Paris et Pompeii

Rachel tells me that I am now living the schedule of a French Woman. And what is this schedule? Busy, busy, busy all the time; a taxi driver, a chef, and yes, an ironer. From an outsiders point of view let me just say it's ridiculous. I confess I have not ironed once since I have been here. Now this is Rachel:I will tell you , my life was more easy in Roanoke ,so cool and relaxing, that I want to go back! Now in French for Brook and Kurt, you have to work on your french too! Nous avons pris leTGV -train grande vitesse-nous avons mis une heure trente pour joindre Paris, nous avons visité les monuments illuminés en bus. le lendemain matin nous sommes allés au quai Branly , musée des arts premiers It was incredible, all sort of magic artifax, statues,pottery, Jude liked it too. It is close to the eiffel tower. After we went to Notre Dame and walked in quartier Latin , we sat and listened to jazz music had some crèpes ,and made provisions for the train. This morning we went to Bliesbruck , which is an archeological site , my mom said to Jude "Jude don't forget the escargot(snail)!!?" but escargot in lorraine is a sorte of pastrie not always the snail.The snail is only for great occasion , the escargot for each time you feast. Jude here, okay folks, just before I left the apartment Marie said to me "Je vais aller à la boulengerie acheter les escargots" I thought, okay Marie but I thought you only ate escargots for the feast of père noël. I was about to drive away when Marie returned, "Attends, Jude, J'ai les escargots." Marie handed me a bag of round, raisin croisants. Last night I was reading a French art magazine for children and noticed several announcements for galleries for children gratuit pour enfants abonnés. I thought, wow, free for abandonned children, isn't that nice. Today I asked Rachel if France had a problem with abandoned children. She looked a bit puzzled and when I told her what i read she laughed. gratuit pour enfants abonnés this means free for children with a subscription (to the magazine)

Adventures With An 11 Year Old

Gee, the grief I take when I do not write the blog for a few days. Perhaps I simply need to add more photos. In my mind I am writing a book called Discover The Heart of France Adventures With an 11 Year Old Boy

Ludovic et moi, we ride the bicycle along country roads and through fields, stopping to examine the road for bullets. Ludo has an amazing collection of bullets he has discovered in the woods near his house. All around the area of Metz WWI and WWII was waged. Just 40 minutes from here, near Verdun, Jeff's grandfather fought during WWI. History is everywhere present. Yesterday Alec and I discovered yard sailing in France, great fun. This weekend was a celebration for St Jean, complete with dancing,.

Summer Solstace en Metz

Now this is how to celebrate summer solstace. Ludo, Rachel and I went to Metz, walked the streets and listened to music everywhere. The group in the top left photo was excellent, complete with actors who worked the crowd; très drôle. Hmm, bon apétit mes amis, c'estl'heure de dejeuner

Yäelle et Gilles

les copains

Bliss is enjoying a roman playmobil with a good friend

When in France, eh?

aux café st. jaques

la tarte aux mirabel

Oh la la, where to start? Here is Alec at Rachel's English class. I think he enjoyed snacks more than anything.

Rachel joins this lovely group of French women on Wednesday mornings for two hours to practice their english. I thought Alec was rather brave to be the only male, however he zeroed in on the snacks. I am hoping my new French friends will read this blog and practice their English. I taught the group the phrase "y'all come back now." complete with a southern accent à la Canadian.

Alec has a love of Roman history and of course, anyone who knows him, of anything playmobil. I believe he discovered a new meaning for paradise; placinghis new, roman playmobils on the Roman Aquaduct.

I have arrived Here I am in Ludo's clothes, Yaelles shoes and on Rachel's bike.

Ludo and I rode the bikes to visit with

Rachel's grandmother. Mammi is quite lovely and speaks French nice and slow. I actually believe we understood each other.

Ludo now wants to go on another bike ride so I need to check out his wardrobe. Word of the day: tarte aux mirabels a specialty of the region of Lorraine and one that I have learned to make and eat. à tout à l'heure mes amis

Hmmm, too busy to write the blog, having too much fun, how can you think this? Drinking French wine, sampling French cheese and of course the ever present baguette, feasting at Michelle's and Marie for fathers day, oh la la, we have been busy. We celebrated four fathers and the only one missing was Jeff. C'est domage pour Jeff.

That is all folks. Alec and I were tourists in Metz today, He saw a Napoleonic exhibit at the Musée and when he saw a relic of Napoleon's hair, suffice to say he was mesmorized.

Papa Duck, Momma Duck and Baby Duck

When Rachel and the children came to visit us last year in Roanoke, upon their return to France we all slept for 24 hours. I wonder how much sleep we will need after our two month visit? The birthday celebration for Rachel was a big hit. Ludo made a treasure map and Rachel had to search the house and garden for her gifts. We sang en français et aussi en englais.

The last gift, a pottery bowl made by a

famous Canadian potter was found

in a small house inthe garden.

Of course the children wanted to hurry through to the dessert, the main part of the meal.

Later that night Rachel et moi, we went to the Café Jehanne D'arc to listen to Nathalie, a friend of Rachel's sing for the first time with a group of musicians. I was Nathalie's English consult for some of the English songs. After their group finished a group of four men sang for an hour and their harmony was exquisite. Believe it or not, smoking is no longer aloud in bars and yet their were several patrons smoking; the french don't care, says Rachel.

Ludo, Rachel and I drove part way

to Metz and then walked through

a lovely, large park by the river toward Centre Ville.

Here we met

Papa Canard Mamma Cane et Baby Caneton

I was a bit concerned when Ludo started feeding the ducks from

our baguette, a fresh, french baguette folks,can you imagine.

The lesson of the day? The French display their patisserie as delicately as they display their lingerie, and both are lovely. We walked through an indoor market munching on our baguette. The butcher here truly cuts the heads off rabbits, ducks and a whole assortment of animals while you wait. Though the animals sont mort nothing is left to the imagination as to exactly what one is eating.