WIC, My Key To Happiness

WIC, My Key To Happiness!

Before I came to France, some of my friends were asking me if I knew anyone here and I think they were kinda concerned that I would be lonely. And, guess what? It started out that way. New town! New country! New language!

Fortunately, a friend back home suggested I check out WIC which is short for Women's International Club. What a blessing! I went to the monthly meeting last Monday which starts with a mixer, then a guest speaker, then a luncheon. It was held at the Marriott Rive Gauche Hotel. Very nice! I met women from many places around the world! And we all had such a lovely time visiting and exchanging information about life in Paris!

Here is a picture of my first 2 new friends, Eva and Michelle. Eva is from Hungary and Michelle is from Washington, D.C. Eva is a health coach and Michelle directs and produces stage productions.

As a quick follow up, one of the ladies, Marianne, organized a tea at the former residence of Pierre Cardin. There are 2 kinds of residences here in Paris. One is an apartment that you own and live in by yourself and the other is an apartment where it is like a small hotel. I think Pierre Cardin's apartment was like the latter - where he rented rooms out like a hotel.

The new owners, Le Reserve, have taken 4 years to renovate this place and it is just beautiful inside! It has only been open for 3 months! Marriane, the organizer from WIC had a good eye to pick this one out for us to gather here.

I think 8 ladies showed up and we had a wonderful time sharing stories and catching up.

Here is my new friend, Namtip. She is from Thailand. She, and another woman I met Monday, used to work together at UNESCO. Interesting careers! I told Namtip that I want to go to Thailand. She said, "Well, come and stay with me when you go there!" I think I will!

Here is Namtip and another new friend from Bulgaria. She used to be a model! Interesting women! Lots of fun!

Food 'n France

Food 'n France

So, I have to say I was a bit surprised when I checked out the food scene here in France. When I was here many years ago I remember many foods with incredible sauces. That's what the French are known for, right? Well, here is my experience, so far, on this trip.

First of all, there are patisseries

 and chocolatiers

everywhere and most of them are incredible. There are still "some" small meat markets

and fruits and vegetable stores.

Still, most everyone still seems to stop by the local "supermarket" at around 5:00 to pick up what they will be eating for supper. 

And, the French still get their baguettes, it looks like, daily, and eat them, (without butter, Americans!)

but what has changed is this - at a lot of the restaurants around my neighborhood, which is a middle class neighborhood, well young urban professionals, have something different on their menus. Guess what that is?

Hamburgers and French fries! And, pizza!

I was in an Italian specialty store the other day and was asking the owner if she could tell me where a good authentic Italian restaurant was and we got to talking about the relatively new trend of hamburgers and fries and pizza. She was kind of shaking her head about this too. I guess it is that we all want to have what the other parts of the world have. So, it's pizza and hamburgers. You know, I haven't tried them here yet. Maybe they have a French spin on them!

Observations Today Thursday March 26, 2015

Observations - Thursday March 26, 2015

So, today, first on the agenda, was to pay rent. Mind you, I am living here so, hopefully, this is the last "tasky" thing that I have to learn. So, I have been gathering cash to pay rent and went to the apartment owner's bank in town to try to deposit the cash into their account.

First of all, that's not how it is done here. Even though the owner has an account with a local bank, I have to wire the money to her. So, I collect the cash, put a French translation in my cell phone (at my apartment before I leave because the wifi makes it faster to translate), so that, if we are having problems communicating, I can show her on my phone. So, I think that I am ready to go to the bank.

The bank is literally 7 minutes from the apartment. I get there and with only small challenges with translation, we figure out how to do it.

The problem is, I don't have the apartment phone number in case they have a problem. So-o-o, I go back to the apartment (kinda the Home Depot project scenario again), get the phone number and walk back to the bank. Fortunately, I am figuring out that things take a little while here so I allotted enough time.

I go back to the bank, we finish the transaction, I put my envelope in the slot, and Viola! We are finished! I did not get charged a wire fee (yea!) BUT it takes 4 days to get processed.

Ok, well, I am still safe in that the owner will get the rent by the 1st of the month.

On to more exciting things. In my walk today I passed a cheese store and a fish market. I  made a mental note to check those out later. Also, I looked around the corner, off Oberkampf, the street I was traveling and here is what I found. . .

