London

J had a business trip to London at the beginning of December, and I tagged along to spend a few days speaking English.  The timing of the trip worked out perfectly as we were able to fit in dinner with a friend from Chicago who happened to be in town and J was able to see a concert by one of his favorite bands. Having been to London several times before, my big goal for the trip was to visit the amazing Whole Foods on Kensington High Street and pick up some Mexican food treats that aren't available in Paris.  I ended up doing quite a bit of sightseeing outside of the grocery store, but really enjoyed having some free time in a gorgeous city without the pressure to see everything that can accompany a visit to somewhere new.

I visited the Victoria & Albert Museum to look at some parts of the collection that I hadn't seen yet.  On my way there I stopped by a Christmas market in Hyde Park and then walked by Harrods and Harvey Nichols to see their Christmas window displays.

I was pleased to see that, just like in the Christmas market in Paris, churros were being sold at the food stands of the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park.  I was glad that I stopped by the London market as the Paris market was lacking a creepy animatronic Santa next to the churro stand.

I thought at first that the windows at Harrods were fairy tale-themed, but soon noticed Disney branding on the displays.  The windows each featured a designer’s take on a Disney princess dress.

Snow White in Oscar de la Renta

While planning for this trip I realized that I had never been to the Tower of London, so I decided to check it out.  I didn’t realize that the "Tower" was actually a large complex.  I think my pre-conceived notions were all related to the imprisonment of various historical figures and it was interesting to see how many roles (in addition to prison) the buildings have played over time. The Tower is currently the home of the Crown Jewels and a collection of historical armor and weapons, but it has also been the site of a zoo and the Royal Mint, among other things. 

I was creeped out by the huge ravens that live on one of the lawns in the complex and fascinated by the graffiti carved into the walls of one of the rooms in the Beauchamp Tower (one of the buildings) by prisoners held there in 1500s and 1600s.

On the last afternoon I went to the Borough Market.  It is much larger than any of the markets I shop at in Paris and it was a lot of fun to wander around and inspect everything while I picked out something to have for lunch.  I decided to shop for our dinner in the market and surrounding shops, as we were taking the Eurostar train back home that evening.  I picked up a sharp cheddar and a blue cheese from the nearby Neal’s Yard Dairy shop and bought a whole grain sourdough bread and some fruit to have with the cheese from stands in the market.  It was so fun to be able to end a few days in London by bringing a taste of the city back to our Parisian apartment.

Merry Christmas

Dijon

One of the most enjoyable aspects of visiting the Champagne and Sancerre regions this summer was getting the opportunity to explore the places that produce some of our favorite wines and foods. We were inspired to visit Dijon by my love of mustard, and further research revealed that it is also home to one of our favorite drinks, the kir.  While we did manage to fit in both a kir aperitif and a trip to the Maille store, it was the city of Dijon and the Côte d’Or wine region that were the highlights of the trip. We spent lots of time walking around Dijon even though it was a rainy weekend.  The city is a gorgeous mix of architectural styles, with half-timbered buildings from the 12th - 14th centuries, dramatic gothic buildings, and even an Art Deco indoor market.

The Côte d’Or wine region is a part of Burgundy that runs south from Dijon.  We initially considered renting a car in Dijon and exploring the area ourselves.  When I read more about the area, though, I realized that it is the home to some of the most expensive wines in France (and the world) and was a little intimidated by the prospects of figuring out where we might set up tastings.  We decided that a guided tour might give us a chance to learn a little more about the different appellations.

Our tour was extremely informative.  We drove around the Côte d’Or, stopping to try Époisse (a local cheese), all sorts of wines, a variety of truffle products, and to see the town of Beaune.

We were joined on the tour by a woman from Hong Kong who was doing research for a book on wine tourism in France for the Chinese market.  The discussions between our guide and the writer proved entertaining, such as when the writer informed the guide that people from China would be willing to pay him a lot of money for visits to one of the most famous winemakers in the region.  Our guide explained that the winery only opened their doors to the most knowledgeable and discerning aficionados.  He said he always carefully screened and hand-picked the guests and that no amount of money would allow you to buy your way in.  She seemed confused and repeatedly emphasized how much money people would pay him, as if perhaps he didn’t understand the amounts involved.  He kept responding that this sort of experience needed to be earned, not bought. We just sat in the back seat of the car, amused by the clash of cultures.

Law & Order: Paris Victims Unit

Though we love living here, life in Paris is not all free wine tastings and fancy cheeses.  There are as many annoying and confusingly difficult things to deal with in Paris as any other large city.  Some are minor things - like needing to submit a new set of I.D. photos at every step of the residence permit issue and renewal process.  The photo booths in the train stations seem to be made for people under 5 feet tall, so I’m becoming a pro at awkwardly hunching down to have my eyes lined up at the spot mandated by the rigid government I.D. photo standards.  Other annoyances are a little more serious.

We were notified by our bank last week that there were attempted ATM withdrawals on my card that seemed suspicious.  As neither J nor I had recently been trying to empty our French bank account from various ATMs in El Salvador, we confirmed that the withdrawals were fraudulent and had my card cancelled.*  While you often hear stories about how banks in Paris can be difficult to deal with at times, our account manager has been nothing but helpful and responsive in dealing with this issue.

Unfortunately, the thieves had managed to get about 500 euros before the bank started blocking their withdrawals, and we were informed that French law required a police report to be filed before those transactions could be reversed.  Since it was my card that was used, I was the victim and would have the pleasure of filing the report (or déposer plainte).

