Plates against Hunger

Action contre la Faim ("Action against Hunger") has launched a humanitarian project in schools. Each child decorated a plate provided by the association and thus put his talent to a project of solidarity. Parents, friends and all who wish bought this plate for a minimum of 5 euros. Money was donated entirely to the organisation. Thank you to show your children that you are together!

Les assiettes ont des jambes!

et voilà les artistes

La Cité De la Science – les Gaulois

Le mercredi 25, nous sommes allés à la Cité de la Science où nous avons visité l’Exposition des Gaulois. Au début, nous sommes allés dans un atelier de fouille : l’archéologue nous a expliqué comme employer les outils, puis nous avons fouillé et trouvé des os et des objets anciens (une clé, de l’argent, du verre, une mandibule). Après nous avons participé à des ateliers très intéressants et amusants : nous avons joué avec des billes, nous avons reconstruit le plan des maisons gauloises, nous avons reconstruit des vases gaulois et enfin nous nous sommes habillés comme des guerriers gaulois. Dommage qu’il n’y avait pas Astérix et Obelix !!!

Old church = strong balconies

We went with our new Michigan friends, Linda and Joe, to hear a concert in the Eglise Saint-Eustache. 

The organ, 8000 pipes, is one of the largest in France. The organist was incredibly talented and, from what I heard, it seemed to me that there were not only 2 hands, but 10 or more playing the keyboards! 

Needless to say, it was J.S.Bach music:

• J.S. BACH – Sonate en trio en Ut mineur – BWV 526

• J.S. BACH – Prélude et triple Fugue en Mi bémol majeur – BWV 552

Although my son's name was inspired by this composer, I'm not such a big fan....Giuseppe is already screaming, I just said a blasphemy!

The church is impressive, with a vault 108 ft tall and, since I am reading Ken Follet's "The pillars of Earth", I started counting all the columns, the windows...then I almost fall asleep.

Interestingly, I discovered that inside the church, in one of the chapels, there a triptych made by Keith Haring, the artist famous for his colored "figures"....this one is made of bronze and white gold: 

Gothic art and contemporary art in the same Church...inspirational! 

La "Galette des Rois"

What a pity! January is almost over and this exquisite cake (King Cake) will soon disappear from all the boulangeries. I wish we had Epiphany all year long. I love every part of it: the flaky puff pastry layers, the dense center of frangipane....

Ok, there's one think I'd rather avoid: the small trinket hidden inside it. It was originally supposed to be a  fava bean, and the person who gets the piece of cake with the trinket has various privileges and obligations. Nowadays, it's more likely a small plastic prize. 

I'm sure dental office consultations rise in French during this month: somewhere else in the world, the baker would probably get sued! 

C'est la vie!

La Cigale et la Fourmi

La Cigale, ayant chanté
Tout l’Été,
Se trouva fort dépourvue
Quand la Bise fut venue.
Pas un seul petit morceau
De mouche ou de vermisseau.
Elle alla crier famine
Chez la Fourmi sa voisine,
La priant de lui prêter
Quelque grain pour subsister
Jusqu’à la saison nouvelle.
« Je vous paierai, lui dit-elle,
Avant l’Août, foi d’animal,
Intérêt et principal. »
La Fourmi n’est pas prêteuse :
C’est là son moindre défaut.
« Que faisiez-vous au temps chaud ?
Dit-elle à cette emprunteuse.
— Nuit et jour à tout venant
Je chantais, ne vous déplaise.
— Vous chantiez ? j’en suis fort aise :
Eh bien ! dansez maintenant. »

                              Jean de la Fontaine 

This new poem marks the beginning of the new Year. Keep working, Josh! You are doing great! 

                          

Aux grands hommes....de ma famille!

We decided today to go and visit the Saint Chapelle, and of course we were late. So we ended up visiting the Pantheon. 

  

Josh was very excited since I explained to him the pendulum experiment (have you read "Foucault's Pendulum" by Umberto Eco? it's all there..."the only stable place in the cosmos, the only redemption to the damnation of the panta rei" .. and it's wonderful!) and he wanted to see the replica that is still hanging from the top of the dome. 

Then we went to visit the Crypt, with all the great men, buried there by their grateful homeland": Voltaire, JJ Rousseau,  Emile Zola, even Louis Braille. 

The first surprise was a fresh rose, on Victor Hugo's monumental grave. Someone still loves him, someone still cares about him. 

The second surprise was to find out that Marie Curie was only the second woman to be buried there. Only two? Come on, what about "Egalite' "? I hope you guys are working on it.

22 rue Saint Severin, Paris or 12 Grimmauld Place, London ?

