Heat Wave

Paris, France --There is much excitement in our little apartment because the Samson family is on its way from Pittsburgh to Paris. We shall try to meet them at the airport, early tomorrow morning. As for us, this marks yet another end/new beginning of our four month journey. The time has certainly flown by-  these past three weeks in Paris especially. Today in a cafe on  Rue Monge, the couple next to us noticed that as we were writing in our journal, we were running out of pages. This led to a conversation about our trip and all of the places we have seen. We laughed about seeing Jim Morrison's grave in Pere LaChaise cemetery and they wished us good luck with the remainder of our travels. The conversation really made us feel quite accomplished and extremely happy we are taking this trip.

On Sunday, we got to see yet another icon of architecture, a personal favorite of mine, Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye, in Poissy (a suburb city). I was pretty anxious to see if it truly did live up to the hype.... I thought it did. It really seemed like a small masterpiece. Corb is an expert of proportions and spatial relationships. When we stepped onto the grounds, we could instantly smell the country air, ripe with chestnut flowers and green grass. The iconic stairs and ramps flowed like sculpture. We enjoyed a picnic lunch of deli from "our butcher" before we headed back to Paris.

That evening, we headed out to the 13th arrondissement to the the Bibliotheque Nationale. Finally, we have been to all 20 arrondissements in Paris! (Just by chance, really.) This was very exciting- a true testament to our knowledge of the city.

Today, we relaxed and prepared for our guests along with going to see the Rubik's Cube Invader graffiti art that we have been looking forward to seeing. We watched the sun set over the Seine from Pont Neuf and sat around the Ile de la Cite until the stars came out. It was a beautiful way to spend the hot afternoon.

Here is a link to our album! (new pics around #100)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2540454&id=5726231&l=bc4b67e5b2 

Shavuot Strikes Again

Paris-- Wow, May 21st already; hard to believe. This week has really flown by, well, because of Shavuot (the Jewish holiday that celebrates receiving the Torah), it actually feels a little like a lost week. Not that we haven't been busy. Besides all the shopping and cooking we had to do for the holiday--which lasted from Tuesday night until Thursday night--we spent a lot of time walking in (drum roll) the beautiful weather!!! Since Saturday, the weather has only gotten warmer and more sunny, a complete 180 from the first two weeks we had here.

So we took advantage of that (which is incredibly easy to do in Paris) with long walks through the Le Marais neighborhood, the Luxembourg Gardens, Jardin des Plantes, and along Port de Plaisance near the Bastille. Besides being a great way to not feel so guilty about all the cheese we've been eating, it was also good to really get a feel for the city. One thing that particularly struck me was how seriously people seem to take grass. In many of the parks and gardens we've seen, there are very few designated places for people to sit/walk on the grass, and even though the large, green expanses look so inviting to weary pedestrians, people actually obey the "pelouse inderdit" (forbidden lawn) signs and opt for the metal benches or chairs instead. A little strange to get used to, but we didn't have any trouble joining the masses around the Luxembourg fountain to read and bask in the sun.

Another new experience we had this week was to go to a Shavuot service Wednesday morning in a synagogue designed by Hector Guimard, the same architect who did all of the famous Metropolitain signs and entrances in Paris (and in the East Wing of D.C's National Gallery). The service was a little strange, poorly attended because there had been an earlier one for all the people who had stayed up until 5:30 in the morning learning (a Shavuot tradition). One of the leaders struck up a friendship with Ben and even gave him a part in the service (dressing the Torah). It was cool to see yet another culture's subtle variations on the same traditions, even if I was totally confused until Ben found Hebrew/English prayer books about half an hour in.

Ok, I need to wrap things up because we are getting ready for Shabbat (yes, another holiday!), but in short it's been a really good, busy but relaxing week, and we are getting very excited to welcome the Samson family on Tuesday!

Links and photos to come Saturday night.

P.S. Congratulations to all of our friends and family who are graduating this month!

Our Fourth Spring This Year

Paris, France-- Over the past few days here, we have shifted to yet another gear, a nuanced version of our trip thus far in Paris. It's hard to describe, but perhaps we are fine-tuning our knowledge of the city, and becoming closer to Parisian (if that's even possible). It is now the longest place that we have stayed on this trip, and I suppose that it is the closest we have felt to a "home" in two and a half months. We know the area around our apartment pretty well and we have seen much of the city, nearly all of the arrondissements (districts), during our days exploring. It is strange. I hear myself saying "we're almost home" as the #4 metro pulls up to the St. Denis stop. I guess I do feel pretty at home here, even if it is in this very weird mirror world.

The list of places we have seen continues to grow. Following our trek to Bercy on Wednesday, we headed to the Pompidou on Thursday to soak up some first-class culture that Paris is stocked with so generously. The Braques, Picassos, Matisses, Rothkos etc. felt so very at home surrounded by the garishly exposed Pompidou Center's tangle of air ducts and elevator shafts. Betsy and I agreed that the building was striking and well suited for an art museum. My respect for the architect R. Rogers continues to grow.

Friday we went to Parc de la Villette and suffered through the cold as I drew two of Bernard Tschumi's follies that dot the landscape and lay a grid over the postmodern village. "This one is my favorite," I'd say at each of the red cube-like follies as we saw a new one. It was a very kid-friendly place and with the Cite des Sciences, it would be the perfect school field trip.

On Saturday, we hit the Pere LaChaise cemetery to pay some respects to the famous people buried there. We saw the graves of Sarah Bernhardt, Seurat, Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde (covered in lipstick kisses), and the Master of Paris's boulevards, Baron Haussmann. It was a great way to spend the Shabbat afternoon, and better yet, it was actually sunny outside!

We had had awful weather in Paris until that day. Every day we check weather.com and other sites and they are always completely wrong. There seems to be a "chance of rain" EVERY day and with the sky full of clouds, the sun has not been able to warm up the city. We are still waiting for Spring to fully arrive in Paris, which is extra difficult because we have seen Spring blossom in the Cote d'Azur, Israel, and the Southwest  France on our trip. So when we saw blue skies while walking amongst the mausoleums  of the Pere LaChaise cemetery, it felt oddly fresh, as if the circle of life was again approaching the birth of Spring. The weather here has been much better since then (sunny and in the low 60's) and perhaps that is the real reason that I feel our time here in Paris has shifted to another gear.