Murphy strikes again & other odds and ends.

Why do things wait until you leave to break?  We returned from a magical week in Paris to a green pool.  The timer apparently slipped and instead of running 14 hours a day, it ran 1 hour a day.  Awesome.

 

So far, we've dumped enough chemicals in the pool to pay for at least one, maybe two really nice dinners (with too much wine), the robot has been running ~7 hours a day (usually 2 hours a week), the pump is on continuously, Joe has made 3 trips to warehouse supply and 2 trips to leslies, and one to wally world for chemicals and water testing.  Can't guess how long he's spent on it already and  it's only monday and it's still green.  like, can't-see-deeper-than-12-inches-into-the-pool green -- which is an improvement over Saturday's 2 inch visibility. 

 

And if I think about it, I can easily come up with several examples of simple things breaking as soon as we've left for a long weekend or vacation that turned into a massive pain.  why is that?

 

On a separate note - the electrician 'promises' (whatever that means) that he'll be here tomorrow to finish/correct all the things that made us fail inspection.  Once we pass this inspection: 3 more inspections (and subsequent trips from the subs to fix things) and on to insulation.  Woohoo.  Progress.

 

Funny thing is that I rarely think of it until someone asks me about it.  Seems there are much more pressing and/or interesting things to think of (or blog about) than the upstairs.  Isn't it odd that I have a master suite upstairs that is unfinished? 

 

Finally - my goal is to -within a week- go through my pictures from Asia and post some favorites as well as Paris pics.  Thanks for keeping on me about this one, Lottie.  Asian escapades coming up soon! 

 

Okay - going to bed.  strangely, i'm feeling VERY jet lagged.  you'd think that the 3 weeks and 12 hour difference would have been tougher than the 1 week/7 hour time difference...  go figure.

 

night, night.

Journal: Jour 6 & 7

Day 6 (Wed):

 

• up and breakfast in the room
• walked to Jardin du Luxembourg delicious long lunch in a cafe watching passers-by and finished with cafe (espresso)
• meandered through Luxembourg and found a couple chairs that looked out over the carousel with a view of the palais and eiffel
• more walking through the gardens
• Musee Rodin  (one of my favorite museums, of which, I have very few) and saw "the kiss" and "the chapel" as well as the more famous 'gates of hell' and 'the thinker' where i did the obligatory mimicked picture below to match the one done 9 years prior.  we found a lovely spot to sit  and chill and watch the light through the beautiful trees and gardens
• headed over to Invalides and saw the Cathédrale Saint-Louis des Invalides as well as Napoleon's tomb - whoa!  that thing is huge.  And to think, all that for a small little man.  never seen it before, so it was kinda fun to check it off my list.
• wandering out of Hotel du Invalides we decided to 'pass through' the Musee de l'Armee on behalf of JP.  Which was fine with me because I had to use the toilette and going to the Museum provided that opportunity.  The 'passing through' of the War museum ended up as an hour of War history through the eyes of the Frenchies.  It was, actually,  pretty interesting, likely because my Great Grandfather (Annie's dad, Papa Gene) was in France for WWI (The Great War) after lying about his age and enlisting.  Joe's Grandfather and my Granddaddy were in Asia for WWII, but had significance for us, anyway.
• We walked through the exit door as they started announcing the Museum was closing (excellent timing) and of course, it was pouring rain.  Luckily, we had our trusty ponchos with us and headed to the Metro while the other suckas had to wait inside Invalides massive doors awaiting a break in the rain-- which was not to happen for quite some time.
• made it home through the rain and by then, I was significantly congested (boooo) and sneezing.  JP went to the pharmacy for me and we relaxed for a bit
• headed out towards ile de saint louis for dinner at Cafe Med.  lovely dinner.  LOVE that island.
• walked home

 

Day 7 - May 14 (thurs):

 

• JP was up at 7:30 this morning and by 8:15- walked to Notre Dame and went in again, then walked through the Latin Quarter and to the Pantheon, by the Sorbonne and back down Saint Michel - went to the Starbucks and got a cafe Americano, then strolled over to Pont Neuf then found a pastry shop on Rue Dauphine and picked up some eclairs, macaroons and croissants before heading back to the apartment.  All before I even work up.
• After breakfast in the apartment, we headed over to the Archaeological Crypt of Notre Dame (not really a 'crypt', but the Roman ruins that are under what is now the plaza in front of Notre Dame. 
• In the Notre Dame again, sat down and spaced out.
• Lunch at the 'ol favorite cafe - Cafe Panis - and enjoyed a lovely cafe lunch and I felt much better after some tea.
• Strolled over to ile Saint louis for some gelato - Mmmm.... and walked the length of our favorite little island before finding the perfect bench to sit and space out some more while watching boats go by on the Siene and the sun peak out of the clouds over the top of the Eiffel Tower.
• Time for Coffee (and another eating adventure)!  So we headed to the nearest cafe and got some cafe (delicious) - spaced out some more watched people pass by
• picked out my standard keepsake of any/every place I visit - which is to collect postcards.  Loitered and perused the vendors on the wall above the river, thinking/trying to buy something but couldn't convince ourselves of anything we really wanted
• back to apartment and pack up [most of] our stuff; showered and got dressed for dinner
• stepped out only to realize it was raining again and we'd just retired our broken umbrella to the trash as we packed up.  Sooo... Mr. Price trippity-tropped on down to the souvenir stands and picked up an 'elegant' umbrella. YAY!  Problem solved.
• with wine in tow -along with the handy plastic champagne flutes we picked up at the grocery story earlier this week- we found a marble bench on the river banks below and had some vin rouge to toast our 4th anniversary. 
• when we'd had enough, he headed up the stairs to le Caveau du Palais to dinner (less than 1/2 mile from our apartment and quite lovely, albeit snobby)
• fantastic dinner included escargot, steak tartar, white asparagus, truffled risotto, a fish I cannot identify but was divine, and lots and lots of butter. finished with creme brulee, of course.  then home in a flash--which was good since it was raining.

Tomorrow: leaving for  CDG by 9am via RER.  Home to Austin by 8:30p Friday.

Other Parisian Observations

-Frenchies now wear jeans. when here in 2000 & 2001, you could pin point Americans from blocks away because they were wearing jeans. Now, about 1/3 the population is in them. (and there are far fewer Americans than during the dot-com crazed early 00's)

-LOTS more cameras and much more picture taking. i couldn't count how many DSLRs i see walking the street on any given street block- but I assure you there are many. If not a DSLR, a herd of folks with mini pocket point-and-shoots they are standing in line behind each other to al record the same thing. you should see the museums - it's like a scavenger hunt to just snap a picture and be on your way to the next famous painting, forget the admiration- that's for later.

-worth mentioning again: sadly, grafitti has caught on here- it is everywhere. i don't mean the occasional initials carved into a tree, i mean brooklyn-style, huge colorful block letters in places that make you stop and think: "now, how in the hell did they get up there and how on earth did no one see them doing it??"

Journal: Day 4&5

Day 4:

• started our rainy day at Saint Chapelle - beat the crowds and decided to get a 4 day museum pass
• Sandwiches in Latin Quarter - gyros & panini Mmm.
• Top of the Notre Dame - can't believe i'd never gone up there. it was incredible. my favorite view of Paris to date. I took an inordinate number of pictures.
• Louvre for 2.5 hours, highlights: Jacques Louis David, Winged Victory, Venus de Milo, Mona Lisa, Medieval Louvre, chambres of Napoleon III, Babylonian law
• grocery store and back to the apartment
• Sangria @ Bar 10 (Odeon) - YAY!! we found it. thrilled to have located this hidden little latin quarter treasure and to visit again after so long. after a couple french songs, lo and behold: Stevie Ray Vaughan, Texas Flood starts playing on the jukebox. the sangria was potent and delicious.
• dinner in our apartment: basil/parmesan ravioli, camembert and baguette and prosciutto with vin rouge
• pont du arts with a bottle of vin rouge and waited for the tour to sparkle. got some great pics
• walked to the hotel de ville & notre dame for night time pics

