Paris in Love

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France 280“…I was walking with them all the way up to Montmartre, the highest point in the city.  I staggered up the last steps to find the Sacre-Coeur basilica’s dome gleaming in the sunlight, covered by rows of creamy scallops that reminded me of children’s drawings of ocean waves: very regular, quite fantastic.”  from A Parisian Spring chapter

Paris in LoveParis in Love by Eloisa James. Finished 7-5-13, rating 3.5/5, travel memoir, 258 pages, pub. 2012

Eloisa James is a professor of Shakespeare, a romance author, a wife, a mother, and a cancer survivor.  Weeks after her mother died of cancer, James found out that she too had breast cancer.  Calling it the ‘good kind’ her prognosis was always good and she never had that profound moment of divine clarity on life’s meaning, but she did feel the need for a change, a new experience.  She convinced her husband, also a professor, to take a year sabbatical so they could move to Paris for a year.  So, with kids in tow, off they went with varying degrees of excitement.

Let me say from the start that the idea of this sounds so incredibly tempting.  I’m not sure how I feel about uprooting the kids for a year, but I applaud her bravery in giving them a year they won’t forget.

This book started as her Facebook posts.  She organized and revised and put them into a lovely travel journal.  I most appreciated the longer essays as I thought they were more thoughtful and thought provoking than just the quick take posts.  I wish the book had been mainly essays with the short posts sprinkled throughout.

She touches on everything – the food, the clothes, the diet, the idea that French women don’t get fat, the schools, the housing, being an English speaking American in France.  I especially enjoyed her stories about her daughter’s school ordeals.  Being a pre-teen girl is no easy thing and doing it in a new country only adds to the hilarity (funny only at a distance. I’m sure).

I liked it.  I won this over at Amused by Books and I want to thank Leah for sending it my way.  Perfect for July in Paris 🙂

French Actors Quiz – guessing closed

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I’m going to leave up last week’s quiz for another week if you’d like to try your hand at Eiffel Tower book covers.  Eiffel Tower Quiz

I’m no expert on French actors and actresses, but when I started looking I was surprised at how many I knew.  Can you tell me the names of these talented thespians?  And you’ll get extra points if you name one movie they were in.

PLEASE join in the fun.  You can guess as few or as many as you want and you entered to win a prize at the end of the month.  No Googling please 🙂

1.   2.  3.  4.  5.  6.  7.  8.   9.  10.

1.Brigitte Bardot  2.Gerard Depardieu  3.Juliette Binoche  4.Olivier Martinez  5.Marion Cotillard  6.Jean Reno  7.Catherine Deneave  8.Vincent Cassel  9.Leslie Caron  10.Marcel Marceau

(courtesy of Bookbath)

Pere Lachaise from above. In 2007 #10 was buried in this cemetery.

France 137

Paris in July – Tennis anyone?

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France 261Here we are at the French Open in 2010, the clay courts are cool, right?  The line was long to get in and then I didn’t have proper ID so we had to wait some more, but we had a great day, even if we spent too much time baking in the sun.  It was fun to get up close and personal at the smaller courts and in the earlier rounds that meant we saw some great matches. Another great day in Paris with friends.  (I look like I have an elf ear, right?)

I post this today in honor of Andy Murray’s Wimbledon win yesterday!  The first British man to win since 1936.  I was so happy for him and loved his emotion after winning the title.  We’re tennis fans here (Jason more than me since he’s actually a good player) and we’ve been to two of the four big tournaments, next up, Wimbledon!

(courtesy of Birdbath)

Weekends with Gage – Lola Goes to Work and Gage hits the hot tub

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lolagoestoworkWe took a trip to Michigan this week to visit Jason’s family.  After visiting the Livonia and Flint areas we’re back home getting into our routine.

Jason’s dad has a big pool but Gage kept wanting to go in the little pool, aka  the hot tub, so I let him sit on the top step when nothing else would do.  I brought a few books to Michigan, Lola Goes to Work, is his new favorite, so it was awarded hot tub status.  Kathy wrote a great review of this one and then sent it on to Gage.  I wasn’t sure he’d like it since he doesn’t have any favorite books with photos, but from our first reading, Lola has been a hit.  He likes to finish reading each page for you, but I should mention that Gage’s  ‘Lola’ sounds suspiciously like ‘Lellow’, but no matter, it only makes her cuter.

Lola is a five-pound Yorkshire Terrier who wanted a big job so she worked very hard to become a therapy dog.  I wish I had taken a picture of the page I stress to Gage, “I learned to sit and stay, to lie down and wait patiently.”  Lola eventually passes her test and becomes  a therapy for the elderly and classrooms.

This is a sweet book that all ages can enjoy.  It was written and photographed by Lola’s mom, Marcia Goldman.  It’s 32 pages and even has a page at the end for teachers so they can better use the book in the classroom. Visit Lola’s website for some cute photos.

(courtesy of Birdbath) I know Lola’s not French, but I think she could pass with that sassy red scarf, don’t you?

France 102A friend we found at Versailles (you’ll probably have to click on it to see).  A few days later Jason and our friends would be dining on his family and friends.  I don’t understand how that is possible after meeting the little guy.

Saturday Snapshot- Notre Dame entrance

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France 161France 244Notre Dame from a distance.

France 232A little closer.  Beautiful.France 233

I hope you click on them to see them up close.  The craftsmanship is amazing.

