c'est loufoque

2009-05-20T19:00:00.012+02:00

Well all you peeps out there somewhere, I'm not sure how many of you are still tuning in but for all you folks still hanging in there... We've made it back to the homeland and it's been a wee bit of a whirlwind! I finally had some time to sit down and get all of our pictures from London together and I thought I would give you all a bit of a finale to the craziness that has been our lives for the last eight months. So, here you go, the quick and dirty of England in three days!

We started our journeys in jolly ole' England with a day trip out to the Queen's fav vacation spot at Windsor Castle. We couldn't take any photos of the inside but we took some snaps of the outside of the castle.

Glamour it up!
I think I see the queen, just kidding it's Prince William, just kidding it's Harry, just kidding!

Nice hat!

l
Then it was off to the town of Bath to check out the ruins of the old Roman Baths that were built there circa- a long time ago!

What?

Can I pretend like I'm going to fall in the bath?

Double what?
The town of Bath

Then it was off to the infamous Stonehenge which, by the way, is out in the middle of nowhere!

Baxter kickin' it at Stonehenge of course! Man he had a good trip!

Glamour shot!

Relatives of the people who built the henge?

The next day we had the ridiculous task of trying to see all that is London in a day... But, since Nat and I never back down from a challenge we walked a hell of a long way and saw as much of London as is humanly possible in a day! I can say that it was one of the best days I've had in my whole life.

Classic... allo?

The Natural History Museum dinosaur exibit blew mine and Baxter's minds! So beyond cool...

Babies everywhere!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yikes!

BONUS VIDEO OF THE DAY: They do exist...check out my face at the end, coolest thing ever!

If only I could've seen a Chelsea game inside Stamford Bridge... next time!

Oh yeah Frankie Frank Lampard!

Feeling it!

The big wheel

Big Ben and Baxter

Westminster Abbey

Walking about

Another classic... the old school kind too!

St. Paul's Cathedral

Tate Modern from across the Thames

Where for art thou Globe Theater?

PS- Nat was the creeper who took this shot, but it was so flippin' cute... GO CHELSEA!

ARGH!

Knight statue near the river

The Tower Bridge from a far

Random face submarine

This is especially for Emma, the Irish, souless ginger that she is!

So folks, that about wraps up our incredible journey over the sea! I can't believe it's over but fear not, we will have updates for anyone still interested in the life and times of Nat and Jacie... So, check back every once in a while and see what we're up to. You never know what you'll find but you can be sure it will be craziness all over! Thanks for coming along on the ride and we love ya!

We just spent this past May Long out at the Lake and Meghan may given us an impromptu show and dance!

BONUS VIDEO: The community bathing suit fashion show at Clearwater Lake!

AU REVOIR PARIS... JE T'AIME!

2009-04-24T14:14:00.006+02:00

Well, as many of you know our time here is the city of lights is quickly coming to an end. We have been packing up what has been our lives for the last 7 months and are preparing to move on with the next chapter of our lives... We always knew that this day would come and we are approaching our good-byes with a mixture of happiness and sadness. We've had a hell of a good time here and the people and memories we've made are absolutely irreplaceable. We wanted to send a big ole thank-you to all of you who have shared our journey with us, it has been our pleasure to hopefully entertain you for the last few months! We heart you all and we will see many of you again in the very near future.

But, not to worry we still have a few days of fun left here and we are headed to London before we come back to the homeland, so we'll have some shenanigans for you all.

Here's some pics from Nat Masters last day of work, one word.... RIDICULOUS!

Emma, Ricardo, and the lady of the evening

Fin, working her magic behind the bar

Bobby B and I dancing it out!

YEAH!

Aww, Laura and Nat looking cute

Mustaches?

More ridiculousness

More mustaches... it's kind of our thing!

Alvar and Jules, those crazy boys!

Aw Bobby B, Whitneys going to miss you!

Oh Eva, so dramatic

Thought I would add a couple more of my favorites:

My fav Parisian tree by Ile St. Louis

The old girl at night... gorgeous!

MORE ITALIA!

2009-04-20T11:03:00.011+02:00

BBonjour ladies and gents! I thought I would send a few more pictures of Italy your way... When we last left off we had just enjoyed a lovely night in Tuscany. After spending a relaxing night we decided to get onto the autostrada and make a beeline toward Naples and the Amalfi Coast. After a few hours of craziness at 130 km/h and a few wrong turns, we set our sights on Sorrento.

Naples and Mt. Vesuvius over yonder

Ocean!!!!

The Sorrento coast

The next day we headed off on the ridiculously winding road to the Amalfi Coast and Positano. If any of you have seen Under the Tuscan Sun, the beach at Positano is where Francis and Marcello enjoy a lovely stroll and find a kitten hanging out. The movie is gorgeous but being there in real life was amazing!

