Things that make you go hmmmm...

This weekend we went to Sacré-Cœur and the Montmartre neighborhood.  This has to be one of the most popular places for tourists.  It was crowded but there was something to see at every turn.  Of course, the cathedral is the centerpiece.

just a few folks.....

As we were wandering the surrounding neighborhoods, we crossed a bridge and saw the most spectacular cemetery.  It was quite old and we only went part way in, but I wouldn't mind going back and wandering around sans kids so I could take my time.  It is the Cimetiere de Montmarte.  Even though we only went part way in, we saw some interesting things.

The first thing I saw was this sign.

Rules

This is what it looks like closer up.

Lots of "can'ts"

The kids were looking at it and asked me about the middle row, middle square....  "Mom, who would bring their cat to the cemetery?" and "why can't you feed your cat?".  Reading below the picture in my limited French, I deduced that they aren't objecting to feeding your OWN cat, just don't feed the cats that supposedly roam the cemetery.  Oh, okay.....  Next question (middle row, first picture) "why can't you throw stuff away?".  Again, reading the caption as best I could, I figured out that no one is supposed to throw any flowers away they might find on the graves.  I guess they have someone who does that, but I did see A LOT of dead flowers around on graves.  Maybe they don't thrown them away and leave the flower maintenance for the families.....

As we walked on, I noticed a grave that gave me pause.  

Is that a small tire made of concert on the grave?

On further investigation I noticed the engraving on the headstone.....

Fiat?!?
Is that why there is a tire on this grave?
Was he run over by a Fiat?

We walked on and saw this cool statue.

Max trying to give high five!

Sam and man in the wall

Didn't quite make in through!

There were also street performers around, but this guy was impressive.  That is some dedication to his art!

Bronze man is real!

I have more to share, but must go and start my day.  Will post again soon to share the rest of the pictures!

I know I'm in Paris when I see........

Today we decided to start the day by going down to the Eiffel Tower and perhaps taking a ride to the top.  The kids have been wanting to do this since we got here.  So we took the Metro, because there is absolutely NO parking down there, and were greeted by throngs of people already in line at 10:00 a.m.  I mean this line was crazy long!  Worse than any line I have seen at Disney or major concert!  I mean this thing wound around like a snake for about a mile.  So the kids said "we'll pass and come back, maybe on a weekday".  Whew!

See the people on the second tier?
It's a 45 minute wait for the elevator from this point to go to the top!

As we walked under and away from the Eiffel, we heard a dog barking very excitedly.  We came up on an area where there were about 6 or 7 dogs having a "play date".  The barker was a golden retriever closely following his owner who was occasionally throwing a tennis ball for him.  He would bring it back to her and start the process all over again.  This dog was excited about something so we kept an eye on him and his owner and since were walking in the same direction, saw what this puppy was so excited about.

Following his tennis ball!

Dogs swimming in a fountain in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower

There were about 4 or 5 dogs just wading around like little kids!  The edges were a little steep so owners would occasionally have to help their dogs out, but they all just kept jumping back in!

We walked on in search of some lunch.  On our walk we passed a lot of markets.  These are common sites and one of the things I will never get tired of seeing.  It's amazing that they set these up and break them down daily.  

Seafood sounds so much better in French
fruits de mer
(literally "fruits of the sea"

Then there are the flowers.......

Then there is stuff......

Need some shoes?

On our walk to lunch we saw carriages getting ready for the afternoon.  There was one carriage that stood out......

Going to the ball?

We found a nice place to eat on a corner.  Great people watching!  Since the weather has changed and Spring has arrived, every restaurant that has sidewalk space has outdoor seating, which we took advantage of.  The kids were thrilled because they had burgers and fries.  It was a little pricey, but everything within walking distance of the Eiffel tends to be.  Also in France, there is no such thing as free refills and Coke is an imported product!  So we have had to tell the kids "only on drink per meal and then it's water" because......

My wine 4,15 Euros
Samantha's Coke 5,00 Euros 

Patrick's 1/2 liter beer - 8,50 Euros
Max's 10 oz Sprite - 5,00 Euros

After lunch we walked around a little more, then jumped the Metro back home.  Tomorrow is Easter and we are supposed to attend an Easter Egg Hunt sponsored by a group I joined of English speakers.  Has been cloudy and a little rainy this afternoon, but hoping that it clears up by tomorrow afternoon.

I paid $4.19 for a box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese

.....and $7.15 for a jar of dill pickle chips!  But I didn't break down and buy the Pop Tarts for $8.50!!  No, I was not on a game show.......just shopping for what qualified as "imports" here in Paris.

Patrick took today off for a long Easter weekend and we decided to make the rounds of the stores in the area that specialize in carrying the imported American products.  It was so nice to just see the shelves filled with familiar names and products.  I never thought I would "ooh and aah" over a can of baked beans.....or a tub of Betty Crocker frosting for at whopping $12.87.  Needless to say, I passed on the frosting!  Thank goodness my Mom taught me how to make frosting!

We treated the kids at the first store with a Nerds Rope for Max and an A&W root beer for Samantha.  I got myself a box of brown sugar ~ and was damn happy!  I ran into the other store by myself 'cause parking was nonexistent around the store.  Again, the shelves looked like home.  I just had to pick up a little something for everyone waiting in the car.  I got Samantha the Mac and Cheese, Max got the pickles and I picked up a jar of jalapenos for Patrick ($10.00!).  On impulse, I grabbed a can of Dr. Pepper and a can of Mountain Dew from the cooler!  Fantastic!

Worth $4.19 to me!

Mmm, mmmm, good

Of course with a French touch!
On a baguette!

Max's favorite sandwich
B.L.P. (bacon, lettuce, pickles)

Since it is a long weekend, I'll keep this short as I am sure we will have more to report later.  Hope everyone is having a wonderful start to their holiday weekend.

I got a little behind on my posting.

This weekend we did some fun stuff.....got a car......took the dogs to the Parc de Saint Cloud......went to Ikea (again!!) 'cause we had to return something.....

But last weekend, we had some fun too!  We live right down the road from a beautiful pedestrian bridge that leads into the a huge green space know as Bois de Boulogne.  But I had been told that if you take a sharp turn off the bridge, you can walk along the Seine on a trail that goes along by the houseboats and few people know about it and therefore it is less populated.  We found the path without problem and walked for awhile.  We came upon a area that was open field and turned the girls loose!

Happy, Happy!

Nice dog....looking pretty!

Einstein doing her fox impression

Flower Girl

As we crossed the bridge, we could see houseboats along the banks of the Seine.  They came in many shape and sizes.  Some done up nicely; others you kinda had to wonder how they were still afloat.  But one really stood out.  

Is that a gator!

Concrete alligator chained to the roof of a houseboat.
Gotta love someone with a sense of humor!

As I walk around the neighborhood, I am seeing lots of flowers and plants.  I think I may have discovered a patch of blackberries (no fruit yet) by the Tram station.  

I am seeing these flowers in decorative beds all over.  Anyone know what they are?  They are about two feet tall and the blooms hang upside down!  The bloom colors I have seen have been yellow and orange/red.

This is what they look like looking up into the bloom

Love how the blooms hang down.

 I think these are lilacs....  They grow wild here (kinda like honeysuckle in N.C.) and you see them all over.

This is a beautiful blooming tree in the park where I take the dogs for their walks.  There are pink ones and white ones.  Now that the blooms are falling off, it looks like colorful snow around the trees and on the walkways.

Pink snow

That's all for now....sorry it's a short post!  Kids are out for another week on Spring Break and Patrick is taking Friday off to make a four day weekend over Easter, so I am sure I will have more tales to tell and pictures to share.

....we saw the signs.

No, not of the spiritual/religious nature, just everyday signs around town that are supposed to inform you of things.  Well maybe if you spoke the language.  Since we don't, we have improvised the meaning of a few of them.

