My Year in Paris

Sunday in the Parc de Sceaux

Although Leesa and I have been in touch through our blogs and Facebook, we only met in person today. She organized a picnic to take advantage of the white and pink cherry trees in bloom at the Parc de Sceaux, just outside Paris. The skies were blue, the weather was warm and most of the trees were blossoming; it was great timing.

We were a mix of francophones and anglophones, so I got the chance to practice my French (boy, do I need it!). I can understand almost everything, and can handle some sentences, but if the words contain lots of "Rs," I often get tongue tied. I hate the French R! Who invented this language anyway.

I made prosciutto/feta/basil involtini from a recipe on David Lebovitz's blog. My ham rolls weren't as cute as David's, and there was some confusion over whether it was ham or smoked salmon, but they went over well.

I'm glad Leesa offered to meet people at the café near the chateau. That parc is huge; I never would have found the picnic spot they chose on my own. Its scale and classic symmetrical gardens remind me of Versailles. It was nice to see the chateau, built in the late 1850s, in three dimensions. I probably never would have known about this place if she hadn't written about it on her blog. Since it's only 15 minutes by train from Paris, it makes a great place to get away from the city, breathe some fresh air and have a picnic.

Note: photo collage made via http://www.photovisi.com/

French vocabulary of the day

Last weekend set out to be boring. My birthday was April 2 (Good Friday!), but I accepted a rush job to do over the weekend, and Sweetie wasn't feeling well, so we decided to postpone the celebration. Usually with us, "postpone" means "we're never going to do it," but I'm going to hold him to his promise to take me out to dinner.

I was having a hard time concentrating on the rush translation. I don't know why. Usually I find multilayer structures for photovoltaic applications fascinating, but this time my eyes kept glazing over, and I was worried about Sweetie. Fortunately, I was invited to an Easter brunch, and I made enough progress beforehand that I was able to go.

I almost didn't make it. I was sure the work at Odéon métro station was finished by then; I mean, they started months ago. But the train passed through without stopping. Well, I guess I'm not going to transfer there, I thought. So I went a few more stops and then backtracked to Les Halles station, which I usually try to avoid. Anyway, I was about 35 minutes late, but someone else showed up at the same time (yes!).

I met some new, very cool people, ate some good food (including homemade banana-coconut milk ice cream, with chocolate sauce and candied pecans; can you tell I'm a dessert person?), and had some interesting conversations. Most of us were expats, so a lot of the conversation focused on renewing residence cards and stuff like that. I also learned a term that I've never heard before from the sole French person there: "Passover" is "Pâque juive" in French. Since Easter is "Pâques," this sounds like "Jewish Easter."