March Madness

Spring is springing slowly but beautifully here in Paris. Last weekend we spent playing both on the Champs de Mars and walking through the Luxembourg Gardens. I've actually finally made a "walking buddy," and am getting out for a fast-walk through the Lux Gardens 2-3 times a week! On the way home I get to stroll through the wonderful farmer's market on our street, buying whatever looks delicious - fresh pasta, luscious pears, a special dessert from Brittany called Kouign-amann, which is essentially flaky pastry bursting with almond-flavored frangipane. Delicious! And Josie, who beams away and points at everything, always emerges with a few free treats - a shiny strawberry, a buttery Madeleine, etc.

My French is coming, slowly but surely -- a good thing considering my private lessons will wrap up in May. After that I'll either sign up for a group class or continue on the internet. We'll see! I'm just excited for great weather and a chance to explore some of Paris' gardens and parks with Josie. Jeff, meanwhile, has embarked on a number of interesting travels - this week he's off to South Africa. He's finding in this economic downturn that developing low-cost, nutritious products for needy populations is more important than ever. We're so proud of him!

And Josie continues to grow and change every day! She's making little "copines" (friends), really coming into her own at music class, and chattering constantly. The big news this week (see pic and video) is that she started "School" - actually a part daycare-part nursery school right across the street. I went with her yesterday for "adaptation" (I stayed) and Thursday will go just for 20 min. or so. It's completely in French, though they will speak English to her if she is anxious or confused. She made a little friend who led her around by the hand, and had fun singing songs and playing with all the toys. Now I'm trying to figure out some fun activities to do while she's there! Looking forward to even wandering around with my camera and loafing in cafes as the French do SO well. On that note, off to drink another cup of coffee and figure out how Josie and I are going to have fun inside and out of the rain today!! Au revoir!

Vive le Printemps!

We're getting pretty excited about spring over here - and a lovely afternoon spent playing in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower on the Champs de Mars (see Josie trying to catch a new pet) gave us a glimpse of how lovely it will be to spend more time outside!

We've had a busy winter - Music Together class for Josie every Saturday morning, which she loves, music playgroup every week, story hour at the American Library, lots of playdates with Millie and Constance, two of her little pals, and jaunts to the Louvre (for mommy!) every other week or so. We've been to a couple of nice Sunday lunches at friends' houses in the neighborhood -- our weekends are becoming quite social! We had a terrific Valentine's Day at Itineraires, a cute little restaurant in the Latin Quarter... and look forward to our gift to each other - a subscription to New York Magazine!

Josie went to her first birthday party here in Paris, Nathalie's second birthday party at Gymboree. It was a lovely party and so terrific to spend so much time with Melissa's parents, Gloria and Alter, that week. Lots of cute pictures in the new slideshow!

The highlight of the month, obviously, was a visit from Papa Lew! He came and stayed for a week and we had a wonderful time traipsing around Paris, eating great food and seeing the sights. We went to the top of the Arc de Triomphe and strolled along the Champs Elysees, did a fascinating walking tour of the Old Marais (topped off with a falafel at L'as), explored Montmartre, hit the Luxembourg Gardens and the D'Orsay. Jeff and Lew also took a day trip up to Normandy where they had a guided tour of Utah Beach and the surrounding areas. They were presented with a medal in honor of Jeff's Grandpa Herman's service. But we were happy to have them back afterwards for truly delectable meals at a new Asian Fusion place called Ze Kitchen Galerie as well as a storied brasserie called Balzar (it's described in detail in Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik!). We even met the Barefoot Contessa (Ina Garten!) sitting outside Cafe Flore when we stopped in for coffee and tartes tatins!

And what can we say about Josie... she's taught herself how to Ring Around the Rosy, loves to walk up and down steps proclaiming "good girl!" after each one, and can say about 50 words! She survived her first gastro bug (no fun for anyone) and has cut almost all her teeth at this point. In fact, I have to sign off to wake her up from her nap so we can go to music playgroup soon. Au revoir for now!

Groundhog Day

Well, we hope Paris isn't listening to Puxatawney Phil, 'cause we sure don't want six more weeks of winter here! True, Paris is always lovely, and seeing the top of the Eiffel Tower disappearing into the mist looks just as romantic as when it sparkles at night. But Josie and I have a bit of cabin fever (along with all our other recurring illnesses!) and we're dying to get out into the park to run around in the sunshine.

Even in the chill of winter, our social life is warm and buzzing with activity -- still meeting lots of friends through Message, the ex-pat mom's group here in Paris, and have something to do almost every day... between French classes, play groups, Music Together etc. there's a danger of feeling overscheduled -- sometimes I just bag the scheduled activity, as I am today. Waiting for Josie to wake up from a long nap so we can saunter over to the Louvre for an hour or so. We got a family membership, which is terrific. Josie can take it for about an hour (while tourists take her photo!) and I can see a wing or two of French or Italian paintings. I figure at this rate I should be able to see most of the museum in a year!

Jeff has been very busy with his job, traveling to Jakarta, Indonesia, Mexico City, Barcelona, even Brussels later this week. He's finding it really interesting, traveling to places in the world that clearly need affordable, nutritious food... and he's racking up the Frequent Flyer miles as he goes! We're keeping our date night almost every Saturday, seeing movies or checking out local restaurants... we've even been to our first Parisian party! Well, it was mostly Brits, but fun anyway. We're looking forward to Lew arriving this weekend, and have lots of activities -- both educational and fun -- planned for him. As well as lots of delicious meals!

And what's new with Josie? Something every day. Almost every day she has a new word... cracker, baby, "love you" etc. She's running around full steam, climbing on the couches, and still singing and dancing up a storm. Not a bit shy -- she greets everyone in our local Starbucks, waves to other museum-goers, barks at our neighboring pooches. She's so much fun -- we're having a blast together.

I've been delinquent in posting photos and video, so there's an update "film" of our activities here, as well as lots of new pics in the Jan-Feb gallery. xoxo

Freezing and Frozen Paris

Well, the Davidson-Rothmans rang in a very Merry 2009 (just the two of us, no Dick Clark, just lots of Picard goodies, which I shall explain below) and are now shivering through a very chilly January!

We had a lovely holiday seas0n - I celebrated my first Parisian birthday with a delicious lunch of "tartines," wonderful open-faced sandwiches, and a bit of shopping with my dear friend Melissa. Jeff and I were then able to continue our tradition of taking in all the holiday windows, capped off with a sumptuous feast at a restaurant Jeff had found called Drouant. We went to a fun Chanukah party, also with Melissa and her family, at the bilingual synagogue here, and also a great Tot Shabbat at Melissa's (are you getting a feel for whom we gladly spend the most time with?) with a Chanukah theme.

On Christmas we of course missed dreadfully the annual Davidson fete... but still managed to have a quite fun day -- walked to Le Marais (the Jewish Quarter) which in contrast to the rest of Paris was absolutely buzzing with activity. We had falafels, walked around a bit, and walked back home by way of Notre Dame to see the tree (and hundreds of tourists) there. We capped off the evening with turkey and all the trimmings courtesy of Picard.

So.... Picard. I've decided I'll expound on at least one Paris novelty in each post, and today it will be Picard. It's this absolutely amazing French food chain, completely composed of... frozen foods. I'm not talking chicken nuggets (though they have them!) or frozen waffles (have those too!) it's the most amazing assortment of gourmet treats you could find. Foie gras. Scallops. Salmon in puff pastry. Cheesecake. Croissants. Sushi. Tom Yum soup. Turkeys stuffed with chestnuts and mushrooms (that's what we had!). Pots Au Creme (which we also had). All amazing, all prepared so you just pop in oven or skillet. I would say we have Picard at least twice a week. How else would we enjoy tandoori chicken on a Tuesday or crunchy Vietnamese spring rolls on a Thursday? The place is amazing. Google it. Jeff wants to open one in the states and I think we would be zillionnaires.

The day after Xmas we were off on our first cross-country road trip. We went to Strasbourg, a charming town near the German border famous for its Christmas Markets. It was basically four days of eating and drinking wine (the Alsace region is famous for its Rieslings, Gewurtztraminers, etc) and drinking in the cuteness of "half-timber" houses and 400-year old Cathedrals. All lovely -- as were our traveling partners, Melissa David and Nathalie! Lots of pics of our trip in the gallery.

Home for New Year's, which as I said Jeff and I spent at home and it was quite fun and relaxing. Especially with a nice bottle of champagne and Picard doing all the work!! Now, it's back to daily life (this was Jeff's longest contiguous break in 4 years of working for Dannon) and Jeff is off for many travels this month. But Josie and I are keeping busy with play groups, Music Together (which Josie LOVED in Nyack and we've been lucky enough to find here!) and of course, shopping at Les-Soldes, the semi-annual orgy of reduced-price shopping. I've already procured a dreamy coat, some quite kicky boots, and an assortment of sweaters and gifts. And we're not even a week in! More sooner, I promise, but for now... a bientot!