The first, and one of my personal favorites because it makes me smile every time I see it, is any sign for:

Hotel de Ville

These signs are everywhere.  This is just the one closest to the kid's bus stop.  Every time I see these signs, images of a hotel decorated in dalmatian spots by Cruella Deville jumps into my mind.

You know Cruella, right?!?

I have found some images of what I think the Hotel de Ville should look like:

The outside
Obviously, Disney agrees on the hotel.

Lovely room

What this sign really means:  In France the sign for Hotel de Ville is a directional sign pointing you to the town hall.  So of course you see these every where which is good for me because then I smile in every town I'm in at least once! 

The second sign we have seen in a couple of locations.  This picture is by one of the bus stops we use.

This is a large sign close to an intersection.

We have made up a couple of things that we think this sign could be.  (1) Careful! Your car might spontaneously combust once you turn here (2) If you are not a large truck, you will burst into flames or (3) Danger!  Angry, hot headed drivers ahead.

What this sign really means:  This is a road sign letting you know that vehicles carrying combustable materials and trucks over 3.5 tons are not allowed on these roads.  Boring!  We like ours better.....

The next sign I have only spotted in a few places.  I think it is an old sign/sticker that is not used much any more (and for good reason!).  Most often I have seen these stuck to windows in a place of business.

What the.......????

As you can well imagine, our thoughts for what this sign could mean where all over the place......  Mammograms.......?  Breast exams?  Watch out for your female children......?  Run away!?!?

What this sign really means via translation is "driving accompanied by a qualified driver".  Okay, that's better....kind of.  So this is a sticker for driver's eduction cars.......Driver's eduction taught by adults to minors......still kinda creepy........

I had to do some more research on this one.  I googled the saying and found a picture of the sticker.

Better.  The ones I have seen
have obviously faded!  Whew.....

 So what does this sticker mean? The steering wheel clue would probably have given it away if it didn't fade. The text, if you speak French, would also give it away. It actually means that the person driving is learning how to drive, and it’s known in France as conduite accompagnée or ‘accompanied driver’ in English. In other words, the driver is being yelled at in French by someone who already has a license to drive. However, there’s every chance that the person driving has a license already because it’s not obligatory to remove the sign when the learner driver stops learning.  Maybe they should find a different logo or perhaps one that doesn't fade.

Scarlet letter???
Better than the other sticker, but come on folks!

Also seen on cars, this one means apprenti which pretty much translates to ‘apprentice’ in English. When someone has finally jumped through the hoops required to get a license (no small feat from what we have been told!), this sticker must be displayed on the car for 2 years.  It requires drivers to drive more slowly than the speed limit allows. However I have heard drivers rarely see any car with this sticker going less than 10km over the speed limit, let alone that much under.

I am sure that we will find more signs to "translate", but for now these are some of our favorites.

......the girls of the house take a beating!

I will start this by saying we are all okay now.......

If you have been following my post, you will know that I am having to walk the dogs about 4 times a day. We have a little schedule worked out and it seems that the other dog owners who "share" the park with me have their schedule too so this helps us avoid each others dogs.  I take Morgan and Einstein for their walks around 5:30 a.m. (don't groan, I'm a morning person!), 10:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m. and their last walk about 8:00 p.m.  They are able to "hold it" longer if we aren't here to take them, but if I am home, this is our schedule.

The other morning I had some errands I wanted to run.  I wanted to start early, so I decided to take them for a walk at 9:00 a.m. rather than 10:00 a.m.  In seems that the people 2 floors below us with the large, black un-neutered male lab take him out for his walk around this time.  Something I did not know!  So as we rounded the corner to head down the hill to the park, we came face to face with him and his owner. Needless to say, everyone was surprised!

Morgan, being the ever-friendly dumb lab, leaps forward to greet them.  Einstein, with her irrational belief that she is a bad-ass, charges the dog.  Now, this is all happening in a split second but for some reason my cat-like reflexes (ha ha) don't work as fast.  The lab's owner pulls his dog across the street but not before my dogs have run me into the metal fence that lines the sidewalk.  Since they had already turned the corner, but I had not, my left arm took the brunt of the force.

