Month: December 2010

So we made it home to Nantes just a couple of hours ago and guess what? We took people out to Leclerc for a full Andy & Melinda grocery store experience, that’s what. This involved pulling our caddies through the rain to Line 2 of the tram. We boarded at our home stop just as the rain turned to snow. Chloe and Perrin sat across from each other and I turned around to snap this picture of 4 year-old Perrin looking out the window of the tram at the snow. Moments later we got off at Leclerc and had that crazy full-blown shopping experience that only Leclerc can provide. Brenda, Greg and Michele came along, too, of course, and were fairly impressed by the experience, I think. This involved the caddies, like I said, the shopping cart tokens, and the self-scanner. Oh, life’s little pleasures. I’ll tell you, if you can get joy from showing off a self-scanning device to visiting relatives you’ll never be unhappy. Life is full of these little treasures, right? Another is happening as I write. Chloe and Perrin just walked by, giddy because the snow is actually STICKING right now. It’s so pretty. We’re at least having a momentary white pre-Christmas in Nantes. And the presence of family is certainly a good present. Another one? Greg is making dinner.

Pictured in the upper right of this photo is King Louis XV of France. To his right is his wife, Queen Marie Leszczynska. Standing below the royal couple are their granddaughters, who for our purposes we will identify as Chloe, Perrin and Ella, as visible from left to right. Not pictured are the King & Queen’s adoring daughters and humble sons-in-law.

King Louis XV is proud of his staircase, hence today’s staged photo. The world may be familiar with his furniture, which according to this website is well-known for its ability to showcase beautiful women. It featured curves and was designed for the comfort of women. Given this photo, I’d say old Louis isn’t doing too bad with showing off beautiful women on his staircase, either.

That’s some life you lead, Louis.

Louis and the rest of his family will be leaving Paris tomorrow and heading to Nantes. We can only assume that further opportunities to photograph Louis in the presence of beautiful women will present themselves, so expect this site to be featuring those in the upcoming days.

You are looking at tonight’s dinner. Oh, sorry. The dinner is the one on the left, the pork roast. The one on the right is Greg and we will not be dining ON him, of course. We will be dining in fine style again tonight BECAUSE of Greg. In fact, he has made dinner for us each of the nights we’ve been in Paris. Let’s see if I can remember the different main courses. They include: tonight’s pork roast (the aroma of which has wafted into the hall and up the Louis XV staircase, smelling so good I wouldn’t be surprised to see it wake old Louis XV himself and have him come knocking on the door), risotto with ham, fine steaks & green beans (for Ella’s birthday, per her request), and roast chicken. In addition to the main course each night, we typically have both side dishes and a salad, and Greg has selected some excellent wines to match the meals.

I like living this way, with my own personal chef. I have not had to think of what to make, nor had to do the grocery shopping. On Wednesday we return to Nantes and we’re bringing Greg with us. The question is whether or not we’ll let him leave again…

Imagine being 4 years-old and getting some serious attention from your 17 year-old cousin who you’ve been excited to see. The two of you are living in the same apartment in Paris (that’s in France, in case you don’t know, which is very far from your home) for a week and you’ve noticed that your cousin spends a lot of time getting ready each day. You refer to this as “wiping her face.” This fascinates you. So when this 17 year-old cousin offers to “wipe your face,” you can hardly stand it, you are so excited.

Such was the case on Friday night when 4 year-old Perrin was asked by 17 year-old Chloe if she’d like a “makeover.” I have a hunch that this makeover was one-of-a-kind. It involved Perrin entering Chloe’s (and Ella’s) room and getting a peak into Chloe’s world. AND it involved having this “makeover” while watching the classic holiday program “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” on Chloe’s laptop.

I intruded in order to take a few photos and was told, in no uncertain terms, that this was for “girls only.” Greg decided to test this “rule” and was given the same response. Humph. We know when we’re not wanted, although we are wondering if we’d be allowed in if we asked to have our faces wiped. Given Chloe’s sense of humor, we might end up looking like Rudolph and the joke would be on us!

I tried to explain to Ella this morning that as long as we are in France, December 18 isn’t really her birthday. You see, she was born at 3:30 in the afternoon in Seattle. Given that France is 9 hours ahead of Seattle, she was actually born at 12:30am December 19, France time. So we’ve been putting all this energy into celebrating her birthday a day early!

Ella’s response was quite sensible, and caught me off guard. She said that the reasonable thing to do is to celebrate both today AND tomorrow, thus honoring her Seattle roots AND her presence in France. Of course, this means my comment backfired. We now have to get twice the gifts, twice the cakes, twice the everything related to her birthday. Smart girl. Ella was also quick to point out that since Chloe, her beloved sister, was born at 3am in Seattle and that would be noon in France, she is only entitled to celebrate on one day when her birthday arrives in February. Smart girl x 2.

This is what I get for trying so hard to raise creative children.

ANYWAY, we have been celebrating Ella’s birthday today. Her BIG request was that we go to Angelina’s near the Louvre for hot chocolate. We did that. We also had brunch not far from Angelina’s and visited a store in Paris called Merci that is quite the place. We stopped at a Swatch store and picked up a watch for one of Ella’s presents. Ella requested steak for dinner, which was purchased at one of the street-side Parisian butchers in a raging snowstorm. It was fun watching him carve the meat and then give us precise instructions for the preparation of it. Far be it for us to mess up the fancy steak! Especially today! Thank goodness Uncle Greg is on chef patrol tonight.

One gift Ella did not want to receive is the bad cold that has slowed her considerably. She took a break this afternoon, coming back to the apartment early and getting into her pajamas. But she bounced back for dinner and cake, rising further to pose for today’s photo.

