Betsy and I finally left on our very first vacation without the kids on Friday 8 April (notice use of European dating format . . . acclimating already). I'll try to blog at least a couple of times while away. Much will depend on access to a computer, as well as my ability to get used to a French keyboard layout (Typing just this much so far has been quite a challenge!)
We left on Friday evening after securing the kids with my in-laws. They were so excited at the prospect of spending the weekend with their grandparents and the week with their favorite babysitter, Isabel, that our departure was more of an afterthought, and that was just the way we hoped it would be. We, of course, were a little bit more shaky having never left them for so long. Much of that anxiety was washed away when Betsy got to experience Delta's BusinessElite class of service. I travel a lot (which is how we got the miles to fly up front) and have flown in BusinessElite, but Betsy had never had the pleasure. Betsy actually slept for a few hours and I managed to doze for a bit.
Jean-François, the husband of Betsy's cousin Sabine, was kind enough to pick us up at the airport and take us to their house in Marly le Roi in the Paris suburbs. They have a great big light-filled contemporary house in a beautiful suburb that is similar to the NYC suburb of Westchester. We had the opportunity to sit and schmooze with Sabine who is the best possible combination of cultures having grown up on NY's Upper West Side until she was 13 before moving to Paris. She is one of my favorite people in the world and although her daughter Nicole still lives at home, two of her three sons came over for lunch to see us, including Amelie - son Louis' fiancée. Everybody enjoyed the Kraft macaroni and cheese we brought - a perrenial favorite in Sabine's house which is difficult to find here!
Betsy has always been pretty fluent in French. She has been taking a refresher conversation class the past few months, and it shows. Her French is superb and makes my feeble attempts to converse sound like a 2 year-old.
We spent the better part of the day just catching up, but given that it was a glorious - if not chilly - afternoon, Betsy and I took a walk around the neighborhood before joining Sabine for a short drive to the town of Saint Germain en Laye - the hub of the area. We met up with my cousin Marc and his partner Stephane who live in St. Germain and the 5 of us bopped around the lively little town. We sampled some outrageously good macaroons which were even better than Laduré's and then walked the grounds of the castle where King Louis XIV was born. There is a beautiful view overlooking the Seine with Paris in the distance.
For dinner, we headed into Paris with Sabine and J-F to a bistro owned by Alain Ducaisse for a meal of Lyonnaise food. The food was quite nice but the rumour we had heard - that it was quite popular with Americans - was very true. There was more English being spoken there then one would normally have found in a New York restaurant!
Well, Betsy and I actually made it through a pretty full day day without a nap and got a good solid night of sleep. I am hoping that we will adjust fairly easily to the time change. Today we move to our hotel in Paris for 3 nights and have tickets to the neo-Impressionists exhibit at the Musée d'Orsay. Tonight, we meet up with Sabine's mother Laura and sister Claude for some good Morrocan cous-cous.
More later when I can. A bientot!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment