one specific person who can show a particular piece of property so one may have to wait for her/him to come back from vacation or where ever. Within some of the larger companies, other colleagues may show an apartment but at times they hand a client off to the another person when they reach the location. I have purchased several houses in the US through the years without any trouble but the system here is beyond comprehension. I bet we visited over 50 places over the course of the last year and I couldn't keep any of the realtors straight. There's also a very relaxed attitude among many of the realtors and they may or may not even act like they are interested in selling you something, much like the wait-staff in the cafés and restaurants! There were numerous times when we found something we liked so called the realtor and left a message requesting a visit but didn't even receive a call back. If we really wanted to see a place we would persist by calling back until we got ahold of someone. I often wondered if they really cared if they sold a place or not! Prices in Paris are outrageous to say the least and with each additional desirable characteristic you want in a place the price goes up. Age of the building including its charm factor, size, neighborhood, noise level of the street, sun exposure, steps verses elevator, and outdoor balcony are all figured into the price of an apartment. They price a place per square meter and each neighborhood has a bottom and top range. Of course, we wanted a large apt. in an old, charming building with an elevator near where we live now, south facing with a balcony! Naturally, this is what everyone looks for but only a few can actually afford so we changed our standards and kept hoping for a miracle. By mid November 2009, we were worn out from looking, the market had dropped some in the fall but was showing signs of going up again so we decided we needed to actually place a bid on a place soon.

This is the next complicated step since one must deal with the realtor to reach a price agreement and then put a certain percentage down and sign a very detailed contract of intent to buy. The buyer has 7 days to back out without penalty and then 30 days to secure a loan. Within the 7 days, the buyer must look at everything in the place to make sure if there aren't major structural problems, etc. In France, the real estate company is required to have a thorough inspection done but one is only allowed to see this after the intent to buy contract has been signed. If the buyer changes her/his mind after the 7 days the real estate company can keep the downpayment. If the buyer doesn't get a loan, s/he does get the downpayment back but I think that's the only circumstance they will accept.

By late November, there was an apartment that I liked in a building for 1990. It was in a nice location and on a closed off side street so no traffic noise...a major factor for me since we now live on a commercial street that has non-stop noise 24 hrs per day. Gabriella wasn't thrilled about the place but thought that she could live there without any trouble. The first I notice mold in the corners of the ceilings in the closet and bedroom. This was an alert sign for me even though the owner stated there was no problem that she knew of. She was asking 375,000Euros for about 57 sq. meters, high for that part of town, space, etc. So, we waited a few days and went to the agency, looked at the place a second time and offered 325,000E. The real estate agent had a fit and said he wouldn't ever propose that amount to the woman so we said that we could go as high as 335,000E, our target, but that was it. He said No to that as well so we left disappointed but low and behold 3 days later he called with a story about having seen the owner and her having accepted our bid. Thus, began a 3 week roller coaster ride that ended when we still had no official paper signed from the realtor and had visited another place that came through an email advertisement that we liked.

To be continued......