When you look at the size of this building, with its two windows, I bet all you who are fan of JKR's books can't help but think at the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. 

We waited for Sirius Black to come out of the door, in vane...

This is the thinnest building in all Paris, in the Latin Quarter. You can't live here if you're claustrophobic ...but honestly, you can't live here at all. The price/square meter is outrageous!

Giuseppe in Saudi Arabia

Giuseppe is finally back from his trip to Jeddah. He was supposed to visit the city I lived in for little bit more than two years back in 1980 and take pictures, make movies...Unfortunately it didn't go exactly that way. He was basically stuck in the KAUST 's campus, which apparently looks like Stanford's campus (except for the marina and the dressing code....).

So, no thumb monument, no skylights, just Coca Cola cans (wow, this is a big suprise for me, when I was there the brand was apparently on a blacklist) and a very interesting sign:

Somebody there has sense of humor! 

Please welcome Josh, the Sommelier

Like father, like son. 

Tonight I drop off Josh to Linda and Joe's house since Giuseppe is still in Saudi Arabia and I had to stay in the hospital until after dinner. I bought a bottle of wine for them to go with Joe's French stew ( boeuf bourguignon). Joe opened the wine, a "St Joseph 2007" and commented: " Well, this seems to be a fairly good wine" or something similar. At that point, my son emerged from the video-game he was playing, and said: " Actually, the year 2007 wasn't the best for this wine. My father says that 2006 was a much better year"! 

Josh, two thumbs up: I don't know if you'll ever become a space engineer or scientist, but for sure you have a future as a sommelier. I checked on the web and he was right: 2006 was actually better than 2007.

Why does he remember such useless information (for a kid) and he doesn't seem to remember his math? 

Just a regular week

This was just a regular week. Josh started it with a BDay party in a Laser Tag arena here in Paris. Of course he loved it: he's 10, he was dressed like a marine during a combat training, surrounded by his hyper excited screaming friend in the dark and he could shoot at any moving object! All his dreams came true.

Then on Thursday he came home with his French tutor (Margaux) and his friend Gabe: they did home works together and watched a movie in French. He seems to get better and better every day in his French and lately I noticed that he uses more his Italian to help him in the translation. Alla buon ora (finally!). Let's hope that he's going to get enough to continue when we are back in LA. I told him that there are sailing classes in France and that, if he continues to practice in Pasadena during next year, he might be able to participate to one of them. Catamaran? Who knows, why not. 

Friday morning I had my first experience with a bike here in Paris. This is such a smart idea: once you buy a Velib' card (around 60 euros/year but there are even daily tickets for so much less), you are entitled to take any of the thousands bikes that are parked  around the city and you can return it where you liked it. So much fun! I discovered streets and squares that were totally unknown and I realized that, despite months of walking, I am totally out of shape!!!!

Saturday Giuseppe flew to Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia, for a short workshop. The poor guy was invited from the University (business class...) and he's going to be back in 5 days. He'll see places where I spent my childhood, the desert, the dunes, the Red Sea..so many memories. I asked him to stop by the monument of the thumb...you'll see what I'm talking about. 

Today I took Josh to the Mass in Notre Dame: it was not just any mass, this one was in Latin and the children's choir sang Gregorian music. It was astonishing: just to sit there, in this majestic Cathedral, hearing prayers and lectures in Latin and listening to Gregorian chants and to think that someone, 800 years ago was having the same exact experience! Isn't it incredible? But of course we couldn't understand a word. I wonder if we would have understand better in French!

Why do French say ... "l’habit ne fait pas le moine" ?

Well-known proverb, "clothes do not make the man"  invites never to trust appearances. The term was coined in XIIIe century, but two hypotheses compete on its origin. The first relates to a historical event, when on January 8, 1297 Francois Grimaldi decided to conquire Monaco. The ancestor of the current House of Grimaldi, the family of the current Monte Carlo Principality, had his men disguised as Franciscan monk to trick the guards. An event still engraved in the Grimaldi coat of arms, symbolizing monks holding a sword. A second hypothesis refers in turn to Pope Gregory IX (1145-1241) as saying: "It is not by the dress that you recognizes the monk, but by the observance of the rule and the perfection of his life". 

Il pleure dans mon coeur

Il pleure dans mon coeur

Comme il pleut sur la ville ;
Quelle est cette langueur
Qui pénètre mon coeur ?

Ô bruit doux de la pluie
Par terre et sur les toits !
Pour un coeur qui s'ennuie,
Ô le chant de la pluie !

Il pleure sans raison
Dans ce coeur qui s'écoeure.
Quoi ! nulle trahison ?...
Ce deuil est sans raison.