Oh, the quiet contemplation

Lyle and Laurie hanging out

Guess what feet belong to who!

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Muscle man Randy Savage!

Gorge!

Ahoy!

Can you spot the secret cave?

Titties! GIANT JUGS, those are some big lemons!

It looks like she's superimposed but we were actually there!

Picture taken on the go!

When you live on cliffs you still have to find a way to build a cemetery

After our amazing day in Positano, we took the next day to relax and check out the town of Sorrento

What are you looking at?

This used to be a old wash house down in a ravine

GQ model anyone?

The view from the top of our hotel in Sorrento

After staying in Sorrento for a few days, we moved back up the coast toward Rome but we made a stop over in Pompeii first.

GLADIATOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope Vesuvius doesn't blow again!

The ruins on Palantine Hill

Laurie hanging out by the Colosseum

Underneath the floor of the Colosseum. The floor was actually made of wood and hasn't survived so you can see the labrynth of passage ways underneath that were used to cage animals, humans, and set pieces that we waiting to be brought into the arena.

Palatine Hill through an arch in the Colosseum

BONUS VIDEO: On the beach in Positano

ITALIA!

2009-04-14T22:55:00.008+02:00

Sorry for the wait everyone... I've been taking some time to enjoy my last couple of weeks in Paris but I thought I would give you some of the pics from our adventures in Italia! I'm still not sure how dad manage to rally car his way through the whole country without getting a single dint on our little Fiat named Marcello! Honestly, he's a magician!

Marcello and I kickin' it!

We spent a lot of time following farmers in their tiny trucks!

A little mountain town where we stayed called Porretta Terme

The view from our balcony

Lyle and Laurie hanging outThe first time Nat had a chance to see actual mountains!

BONUS VIDEO: Some random cliff in the middle of nowhere... I'm sure the mafia dumps dead body there but I decided that a dance was in order... It's what I do!

After staying overnight in a bit of a creepy 'Shining-esque' Hotel Roma, we took a side trip over to Pisa. Sidenote: The Leaning Tower... it does exist, weird I know... and it really does lean!
FACTS

It actually took over 177 years to complete
It began leaning almost immediately after the 3rd stage of construction began
It is slanted 3.9 m from vertical
Basically, the soil it was built on was like a dry alkali bed!

This is not an optical illusion

Really Natalie...

...That's what I thought!

Baxter had to get in on the photo op

After an afternoon in Pisa we headed out on the open road toward Tuscany. We soon found out that knowing how to get there on a map and having ridicuously confusing signs and road construction can lead you into the center of the narrow streets of Florence and into a 6 lane road about where your life flashes before your eyes! By some sort of magical miracle we escaped unharmed using the technique of following a giant city bus and by using the sun to figure out which way we were going we managed to escape into the even more confusing labrynth of roads in the tuscany countryside! I swear I saw the frickin' Minotaur, but we finally made it to the Villa Veronica and had a nice night with an amazingly surreal view out our balcony! Tuscany was so much more than we could have imagined, so relaxing and laid back. It was really one of the places Nat and I had always wanted to go and although I didn't fill my end of the bargain and become Asian and pregnant, we still had a chance to see those "creepy Italian trees!" and be Under the Tuscan Sun! Sidenote: If you haven't seen the movie, rent it now!

BONUS VIDEO: A morning in Tuscany... complete with sexy morning voices and hair!

STAY TUNED: more Italia... Naples, Vesuvius and the Amalfi Coast!

BARCELONA

2009-03-23T23:38:00.013+01:00

Alright everyone who's still out there... I'm back and fully recovered from the whirlwind we've been in for the last few weeks. Lyle and Laurie are safely back in the homeland so I thought that I would take a little time to fill you in on our crazy trip!

BARCELONA

Such an amazing city! If you ever get the chance, check it out. There's sun and sand and amazing architecture everywhere... one word for you... Gaudi. For you folks who don't know, Antonio Gaudi was a Spanish architect in the early 1900's. He had a very unique Art nouveau style that can still be seen throughout the entire city.

PARK GUELL

So many steps... 400?
But the view was worth it!
SAGRADA FAMILIA

Consruction began on this Catholic church in 1882 and continues today. The church is actually only 50% finished and is scheduled to be completed in 2026! Gaudi himself unfortunately died while he was working on the church after he was hit by a tram. Every part of the design of La Sagrada Família has Christian symbolism. A total of 18 tall towers are called for. The Church will have three facades: the Nativity, the Glory (not completed yet), and the Passion. The columns of the interior are a unique Gaudi design and were meant to resemble trees.