Day 5:

• walked to Musee d'Orsay - lunch in a cafe at the museum. this is my favorite museum-- saw Renoir, Degas, Monet and Manet, to name a few. And the old train station itself is worthy of admiration.
• walking towards the louvre and there was a man wihth 4 or 5 instruments playing "Take 5" and it echoed through the tunnel from the river to the Tulieries as we walked along. magical.
• arrived at Angelina on Rue de Rivoli for incredible chocolat l'Africain and Mont Blanc. wow. divine. I hit a wall; a chocolate wall. yes, it is possible; but fun still. this place was a favorite of on Miss Audrey Hepburn and Madame Coco Channel. Feels/looks like HP village inside - but chocolate like that cannot be found in the states.
• back to apartment
• Mr. Price went on a run; I read Pride and Prejudice by the Seine
• journalled the past couple days
• went to the Champs du Mars and had champagne under the Tour Eiffel while toasting 4 years of marriage and 9 years since the last time we did the same. no, i still didn't agree to going on the top of the tower - this time he gave up a little more easily. the sky was blue and the birds were chirping... it was perfect.
• headed home and rolled my ankle stepping off the RER. That sucked.
• changed for dinner, had some vin rouge
• Dinner on Ile Saint Louis and the most fantastic little restaurant i've ever known. Incredible! I had the duck confit, jp had the lamb. two bottles of vin, 4 appetisers, 2 entrees, a cheese plate and two desserts later, we walked home past the Notre Dame and moments after getting back inside the apartment- it started to rain. perfect!!

Journal: Jour Deux, Jour Trois

Day 2 (Saturday):

Didn't get out the door until 1p; headed to Montmartre with the sun shining. Arrived at Montmartre only to see it was raining (boo) so didn't even leave the metro station, turned around to go home and get our ponchos and umbrella. Arrived back at Montmartre by 2p, and by now, the rain was barely sprinkling.

• Climbed the mountain up the front to Sacre Coeur. With the rain sprinkling, the ground was wet which makes for fantastic photos- and there weren't as many people out.
  Wandered around the top of the mountain, past where the courtyard where the artists camp out and in the nooks and crannies of the mountain top. Settled into lunch at a lovely little cafe with a creepy mime just outside the small gated patio. There was plastic up due tot he rain which gave a little more blockage from him, but the table of three french girls next to us kept talking to him - giving him reason to 'mime' at us (weird-O)
• wandered down my favorite steps to descend Montmartre. Wandered past Abbesses metro stop and onto see the Moulin Rouge, which I had never seen. It is a bit like the Times Square of Paris-- lots of tourists from dozens of countries standing in the middle of the road snapping pics of the facade of the building, ignoring the handful of french teenagers standing out front smoking a cigarette to follow up the peep show they just enjoyed.
• The most entertaining part to me was that directly across from the Moulin Rouge was a Starbucks. Yes, a Starbucks. Nothin' like some good 'ol American coffee after a strip tease. What? But I suppose I can at last report to Kate, Condrey and Shea'aline that should we repeat our 2001 trip, we won't have to wait until London to order a coffee and know what we are going to receive.
• Wandered Latin Quarter
• Dropped of the ponchos and rain gear
• Wandered Ille Saint Louis
• Stopped at a sidewalk cafe and enjoyed a carafe of vin rouge.
• Watched the sun set over the Notre Dame.
• Dinner at Cafe Panis- my favorite french cafe that looks out over a lovely park and is directly across (south) from the Notre Dame - Mmmm.
• Stopped at a bar on the way home for Mr. Price to get a Guiness.

Day 3 (Sunday):
up and at 'em by 10:30a (well, kinda). Coffee in our apartment.

