V

Jan, David and Juniata, our Washington Area Friends, and their neice

Having a home meant, as in Berlin, that we could have guests. We had a half-dozen visitors (those who didn't stay the night with us) and guests (those who did). Somehow all but one crowded themselves into April, leaving us free for Politics (with a capital P) the month of May. Could it be that they liked Paris in the spring as much as we did?

Our first visitors came from farthest away. Well, to be honest, they were visiting Paris rather than us, but we did get to visit with them. Juniata and David were giving their neice an introduction to Paris. According to them she slowly awakened to the place and came to really enjoy it.

Bateau Bus

Notre Dame in the Spring

They are friends from our Lucent days (1995-1997) when Juniata worked for the client that our software was written for. Some people you hit it off with and stay in touch with no matter where you end up. They have followed the vagaries of the software boom and bust cycle from New Jersey to Maryland, to Florida, North Carolina, and are back in the greater Washington D.C. area.

With David and Juniata we took another ride on the Bateau Bus; we always enjoy sitting back on this Seine boat and seeing the greatest sights of Paris pass by. The unfortunate thing about the boat is that you can't both concentrate on chatting and on seeing the monuments. We ended our boat ride at Notre Dame and had a most leisurely walk around.

Eurostar Encounter

Our first guest (overnighter) was our friend Paloma, who hopped on board Eurostar for a break from her everyday London world. Sadly the weather didn't cooperate and instead of balmy spring days we seemed to have nothing but wintry cold and cloudy skies. Nonetheless in a tribute to Paloma's hardiness, we hiked all over Paris all week long working off all of that wonderful cheese, wine, and bread that accompanied every meal. And as if that wasn't enough calories, Paloma couldn't resist taking back a whole box of goodies from a French "patisserie". "Bon appetit!"

Jan and Paloma, Champs Elysees

Bd de la Chapelle

Jean-François, Emmanuèle, and Jan in Belleville

We're sure that you'll object when we refer to Jean-François and Emmanuèle as visitors. Their home is in Paris you will say! We readily agree, but they — it seems to us — are hardly in Paris more than we are. Yes, it is an exaggeration. But the last time we saw them was in NJ, where Jean-François spent a year working on the plans for constructing a refinery in Venezuela. About the time we left NJ for our travels they went off to four years in the outback of Venezuela.

Jean-François, Emmanuèle and Jan looking for Mr Goodbar?

A "regard" (inspection house) in Belleville

We were lucky to catch up with them in Paris, for no sooner had we seen them than they were off to other parts of France. Our day with them was spent visiting Belleville, our neighborhood. With them, and Michelin guide in hand, we toured historic parts of the neighborhood that are easily missed. Perhaps most interesting was to discover "Regards", which are stone buildings that give access to Paris' old water supply system. Our day ended with a fine dinner at a Mauritian restaurant. That resulted in our finding out exactly where Mauritius is, and even Reunion.

Adrien, Dirk, and Gerry

We had a flying visit from Dirk who, you will remember, we met in Belize and last saw in Berlin. His high powered career makes us think of the book "The Good Earth" which is concerned with the life cycle in a Chinese village late in the 19th century. As the book opens the grandfather sits in the family courtyard, sleeping away most of the day in the sun and the protagonist is beginning his very active life. When the book ends, having covered a sixty year period, the progtagonist is now grandfather to a new generation and he, himself, sleeps away most of the day.

Dirk came in over a weekend from Cologne to see Adrien, a long time Parisian friend, and managed to fit us in. We had the pleasure of having both of them over for dinner and meeting the Adrien, who is writing a thesis on the philosophy of science. Gerry, an ex-physicist, who doubts that he can be called a scientist any more, enjoyed exploring some ideas related to the thesis topic.

Paris Tourists

3 Wise Monkeys

Luxembourg Gdns

On the Metro

If not the first, then perhaps the most eagerly awaited visitors were family. We've devoted a whole page to them.

Mick, Jan, and Dinah, Gare de Lyon

Rounding out our time in Paris, sort of clean-up hitters if you know baseball terminology, the last of our visitors also came from London (not too surprising given how close the channel tunnel brings the two capitals) in the form of our friends Dinah and Mick. Recent retirees they fill out their very busy life as volunteers with regular trips around Europe on short getaways.

It is interesting to compare the choices we two couples have made in these very early retirement years. We have chosen to give up a 'permanent' home to allow us trouble-free long-term travel (six years and counting). They, on the other hand, maintain not only a home but a rich life of volunteer commitments while taking advantage of low-cost airline travel to jet to (mostly) European destinations seven or eight times a year. Isn't freedom of choice wonderful?

Principal entry to Fontainebleau.

Shady garden at Fontainebleau

There wasn't much catching up to do here as we had seen them in Berlin, but we were all much happier to be tourists in a much warmer Paris. The best outing we had with them was a trip to Fontainebleau, which repeated a visit we made way back in 1994. (At that time we spent eleven weeks touring Paris, France, Germany, Italy, and back to Paris.) This is our favorite castle and so was it Napoleon's. Whereas for us Versailles is filled with crowds and for Napoleon it was too close to Paris, at Fontainebleau one finds calm and beauty. We made (for us) a repeat trip to the Père Lachaise cemetery and much aided by Mick, enjoyed discovering most of its corners before retreating to the apartment for a nice lunch.

Frédérik Detue and Veronica, rue de la Mare

We can't close this section without mentioning Frédérik and Veronica. We can hardly say we visited them and it wouldn't be exactly right to say they visited us. They started out as our landlords and are now our friends. Veronica is the principal tenant of rue de la Mare, where we stayed in 1999 and then again in 2005. She warmly welcomed us on our arrival in March and warmly sent us off to Moscow in July. Frédérik, a Frenchman, rented us his Moscow apartment for July and August. Here we have just been given the keys.