Nativity facade- Very naturalist and from afar looks like wax has dripped across the surface but each bump is actually and intricately design animal, flower, leaf, etc.

Tree tops of the interiorThe Passion facade- tells the story of Jesus' crucifiction with cubist statues

CASA BATLLO

It seems that the goal of the designer was to avoid straight lines completely. Most of the building is a mosaic of broken ceramic tiles that starts in shades of golden orange moving into greenish blues. The roof looks like the back of a dragon or dinosaur and the building itself is thought to represent Saint George (patron saint of Catalonia), plunging a sword into the back of a dragon.

MONTJUIC
The large hill overlooking Barcelona and the sea does not just have castle but was also home to various venues for the 92' Olympic games held in the city

The view from the top

Giant cannon for the lady?

We also had a chance to visit the Olympic museum

Creepy costumes from the opening and closing ceremonies... I think someone was still in there!

I learnt how to bobsled... no biggie

Speed cycling too!

Old school foosball... she'll kick your ass!

The Olympic Stadium

Kent, I'm gonna shank you with this!

Pensive?

Of course, we couldn't come to Barcelona without a trip to the ocean... Loves it!

THE STREETS AND OTHER RANDOMNESS

BONUS VIDEO: This is a crazy parade that was happening just outside our place!

Fountain of Youth?

Working the streets

Seriously...

"I'm shaking it up!"

AAAAAHHHH!

BONUS VIDEO: Impromptu singing

STAY TUNED: I still have a ton of stuff from Italia!

BIENVENUE MA MERE ET PERE

2009-03-20T12:20:00.014+01:00

Bonjour everyone! Just thought I would check in with you folks and see if you're still all with me! I've been busy for the last week playing tour guide for my parentals here in Paris. We've had a bit of a whirlwind tour on the city of lights so I figured I'd share some photos with all you lovely peeps.

Laurie flying high in front of the Moulin Rouge

Picnic at the tower
The whole fam damnlyRidiculous

Of course, a trip to Paris isn't complete without a jaunt out to Disneyland Paris! Laurie had an excuse to act like a little kid!

BONUS VIDEO: Welcome to the Magic Kingdom!

Actually, I think there were a couple of big kids!Mickey!

Lyle found himself a nice old car of course!

Then, on Wednesday it was off to Versaille to check out Louis and Marie Antionettes stomping grounds!

The Goooooollllddddd gates
Extravegant much?... The Hall of Mirrors

BONUS VIDEO: Baby making and GOOOOLLLLDDDD!

Can I pretend like I'm going to fall into the fountainWhere's Jacie and Laurie

One of the most interesting parts of the whole tour was the Petit Trianon, which is basically the small village that Louis XVI had built as a gift for Marie Antionette. It was here, away from the Palace, that she spent much of here time socializing, performing onstage, and hanging out away from the eyes of the court and the company of her husband.

The village

Lyle and Laurie back on the farm

BONUS VIDEO: Skipping

Hellu!Glamour shot
Double glamour shot

BONUS VIDEO: Natalie's Disney tryout tape

STAY TUNED: Go out and buy yourself a hat and hold the *bleep* on, we're in Barcelona!

GUTEN TAG!

2009-03-12T11:55:00.011+01:00

Alright ladies a gents, we have the blog to end all blogs for you today! Natalie and I took a bit of a trip to Berlin this past weekend to check out one of my favorite bands perform on Saturday night. Tickets for Jack's Mannequin were only 9 euros so we had to go and they definitely did not disappoint! For those of you who don't know who Jack's is (and I'm sure there are plenty), they are a sort of alternative, piano rock group from California. Lead singer Andrew McMahon, is the former front man of another band called Something Corporate, which is equally as phenominal! He began Jack's as a side project in 2004 but was later diagnosed with acute lymphatic cancer. He began his treatment just as the bands first album, Everything in Transit was released and continued to write songs from the new album, The Glass Passenger. Thankfully, Andrew has made a full recovery and continues to inspire with his music! He has also begun the Dear Jack Foundation (http://www.dearjackfoundation.com/) which helps to fund cancer research and more specifically The Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation (www.pcrf-kids.com), The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (www.leukemia.org). If you have a second, please check out the links, Andrew is not only an amazing musician but an incredible human being who's strength is inspiration for us all.

Now, on with the story!

We left Paris in the wee hours of Saturday morning and were greeted by crickets chirping at the Orly airport. So, what does one do when waiting for a flight on little to no sleep... BLOW BUBBLES!

After about an hour and a half of having the annoying children from H-E double hockey sticks kicking the back of our seats, we arrived in the grey skies of Berlin!

BONUS VIDEO: Guten tag Deutschland!

Oh joy, a new city to get lost in... Sidenote: why are German words so frickin' long!

