We're on a break

Monitor said something to Computer.  They had to be separated.

-H

Summer in Jouy!

Just because I knew you'd want to know that the volleyball court was indeed being used... and I don't think I'd photographed the church from the back route angle... ~A

Discoveries of the Week

Finally found the "fast train" (ie, non-stop) between Versailles and Montparnasse. Efficiency wins a round! Then discovered the editing features in Picasa... set and match, procrastination. And so the normal balance is restored... ~A

A Day with Sharon!

Sharon et moi, nous avons défié les jongles pendant sa visite le dimanche dernier! D’abord les marches aux puces à Clignacourt… et puis la ville de Pontoise au nord-ouest de Paris. (Ne soyez pas dupé par de petits musées et de jolis jardins – ils cachent le vrai danger… quelque part…) Fatiguée par une longue journée excitant, nous avons passé le soir mangeant de la glace Berthillon derrière la Notre Dame.

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During Sharon's visit last Sunday, she and I braved the wild side of Paris! First the famed flea markets of Clignacourt, and then we took the train out to the town of Pontoise. (Don't be fooled by the peaceful gardens and cute museums such as the Tavet-Delacour and its annex Musée Pissarro - they obscure the real danger... somewhere...) Exhausted from day's exertions, we treated ourselves to Berthillon ice cream and rested our weary limbs on the Seine behind Notre Dame. ~A

Champagne

Champagne: descendant, regardant, apprendant et buvant! (Maisons de Gonet-Sulcova et Vranken Pommery) ~A

Plateaued in Palaiseau

Montant sur le plateau en Palaiseau, j’ai vu des belles nuages, des jolies fleurs... et un volleyball comme chateau d’eau?

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Hit the plateau in Palaiseau - lovely clouds, pretty flowers... and a volleyball-shaped water tower? ~A

Crawdads never knew it was coming

Crawdad killer still on the loose; leaves trail of devastation.

Paris 1: Tuileries & Louvre

J’ai finis mon tour du 1ere arrondissement où j’avais dû le commencer: aux Tuileries et au Louvre. Là, j’ai trouvé un arbre libre à grandir comme il veut (un événement rare en France) et un jardin fait comme il faut. J’ai admiré l‘imagination de I.M. Pei en mettant sa pyramide en verre à côté du Louvre. Et le changement du Café Etienne-Marcel en “Café Sex and the City” m’a fait rire…
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I ended my tour of the 1ere arrondissement right where it should have began: the Tuileries and the Louvre. There I found a tree allowed to grow as it liked (a rare occurrence in France) and a garden set up in traditional French fashion. I appreciated I.M. Pei's vision in setting up his glass pyramid to reflect the Louvre. And Cafe Etienne-Marcel's changeover to "Cafe Sex and the City" made me laugh... ~A

Les Halles

Les Halles… on a l’impression que les Français veulent cacher une chose si grossier comme un mall au coeur de Paris. Premièrement, on le camoufle avec un joli jardin derrière une vieille église. Puis, on détourne l’attention avec des grands panneaus. Finalement, on appelle les couloirs “les rues” et les escaliers roulants “les ponts”. Mall? Quel mall?!?!

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Les Halles... one may think that the French are looking to hide away a mall so insolent as to be located at the heart of Paris. Hide it behind an old church, camouflage the entrance with some pretty gardens, rename the corridors "streets" and the escalators "bridges"... Mall? What mall?!?! ~A

Lonely

When the world turns its back on you, and you have nowhere else to go.