Une excursion d'une journee a Strasbourg - A day trip to Strasbourg

We took a day-trip on the super-fast TGV ('Train a Grande Vitesse' - 'high-speed train') - (say 'teh-zheh-veh' with a dodgy French accent) train on Friday to Strasbourg.  It's a beautiful city with a village-like feel to the city-centre, much of which is pedestrianised and great for ambling around.  I had been before to the European Court of Human Rights as part of the 'Human Rights Project' at uni and loved the place.   Strasbourg is right beside the German border in Alsace and also close to Switzerland.  It would normally take around 4/5 hours by car but the new eastern line on the TGV took us there in around an hour and a half.  

The quaint city centre has lots of wee canals and is great for aimless wandering.

Paul and Max demonstrating 'aimless wandering'

We'd planned on seeing quite a lot of France this way as the TGV can take you from Paris to Marseille on the south coast in just 3 hours!  However, it seems that Max isn't keen on the supersonic speeds as the air pressure must hurt his ears.  We often felt our own ears pop slightly when the train would go through a tunnel, but if he wasn't sucking, he would cry each time this happened.  It was such a shame as he got quite worked up but was fine after a wee feed - until the next tunnel!  I don't know if it was really sore for him or if it was just that he wasn't used to the sensation, but it's definitely put me off the TGV.  We'll just need to take longer breaks in future and stick to the slow trains!

On Saturday evening, two Greenock characters came round for pizza and drinks - Skully and his pal, Graeme.  It was great to chew the fat with people from home!  They're both teachers and were over for their September weekend holiday.  Max of course got up to join in the fun until the boys headed out at around half 11.  It was Paul's cousin, Neil's birthday and they went out to some pubs around Chatelet.  Paul remembered the next morning that he and Neil had wisely used their 'bike pass' and travelled home by bike from the pub.  The same bike.  They're both 31, but still think they're not too old for a 'backie' when there's only one bike.  There were no cuts and bruises, which is miraculous given that they were moroculous!  I'm conscious that this blog is rapidly filling with anecdotes from Paul's drunken antics.  He does work some of the time!

The morning after the night before ... Paul and Max recovering on Sunday!

Sunday was a beautiful day so it was perfect for the fete that had been organised in the park beside us.  An orchestra played theme tunes from famous French movies and there were loads of people having picnics and just sitting singing with guitars.  People seem to make the most of the parks here as apartments tend to be tiny and most flats don't have gardens.  They also make the most of picnics too - I find myself staring at the amount of great looking food that comes out of their big, proper picnic baskets.  Whole roast chickens, savoury rice, cheeses and wine.  It certainly puts our jam pieces in cling film to shame!

Paul's convinced he saw Max dance to the beat of the music ...

Je peux toucher les doigts de pieds - I can touch my toes!

Paul takes a break to burp his big boy!

Max poses with Julie and Dan

I think that's right?!  This picture doesn't show him in proper toe-grabbing action, but he's discovered his feet and is keen to get his toes into his mouth these days.  Our French hasn't come on at all.  That's soon set to change as I commence French classes next week!  They've been organised through Paul's work but I'm allowed to go in Paul's place.  It will mean leaving Max with his dad for a couple of hours on a Wednesday evening - time for some father/son bonding!  

I desperately need to improve my French.  We had a right laugh in one of the department stores when we were given a voucher which we interpreted to state "Have a free massage on Level 3".  We felt like a massage after a day at the shops and wondered around Level 3 looking for the massage area.  Level 3 is KITCHENWARE.  We searched around the hoovers, fridges and dustbins, but couldn't find anyone giving out free massages, but also didn't want to randomly ask an assistant for a massage.  We spent nearly half an hour looking for our massages, but when we checked the dictionary we realised the vouchers actually just said that you could WIN a massage on Level 3.  Gagner - to win.  We'll not forget that verb!