The tunnel to Narnia!
A quite, contemplative moment.... that's rare!
A naked lady statue in Europe... that's not rare!
The cool thing about Berlin is that when they decide to paint on a building, they don't hold back! We definitely came across some pretty wicked stuff!

We decided to try our first hostel experience and were delighted to find out that we were in fact actually staying in Switzerland... two countries for the price of one!

BONUS VIDEO: Checking in

Still can't believe it's happening!

Not only did the concert happen, but I have to say it was one of the greatest moments of my life. Music is such huge part of my existence on this earth and to be able to see Andrew and Jack's perform in Berlin was such an overwhelming experience... I have no words.

BONUS VIDEO: Here's a small snippet of the concert, sorry for the bad audio! if you want to check out more of Jack's Mannequin go here: http://www.myspace.com/jacksmannequin

If you like Jack's, do yourself a huge favor and check out Something Corporate too:
Something Corporate- Konstantine

After a crazy and overwhelming night out, we had a big day planned on Sunday to see as much of Berlin as we could handle!

We started the day at the The Fernsehturm or TV tower... look up, look way up and I'll call Rusty!

The tower itself was built by the GDR government of East Berlin but it was nicknamed by the western world as 'The Pope's Revenge' because when the sun shines on the Fernsehturm's tiled stainless steel dome, the reflection usually appears in the form of a cross. This effect was neither predicted nor desired by the atheist foundations of the Communist government, and their ongoing suppression of church institutions in East Germany.

Fountain in front of the Red Town Hall

More contemplation with the Berlin Cathedral over yonder
Close up of the Cathedral
Smoky the Bear?

Actually, the bear has been the symbol for the city of Berlin for more than 700 years. It was first used on official correspondance in 1280 and is still part of the city's coat of arms. When Berlin was divided there were two different bears on two different coats of arms. Nobody really knows for sure why the bear was chosen as the city mascot but probably because the German word for it "Bär" is quite close to the sound of the word Berlin.

The Bradenburg Gate

When the Revolutions of 1989 occurred and the Berlin Wall collapsed, the Gate symbolized freedom and the desire to unify the city of Berlin. On December 22, 1989, the Brandenburg Gate re-opened when Helmut Kohl the West German chancellor, walked through to be greeted by Hans Modrow, the East German prime minister.

These guys were the most frightening things we had ever seen! Just look at their eyes... soul less!
The Reichstag
The Holocaust Memorial

The memorial consists of a 19,000 square meter site covered with 2,711 concrete slabs arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field. Eisenman, the architect stated that the memorial was designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason.

We decided to finish the day at the Wall Museum by Checkpoint Charlie. The museum itself has so much information and has collected a lot of artifacts from the time while the wall was up. It was hard to believe that in our lifetime the city was still divided and only in 1989 was it torn down and all of Berlin was finally free.

After we arrived back at the hostel, we were plesantly surprised that we had the entire country of Switzerland to ourselves. So we partied like rockstars and hit the hay so we could get up and check out what is left of the wall at the East Side Gallery. The Gallery consists of approximately 106 paintings by artists from all over the world, painted on the east side of the Berlin Wall. It is possibly the largest open air gallery in the world. The first painting was started in December 1989 immediately after the fall of the wall.

Hey Denise, if we would have known you were visiting we would have looked you up... PS don't get caught with the spray can in your hand or red fingers!

Finally, we thought that in order for you to fully understand Berlin, you needed to know that apparently they have a love for random signs... we found some strange ones everywhere we went and here's what we think they mean:

No New York Yankee ball caps on the metro?... Other teams are perfectly welcome

You can in fact send a message in a bottle out of this metro car window?

No playing kickball, driving, or owning a house of any sort?

Beware, this zone has air vents that may cause skirts to fly up ala 'Marilyn Monroe'
Screw you Mr. Big and Tall... we're large and in charge here in Germany!

This one is for you Kent!

Apparently you must only do first aid on this seat of the metro!

Of course, there are the funny little traffic lights that Berlin has become famous for called Ampelmännchen, which means little traffic men. The Ampelmännchen is a beloved symbol in Eastern Germany, and is one of the sole features of communist East Germany to survive. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Ampelmännchen acquired cult status and became a popular souvenir item in the tourism business.
Well, that about does it for our weekend in Berlin. If you ever get a chance to visit, we definitely recommend it for it's cool, laid back vibe and of course the amazing selection of quality beer for a couple euros a pint! C'est incroyable!

STAY TUNED: My parentals are arriving tomorrow... that's right, you don't want to miss Lyle and Laurie in a foreign land, I guarantee it will be good times all around!

BACK TO THE FLATLANDS!

2009-03-04T21:45:00.010+01:00

Well hello there all you silent observers in the interspace! I hope you're all doing just dandy! We had ourselves a lovely weekend and had a chance to get back to our prairie roots at the Salon de l'agriculture... it's really just a fancy French name for a GIANT Agribition!

Now, it's important to note that when the French decide to hold a 'salon' for something (which they do often for thing such as wine, chocolate, weddings, etc.), they don't skimp out! We tackled as much of the eight pavillions as we could and were pleasantly surprised and found the old saying to be true... 'even though you take the girl out of the prairies, you can never take the prairie out of the girl!'

We were greeted at the entrance by a massive amount of various varieties of sheep both wooly and shaven and we found ourselves a friend in the form of 60240 with the large head:

BONUS VIDEO: No big deal, I'm just a sheep whisperer!

There's babies everywhere!

Nat was a bit apprehensive about the cows being out in the open and tied up by only a rope...
But she worked it out with Daisy the milk cow with the big hooters!
Leave it to the French to have their cows outfitted with fancy bells!

BONUS VIDEO: The White Stallion

The donkey and the ass, guess which is which... I kid, I kid!

This is for you daddio...looks a bit like Chief!

BONUS VIDEO: This little piggy...

They even had some guys working the lumberjack scene... no flanel though, we were a bit disappointed!

They also had a pavilion for the different regions of France that had food, wine, etc from all over. But it was upstairs that we found the rhum party! All the overseas colonies of France had their own booths and the music was pumping... They definitely know how to serve a good rhum cocktail. We found the Martinique booth and thought of Charles!

Where's Jacie?

BONUS VIDEO: Puppies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

STAY TUNED: We're off to Berlin for the weekend! I'm sure we'll find some shenanigans to get into in Deutschland and we'll have loads to tell you peeps when we return!

KARAOKE ATTACK!

2009-02-28T00:05:00.004+01:00

Hey folks, we've escaped the clutches of the horrible rogue assassin group HAETCC! Apparently my bro was the only one willing to save Baxter from the horrendous acts of the organization that captured us! Baxter sends his infinite thanks to you Aaron and also his disappointment to the rest of you who were silent during his troubling and scarring experience! I am happy to say that he is resting and recovering now by drinking copious amounts of red wine and soaking it up with a large spread of french breads and pastries!

I am also happy to report that we have slowly recovered from our harrowing experience and felt the need to celebrate our freedom with what else but a little bit of karaoke! We went out to Cafe L'Epoque again and had ourselves a giraffe of beer! It was unreal!

Then, Nat and Mike began their serenade with a lovely little diddy known as Sweet Caroline! Please note that when Mikey Mike sings his voice mysteriously loses it's Australian accent and becomes like 12 octaves lower than normal! We think he is secretly not really an Aussie at all and really Marvin Gaye trapped in a 20 year old white guys body! And yes, that is Alvar and I having a good giggle about it in the background!

Here's a few photos from the ocassion:

Mike, Nat bust it out!

DANCE DANCE!
Oh Alvar, you're so cute!
WHAT?
Crazy dude at O'Sul's was creeping on us
Alvar's creepin' too!
We started to get a little scared before we got his crazy butt kicked out of the bar!

I also just had a chance to check out Rachael Yamagata's show here in Paris at Le Boule Noir and she was beyond incredible! If you don't know who she is or haven't heard any of her stuff, I added her to the music player and you can check out her myspace page at:
www.myspace.com/rachaelyamagata

or, check out a couple of vids I found on youtube. She really is an amazing talent and such a beautiful songwriter. She was so warm and humble on stage with her broken French and cute giggle! Nat and I could totally relate! Do yourself a favour and take a listen, you won't regret it, she is absolutely stunning!

THE REASON WHY

WORN ME DOWN

1963

LETTER READ

AIDEZ-NOUS!

2009-02-20T02:57:00.004+01:00

We are a rogue group of French nationalists known as the HAETCC, The Humanoid Animals for the Ethical Treatment of Clothed Creatures. We have taken hostage both Natalie and Jacie for their derogatory comments against those creatures appearing in Orangina ads across France and for their general dislike of animals who are only trying to make a living in this world by using their sexuality to sell a product.

If you wish to see or hear from them again, speak now or the consequences will be catastrophic...

BAXTER WILL BE FORCED TO JOIN IN OUR CRUSADE!

KID'S SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS!

2009-02-12T02:59:00.003+01:00

By now you all know that on occasion I like to sing a little diddy or two. I think that perhaps my love of le chanson may stem from songs I learned when I was a wee babe in Madame Thibeau's french class. So, I thought I would share some funny vids I found on youtube of a couple of my favs:

The first is called Je suis une pizza (and yes it does mean I am a pizza)
(Sidenote: it gets a little emotional at the end *single tear)

The next, I have often sang since we arrived here in Paris, it's called Petite Poisson
(Sidenote: I hate it when I forget the words too!)

