Andy Smallman

Most school-age children in Nantes have a half day of school on Wednesdays, meaning Ella is home just after noon. You’ll recall that last Wednesday we used the early afternoon to find the ultimate American cheeseburger, and even discussed returning to the Burger House for another today. But we decided instead to go for a long walk in the direction of the end of Line 2 of the tram, walking on dirt trails and through a lovely neighborhood. We got a simple lunch and then wandered over to where we could catch the tram back home. As we waited I started taking pictures.

Among the many pictures I took is this one of Ella at the tram stop. Both buses and trams use it, so there are more places for people to wait. But what’s striking are these very interesting seats, unlike anything I’ve ever seen before at a bus stop or train station. They’re like tiny isolation booths that cause your voice to echo when you speak. I was reminded of the “Cone of Silence” from the classic TV show “Get Smart” (one of my favorites, as you might recall). Do you see how she’s enclosed in glass? I’m sitting in one and Ella is sitting in one across from me.

Once on the tram I took a few more pictures and then we passed my favorite library. Just past that there is a little two-day circus going on. From the tram we saw a few ostriches and some miniature horses grazing. This may cause you to wonder what we actually ate for lunch, I know. Cone of Silence, Ostriches, Miniature Horses. I didn’t even mention the ghost that showed up in one of the pictures!

Today’s photo was taken by Melinda less than an hour ago. It’s 80 degrees here in Nantes today with a picture perfect blue sky. I’ve spent the last couple of hours by and in the pool. At one point Melinda looked over and said to me, “Do we deserve this?”

We decided the answer was yes, in case you were wondering, although that does involve pinching ourselves every now and then.

I’ve mentioned that I’m intending to read all of Kurt Vonnegut’s novels while on sabbatical. I’ve nearly finished my fifth, Slapstick, and yesterday ordered two more from Amazon.co.uk. I think I may run out of Vonnegut novels… Days like this by the pool find me reading pretty fast.

Anyway, it’s been a lovely, lovely day, with more still to come. I’m about to head over to John’s house, the Scotsman who lives nearby and treated us to a wonderful dinner a couple of Saturdays ago. John wants to explain the game of Snooker to me. There is a championship of some kind being televised and he has a table. Then tonight after work, Frédérique and Laurent are coming over for a late evening swim and light dinner. And in short order the neighborhood children, including Ella, will be getting home from school. I’ve left the pool open for them.

Oh, I’ve been having a great time facilitating my three online kindness classes. I’m getting new “friends” on Facebook because of it and just started an email exchange with an English teacher in Belgium who wants to use the Practice of Kindness class with his ESL students. Fun stuff!

One minute the tram can be packed with so many people that you can hardly squeeze on, and once on you’re not sure you can get off. The next minute it’s empty. There is a reason for this though.

We live toward the northern end of Line 2. As you’d expect, the further out you get, the less people are on the tram. And the closer you get to the schools, the more students pack it. We are two stops away from the University of Nantes, and five stops away from Ella’s school, which is a large one for middle & high schoolers. So there are lots of young people filling the tram in the morning, at lunch, and in the late afternoon. And like I said, the closer you get to the schools, the more people.

It’s fun to ride during these times and experience the hustle-bustle so quickly balanced by the serenity. On Mondays Ella comes home for lunch, hustle-bustle. Today Melinda and I rode the tram back to school with her, squeezing on like sardines. Then we caught the tram in the other direction at her school, packed with university students on their way back from lunch. I took this picture after practically everyone had gotten off, obviously, one stop short of the end of the line (where there’s an organic grocery store Melinda & I visited).

You’ll notice what a beautiful day it is in Nantes. In fact, I just got out of the pool! It’s supposed to be in the low 80’s on Wednesday. Take that, Seattle.

Not that I’m gloating…

I began the weekend watching cartoons and eating Frosted Flakes. And I ended it learning something about the incredible history of Nantes. In case you didn’t recognize it, that’s quite a contrast. Perhaps I am becoming more cultured (although that does make me sound a bit like yogurt or something better suited for a petri dish).

Yesterday Laurent and Frédérique emailed to ask if we wanted to head into town with them today to participate in “Les Journées du patrimoine” (what Google translates as Heritage Days). They sent us a link of activities and suggested we look it over and select some that interested us. This proposal ended up being more difficult than it sounds so we tossed it back to them to choose, which they did. They picked us up in the Taxi Boudeau and off we went.

Today’s photo was taken inside the Cercle Cambronne, specifically one of its reception rooms which has been kept faithful to the way it looked in the 18th century when it was part the apartments of General Pierre Cambronne who fought with Napoléon (and is mentioned, I believe in Les Misérables!). Melinda and Frédérique may be pointing the way to the exit, telling me to leave because I was taking too many pictures or something.

We waited in line for an hour to get in and then listened to the history of the apartments, moving from room to room. Melinda was completely transfixed, understanding most of the French being spoken. Me, I learned that there is something significant about the mirrors. My problem is that as soon as I understand something being said in French I start getting all self-congratulatory. I’m so busy being proud of myself that I forget to listen to what else is being said. So once I was able to translate the word mirror, I was too busy doing internal cartwheels to know what made them so special.

Hmmm… I wonder if I do that in English.

Shhh… I have to type quietly this morning because people are still sleeping. I got up early to plug my computer into the TV so I could watch cartoons while eating a bowl of French Frosted Flakes, or what on the box says, “Glacés au Sucre Corn Flakes” (literally, frozen sugar corn flakes). Either it’s 1970 or I’m having a mid-life crisis. Regardless, it’s the perfect Saturday morning in September. Clear and crisp outside. Quiet inside. No school. Cartoons. Frosted Flakes.

In today’s episode of “Underdog,” Dr. Simon Bar Sinister, the wickedest man in the world, has invented a device that can suck up the world’s water supply, distorting its molecules so it all fits nicely into a valise. People will have to come to him to get their water! Will Underdog be able to save the day?

Yes, of course, sillies. Underdog saves the day.

Yesterday, Chloe told me that some of my blog postings seem kind of silly and pointless. I’m not sure, but I think this had something to do with me kissing fire hydrants. Thank goodness today’s posting isn’t one of the pointless ones! In fact, and you Seinfeld fans should get this reference, I’ve started referring to pictures and experiences here in France as being “Blog-worthy.” Having found Frosted Flakes in the cereal aisle of the grocery store, I knew today’s entry would make the cut.

Oh, does anyone know how I can get some Brown-Sugar Cinnamon Frosted Pop Tarts? Next Saturday is just a week away and I think H.R. Pufnstuf is going to have to save Jimmy and Freddy the talking flute from Witchiepoo. I need something full of vitamins and minerals, part of a balanced breakfast.

Regular readers of this blog will recognize I have a “thing” for French fire hydrants. It’s true, I think they’re sexy. Apparently, though, I’m not the only one who is taken by them. While walking in the center of Nantes the other day, Melinda discovered a street exhibition devoted to, yep, you guessed it, fire hydrants. She could hardly wait to share it with me.

We visited not just once, but twice. I think I took more photos of it than I did of the Nantes racetrack. Heck, I may have taken more photos of it than there are photos displayed in it. But what a wonderful thing. As I said weeks ago, the French know how to take something like a fire hydrant and make it visually appealing (read: sexy). Note, I would have included the photo of a hydrant that looks more like a boy but I know this blog attracts some young readers and, well, you know, it just didn’t seem appropriate. To see that kind of thing, check your IDs and go here (it’s the second to last photo, btw).

After teasing you for two days, I now present my promised post related to the Ramones.

Meet Maxime, age 14. Max is the eldest child of Christine & Bernard (famous French kitchen remodelers), sibling to Théo, Celeste (the Little Mermaid) and Claire. On Tuesday around noon, on our way home from our important meeting at OFII and with our chest x-rays in hand, Melinda and I encountered Max who was heading home for lunch. But we not only encountered Max, we encountered Max’s shirt, which elicited multiple responses from me, including a request for this photo. Max gracefully complied.

We walked down the street together, me extolling the virtues of the Ramones, including that this was my band of choice while on my way to my high school graduation (I didn’t mention that the year was 1981, that I was with Marc Burns, all 6′ 5″ of him, in his Karmann Ghia listening to the Ramones on an 8-track tape, and that I was wearing a camouflage jumpsuit and red shoes – another story, another time). I told him that my brother Steve had an original Ramones T-shirt from the 70’s and that I’m sure that Steve would appreciate seeing a photo of Max in his shirt. I also offered to make Max a mixed CD, which I immediately went home and did. I mean, you meet a 14 year-old French boy on the streets of Nantes, France wearing a Ramones T-shirt while you are carrying chest x-rays of you & your wife, what are you going to do? Me, I make him a mixed CD, of course.

