Marci and Steve Go Back to Europe

Congratulations to our first winner - Shelby Schwartz, who was the the only correct answer. For those of you who read French, here is the answer: And for most of us, the translation : "bags natural hair completely handmade"........... Or, Handbags made from human hair.......!!!! Note the prices at the bottom of the sign.....in Euros....currently $1.30 USD per euro. Steve Thanks to all for playing....watch for the next WTF game soon.....

Saturday had a very light agenda. I needed a touch up. Just an everyday or every four week chore that usually takes an annoyingly long two hours for which an appointment had to be scheduled between working hours and my salon's opening hours and of course Sean's availability. But gray roots are not attractive and so handling this regular appointment had warranted some consideration when we made our plans to leave for four months.  I had my last touch up 48 hours before we left Philadelphia so by my calculations, I would need a touch up in Paris, Prague, Italy and then maybe TURKEY???!!!! Or maybe I'll just make sure I get home before I need that last one. Luckily I have one friend in Paris who is pretty much a hair superstar. When we met for dinner my first week here, probably the 3rd sentence I uttered was, You must tell me where I can go for a touch up in a couple of weeks. Voila, the appointment was made, all I had to do was show up.  Saturday Steve and I took t...

Tiime for a Game of: What is That? First person who responds with the correct answer gets a Bottle of CDR wine when I return. Here goes - spotted in a shop window, in Paris, in the 4th........here's another.   REMEMBER : First one who is right wins......sorry for the poor photo - thru the shop window. Steve

An American in Paris  or more aptly titled AmericanS in Paris  Before I left I read quite a few books about Americans who had come to live in Paris. Most were humorous and filled with vignettes and observations about the differences between Paris and New York, Parisian behavior or just fitting in. Each one seemed to have an aha moment when the author felt they 'got it' or finally fit in or finally chose to always stick out as an American. The one I loved best was the guy who felt he had made it when he finally understood and accepted that, in order to even take out the trash from his flat, it was necessary to shower, shave and put on pressed jeans just to walk down to the trash can. Now I have been in Paris only two weeks and am living in Le Marais but as I look out my window incessantly, I see plenty of Parisians to dispel that myth.  That being said I had my own aha moment of what it means to LIVE in Paris yesterday....We did NOTHING touristy!! We simply lived. The day'...

Walking in the footsteps of Impressionists Although the day started drizzly, there was a promise of sun by 11, so we decided to forge ahead with our plans for our first day trip.  We managed the metro to Gare Lazare (easy), the second busiest train station in Europe per Wikipedia with 100,000,000 passengers a year and no, I did not type too many zeros. That is 400,000 people a day!! We had a bit of help buying the tickets as Steve ended up in line behind a very nice Australian guy who as it turned out, was staying TWO doors down from us at #4 rue du Roi de Sicile. We quickly figured out as we were walking to our train that all 400,000 people using the train station each day are commuting in from the suburbs to the city at exactly the same time we are trying to head out. I wish I had a picture of what it looked like and felt to be swimming against this tide of humanity. I thought we would be swallowed up about a hundred times but we may now be ready to tackle India.  Well I hav...

Sunday on Thursday Quick entry so I do not spoil my record of writing everyday. This one is another catch up so if you think it is getting hard to stay on top of our blog and adventures, imagine how we feel doing so much everyday and finding the time to write about it too.  Sunday at St. Ouen Several trips ago to Paris, probably at least ten years ago, I met a couple of guys somwhere who told me "you have to go to St. Ouen  if you like flea markets and antiques".  For years and years I kept this small scrap of paper in my famous travel folders in my filing cabinet tucked into FRANCE. The note was about 4" x 3" and literally all it said was St. Ouen. I never forgot it but never had the chance each time I was in Paris to get there.....until last Sunday. The St. Ouen market(s) are a bit out of the city, over the 'wall' as they say, which here is  not a compliment.  You take the metro, get off and immediately see uncharming makeshift tented stalls of CRAP. And y...

Yearning for a real PC The metro is plastered with billboards that seem to change every three days with advertisements for one or another of Paris's 6,000 events a year. They all look enticing and we have become adept only at reading the dates. We then usually have to take a photo of the billboard and decipher it on our translator app when we get home.  In addition,  we then have to eliminate anything that has language, so we are left with pretty much only dance and music.   The poster for WuWei looked intriguing, maybe some sort of visual performance, not quite a Cirque D'Soliel, in a part of town almost out of town.  Using the ipad, the mini-ipad and translating, Steve was able to get through the all French website and buy tickets, only problem it turned out was no way to print them.  More translator divulged that we could go to any FNAC store (kind of like a book record store chain that sells tix) and pick them up. A FNAC store was close by yesterday, in the ...