In the spirit of funny kid related stuff, if you haven't seen these hilarious clips on youtube, consider yourself lucky that you can check it here:

This little girl makes geeks like me a little cooler with her description of Star Wars, plus she has fierce hair! (Sidenote: The shiny guy does always worry!)

These next ones are commercials for Trigon medical insurance and need no introduction:

This little girl drops some truth bombs!

This 2 year old puts my geography skills to shame!
(I didn't even know that Turkmenistan existed!)

VIVE LA FETE!!

2009-02-06T05:19:00.012+01:00

Well, I can say now that I am one year closer to being a quarter of a century! It's pure craziness that I am the big 2-4 now and we of course had to celebrate it like only we know how... with cake, karaoke, and various assorted shenanigans!

Tuesday was the big day and it began in the late afternoon (cause we're lazy bums!), with a darn good cake that Nat snagged from the patisserie down the way. Can I just say it was completely edible and you know we demolished it all!

BONUS VIDEO: All edible?

This is me pretending to blow out the candles for the token birthday cake shot!

Of course, we had to make a toast to the occasion and we had been saving a special bottle for just such an event, that had been aged to perfection! (Sidenote: check out my blazer, I've apparently become mature enough now to own one or as Nat says I could be the ringmaster of a circus... I like option 2!)

BONUS VIDEO: A toast to the power of 24!

After toasting the evening we headed out for dinner with Morgen, Joe, and Jon at an Ethiopian restaurant called Entoto. For anyone who doesn't know much about African cuisine you eat everything with your hands. It usually comes in a large pain covered a special flatbread that has different kinds of spicy stews that you eat by picking them up with pieces of the bread. We also enjoyed some taj, which is a honey wine that is apparently similiar to mead. It was amazing and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly!

When supper was finito we headed off to a karaoke joint so Nat could belt it out, but not before we ran into a couple of funny places along the way!

I love me some impromptu dancing in the streets!

This is a giant vending machine from the future that is ALWAYS open... you never know when you might need some flour or granola bars!

This is where I am sending Nat when I get sick of her!

Finally we made it to the joint and thus began the mayhem!

Subtitles: Me "Yeah it's my birthday!", Eva "No pictures!", Finn "I have a secret!"

Linda and Nat keepin' it real with some Tom Jones... She is a lady!
BONUS VIDEO: Linda/Sporty, Nat/Scary, Eva/Baby, Finn/Posh representing the Spice Girls!

BONUS VIDEO: Laura and Nat get emotional over Meatloaf!

After we had our fill of all that is singing, we headed down the O'Sull's to visit with everyone who had the misfortune of working on my big day! As one of my birthday wishes, we decided that we were only allowed to do glamour shots the whole night!

Work it ladies!
Still lookin good bros!
Allen and Richard will not be out classed!
You know it... FIERCE!
Even Mikey Mike aka Bobby B showed us what he's got... Dave is impressed!

After about 4am hit, it really just became crazy... and by that I mean crazy ridiculous... and by that I mean pure GGGOOOOLLLLDDDD!

Bobby B takes a stellar blackmail photo!
Tonsils...check
Who's leg is that?
After we closed up shop at O'Sullivans and waited for the metro to open back up we finally arrived safe and sound in the wee hours of the morn at around 7 bells and Nat gave me a final birthday wish and posed with her 'mom' hair!... Tho thexty!

THERE'S PANCAKES EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!

2009-02-02T16:32:00.005+01:00

Hello hello, I hope everyone is doing just dandy after the weekend! We had a lovely fun filled end to our week. We had a bit of a shin-dig in the form of pancake night at our flat on Friday and let me just say there is nothing quite like an angry Aussie in the kitchen. Alvar and Mikey Mike took over the cooking operation and it was like a pancake monster had thrown up in our wee kitchen!

Andy, Finn, Christelle, and Laura enjoying the spoils

Laura and Allen chowing down, Bearyn is just enjoying his brewsky

Check out the look in his eye... pure evil Nazi pancake chef

We're frightened!

It was a bit chaotic but at the end of the day and after our pancakes turned into some form of hybrid crepe we were all stuffed and had a good laugh. Check out some of Mike's magic in the kitchen:

VIDEO OF THE DAY: Hell's Kitchen

This is what happens when you have people over to your flat, you're left with tiny amounts of liquor, so Nat thought it would be a good idea not to waste it and peer pressured me into drinking some bourbon those class Aussies blokes left behind!

BONUS VIDEO: Just another liquor advert!

franco- fone + MORE!