It is an artisan Boulanger with natural foods without gluten café. 

What a find in my neighborhood! I love the atmosphere - very fresh and nourishing to the soul as well as the body. They were playing music - a kind of modern Brazillian type music. Very nice!

It is a rainy day today so a good day for soupe!

 

This is a soup with lentils, carrots, tarragon, coriander and "corail". I had to look that up. It said "coral". Did they really put coral in this soup? Oh well. It was really good. And the multi-grain homemade bread was great! I decided to take some of that home with me!

 

 

Here is a bread that looked very interesting.  It has olives, onions and anchovies on it.

 

 





and here is a flourless brownie. I tasted this. It was fantastic!

 

and here is a lemon meringue tart. Works of art!



Upcoming Trips

Upcoming Trips

Hi all!
I thought you might like to see when my upcoming trips are and the dates for future reference. I have been doing the planning of those trips since I have been here although they were in my plans from the beginning. Well, most of them! I am adding a few as I go along.

March 30 - April 12

Stockholm, Sweden, (March 30 - April 6) actually a workshop at Omberg, Sweden by a lake. I guess it is supposed to be just beautiful!

Bergen, Norway, (April 7 - April 9) a friend told me I just had to see this beautiful town so I will be spending 2 full days here before moving on.

Copenhagen, Denmark, (April 10 - 12) the town of Hans Christian Andersen and "The Little Dutch Girl". Well, I actually looked it up and Hans was actually born in Odense, Denmark but I think he lived in Copenhagen a while. I loved the movie with Danny Kaye where he played that character and I always remembered it. (Actually, I looked that up too and Hans did live in Copenhagen later in life!)

April 24 - May 7

Istanbul Turkey, I will be taking a Trafalgar tour around Turkey. So much history there! I have been researching Turkey online. Interesting culture! Can't wait to see it!

May 15 - June 3

Camino de Santiago, St. James Walk.  This adventure is actually a walk of 10 miles a day for 15 days. It is a spiritual pilgrimage that many people take to "cleanse their spiritual palate".  I have read of many camino walks both online and in books and each one has said that it was very healing for them. So, I want to try it! I am going with a tour group because I would like to have someone watching over me while I am doing this. I will be staying in hotels rather than youth hostels, but other than that, I will be walking 10 miles daily. We'll see how I do.  I did buy some good walking shoes and socks and I am practicing here in Paris. I walk or ride my bike or Metro everywhere I go so I am getting exercise and strength every day.

September 7 - September 22.



Egypt & Jordan. Again, a Trafalgar guided tour.  I have always wanted to go to Egypt. Yes, I know things are a little crazy in the world today so I am going with a tour group and I keep asking them about safety. I have had friends who have gone to Egypt and they noticed that there were guards guarding the tourists. Tourism is important to Egypt so they want to protect that stream of income. So, Egypt is on the map. Also, I have added in an end tour of "The Dead Sea Scrolls" Should be interesting. So far, they have not gotten enough reservations for the Egypt portion of this trip to confirm it but for the month of August they have scheduled 2 tours to Egypt so I think we will be ok but there is the possibility that the Egypt part of the trip will not fill up. Again, we will see. The Jordan and Dead Sea Scrolls part is a sure thing!

I am also hoping to plan trips to Belgium, England, Italy, Saltzburg, and Lucerne, Switzerland. Milan is having the world's fair there this year so that would be fun. I also learned about a retreat in Hungary at a remove natural mineral bath so I will be checking that out too.

So, Au Revoir until later!

Everything I ever needed to know about life I learned from riding my bike

Everything I ever needed to know about life I learned from riding my bike

Hi all! You know I got a bike recently. Well, when I got this bike I got all kinds of advice about how to be safe and how to protect my personal items and such. So, as I was out riding I found that I was developing a philosophy about life filled with wisdom relating to riding my bike. Remember the slogan, "All I Ever Needed To Know About Life I Learned From My Baby" and it said things like, laugh a lot, take naps, etc.? Well, here is a similar thing but relating to riding bikes and life. So here goes.