• Walk past the Notre Dame, past the Palais de Justice & Saint Chapelle, through the Sunday morning bird market, off the island over by Hotel de Ville and on to Pompidou Center.
• Lots of picture taking and a panini by the fountain followed by un cafe au toast at a cafe.
• Walk through lovely Marias and over to Place des Vosges - a lovely park which is Paris's oldest public square, surrounded the equivalent of a 17th century 'Gables' [apartments] which housed folks such as Victor Hugo, and some other famous people from history. And since, Jim Morrison - but his stay wasn't as inspiring. The 'red brick' isn't actually red brick: that is reddish-pink marble. hmmph.
• Strolled over to Bastille and hopped on the Metro over to Opera
• Saw Opera; didn't see the Phantom. Disappointed to learn that you can no longer walk into the lobby of le Opera without paying 8 euro and you have to walk in through the back. Did you know that in 1896, it was an 8 ton counterweight for the main chandelier that fell on the audience during a show? Did you know that there really is a lake under le Opera? Just checking.
• Tried to buy tickets to the ballet, but that booth isn't open on Sunday
• Found Harry's New York bar -which was high on JP's list of things to do. Started in 1911 when a Scottish man shopped a wooden bar from NYC over. Had a couple cocktails, enjoyed picking out the different university pendants from the wall, saw two mice. Yep, just like New York.
• Walked past The Ritz and over to Concorde, Louvre and Quartier Latin. Our little grocery store was closed, despite Joelle (the lady who let us into the apartment and told us about it) telling us it was open, "even on Sunday!"
• Back to the apartment for wine and cheese. Mmmm. Now blogging while listening to the bells from the Notre Dame ring.

Tonight: picnic on the Siene.

What's changed in gay Paree?

Top observations of things that have changed in Paris in the last 10 years:

1) Grafitti is everywhere. wasn't here in 2001, don't remember it in 2004
2) Frenchies are wearing tennis shoes. it is no longer a tell-tale sign of an American tourist
3) Frenchies are wearing North Face and Patagonia products. Again, no longer a tell-tale sign of an American tourist/backpacker

Noteworthy:
Checking into our apartment, Joelle told us (thick french accent) "ah, so, et ees a holiday. et ees, ah, Victory in Europe day. Yes. So, thanks for your help with that" She then tells us that because we checked in on a vacation day, it will be an extra 40 euro fee (~$60US). Nice.

**addition: this is the item I forgot! I knew there was something missing and this one is huge: Parisian cafes and bars have banned smoking. no smoking... can you imagine??

**another addition: you have to pay now to walk into (1) the Notre Dame and (2) le Opera. 8 euro (~$12 USD)! boo.

Journal: Premier Jour

besides being jet lagged (or maybe in the midst of being jet lagged), our first day we:

• checked in to our apartment, unpacked, freshened up
• headed downstairs: from our front door - to the right a couple blocks is the Notre Dame, straight ahead is art vendors and the Siene (Ille Saint Louis is right in front of us) and turn your head to the left is Point Neuf and past that, you see the corner of the Louvre. Fantastique!
• wandered the streets of Buci and settled on a cafe. For me: Frommage assortment and vin blanc, for Mr. Price: espresso.
• fading quickly - but went to the Market and picked up some breakfast, a baguette and a bottle of wine.
• back to the apartment, 30 minute nap for me in which i fell so deep asleep that when my alarm sounded i not only had forgotten where i was (in the apt) but that i was in france or that i'd fallen asleep. REALLY hard to get up- wine maybe wasn't so good an idea
  Mr. Price herds me along until we're back on the street, descending the steps to the riverbanks of the Siene and heading towards the Notre Dame.
• circled the ND and found a park bench in the garden behind the ND for me to space out on.
  Fussing that I didn't bring the right camera lens and needing caffeine, we headed back the apt for a glass of Coke and load up with the right equipment.
• back out and this time, a la gauche! we start our walk.
• across point neuf, down the street above the river
• into the courtyard of the Louvre, right through the center archway around IM Pei's pyramid/entrance to the Lourve and on through the mini arc (the one Napoleon built for his wedding)
• continued on through the Tuileries, Place du Concorde, (got some good close-ups of the top of the Egyptian Oblisk), glimpsed La Madeleine (the church, not a restaurant), and onto the champs elysees but stopping the gardens ended for a nutella eu banana crepe.
• found a park to eat our delectable desserts and watched some kids playing, a little girl pee in the park (lovely) and another little girl Madeleine's age with a lot going on (busy bee) walk along side her mom with her own stroller. highly amusing.
• continued on down the Champs-Elysees, joining the throngs of Frenchies enjoying their day-off. Not long after Blvd du F.D.Roosevelt, the street was blocked off by police --which was super convenient because we could step in the street and get a picture with the Arc in the background. Not bad.
• Nearing the Arc du Triomphe, they had since closed off more of the massive boulevard and you could see bands and militia lining up at the base of the Arc - in place du Etoile. Sweet! a parade-- or at the least, a military show of some sort to mark the end of WWII in Europe and the end of the [4 or 5-year?] German occupation of France. The pictures aren't great- hard to get close or get a good angle.
• Wandered back down to the river on Avenue Marceau among the massive trees lining the Grande Boulevard. Passed the Medieval Church with the spout for pouring hot water on invaders still projects out of the front. A personal favorite touch.
• Took a turn on Ave du President [Woodrow] Wilson and strolled along.
• Before long stumbled upon the tiny corner of town where I took one of my favorite pictures of all time: from 2001, a picture in the evening of tour eiffel with a long exposure time-- it's on our wall and you can see the glow from inside the Parisian apartments below. Mmm. (yay)
• Did anyone else know that there was a Musee du Mode (Museum of Fashion)?? Imagine the thrill of my surprise and delight. Received approval to return-- Mr. Price first told me it was closed for renovations (cruel) but then agreed that it was small and seemingly harmless. Return, we will.
• Continued on to Trocadero Plaza and it's water garden then on under Tour Eiffel and on to the Champs du Mars, avoiding the souvenir salesman like pig flu and dodging those obnoxious rose hoaxes (they shove a rose into the womans' hand and then collect an exorbitant amount of euros from the shocked and shamed man she is with)
  Found the perfect spot on the grounds to lay down for a bit and stare up at the sky - surrounded by light green trees and the tower.
• Unfortunate discovery up on leaving the park: I managed to sit in bird poo. Ugggh! Scraped it off with leaves and soaked it with hand sanitizer (a couple times).
• The walk home: about 40 minutes but a lovely shortcut through the 7eme and 6eme where we seemed to be two of maybe 10 people on the streets (apparently they were all celebrating over on by the Arc du Triomphe). Come along out of the Champs du Mars on Rue Saint Dominique where we continued past Les Invalides (giant golden dome housing Napoleon's tomb) and until the street turns into St. Germain des Pres, passing some neighborhood parks, centuries-old churches, impressive homes and Ecoles.
• Finally arriving in the Le Quartier Latin (and passing Kiki Mimi - a shop of little consequence to me, only the name makes me want to find a phone and call Mimi and tell her I found her shop. In 2004, I made her pose in front of it) and winding through the streets until crossing Boulevard Saint Michel and making it to the Cous Cous restaurant we eyed earlier in the day.
• Past 9'o'clock and pretty damn tired at this point - I apparently spoke spanish to the waiter and wondered why my brain was mis-firing and why he couldn't understand me. stammering a bit longer, I guess I finally produced french and we communicated. Mr. Price later informed me after I mentioned how scrambled my brain was that he knew because I was speaking spanish. hmmph.
• Over vin blanc, we recalled the last time we were in Paris - the now famous excursion in 2000 when we were just friends and I let him sleep on the [concrete] floor of my flat to save francs at the end of his back-packing trip. I'd forgotten that he meet my french friends. I had not forgotten that once on top of the Eiffel Tower - after much coaxing on his part- the soccer game ended that clinched the winning title for France in the Euro Cup and the town went bonkers. You cold hear the crowds singing from the top of the tower.
• Delicious dinner and a couple block walk and we were home. Bonne Nuit!

Mr. Price says he thinks he walked the 'broken' right out of his toe yesterday.

