Went dancing in Paris

Had fun last Wednesday with some of the managers from Dentsply. We went out to an old nice restaurant in Paris 8th district: the Barrio Latino is classified as a historical monument, its façade and metal structure are the work of the illustrious Gustave Eiffel. On the ground floor, a tapas bar and the “Red Bar” decorated with beer bottle caps are warm, friendly areas where you can enjoy tapas at any time of day. In the evening, a contagious frenzy takes over the room and temperature rises as the DJ takes over with his sensual bossa-novas and wild salsa rhythms. On the mezzanine, the restaurant, the patio winter garden and the table d’hôtes in the dining alcoves, offer a menu of South-American delicacies. At the Cuban stopover on the 3rd floor, the swirls of “Romeo y Julieta” overlook the superb bar adorned with cigar bands. A VIP Salon on the top floor provides a luxurious and more exclusive to discover new cocktails or enjoying a cosy dinner in the loggia or Moroccan room. After the succulent dinner accompanied with a bottle of wine, we danced until closure, 2am. And yes, we all showed up at work a few hours later.

Easter in Giverny

Easter, Paques, 2012

This Easter weekend, we had the pleasure of welcoming some of our family members from Germany; my dad's aunt, his cousin and his wife. My uncle and aunt (dad's sister) from Auvergne also came. After breakfast this Monday morning (Easter Monday is off in France and is a holiday), I surprised everybody with an Easter hunt. I had bought earlier in the week and secretly hidden before breakfast big chocolate bells and bunnies out in the yard. They were excited, like children, to search for them. After the hunt, we drove to Giverny which is known worldwide, and especially by Americans, as Claude Monet's house and beautiful gardens. Giverny is a small village with no more than 1000 inhabitants, about 50 miles west of Paris.

Claude Monet, the renowned painter, noticed this village while looking out of a train window. He made up his mind to move there and rented a house and the area surrounding it. In 1890 he had enough money to buy the house and land outright and set out to create the magnificent gardens he wanted to paint. Some of his most famous paintings were of his garden in Giverny, famous for its rectangular Clos normand, with archways of climbing plants entwined around colored shrubs, and the water garden, with the Japanese bridge, the pond with the water lily, the wistarias and the azaleas. Monet lived in the house with its famous pink crushed brick façade from 1883 until his death in 1926. He and many members of his family are interred in the village cemetery.

Claude Monet's property at Giverny (house and gardens), left by his son to the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1966 became a Museum opened to public visit in 1980 after completion of large-scale restoration work: the huge Nymphea's studio was restored and the precious collection of Japanese engravings was displayed in several rooms, hung in the manner chosen by the master himself, the gardens were replanted as they once were. The house become a popular tourist attraction (the Fondation Claude Monet), particularly in the summer when the flowers are in bloom.

Flea market





Today in Gaillon was the annual flea market, in french called "la foire à tout". As the French government doesn't allow garage sales, every city is entitled to hold one flea market during the spring. So the individuals wanting to sell their marchandise buy a meter or two of space in the street to set a table or simply lay their stuffs on the ground. It was a beautiful day for it, our small city was full of visitors.

Le Havre

Today, my mom had a golf tournament in Le Havre with her team. So my folks and I drove to the coast Friday evening. Le Havre is a city in the Seine Maritime department of the Haute Normandie region. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. It counts about 195,000 inhabitants and is the 12th largest city of the country. The name Le Havre simply means the harbour or the port. France's second largest port experienced the worst damage of any city in the country and suffered catastrophic damage during the Second World War. Like many French coastal towns, the port fell under German-occupation in the early 1940s. Over 90% of the city was left in rubble; all major public buildings in the administrative centre including the stock exchange, city hall, and post office were destroyed, as well churches, the two hospitals, schools, shops and housing. The port was rendered unusable due to the scattered wrecks blocking the channels and access docks. Major urban fires broke out in the city in the following days, destroying what little remnants left of historical significance. The city’s water mains had been obliterated by the RAF bombings, making the task of putting out the fires next to impossible. By the end of the war, a total of 5,000 civilians had been killed, 12,500 buildings destroyed and 80,000 people left homeless  Much of the earth was heavily mined and shelled; the original road grid erased from physical memory. The city was finally liberated in September 1944.
As a port city on an exposed marshy coast, Le Havre has long suffered from poor land links. New road connections have been built since; among the most notable is the famous bridge of Normandy, which connects the two banks of the Seine and reduces travelling time between Honfleur and Le Havre to less than 15 minutes. A fun fact: Le Havre's american sister city is Tampa, FL.

Evreux

Evreux is a commune in the department of Eure, of which it is the capital, in Upper Normandy. In 2011, it counted about 53,700 inhabitants. This is where I went to college just before moving to the US from 1994 to 1996. The cathedral Notre Dame, has been the seat of the bishops of Evreux since its traditional founder, Saint Taurin of Evreux, most probably working between 375 and 425; Bishop Maurusius was present at the Council of Orleans in 511. The earliest parts of the present building, which is mostly Gothic, date from the eleventh century. The west facade and its two towers are mostly from the late Renaissance; the octagonal central tower dates from the late fifteenth century. Of especial note are the Lady chapel and its stained glass, the rose windows in the transepts and the carved wooden screens of the side chapels.

The church of the former abbey of St-Taurin is in part Romanesque. It has a choir of the 14th century and other portions of later date, and contains the thirteenth century shrine of Saint Taurin.

First snow in Normandie

There it is, we woke up this morning under a beautiful white cover of fresh snow, we got between 2 and 3 inches. But this didn't discourage the Gaillonnais (inhabitants of the town of Gaillon, where my parents reside) to walk down to town, like my dad and I did, to get a fresh warm baguette.

Bowling with friends

Went out last night bowling with friends I work with. There were 13 of us and we had so much fun! Monday night, bowling at ParisWest (no not in Paris, rather in Maurepas) http://ak-bowling.com/. We started with cocktails and beers around 9pm and tried out strikes and spares till 2am. What an awesome way to start the work week!