La Fete Nationale!

This post is coming terribly late, but life has been terribly busy. Quick update for you:

Mary is having a marvelous time at work! Love the job, love everything I get to do there! There are only two bad things, and I would appreciate your prayers about both of them: one is that the work is really starting to take a toll on my body. I'm often terribly sore, really fatigued, and I feel like I'm getting permanent foot damage from my shoes...who'd a thunk being a princess was such hard work! My two days off each week offer sufficient time to recover, but then I start right back to work without having accomplished much. The leads to the second issue: scheduling has been a little crazy lately. Since the start of the summer season on July 4, I have been working lots of night shifts, which is means I don't get to spend nearly as much time with the hubby. When we do have time together, one or both of us is tired out, and it's hard to go out at all. But this is our time in Paris, a precious time, so we don't want to feel this way!

Andrew has finally begun with his French class through the Sorbonne University, and he is really enjoying it. He really likes the teacher, a very stereotypical, older French woman, and everyone in the class is very nice as well. His French is really starting to come along! He had a short go at a job preparing desserts in a French kitchen, but for various reasons, it became obvious in about 3 weeks that this job was not working out, and he is now searching for other employment. Even with the schooling, Andrew still spends a lot of time alone because I usually leave for work just a couple hours before he comes home. Please pray that our schedules will be able to worked out in a more harmonic manner...I am currently in the process of trying to change my day off to Sunday so that we can go to church and have the rest of the day together!!

As far as Paris goes, we are loving everything that we've had the chance to see!! We still love our spot on the edge of the Jardin des Tuileries, and we enjoyed a picnic there last week. We've been exploring the St. Germain des Pres area of Paris, which is very charming and seeping with history. We celebrated France's national holiday -- July 14 (day of the storming of the Bastille prison during the French Revolution) -- with a wine and cheese picnic on the lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower! Some friends from Disney joined us for a fun but very crowded evening...

Thankfully it was overcast (even a bit of rain), because July 14 was a hot and muggy day. The sky was beautiful though, and I couldn't stop taking pictures of the Eiffel Tower as the sky would blow by in a sea of change.

There were masses of people around to watch the fireworks and enjoy the concert that took place right underneath the Tower. We actually arrived about 7 hours before the fireworks and this was the closest spot available (there were even more people behind us).

As soon as it was dark enough, the lights and fireworks were set off to light up the Tower.

So interestingly enough, the celebration of the national holiday had nothing to do with the national holiday!! At least nothing that we experienced seemed to have anything to do with the French Revolution, but then again, it's rather a bloody and terrible remembrance. This year, the "theme" behind the national holiday was focused on the 120th birthday of the Eiffel Tower. So the entire fireworks show was actually the story of the Eiffel Tower...it was completely incredible! Light projections onto the Tower showed it being built, intricately, piece by piece. Later on, it showed the various roles the Tower has played over the years...

This part of the show was telling the story of the Tower's use as an antenna during World War I. Although now perhaps the most recognizable and adored symbol of Paris, the Eiffel Tower was very controversial for many years after its completion in 1889. The Eiffel Tower was commissioned for the World's Fair of that year, and was not meant to be a permanent monument. Many people felt that it was an eyesore that ruined the city, and one of the only reasons it wasn't torn down was because it was so useful for communications during the war.

We are blessed with an great camera that takes excellent photos! I took SO many photos, but this was one of the best ones...This was also taken during the "war sequence" of the show, and you cannot really see from this photo, but the white on the lower half of the tower is actually a whole bunch of skeletons representing the dead, while the war rages on above.

Part of the beautiful grand finale!

A lovely evening...this was taken right before we started the 1-and-a-half hour journey home, half of which we made on foot! Andrew and I both decided that we had a great time, and we're glad that we went to the Eiffel Tower to have this experience, but we would NEVER do this again!

And that's a wrap! It was really neat to experience another country's national holiday! Funny thing I should mention though, there seemed to be more Americans than French there...hmm!

Living and Leisure

Well dear friends and family, it has been a while since you've heard from us via the blog. We have had the joy and blessing of having Andrew's mom, Trenna, and one of his sisters, Augustina, out here to visit us since June 26. We had a marvelous time with them, taking them all around this city we have come to love so well. I still can hardly believe how many things we fit into their short visit! Hopefully Trenna's feet have recovered by now...I mean, it's Paris, and you gotta do what you gotta do to see this place! For her being here, that meant walking all around the city, including back-to-back trecks through Versailles on Tuesday, the Louvre and Marais and Ile de la Cite on Wednesday, and Disneyland on Thursday! Now we've seen Trenna off and she arrived safely back home on Tuesday evening. Augustina, on the other hand, loved Paris so much that she is renting a room in a home here to live for the next two months!! It will be fun having our sister for a neighbor, and share "our city" with her while she's here!