I thought through what I would need to say and what documentation I might need to have, looked up some relevant vocabulary, and put together an outline in French of the main points I hoped to convey.  My internet research indicated that you are supposed to go to the police station for the jurisdiction where the crime occurred, but since we don’t really know where it happened (other than in San Salvador) I decided to try going to the station for our neighborhood.  

When I arrived at the police station, there were two doors with signs indicating which services were provided behind each.  I waited at the door for people looking to file a report until I was buzzed through.  It was just a waiting room with a police officer at a desk.  I waited in a short line until it was my turn to speak with the officer, then I let her know that I was there to make a complaint about fraudulent use of my ATM card.  She was skeptical that I had come to the right station and wanted to confirm that the fraudulent transactions were on a French ATM card (they were), what bank was involved, and where I lived.  

When she realized that I was in the right place, she told me that I would need to fill out a long form.  She then asked if I spoke English, and when I answered “yes” she explained that she would need to translate the entire form for me, but couldn’t do so now as she needed to go to lunch.  She said that I could either come back later or go to a different room and make my report there.  I was suspicious of this excuse for two reasons: we were both speaking only French throughout this interchange, and I could see that the form she was holding was already translated into English.  I decided to take my chances with her (hopefully less hungry) colleagues.

I went back to the entrance and waited to be buzzed into the second door, then waited in line again.  The police officer I spoke with first wanted to know if I still had the ATM card.  When I showed it to him and he saw it was a French carte bancaire, he asked how much money had been taken from my account.  I showed him the list of fraudulent transactions, and he asked me to fill out a form.   He then entered the information into his computer and gave the form back to me, saying that I should give it to my bank.  I left the police station very relieved to have successfully obtained the necessary paperwork.  While the experience was not so bad, it is one I hope I do not have to repeat anytime soon.

*J and I suspect that my PIN and card number were stolen by a illicit device planted on an ATM.  I only use ATMs associated with our bank, but do not always pay the closest attention to what the actual machine looks like.  I found an article from the FBI with some tips about how try to prevent this sort of thing from happening to me again.

Twilight in Place de la Concorde

Julbasaren

Last year J’s parents, sister, and brother-in-law visited us in Paris over Thanksgiving.  We all visited the Christmas market (julbasar) at the Swedish Church in Paris while they were in town.  It was a lot of fun and J’s parents treated us to an adorable wooden julbock for our apartment and an assortment of Swedish delicacies for the small julbord I made on Christmas Eve.

This year we went back to the Christmas market on our own.  It has indoor and outdoor stalls selling food, Christmas decorations, and other little gifts.  After winding our way through the crowded market, we headed to the church basement for a snack.  They had a lunch of traditional Swedish foods, as well as sweets for sale.  We had chokladbollar with coffee (for me) and glögg (for J).  It was the perfect end to our very Swedish Saturday afternoon.    

Parc des Buttes-Chaumont

After over a year of living in Paris we are still finding new things in the city every week.  I shouldn’t be surprised; I have only made a dent in the list of things I want to do in Chicago and lived there for 12 years.  While I thought I knew Paris pretty well before we moved here, living here has made it clear to me that had I barely scratched the surface of the city in the past. Two years is not nearly enough time to get to know all of the little corners of Paris, but the futility of the task doesn’t stop me from trying.

A month or so ago we headed up to the nineteenth arrondissement to take an afternoon walk through the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont.  The park is the city's third largest and was created on the site of a former quarry in the 1860s as part of Haussmann’s modernization of Paris.  There is a small lake in the center of the park with a rocky island in the middle.  The island is connected to the rest of the park by two bridges and is topped by the Temple of Sibyl, a copy of an ancient temple near Rome.  

We crossed over a suspension bridge to the island, stopping along the way to take in the view of people enjoying the park on a gorgeous fall afternoon.

After climbing up the island to the temple we found ourselves able to look over the entire park and see across northern Paris to the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur.

We followed the paths that meander through the park, passing a few cafés, a waterfall, playgrounds, and rolling hills covered in grass and trees.

As we left the park and started back down the hill towards our neighborhood, we stopped in at a bakery for some pastries and enjoyed our snack with a view of the Eiffel Tower from afar.  

After the Sunday Market

Orléans

J had two days off earlier this month for Toussaint (All Saints’ Day), so we took a short trip to Orléans.  This was perhaps not our most elaborately-planned trip; we decided to go after getting an email from the French train company advertising two-for-one fares and skimming a list of destinations within an hour of Paris.

Orléans is a city of about 125,000 people in the northern part of the Loire Valley.  It is about 80 miles south (and slightly west) of Paris.  Orléans might be best known as the site of a victory for the French (led by 17-year old Joan of Arc) over the English during the Hundred Years War.  Joan of Arc is one of the patron saints of France and she is known as the Maid of Orléans.  Walking around Orléans, you see signs of the city’s connection with Joan of Arc everywhere.  We saw streets named for her, statues of her, even a reconstruction of the house where she lived while defending Orléans (the original was destroyed in World War II).

Joan is Arc is memorialized in the Cathédrale Ste-Croix in the center of Orléans as much as she is across the rest of the city.  There are stained glass windows in the cathedral telling the story of her life and a giant tapestry depicting her hangs behind the altar.

We spent a relaxing few days in Orléans wandering through the medieval quarter of the city and along the banks of the Loire River.  

It did rain quite a bit, but we were able to stay dry visiting the cathedral, the Musée des Beaux-Arts, a cute wine bar, and (a first for us in France) a shopping mall.  The mall was adjacent to the train station and contained a huge Carrefour (a major French retailer) store.  We walked around marvelling at the giant store, which was similar to a Wal-Mart but was still distinctly French: the giant aisle of wine seemed to go on forever and prominently-placed refrigerated cases were full of discount duck and foie gras.