2009-01-28T20:59:00.004+01:00

...and we're back in the game! Sorry for the brief intermission folks but we had places to go and people to see... well, not really just a few kinks in the ole' internet connection but we are back and doing fine! I would hate to keep you waiting any longer so here, for your pleasure and enjoyment, is the next installment of franco-fone with the crazy goodness that is Kent Lindgren!

For those of you who don't know the fine human being that is Kent here's some fast facts:

He has been known to transform into baby Grinch on several occasions.
He coined the ever popular phrase BLAMEY!
He enjoys a fine glass of scotch while he sits and reads the paper in his silk robe at the retirement community where he resides.
He hates feet.
He was with me on the day that the heavens opened and we were nearly killed by a flying port-a-potty! His screaming was the only thing that saved us!
He will one day rule the world!

Without further ado here ya go:
franco- fone EPISODE 2

BONUS VIDEO OF THE DAY: Dancing at Chatelet

FLIPPIN PLUG!

2009-01-24T20:01:00.003+01:00

Hey folks, sorry for the lack of updates but we have run into more internet issues... Our landlord decided it was a good time to return the plug we were borrowing for our internet before she had got us a replacement. So needless to say we are bumming internet off of various public places and I haven't been able to post anything lately... But don't worry, hopefully by early next week we'll be back on line and we have an episode of Franco- fone waiting in the wings! Here's a preview of our lovely guest:

This is pure GGGOOOOLLLLDDDD!

BUTTERFLY GLITTER LADY!

2009-01-19T04:37:00.006+01:00

So, anyone who knows me or has spent any amount of time with moi, knows that I often like to sing songs about everyday activities that I'm doing. Whether it's washing the dishes or getting angry at my computer, I often find myself singing a song about my situation. It's an old Horn family tradition (Sidenote- You know a song about everything Harvey!). Strange you might say... but I like to think it keeps me sane!

Well, Nat has been living with me long enough that, she too, has picked up on the singing and we now often give each other challenges where we must use a certain word in a song. This little number entitled Butterfly Glitter Lady, had to include the word pagoda. Can I just say that this is completely improvised on the spot and it is absolutely brilliant. Owls, raw emotion, Japanimation, what more could you want out of a song!

FRANCO- FONE Episode 1 (Josie and Kali)

2009-01-15T21:31:00.003+01:00

Bonjour to you all! Well, we've started a bit of a new series here on the blog. It's called Franco- fone and basically consists of us phoning up someone we know and chatting with them about anything and everything. It's pretty much just an excuse for us to act ridiculous and for you to get to know some of our friends.

Our guest for Episode 1 is the lovely Josie Steeves, who hails from Estevan, Saskatchewan but is currently in her last year of Political Science at the U of S where she is Student Union President. She enjoys tall glasses of Alexander Keiths', red hair, and sitting in her kiddy pool on those long, hot summer nights. She, like me, always has the feeling that her shoes are going to miraculously fly off of her feet and into the water when she is crossing a bridge! She has been known to lay down some mean rhymes in the karaoke mic and bust out the combine on the dance floor. But, most of all, she just wants everyone to 'slam dunk da funk'!

Enjoy!

WHO INVENTED THAT... REALLY?

2009-01-14T21:01:00.013+01:00

So, we finally got our butts in gear and decided on Sunday to head down to the outdoor rink in front of Hotel de Ville and show all these Parisians just what we do best in Canada... skate. Well, me anyways, Natalie's figure skating days are long since behind her but I felt confident that my 15+ years of ringette would allow me to show off just a little on the silver blades of glory!

We went down to the rink on Sunday, which is apparently never a good idea, as the line for skates can be almost a 2 hour wait... so, we thought, screw that, we'll come back another day but not before getting some footage for the next installment of How'd They Do That!

BONUS VIDEO: How'd they do that, cleaning the ice

So, back we went today, ready to enjoy the +5 winter weather (sorry folks in Canada but I had to rub it in!). The first thing we ran into is a common sighting here in Paris... striking workers. They were hanging out in front of the mayors house at Hotel de Ville and apparently they were angry about... the sun????

BONUS VIDEO: How'd they do that, striking

Then, it was on to the skating rink where we paid just 5 euros to rent a pair of skates. Not just any skates... figure skates! Oh my god... really! All thoughts of glory were suddenly dashed, as I had to focus on staying upright and not doing a noise dive because of those damn picks! But, I'm happy to report that no injuries occurred and even the Aussie Mike stayed upright!

Ahh... stupid figure skates! (Check out Mike's parka, apparently his sensitive Australian skin needs a coat that is good for minus 40 weather!)

Our legs are shaking... we need a tostada to calm our nerves!