Happy birthday, Ella. Can you believe it, your 14th birthday in Paris in the snow? Not bad. No, not bad at all.

So here I am in Paris, a city full of incredible sites, and I spot this very attractive, elegant-looking window in a beautiful older building. I think to myself, “I’d like to have a photo of that window,” so I wander over to snap one. Just inside was this serious looking man, obviously hard at work. Do you think I bothered him? Oh, well. As any good member of the paparazzi knows, there are no restrictions when it comes to getting a potentially valuable photo.

Okay, so I made most of that up. Well, at least the part implying that I’m a member of paparazzi (Chloe may disagree). The real story is that this window is part of our apartment, and the hard-working man inside is Melinda’s dad, Dwight. Among many interesting things about our apartment is that this window actually looks out into the carriage entrance, complete with cobblestones. We are staying in a renovated townhouse that has enough historical significance to be included in a book called “The Marais.” The book mentions that “a substantial Louis XV staircase at the end of a deep vestibule has survived.” The paparazzi intend to take some photos on that staircase, I’m sure.

Among many interesting things about Dwight is that at 4:47pm Paris time each day he connects via Skype to a friend in Seattle who is connected to an amateur radio network to which Dwight belongs, a creative way that allows Dwight to participate from France. Today’s photo was taken from the carriage entrance of our apartment, just after that daily conversation had concluded.

Bun-Bun agreed to stay in the apartment with Other Bunny today, freeing the rest of us to go exploring in Paris. We walked to the nearest Métro station and made the underground trek to one of the fabulous shopping areas in town, emerging above ground just outside the stores Printemps and Galeries Lafayette. Both stores have amazing outdoor window displays designed to delight the children. And, indeed, Perrin was especially delighted, moving from window to window with eager anticipation. She was gracious enough to turn around from looking at this window to pose with her cousins for this photo. Then it was back to the exciting window displays.

Galeries Lafayette is referring to their window display this year as “Show Chaud Noël.” That’s a “Franglais” expression, putting the English word “Show” and the French word “Chaud” back-to-back, a clever combination because the two words are pronounced exactly the same way. Noël is French for Christmas so the translation is simply “Hot Christmas Show.” If you want, check out a video explaining this (in French). Today, given the presence of the Shaw family, I officially declare it the “Shaw Show Chaud Noël!”

By the way, Galeries Lafayette is also known for the huge Christmas tree that decorates the center of the store each holiday season. It really is spectacular. You can get a glimpse of it in the video I linked above.

I am thrilled to report that Bun-Bun has arrived safely in Paris. She had to get up early yesterday in Seattle to catch her first flight and was sad to leave some of her friends back home, something that is always quite hard. But she is quite excited to be in Paris. Also, from what I’ve learned, Bun-Bun not only managed to deal with, but even enjoyed a 4 hour layover in Chicago (they have a wonderful bunny play area at O’Hare), before the long flight to Paris. Clearly, Bun-Bun is a great traveller and actually arrived in France with only minimal jet lag. Today’s photo was taken earlier today in our Parisian apartment, soon after Bun-Bun’s arrival. That’s 4 year-old Perrin, Bun-Bun’s best friend, on the right, with Bun-Bun on her lap, and Ella on the left with Bun-Bun’s friend and traveling companion Other Bunny.

Check back here for regular updates about Bun-Bun, Other Bunny and their apartment-mates (Nonna & Poppie, Brenda, Greg & Perrin, and Melinda, Chloe, Ella & me) over the next week. Their Parisian adventures have only just begun!

Here’s a close-up shot of one of our living room windows, taken from the outside in front of the house. As you can see, the snowflakes in Nantes are quite large (and dig that cool sunset in the reflection of the glass – what a beautiful, albeit cold, day it’s been in Nantes). Truthfully, these flakes are no different than those we see on our windows in Seattle each year. They are a family tradition, made each year by Chloe with help from Ella. This year, they gave lessons to Celeste and Claire, Christine’s daughters. I understand there has been a snowstorm of activity in their house this year, too, perhaps a tradition that will continue next year.

On the subject of snow, it is in the forecast for Nantes over the next couple of days. An even greater chance for snow is in Paris, where we will be for a week beginning tomorrow. We take the train to Paris from Nantes in the morning and will rendez-vous with Melinda’s entire family (parents, sister, brother-in-law, and 4 year-old niece). Her parents have rented a Parisian apartment for all 9 of us for the next week. So look for my next blog postings to be from Paris and they just might include snow.

How would that be for a beautiful holiday scene, snow scenes from Paris a week or so before Christmas?? I’m in!

That’s Melinda, raising the self-scanning device at Leclerc in celebration. You might think it was some kind of an award, like an Oscar or something, given Melinda’s happy expression. Can’t you just hear her acceptance speech:

“Wow, I can’t believe I really won this thing. After months of grocery store shopping and having to wait in long lines, all it took was a short interview with a Leclerc hostess who explained everything to me. In French, no less. And I understood her! I filled out some paperwork, also in French, then was registered to use one of these devices. The hostess showed me how to scan my store card, which frees up one of the devices, connecting it to my card. Get this. It lights up along the wall, like you’ve won some kind of Las Vegas-style game. Now as I shop, I scan each item before putting it in my cart. When I arrive to check-out at one of the registers reserved for self-scanners like myself, I am whisked through, only needing the checker to scan my card to reveal the total of my purchase which I then pay with my French credit card. Crazy, it’s so simple. I’d like to thank my parents for raising such a smart daught…”

At that point the orchestra would likely start playing and Melinda would be escorted away from the microphone, self-scanner in hand, undoubtedly off to buy more groceries.