I regroup and pull them back towards the apartment.  All the while, the neighbor and his dog are standing calmly on the other side of the street, watching.  Oh, the horror!  Then to make a bad situation worse, bad-ass Einstein, hopped up on doggie adrenaline, decides to take on Morgan.  Now my dogs are scuffling in the doorway, the neighbor is watching and all I want to do is hide.  I finally get them inside and back up the apartment, check for injuries and shoot nasty stink-eyes and lots of "bad dogs" at them.

The dogs were fine apart from one small bite on Einstein's leg (serves you right, bad-ass - NOT).  Then I checked my arm.  Apart from being scraped up, the bones seemed okay.  Put ice on it and shot more stink eyes at the dogs.

All this happened about a week ago.  So this is the end result.

Nice bruise, huh!?!

I have noted on this blog about my concerns about being car-less and the kids in school across town.   So we have leased a car, however we aren't going to be able to pick it up until our temporary residence cards arrive (new wrinkle in the plan).  Hopefully we will get the cards by Monday and still be able to pick up the car on Tuesday, 4/12/11 as originally planned.  But right now, I remain carless and at the mercy of public transportation.

So yesterday I got the call.  The school nurse was calling to inform me that Samantha had collided with another student playing soccer in P.E. and landed on her elbow.  The school, thankfully, does have a registered nurse so she had placed ice on it but was concerned because of the amount of pain she was still having after 20 minutes.  So my options are running through my head the whole time she is talking:  (1) take the tram/Metro/bus, (2)  take a taxi, (3) call Patrick.

Since I was going to call Patrick first anyway to tell him about Samantha, I thought that maybe someone at his work could drive him to the kid's school or loan him a car.  Thankfully, his co-worker, Lorraine, was at work and came to our rescue again!  (Lorraine was the one who drove Patrick to my rescue with my first grocery store debacle!)  She drove him to the school to get Samantha and then took them to the train station.  There is a a Metro stop in Saint Cloud across the street from the hospital and the hospital is within walking distance to our apartment (all lucky coincidences).  

Patrick and Sam reach the hospital about 3:00 and I meet them there at 3:30.  Samantha is waiting to be x-rayed.  She was being a trooper and only had a few tears.  She got her x-rays and was going back up to see the doctor with Patrick.  Now, it's time to meet the bus with Max.  Another stroke of luck, the bus stop is right in front of the hospital!  I retrieve Max and he wants to see his sister (sweet of him!).  I text Patrick and he says they are done and coming out, so we wait and meet them and all walk home.

They told Patrick that there was no "obvious fracture", but they would have the radiologist look at it.  Okay, I have been in the ortho field a long time and all her symptoms were classic for an elbow fracture, but I don't claim to have x-ray vision, so I let it go.......They had also given us a prescription for pain medicine that we needed to fill.  I was getting ready to leave and go to the pharmacy when the phone rang.  We had been home about 10 minutes.  It was the hospital saying that the radiologist had looked at the x-ray and determined that "yes, there was a fracture" in her elbow.   (Told you so, na na na na boo boo!)  So Patrick walks her back to the hospital.  Now she is in a half-cast and has a return appointment in two weeks.

Sam - the brave trooper

I miss my job and my friends at Cary Orthopaedics even more today than I usually do!  

Last night was a little difficult getting her comfortable in bed and the "pain" medication they gave me is nothing more than 500mg of acetaminophen.  She finally found a good position on the couch about 11:00 p.m.  As you can see from the picture, it is her left arm and of course she is left-handed!  But Spring Break starts Monday and they are out of school until 4/26/11, so I guess the timing was good if it had to happen!  She did go to school today, but hey, what kid wouldn't love to show off their "war wound"!  

As I stated in the beginning, we are fine now.  A little sore, but we are some tough chicks!