So, even though we crammed SO many things into Trenna's visit, we still felt that it was important to have some leisure time, at least as much as we could in her week-long visit here (which wasn't much, because there was so much she needed to see and do!) Leisure is just a huge part of the French, and specifically Parisian, culture, and to come to Paris and not have any leisure time is such a pity. Thus, the paradox of being a tourist here: how can you truly experience and get a feel for Parisian life if you cannot participate in one of the favorite Parisian pasttimes? Thus, "il faut" ("it is necessary", as the French would say!) that one experience some outlet of leisure while discovering Paris. Here are some of them, just to give you an idea!

I'll begin with the most typical: cafes! Paris is just flowing with coffee (and wine) served at the little street side cafes. You could find really any type of cafe here, for any crowd or desired experience. The most well-known type of Parisian cafe is situated on a bustling street. It has a bar and some seating inside, but most people sit outside at the tiny round tables, situated under a cheery awning, just chatting and watching life go by as they sip their "express" (espresso) or wine. They may sit there for hours...you never can tell. Buying even just one 2-euro espresso entitles a person to lounge in a cafe for how ever long he or she desires. You've likely seen this cafe in film, photos, paintings, text-books...in many ways, this cafe is Paris. It is where new ideas are born and old ones are argued over, where love, anger, and tears are shared, where a person becomes one with the city. But, there are also other not-so-typical-but-equally-chic-in-an-entirely-different-manner cafes, like the one I took Trenna to on the Rue du Faubourg St. Antoine:

This particular cafe, 164 (each cafe has a proper name, but also is known by its address) I had passed multiple times on the bus from our home in Nation to Place de la Bastille, and each time was intrigued by it. I thought she would love it here, and she definitely did! This was not your typical cafe in any way, the seating was all indoor, but looking out of the walls, which were large windows that are closed at night!

Everything in the cafe was well-worn and loved, which made it even more inviting! Note the plushy, low chairs! We had a marvelous time chatting and lounging here!

The bar was very chic, and the bartender quite a gentleman! Note the iron rack for glassware on the left...it reminded us of the famous art-deco metro entrances of Montmartre!

The seating was a hodge-podge of mis matched, well-worn chairs and tables, but all very quaint, inviting, and cozy. What I would give to just sit and lounge in this place all day!

We both ordered "cafe creme", quite delicious, although on the expensive side! Still, having some of the best coffee we had ever enjoyed in such a marvelous ambiance was actually well worth the 4-Euro-a-piece price tag!

While the seating was all antique and seemed to pay homage to a Louis XVI-style decor, the storage was all of a chinoiserie type (as you can see from the cabinet behind Trenna). Upstairs there was even more seating!!

Paris is also full of parks. I think all this greenery is due to good planning, an appreciation for nature, and the incredible amount of rain that this city receives each year!! In the good weather, you'll see Parisians lounging and sunbathing by the hundreds! There's hardly any grass left for a picnic, it seems! Many of the locals seem to have just arrived from work, in full business attire, to enjoy the beautiful weather and warm sunshine! And not just at parks, but the water-side walkways of the Seine will be just overflowing with people. Most of these have packed picnics, which usually consist of tons of cheese, lunch meats, breads and crackers, wine, and salads, or sometimes food to go from a local eatery.

You get the picture...literally every park looks like this on a beautiful not-too-hot day!!

What a place to lounge, eh??

Lastly (for now!), Paris isn't just full of parks, but literally there are places that just invite you to lounge. They say, I was built for your comfort, relaxation, and peace of mind...come and claim what is yours! Our favorite of these places is on the edge of the Jardin des Tuileries (a huge garden that spreads out from the massive Louvre museum) overlooking our favorite square in Paris, the Place de la Concorde. We love this square not just for its beautiful fountains and distinguished ancient Obelisk, but also for the peace we feel because of our location, even though we are overlooking one of the most bustling places in Paris! The square is kind of a half-way point between the Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe, which is at the end of the busy and famous Champs-Elysees! From "our spot," we also enjoy views of the Eiffel Tower, Les Invalides (Napoleon's burial place), the Grand Palais, the Assemblee Nationale...It's really the best spot in Paris. Not to mention, it has LOUNGING chairs! Not full recliners, but perfectly reclined, especially if you get a second one to put your feet on!

Our lovely spot, and yes, Andrew is asleep in this photo! You can see why, though...

Going to miss this place so much when we are gone! Trenna took this photo the first night she was here.

The INCREDIBLE view! You can see why we love it!