We met up with Julie and Dan, pals from Edinburgh, for petit-dejeuner.  They were over for a romantic break, which was of course interrupted by us.  It was great to see them and it felt weird not to be heading back to Edinburgh as they were leaving.  The realisation that we're here for the year really hit us then - and it was a great feeling!  We've been lucky enough to have had quite a sociable time of it so far with friends from home - keep coming, people, I can't understand what anyone is saying here!  I hope that'll change with the French classes - if I get in - they commence next Wednesday night with a test.  There's no way I'll be able to gagner any prizes in that test!

Bienvenue, Maeve Emily!!

CONGRATULATIONS, Clare, Chris, Anna, Lucy and Austin on the birth of Maeve Emily!  She looks like a very happy wee baby.

We're looking forward to coming home for cuddles in a few weeks!

With lots and lots of love, Mag, Paul & big cousin Max!

xx

S'installer - to settle in

I've decided that we could all benefit from some French lessons and so I'll try to get the French translation for the title of each posting - now that'll give you something to look forward to!

We've now been here almost two weeks and we're already quite settled.  Our house in Edinburgh is also officially sold - thank goodness!  As you can see, Max is totally relaxed in his new cot.  He actually goes over to sleep quite well, thanks to the musical seahorse beside him, but still wakens for a feed two or three times a night.  I'm not at all bothered about that for now, but I'm hoping it'll stop when he takes more solids rather than take after his big cousin, Kate.

"First you tell me that my dad constructed this thing, then you expect me to SLEEP in it?!"

We had a busy weekend, what with the Pope coming to visit, a 'meet the neighbours' dinner and Robbie from Glasgow visiting too!  The Pope heard we had moved and so came to say Mass in Paris en route to Lourdes for the anniversary year.  There was an open-air Mass on Saturday morning down at the Esplanade des Invalides, about 40 minutes' walk from here.  It was absolutely packed, and a bit chaotic with the pram, but it brought back magic memories for me of the World Youth Day in Paris in 1997 with Geraldine.

On Saturday night, there was a soiree here in the Recollets building to which all tenants were invited.  It was a 'picque nique' (picnic, in case you hadn't guessed) held in the common room and you were to bring some booze, together with nibbles representative of your home country. What do you do when you're Scottish?  In the end, I managed to track down a few boxes of Walkers shortbread in one of the supermarkets and we pitched up with that.  The Recollets building is linked to universities and some art places so most of the other tenants are mature students or involved in the arts in some way.  The turnout wasn't great (this was Saturday night remember) but we did meet some friendly and interesting folk, as well as some real characters!  English became the dominant language of the evening (thankfully), but I was sitting near a Spanish family with no English and tried out some of my Spanish with them whilst enjoying their chorizo and tortilla.  Max doesn't sleep when there's a party on and sat up on my knee happily till after 10.  It was one of those really awkward evenings that you dread but which turn out to be hilarious.  I was sitting beside a pilot who flies private jets for the rich and famous and who had just dropped Chris de Burgh off to play a private gig in Paris while Paul got chatting away to a Mexican biologist who studies the nervous systems of worms!

Saturday night at the Recollets Pique-Nique!

We also met up with Robbie Edmonstone, a pal from Glasgow who was over for the weekend.  We went out for dinner to l'atmosphere, a bar/bistro at the end of our street which is on Canal St Martin.  The food was great and it was a good laugh catching up with Robbie.  We then went for hot chocolates (which due to our poor French turned out to be strong coffees!) to a bar further down the canal, but I decided to call it a night with Max when Robbie and Paul started ordering strong liqueurs.  They had noticed the guitar player inside the bar and so it didn't take many more drinks for the guitar to be handed over to the shameless Scots.  I'm glad I escaped when I did!

Paul and Robbie on Canal St Martin 

Paul cycled to work today on one of the Paris bikes - you pay an annual fee of around 30 euros and you just take a bike from one of the many ranks dotted around the city and return it to another rank.  It's a fantastic system but it helps if you know where you're going - Paul's completely knackered now after getting lost and cycling around the east of Paris trying to find his way home!  