Speaking of the CD, it included Marilyn Manson covering the Ramones, a song called “The KKK Took My Baby Away.” Want to know how hip Christine is? In reviewing the CD tracks with Max and me she said, “Remember how eloquent Marilyn Manson was in the movie Bowling for Columbine?”

Now that’s a mom.

I interrupt my scheduled posting related to the Ramones (and sincerely apologize to all of you expecting it today, especially Maxime) to introduce you to Rick from Olympia, Washington, owner of what is undoubtedly the best burger joint in all of France! Yes, Ella and I have found the cheeseburger we hoped to find in Nantes, meaning we now know exactly where to go when we’ve got a hankering for a burger! Stop the presses!

Rick and his French wife, Sidonie, lived in the US for 15 years until they couldn’t stand to hear George W. Bush’s voice any longer. So they came to Sidonie’s home country, settled in Nantes and opened up an American burger joint. I found it a few weeks ago on one of my many walks and last night made plans with Ella to go today. For Washingtonians like ourselves, it was the perfect day. Yup, it was raining and felt just like Seattle. Arriving at what Rick and Sidonie call “The Burger House” (the store colors are even purple & yellow – quite UW-like; click on the name to see a navigable street view, courtesy of Google), we heard The Doors song “Hello, I Love You” playing. I approached the counter and began speaking (read: trying to speak) in French. Sidonie responded, “You can speak English here.”

Taking our seats, we reviewed the menu. I ordered a Route 66 Burger (delicious!) and Ella ordered the obligatory bacon-cheese, complemented with an Oreo milkshake. I added a beer to my lunch and we both had wonderful fries. Having heard my fumbled French and recognizing a fellow American, Rick brought the food to the table himself, chatting and posing for this photo. When I told him I graduated from The Evergreen State College he exclaimed, “A Greener!”

Count this as the second of the things on my Top 5 list of experiences I want to have in Nantes, taking in an FC Nantes game being the other completed. I know visiting the Hippodrome with my father is another. The 4th & 5th, I’m not yet sure.

For further context of Ella’s and my cheeseburger search, I refer you to these past blog posts:
Day 22, Day 35, Day 48, Day 53, Day 67

Today Melinda and I had our very important meetings at the Office Français de l’Immigration et de l’Intégration (OFII). This is the meeting in which we are either officially granted permission to stay in France or are told to get lost. We had to prepare several things in advance of the meeting and then submit to a physical and an interview during it. Part of the physical included a chest x-ray, which we were given (and told to hang on to) at the end of the exam. To sum it all up quickly, we passed! They like us, they really like us (isn’t that what Sally Field said at that award show so long ago?)!

An interesting part of this meeting is that it’s very expensive, 340 Euros per person (almost $500) and one pays in stamps. That part literally cracked us up. Stamps? Really? Does the French government have some really big package that needs to be sent somewhere? Anyway, Christine helped us out with that one, taking Melinda to the nearby store (the Tabac) at which one buys hundreds of Euros in stamps. And, no, they come in bigger denominations than having to buy dozens of First Class stamps.

We celebrated afterwards by reviewing our chest x-rays and then going out to lunch. It turned out to be a great day for pictures (including x-rays). I got quite a few shots for potential future blog postings, including one I plan to use tomorrow involving the Ramones. Stay tuned.

Just where did July go? He was right here just a minute ago…

I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with September. I love the freshness of the mornings, a bit chilly but with a hint of the warmth that will come later in the day. Combined with the recent memory of the hottest days of summer, it’s easy to wander back there in my mind. Then there is always a sadness in September at the demise of summer, what becomes the “hate” part of the relationship (although I admit that “hate” is too strong of a word). As a kid, it was going back to school and how July always seemed so long ago.

I accompanied Ella on her tram-ride to school today and then walked back home. It’s about a 30 minute walk and I loved every step. I started with both a long sleeve shirt and a jacket (my Firefox jacket, Tracy!) but soon tied the jacket around my waist as I warmed up. I could see my breath if I breathed hard. Refreshing!

I actually took this picture last Friday although it could just as easily have been taken today. I was standing on the sidewalk just outside our house, waiting while Melinda ran inside to get a sweater. It was right around noon and I loved how the sun was shining through our front fence. It was exactly that kind of a love-hate day, hints of both July and October.