I *might* be writing all this to postpone walking again. But we did cover quite a bit of ground yesterday and I think I'll be delighted later to relive the day. Hope you enjoy it, too.

Graduation cont

Sunday: up and repeat of yesterdays lung, except this one starts
earlier and my mom brought the food. Papa John arrived at 9-ish and
the Price men chatted it up over coffee ok the kitchen while I got
ready. By 1:30, it was time to head to Acton for the graduation
ceremony in a three car caravan.

The ceremony was amazing. Incredible, poingant speeches that were
brief yet impactful. Half the audience was tearful after the first 10
minutes. Sweet Scotty (aka 'Junior') was top of the class and
Nathaniel's remarks (voted by the class to speak) were classic:
irreverent yet respectful, dramatic yet lighthearted.

Follow that with champaign toast(s) and we were ready to head back to
our house to continue the celebration and -yes- eat again.

The family crowd had thinned out by now so as the late afternoon glow
began to dim in our kitchen, ted, joe and I got dressed for the
lake. Sunday night ushered the weekend out just as Friday night
brought it in: sunset over Lake Austin (this time WITH matt, kim, and
poopsie-not just running into them) and hula hut take-out eaten on the
boat. Mmmmm, shrimp tubular taco.

Just to spite the weekend and the string of eating-focused events, we
got Amy's ice cream on our way home.

And a good time was had by all.

Sent from my iPhone

Graduation

Did I mention that the whole fam damily was in town last weekend? well, they were and it was fantastic.

Friday night on the lake Austin was a serene kick off to an otherwise crazy weekend. Preceeding that was two nights of back-toback work dinners and prior to that: a dinner with Mr. Price's classmates. Before that: I was busy bee and Mr. Price was back out at the ranch with an underwater metal detector and a buddy Gene (in a wet suit), in an unsuccessful attempt to recover his wedding ring from the bottom of the swimming hole, somewhere under the rope swing (don't get me started).

The rundown goes like this: after a beautiful sunset and stopping at a friends' house on the lake (where Matt, Kim & Madeleine were dining), we got take out from Hula Hut and ate in the boat. Afterwards: late night airport pick up of brother Ted - in from Tuscon.

Sat morning: the onslaught. Everyone arrives for lunch. I mean everyone: my fam, Price fam (NC, Dallas, Arizona and local contingencies present), my grandfather even drove in for the occassion (!), BJ Andrews (our sweet neighbor), Frank and Janie (our faux-parents). Lunch at our house catered by Santa Rita (yum) and none of the shorties fell in the pool (although Ava was throughly soaked. Everyone scattered after lunch at... um, 4:30. which was good since we were reconviening at 6 for wine and cheese prior to dinner at Fonda San Miguel (no shorties this time.)

Sunday:

FLOOD

Ever have a dream so vivid that the images keep popping back into your mind?  Doesn't happen often to me. 
 
So my dream a couple nights ago that I can't seem to stop 'flashing back' to: (keep in mind this is a dream and dreams have lots of holes, so bear with me)

 
I was somewhere near a home that I needed to get back to and it started to flood-- a lot.  Water everywhere, up to my shoulders.  at some point, i was holding two people (one on each hip-- which very well could have been a recall of holding two of the triplets at the same time over the weekend) but in the dream, it was full size people-- not shorties-- and I needed to cross the flood waters  so i started walking/carrying.  here's the image i keep seeing: the flood waters were perfectly clear and moving fast, but not pushing me over- i could see all the way to the bottom and see that the ground dropped another foot or so, which would put me under water along with the people i was carrying.  stood there for awhile with the waters flowing around me, staring into the clear water and the small pebbles at the bottom (which I could see with perfect clarity).  someone really tall walked by, i hooked one arm over their shoulders (don't know how the other person stayed on my side??) and made it across.

 
Anyway - don't know what it means, or if it means anything at all (prolly not) - but the scene keeps flashing through my mind.  odd that a dream is that hard to forget.  lots of dreams each night-- why won't this one go away??