Max sitting comfortably on his 'Bumbo' chair

Max is now waiting patiently on news from the Smithies - he's looking forward to becoming a BIG cousin! xx

Bonjour Paris!

We've arrived!  We can therefore now join the ranks of the bloggers / braggers and talk you through the ups and downs of our year in Paris.  Max's days aren't yet quite as exciting as those of Ben, Eve, Margot & Fiona, but we'll try to do our best to make the blog worth looking at from time to time, if only to see photos of Mad Max.

Getting here was a palaver!  We went to collect the van last Saturday from Airdrie, all organised through a right dodgy company called 'Yellow Hire'.  Do not use them!  Legal proceedings will commence soon!  Paul had fully explained the set up with Yellow Hire weeks ago and we were glad to have found a company who were happy for their vans to be driven onto the continent (Paul would need to return it to Ashford in England).  However, when we pitched up in Airdrie, the van they'd organised for us was a two-seater!  No room for long-distance Max!  Anyway, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise as I managed to get relatively cheap flights for myself and Max to travel in style on the Thursday.  Paul went on ahead with his pal, John, who thankfully stepped in at the last minute to help with the navigation and unloading.  Paul's cousin Neil, who is also living in Paris, helped out too.  The traffic was a nightmare so I'm so glad Max didn't have to go through that journey.  Thanks so much, John and Neil!!  Thanks also to Graeme and Chris for helping us to store all of our worldly goods in mum & dad's loft.  We seem to have accumulated an embarrassing amount of stuff over the years - none of it worth much at all, but I'm too scared to part with it!  Please don't downsize this year, folks!

We're currently staying in a beautiful building on the Rue de Recollets, very close to the Gare de l'est.  It was formally a convent dating back to the 16th century but has been recently modernised.  The building was occupied by squatters in the 80's and some of their graffiti work has been kept as relics in the hallways.  I'm not making the place sound attractive but it is lovely.  Here are some pics of the flat.  We have it for two months but we'll need to either downsize or move further out of Paris for the remainder of the year.  Paris flats are extortionate!  The studio option is beginning to look more attractive than being far from the city centre but at the same time, we don't want to have to be whispering from the minute Max goes to bed.  We'll need to have a look at what's available for our budget, but a smaller flat in this complex is looking tempting, particularly as it's so secure and there's a lift!  Essential with the pram!  If truth be told, I'm just dreading attempting to flat-hunt with a wee baby in a massive city with my non-existent French.  And I forgot to mention that there's a cleaner who comes in to change the sheets every week and clean the bathroom!  Yep, a smaller flat right here is fine.

Paul went out for dinner on Saturday with the director of the project he's working on and another colleague from the project.  I'll not even attempt to summarise the work he'll be doing this year (as if I could).  However, here's a link to a rare thing - an article that explains in decent English the background to the project: http://www.nd.ed/~ndworks/two2007-8.pdf

Paul's quite excited about the project, it's right up his street, and he's effectively getting paid to do something that really interests him, so it's a lovely set-up.  I'm more than happy being unemployed in Paris and hanging out with Max.  It's brilliant to be able to relax with him after such a hectic summer.  The French seem to adore babies and so Max has been charming the neighbourhood with his "Are you trying to be funny?" stare.  People coo-coo to him and blabber away in French before turning to me with a question, to which I always reply, "quatre mois" with a smile, regardless of the question.  From their reactions, I reckon I've been right half the time, which is worth it for the feeling that you're actually HAVING A CONVERSATION IN FRENCH!  I will really need to get on with the French tapes and learn some French.  I also intend to develop an accent that I'll retain for the rest of my life!

Paul is away out to see if he can watch Andy Murray take on Roger Federer in the final of the US Open.  Go on yersel', Andy!