C'est bien la pire peine
De ne savoir pourquoi
Sans amour et sans haine
Mon coeur a tant de peine !

                                Paul Verlaine 

New Year....new poem for Josh to learn. This sound a bit depressing, though!

Mes Vacances de Noël

Pendant mes vacances de Noël, j’ai visité Vienne. J’ai vu trois des  musées les plus visités, le château de Schönbrunn, le palais Albertina, et le palais du Belvédère.
Dans le château de Schönbrunn, j’ai admiré les appartements de l’impératrice Sissi et les jardins : ils sont très grands et splendides.
Après cela nous sommes allés au Palais Albertina   voir l’exposition de Magritte : il est mon préfère parce qu’il y a un dessin d’une pipe et au-dessous une légende qui dit « Ceci n’est pas une pipe ». C’est vrai car tu ne peux pas mettre le tabac dedans !
Le dernier musée est le Belvédère : j’ai regardé beaucoup et beaucoup de vision de l’artiste Klimt. La peinture  la plus précieuse est « Le baiser ».

Après Vienne, je suis allé à Torino, en Italie, pour fêter Noël avec ma famille : j’ai reçu plusieurs cadeaux. Ça a été magnifique !
Plus tard je suis allé à skier a Bardonnèche : il faisait très froid, mais il y avait la neige. J’ai fait plusieurs batailles de boules-de-neige avec ma cousine Elisa et Inès, la fille des amis de mes parents. Le dernier jour de l’année 2011 nous avons fait une longue promenade dans la Vallée Etroite, à travers la frontière française, et nous avons fait une compétition avec les luges : j’ai gagné.
Pendant le réveillon du 2012, j’ai allumé des petits pétards avec ma famille. 

J’ai aimé beaucoup mes vacances de Noël.
 

Sortie à la Cité de l’Architecture

Le dernier jour avant de partir pour les vacances de Noël, je suis allé a la Cité de l’Architecture avec ma classe. Nous avons appris plusieurs notions sure les hôtels particuliers: ce sont des grandes maisons qui appartiennent aux personnes riches et nobles. Il y a une porte à l’entrée avec le nom de la famille. Après le portail, il y a une cour pour les chevaux et ensuite la maison. Parfois dans le jardin derrière la maison il y avait une orangerie. Pendant la visite, nous avons fait des maquettes des hôtels avec du bois, en suivant la description d’une tablette.
La sortie a été magnifique et je me suis amusé beaucoup.

Our Christmas holidays in Italy

I'm back in Paris, after spending almost two weeks in Italy with family and friends. It was good to see them all: we started on Christmas's Eve with a dinner at my mother's house with my sister and brother's kids, who are so grown up now.  

In a couple of month my brother will welcome his third son (only boys in our family!). We continued on Christmas day with lunch at Giuseppe brother's house with Anna Laura and the little Maria Elena all dressed up as Santa Claus. So cute. 

Then in the afternoon we had tea at my grandma's home and Josh spent a couple of hours playing with  grandpa's fly-simulator program. 

We finished on the 26th at the Giuseppe's parents house with all his family: this year Josh surprised his grandparents with a couple of poems recited in French! Well done Josh.  

No doubts: this was one gastronomic booth camp!  

We spent a couple of hours at my sister's home, where Josh had an intense workshop on how to smooth walls! 

Then we went up in the mountain to ski and we reunited with Cristina and Bernhard, some old friend of us (she's Portuguese, he's German, we met them in France, then they moved to Brunei and now they're back in Netherland....sounds familiar!). Josh and their daughter Ines got along very well, to our common surprise. 

We had a great time skiing and organizing snow-ball fights. Josh even skied with his grandpa so I had this great opportunity to take a picture of three generations of Caire (Giorgio, Giuseppe and Giovanni Sebastiano) on the snow! 

We celebrated the last day of 2011 by going on a hike (it was raining!!!!) on the Valle Stretta, which is across the France border, for 12 miles up. Ines and Josh were great, they never complained. Then we stopped by a mountain retreat at 4955 ft, the Rifugio Re Magi,   where we had polenta with sausage and cheese. Finally we came all the way down on the sleds. 

 The New Year's Eve was dedicated of course to the food, the songs, the drawing (Elisa and her parents also joined the company so we were 14!!!)  and the fireworks then we did our last skiing on the first day of year 2012 but the snow was so bad, we decided to call it quit at 1 pm and we took our train back to Torino. 

This morning, very early, we took the train to come back and that's it. A new year is waiting for us, with new adventures and, hopefully, same luck and same health as the past one!