 

 

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda of West Metro Mommy.  It’s easy to participate – just post a picture that was taken by you, a friend, or a family member and add your link on Melinda’s site.

(courtesy of Birdbath) I’m having fun looking through our France photos again 🙂

Tell No One- the French movie based on the Harlen Coben book

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(courtesy of Birdbath) Enjoy this month in France!

Tell No One (2006).jpgTell No One, 2006

Tell No One was my first Harlen Coben book and after I devoured it I went out and read everything he’d written.  As much as I love some of his others, this still remains my favorite and I recommend it often.  I was thrilled to learn that it had been made into a movie, even willing to embrace the fact that it would be a French movie with subtitles.  Subtitles and I have a rocky relationship.  I saw it at the theater when it came out and watched it again this week with my mom.  I liked it better the second time because I followed all the characters a little better.

How does a New York story transfer to Paris?  Very well.  It is different, but the idea is the same.  A doctor is contacted by his dead wife eight years after her murder, only the police and paid killers are after him too.  I thought this fast paced movie was great.  For all Harlan Coben fans, he has a cameo, pay attention or you’ll miss it.

France 052This has nothing to do with the movie but I loved this window we found in Bordeaux country.

Paris in July – Paris Versus New York

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(courtesy of Birdbath)

Paris Versus New York: A Tally of Two CitiesParis Versus New York by Vahram Muratyan. Finished 7-1-13, rating 5/5, travel, pub. 2012

Love, love, love!  I have loved New York since the first weekend trip Jason and I took there to visit The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1997.  After many trips and a 5 month stay in 2000 I felt like I was a decent tour guide to out of town guests.  I loved the city, but Jason and I both agreed that it would only be doable long term if you could afford to get out of the city on weekends.  We only spent five days in Paris so any real comparison between the two would be superficial, but it is safe to say that both cities are favorites of ours.  I probably prefer New York and Jason, Paris.

This book comes from a blog by graphic artist Muratyan and features a contrast between the two cities with pictures and one line captions.  I thought this was a fun 15 minutes and  I’ve found myself flipping through again and again in the past few days.  I think there are some stereotypes in his 100+ comparisons, but some stereotypes fit the bill.  I think this is a fun gift for someone who loves both cities.  It’s also a great book to look through at the library or bookstore since it doesn’t take long.  I checked this copy out of the library and I’m a little sad to have to return it.  Totally fun, but not a serious expose of either city.

parisvsny1parisvsny2parisvsny3

France 271I found the Pompidou Museum interesting, but some of the exhibits disturbing.   We spent quite a bit of time here with our friends and it was a mix of very cool and very gross.

Eiffel Tower Quiz – guessing closed

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(courtesy of Bookbath)

France 139She looks majestic even on a gloomy day, doesn’t she?  Let’s see if you can guess the titles of these books with this beauty on their covers.  This will begin a new round of quizzes (details here) open to everyone!

For Paris in July I will also be giving away a few things, so if you participate you’ll also be entered in my giveaway at the end of the month!

Just leave your guesses (you only need to guess one to be entered for the prize) in the comment section.  I will periodically hide the answers so you can’t copy off your fellow bloggers 😉  You have until Sunday night.

eiffel11.Paris by Rutherford  2.Murder on the Eiffel Tower by Izner  3.Madeline by Bemelmans  4.Three Weeks in Paris by Bradford  5.The Paris Enigma by DeSantis  6.Paris Versus New York by Muratyan  7.We’ll Always Have Paris by Bradbury  8.Paris My Sweet by Thomas  9.Paris in Love by James  10.The Last Time I Saw Paris

eiffel2

Paris in July starts today

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(courtesy of Bookbath)

I’ve decided to participate for the first time this year.  I plan on taking the month to show you pictures from our France trip three years ago, read a few books set in Paris that I have sitting on my shelves, watch a few French movies, and come up with some quizzes to test your France knowledge.  Oh, yes, and I have a few giveaways of things French.  Whew.  That seems like a lot doesn’t it?  I think it’s going to be a fun and I can’t wait to see what Tamara at Thyme for Tea and Karen at Bookbath have planned.

Jason and I had good friends who moved back to France in 2008.  We were sad to see them go and promised to visit in two years, so at the beginning of 2010 we started planning our trip, plane tickets and hotels.  And then a funny thing happened, at the end of February I found out I was pregnant!  We were going in April so I would be in my second trimester, but after a miscarriage a few years earlier and my advanced age (38 :)) there was still a decision to be made, reservations or not.  Thank goodness we decided to make the trip.  Yes, I had morning sickness every day, but who knows when we will be able to take another trip like this one.

We were there ten days and stayed 5 days with our friends in Lyon and 5 days in Paris.  It’s a beautiful country and Jason and I both fell in love with Paris.  I have to think that if we are able to go again it will only be better since I will be able to drink the wine and eat all of the cheese!  The pregnancy did slow us down, I made frequent stops to rest and even though we walked everywhere, I did it at a very leisurely pace.

I’m going to post a favorite photo everyday.  Hope you enjoy France 🙂

France 136We had already made our plans for Paris, but our friend recommended Pere Lachaise cemetery so we walked over after our train arrived in the city and I fell in love.  We only had an hour, but I could have easily spent a whole day admiring the chaos and the history there.  This is the metal door of an above ground burial house.  Can you see inside?  This cemetery had discoveries like this everywhere, much like the city of Paris.