The City Mouse and the Country Mouse

...that's what Rose and I remind me of. :) Rose is the country mouse and I am the city mouse.

After a visit to her place in Normandy this past weekend, it dawned on me how VERY different our French experiences have been, are, and will be. But it works out very well, because whenever one needs a change of pace, she has only to visit the other! :) I spent Saturday night at Cours Ste. Catherine de Sienne... and was a guest there for a total of about 28 hours. Not long, but it was nice to be able to visit nonetheless. Here are a few pictures:

Cours Ste Catherine de Sienne... thataway! :)
Rose, in her little room at the school
In front of the large main entrance to the place
La chapelle...
Here, Rose sets the table for Sunday lunch in the 'parloir'

Back to Normandie

Well, I just bid Rose adieu at the train station and she is currently riding back to Caen, where she will be picked up and returned to St. Manvieu-Norrey. We had a great few days together, comparing notes on the French (language, people, culture), catching up on news, and visiting the area. We didn't do a lot of sight-seeing per se, because Rose preferred to see the "real" side of Paris. ;) We mostly walked around the 17th arrondissement, but also visited Square des Batignolles, saw the outside of Notre Dame, toured the dark interior of St. Nicolas du Chardonnet, and walked around the Arc de Triomphe.

I hope to be able to return the gesture and visit St. Manvieu-Norrey next weekend, but there is a lot of ironing-out that needs to be done, if that is to work. I hope it all works out!

Here are some pictures from Rose's visit...
Enjoying the morning out on a balcony six floors up. :)
At the Arc de Triomphe...
At the Square des Batignolles...
At my work...

The Old World

Hello everybody,

This is Rose sitting in Paris writing you!
Here are some pictures from yesterday when Monnie and I went out a bit...


(The captions will be above the picture)
Monnie and I came back from the station and talked for a bit about everything and nothing, then decided we were starving (I think that mainly came from me)... Getting out the proper items for goûter.




I was talking on Skype; Monnie came over for a nice picture --




Visiting Notre Dame, which unfortunately was locked because we arrived too late...
The view from across the bridge:




And behind it, in a sort of park area...




The City of Light illuminating the Seine River.




Never knew it could be so fun to go inseine!
Me, wading in the Seine River... it was extremely windy last night!! Where I am is actually a boat ramp but apparently the only way to reach the water...



We also went to St Nicolas later and met some young French people who were at a sort of Youth Gathering there... then home to talk to friends and relatives.

Hope you're all sleeping soundly!!

Reunion in Paris

Tomorrow, my blogging buddy (the OTHER "moi" ;)) and dear sister, Rose, will be coming by train from Caen to see me in Paris!! I'm so excited!! I'm looking forward to showing her around my daily life and going sightseeing WITH someone (so much more fun than by yourself!) - but more than that, I'm looking forward to seeing her again. :) I'm looking forward to "sharing France" with her. :) She'll be here until Saturday, when she'll take a train back about 2:30 pm. She will commence "work" (I put it in quotes not to underestimate it but because she's not getting paid and, as of yet, I don't know what her duties will be) on Monday, September 18 - or so I believe.

One or both of us will update the blog to let you know how our days together go! :) I'm optimistically hoping to squeeze in the Arc de Triomphe, a youth group rendez-vous, the Apple Expo, possibly the Musée National de la Marine, the Eiffel Tower, and perhaps the Parc Monceau or a stroll along the Seine... yep, all that (PLUS my work) in three days. Wish us luck! :D

A bientot!

This Side of the Atlantic...

Sept. 4th - Lindsey moves back home

Sept. 5th - Opening Ceremonies; school commences.

Sept. 6th - First day of school cancelled!! ...for more work to be done on Coppens

Sept. 7th - Eileen and Rose leave the New World

Hello from France!

Well, bonjour! :P Okay, I realize that's really cliché but I HAD to say it. :)

Day after tomorrow will be two weeks since I left home. Two days after tomorrow will be two weeks since I got to France. It's gone slowly and quickly at the same time. It's gone slowly because it's all new (most especially the language!) and because my luggage still hasn't arrived (thank you, London-Heathrow) and I've had to rotate 3.5 outfits for the past 12 days... ugh.
However! The good news is that my bags will be arriving no later than Thursday evening!!! YAY!!! Of course, the dilemma after that will be - how to single-handedly transport my very American-sized luggage up the four flights of very French-sized spiral stairs to my little studio apartment. (And thereafter, where to put all my things?)

I spent my first week in France staying with a very hospitable and kind family in Macon (near Lyons). I was with Brittany for the week and we had a very good time... it was a very positive introduction to life in France. We were so fortunate as to see a nearby chateau (Pierreclos), Cluny, Paray-le-Monial, Lyons, and (of course) Macon. As soon as I can (maybe this weekend?), I'll post a few pictures...
This past Friday, I took the TGV from Macon to Paris... only to discover upon arrival that my apartment was still in the throes of renovation!! There was nothing there but white dust, paint, and a big mess!! So it was off to Cabourg for the weekend where I stayed with the lady I'm working for and her daughter whom I'm nannying, in their country house near the English Channel! Unfortunately, it was a cold, rainy, and grey weekend... but I can still say, for the record, that I have put my feet into the English Channel! ;)
On Sunday, it was back to Paris where I was pleasantly greeted by a now-finished, newly-renovated apartment. It's very small, but it suffices for my needs. It has a little kitchenette, a bedroom and a split bathroom. It has French-style (duh) windows, which overlook the courtyard four stories below. The decor (if it can be called that) is in a blue and white theme. It's on a quiet street but very nearby the rush and hubbub of Parisian life, should I care to submerge myself in that whirlpool. ;) There is an SSPX chapel a little more than a mile away, and the well-known (in Society circles) St. Nicolas is six miles from my humble abode.

So... I'm here at last!!! I'll keep you updated with my various adventures... of which there are SURE to be some. :)

It's 12:20 pm here and 5:20 am at home...
God bless!

A bientot!

(This same message can be found on my other blog. I apologize for the redundancy, but time does not allow me to write a whole new post for this blog at this moment. I hope this will suffice. :))