Holy disco ball!

Rite of passage: First train strike

It was only a matter of time. Fortunately the trains are running "un sur deux (every other)" during rush hour ("heure de pointe") so I didn't have to wait too long. And I learned two new phrases because of it!

France has it out for me

It's funny how much we take language for granted. Since I've been here, so many annoying things have happened that would have been so easily overcome if I only spoke French. As our dear friend Greg so kindly said, "I suck at France."  Not to complain: That which does not kill me makes me stronger. After it frustrates the brendanawicz out of me. Anyway, I thought I would put these stories out there so that you could have a few laughs at my expense.

1. Second day of class, feeling great about being out and about in Paris on my own, still high off my newly acquired manual transmission driving skills. I get back to Fontainebleau station and put my parking ticket in the machine to pay and validate the ticket. No dice.

No matter what way I stick the ticket into the machine, it will not work.  The ticket has been de-magnetized at some point during the day. Since it is too late at night, there is no one working at the parking booth. I will have to rely on the machine's call button. The dreaded call button. No arm gestures, no facial expressions.  Spoken language only.  F*ck! (pardon my French, but I need to be true to how I was feeling at the time). I try several times to communicate through the tinny speaker, but have no luck. I still don't know if they were hanging up on me out of frustration with my less than adequate French, or if they were telling me to go to the gate and they would let me out. I'll just assume the latter to make myself feel better. That's what ended happening when Ian's friend very kindly drove him to my aid - after I was trapped in the parking garage for an hour.
France-1, Lauren-0.

2. Mardi, le 22 septembre. I'm heading back from another time-sucking grocery shop at Carrefour. You know it's too big when the employees wear roller skates to get around and it makes Ikea seem like a reasonable, easy shopping trip. I have a backseat full of temperature sensitive groceries when I discover that all of the roads leading into my village are closed for a construction project consisting of a hole in the sidewalk about 10 feet long by 5 feet wide.

Yes, makes complete sense. Let's close miles and miles of roads that aren't even heavily travelled for this minor project. Oh, France. After 40 minutes of driving and trying three different roads I just drove through the fourth roadblock. It felt good :)
France-2, Lauren-1.  I'm giving each of us a point for that one.

3. Aujourd'hui.  I arrive at the train station to catch my train for class. There are construction vehicles blocking the entrance to the parking garage. I park in the 5 minute lot and manage to scrawl the note below and stick it under the windshield wiper in time to sprint to the train. I hope the car is still there when I get back! Fingers crossed. I'll update the score later: if the car is there, me and France will be tied!
France-?, Lauren-?

EDIT: The car was still there!  France-2, Lauren-2.  I'm back in the game!

Coco loves having her own room

But she'll let you borrow it if you visit.

Mobile blog test 2:
Apiary at Jardin du Luxembourg

Rockin' through the wilderness

France has a quite varied landscape, and offers lots of options for outdoor activity, so I have been trying to take advantage of the weather while it's still nice.  The area where we live borders on la Forêt de Fontainebleau, a large national forest and former royal hunting park.  There are loads of walking and biking trails there.  The forest is also know for it's large boulders, making it a popular place for climbing and bouldering.  The texture and shape of some of the boulders is so strange...they look like they came from another planet. 

Ian and I did a short hike there in mid August.  We came upon a sign mentioning "la roche qui pleure (the rock which cries)" and attempted to follow the signs that lead there.  Unfortunately the trail wasn't very clearly marked, and we didn't find the rock.  Either that, or it had a good day and wasn't crying.  But we still had a great time exploring the forest and made our way up to a viewpoint where we took the mandatory self portrait.  The forest is a really beautiful place.  The forest floor is very sandy and carpeted with pine needles and heather.  There are no mosquitos or annoying flies to attack you and ruin your hike.

 

We did some more hiking on a day trip to Île Sainte-Marguerite during our vacation to Cannes at the end of August.  The island is a 15 minute ferry ride from Cannes, and is full of walking trails and surrounded by some of the most beautiful turquoise blue/emerald green water I have ever seen.  They don't call it the Côte d'Azur for nothing!

We hiked the perimeter of the island, doing our best to avoid the nude male sunbathers tucked into the rocky shore, and stopping to swim and jump into the BEAUTIFUL turquoise water from some small cliffs.  For me, this was the highlight of the trip.  Just look at the water! 

Though not turquoise, the waters of the slow moving Loing river have their own peaceful charm.  I went last week for a leisurely kayak trip with a group of six other lovely partner ladies.  We paddled 10 kilometers (6.2 miles - I am still not used to this whole metric system thing) from Grez-sur-Loing to Episy, taking in the beautiful French countryside scenery and chatting up a storm.  My friend Jenneke is lucky enough to live right on this river, and we passed by her house, a MAGICAL place that makes you feel like you're in another century.  

We had some trouble keeping the kayaks moving in a straight line, but we had fun all the same.  We all survived the few kayak slides without getting too wet.  I wish there had been more slides though, they were the best part of the route!