Everything I Ever Needed To Know About Life I Learned From Riding A Bike

 

1.    It is dangerous out there! Keep your eye on the ball!

2.    I've gotta keep my balance

3.    I keep my finger by the bell so I can let people know I'm here if I think they can't
       see me

4.    If I ring my bell, and they see me, they are usually accommodating and let me
       by

5.    It's stop and go

6.    Sometimes when I see people going I need to jump right in there and get going
       too

7.    Sometimes I have to pedal hard because it is uphill

8.    I feel stronger and enjoy the journey more, the more I ride

9.    Sometimes it's uphill and sometimes it's downhill.

10.  I take advantage of green lights

11.  I have to take good care of my bike so I can ride it whenever I want

12.  Sometimes I hit a red light and it's time to stop and let the other people go first

13.  Sometimes I'm just exhausted and I have to stop and rest
14.  Sometimes when I am riding along there are others riding along with me and
       sometimes they just want to pass me. Never mind. I am enjoying my ride!
15. There is nothing like the feeling of peddling along and feeling the breeze in your
       hair and watching the world go by!

 

 

 



Ok, so I am a LUSH!

Ok, so I am a LUSH! Wednesday March 18, 2015

Ok, so today I found out that I am a LUSH. How did I find out? Well, I was walking the streets of Paris yesterday after having lunch with my niece's co-worker who resides here in Paris also, and I happened upon one of my favorite stores in the world! It is called LUSH.

LUSH is a Canadian company that makes "organic" soaps, shampoos, bath balms, cuticle creams, and the like. I found the store by where I lived in my previous life, and was stocking up on my "stuff" to take with me to Paris because I had a generous luggage allowance.

When I was at the store, back home, and stocking up on LUSH products, they told me that there was a LUSH store in Paris! And, that they had a spa!!! Score!

So while walking the streets of Paris I discovered one of the Paris LUSH stores! All by myself! A big smile came across my face as I recognized all my favorite American products, well Canadian, right there in front of me! In Paris, no less! 

So, I was met by the beautiful young lady on the left, the store manager, named Helene, who warmly welcomed me and we got to visiting and she said, "So, you're a LUSH!" Well, that took me back a peg, and I said, "Well, actually, I have never had a drink in my life!" She said, "No, I mean you love LUSH products!!" and I said "Yes, indeed!"

Then I remembered that I was told that they had a spa and, well, I asked about it. Turns out there was 1 appointment available for the next 2 months and it was tomorrow morning! (Well, today, I have been giving you the back story) So, I said, "Sign me up

When I returned the next day, today, I had the first appointment at 10:30. I like that! They start a little later!
So, my appointment was with this beautiful lady, Elene. She had the most beautiful skin and impeccable makeup! Just what you would expect from a French woman!

 

 

And she took me back into the spa area and we had a little visit. What a friendly, warm person she was!

 

 

 The spa area was set up to bring out the feminine softness that each woman loves to nurture inside of herself if she can just find the time to relax and be able to soak in that experience.

LUSH has a special little "ritual" that you go through to help you relax and get ready for your treatment. Just a little bit of heaven!

Then, on to the treatment. An hour of bliss! I have to admit, I dosed off a little during the treatment. Aliane said she would keep that between us! Since coming to Paris I have never felt so relaxed and so cared for. Like only the French can do!

Then after my treatment . . .

A little lemon and lemongrass tea!

 

At LUSH they certainly know how to pamper and nourish you!

 

So, I guess I am a LUSH after all!

 

But, sh-h-h! Don't tell anybody!



 

Yesterday I finally became a tourist - Wednesday March 18, 2015

So, yesterday I finally became a tourist. I have a friend who is from Paris and she recently asked me where I have been in Paris so far. Let's see, the Apple Store, the bank, the post office, a few patisseries, a few chocolatiers and trying to catch up with Meet-up groups for people like me who are here on our own.  But not one single tourist attraction. I'm in a beautiful city and I am doing "errands"!  Well, that has got to stop!

So yesterday I met my niece's friend, Sheri, who is also residing in Paris and we went to a well established local French café that is barely on the map for tourists - except that Yelp has now picked it up so it may become crowded very soon! The place is called . . .

Isn't it just charming! I guess the locals have been hanging out here for years! I got us a table and while I was waiting

for Sheri to show up the waitress came over and asked me, in French of course, what I would like. I tried to give my standard "Je suis L'Ameriken. No parle Francais" when the server gave me a questioning look and a lady nearby asked me what I wanted "in English" and told the server that I was waiting for a friend. And of course, that opened up a nice conversation with my new friend Maha. She is a native of Paris. She said that she used to come to this café when she was growing up but now she lives in Brussels and is in Paris on business. She said that if I ever get to Brussels to look her up. She gave me her business card and viola! I am planning a trip to Brussels hopefully relatively soon!

So, when Sheri showed up we had the morning coffee/tea thing going on and I blundered through asking if we could order food. No, that's not until noon! Ok, we planned on hanging out here for a while visiting anyway, so lunch at noon it is!

Well, when I go to a new place I like to try a bunch of stuff because chances are I may never be going back to that restaurant again so I really want to check it out. So, Sheri and I ordered . . .

A salad called "eggs with mayonnaise". Ok, so what exactly is that? Well, it's a hard boiled egg topped with mayonnaise! Just like it says on the menu for Pete's sake!

Then we decided on another appetizer that was highly rated by Yelp. Mozarella and tomato. And here's what we got.

Will ya take a look at this! It's a work of art! As you can see there is prosciutto on top, daps of melted mozzarella, tomatoes, deep fried mozzarella that looks like toast, and a pesto sauce. It was delicious!

Then we wanted two main courses to share so we ordered Salmon (that word we could read) and St. Jacques something (that word I couldn't read) but the server said "scallops". I love scallops! So there you have it!

This is the salmon believe it or not!

 

. . . and this is the lovely scallops wrapped in bacon on risotto.  Both very tasty!

So, the French have kind of an unwritten rule, NO LEFTOVERS! I taught myself before I came over here that I would have to deal with it so we nibbled on our main courses to save room to nibble on dessert! So, Sheri left it up to me to decide what to order for dessert and again, we have to taste this fun stuff, so we ordered two different desserts and shared. We had crème brulee, of course, and this cherry custard kind of dessert that the guy next to us ordered that looked really good.

And it was really good! The French really know how to bring out passion in cooking.

And take a look at this cute business card!



Sorry, I haven't exactly mastered how to use this program so you are just going to have to lay on your side to look at it! But, isn't it incredible clever?



So, Sheri took her leave. She is actually working remotely from France and had to go to work. Clever girl!

So, now I am going to show you a couple of sights around town.

This is the park close to Victor Hugo's former residence. The day is warm (okay so it's 60 degrees) but the people are out enjoying nature.

Victor Hugo, who wrote "Les Miserables" had a home in this neighborhood. The museum is free to the public.

Of the artifacts displayed in Victor Hugo's former home, I chose to take a picture of this. It is one of the books he wrote, opened up, with the sign Je Suis Charlie - the slogan many people were saying during the demonstration for freedom of speech this last January. The French have long been proponents of "Libertad",

and beautiful architecture,

 



and shoes,

 

and of course, 



Pastries!

So, I Bought Myself A Bike . . .

March 14, 2015 - So, I bought myself a bike . . .

. . . not a new  fancy one. Just a bike. It's a little bit rusty on the pedals and spokes but it has a new seat and a new headlight and tail light. And its not new so maybe no one will want to steal it!  I've been told that a lot. Watch out! Someone's gonna wanna steal it!
I also wanted a basket. So, I got that too. I got kinda tired of walking everywhere. Yeah, I got to slow down and see things but also, it was a bit time consuming to get there and, guess what? I can still stop and take pictures! Win - win!

So, here are some of the sights that I have been able to see on my extended trips around the city.

So, here's Julianne Moore! A familiar face!

This is the Place de la Republique. It is where 1.6 million people gathered recently to declare that they won't tolerate the lack of freedom of speech. There were more people on the streets of Paris in this march than at the end of World War II. And, this is right down the street from my house!

Here is a doll store and maybe a doll hospital.  All kinds of doll things and accessories. I remember taking my doll to the doll hospital when I was a child.

And here is a children's toy store.  Notice the Star Wars type costume.  There is also The Incredible Hulk, Buzz Lightyear, Captain America, Darth Vadar and, in the other window, Disney princesses.  Hey, who doesn't like a princess!

Now we come to, did I really have to come all the way to Paris to see these?

Domino's Pizza delivery motorcycles

 

or this one . .

 

 

Hey, we all wanna get into shape.

So, here's my bike.

Ok, so I wanted to show you that it blends in enough with the other guys, but . . .






. . . it also has the power to stand alone.