BONUS VIDEO: Figure skates... who invented that?

Show off... oh wait, she's hanging onto the boards... cheater!
BONUS VIDEO: There's always one show off on the rink!

BONUS VIDEO: Alvar, Mike, and I tried our best to show off too... take that, kid with stupid orange laces in his skates!

Come on Mike, shoot the duck!

Brett was a little chicken... this is how an Australian sissy pants tries to pick up ladies at the skating rink by looking intelligent reading his newpaper!

This kid was sporting a blazer, skinny jeans and a stellar mohawk! Oh, emo frenchies! So bitter, but fierce on the blades!

All in all, we had a lovely day and I'm happy to report that I will never again strap on a pair of sissy...I mean figure skates again!

MUSIQUE+ SASKATCHEWAN+ NINJAS= GOOOOOOOD!

2009-01-09T01:01:00.004+01:00

Well, I always hate the day when I have to take that dreaded step and erase all the Christmas tunes from my MP3 player, but alas, the day has come and I took the Christmas goodness off the blog as well. But, fear not, I have replaced it with some equally good music of the French variety!

The first is one from a lady called Lhasa de Sela. She is a singer/songwriter who was born in Mexico but now calls Canada home. Her music is a mash-up with South American influences mixed with some gypsy/folk and alternative vibes. She actually moved to France for a few years, where her and her three sisters joined a theatre/circus company called Pocheros. If you like what you hear you can check out more of her stuff on her Myspace page.

The second lovely lady you hear coming out of your speakers is a San Fran girl by the name of Rupa Marya, who we had the pleasure of seeing last year at the Regina Folkfest. Her band, Rupa and the April Fishes blur the musical bounderies with songs influenced by tango, gypsy swing, folk, latin, Indian ragas, and the accordian gives some of their songs a distinct French feel. The international mix of their music may stem from the nomadic lifestyle Rupa grew up with, moving from India to the Bay Area to Southern France all before she was ten. Not only is she an amazing musician, but a smart lady. During her downtime from touring, she is a physician and teacher of medicine in a San Fransico hospital.

The bands name 'the April Fishes' has an interesting story. It was inspired by the French term les poissons d'avril, which is like April Fools. Apparently, here in France, on the first of April, people stick little paper fishes on the backs of unsuspecting people. The origin of this strange behavior comes from a story of a French king who changed from a pagan calendar to the Roman one. Many people still wanted to celebrate the New Year in April, so, they would give fishes (the April fishes) to celebrate the beginning of the year (don't ask me why, I've stopped trying to understand why they do the things they do!) Rupa has said that, to them, April fishes represent "people who don't believe in the reality that is handed to them by a higher order, they insist on their own reality." If you want to learn more about this incredible band and the Marya's life, check out Their official website or check out their vid for Une Americaine a Paris below:

While we're on the theme of music, I'm sure that you Canadian folks have heard all about CBC's 49 songs north of the 49th parallel that define Canada for Mr. Obama. Well, Morgen brought my attention to the awesomeness that is the music video for a song called "Saskatchewan" by Les Trois Accords. I'm not exactly sure what it's about (Dom, maybe you can help us out!) but I think he lost his girlfried to a guy in Saskatchewan, cause I guess we're just that cool there! Regardless, the video is all about the ninjas... need I say more?

After the Saskatchewan ninjas, I was feeling a bit nostalgic and thought I would include this hilarious parody of the Hinterland Who's Who (Sorry for the international readers but it was a bunch of commercial that the CBC used to run about various species of animals and ecosystems way back in the 80's and early 90's.) It's something so completely Canadian that I think it bonds us all for life! Anyway, these guys did one on everything that is the lumberjack complete with the same music and monotone voice over! Check it:

THE "FREE"DOM OF SUNDAY!

2009-01-05T14:48:00.007+01:00

Ah, I love it when, once a month, the first Sunday rolls around because that can mean only one thing... time to check out a museum of your choice for the bargain price of... free! Yesterday, Morgen and I decided to wander our way to Musee d'Orsay and after I had a few choice words for the metro and it's lateness, I arrived.

The museum itself was formerly Gare d'Orsay and way back in the day it was a railway station until 1939, when it's platform became out of date. After that it was used as a mailing center during the war, as a home for a theatre company, a movie set, and a hotel. Then, in 1977 the government decided to convert it into a museum, where today, it holds mostly French art dating from 1848 to 1915.

Orsay from across the Seine

The Rhino out front

Because the museum was formerly a train station, the main room itself is a huge, open, bright space where most of the sculptures are on display. Then, there are various rooms that house a large collection of pre to post impressionist art. So, artists like Monet, Renoir, Van Gough, Degas, and Cezanne. I don't doubt the beauty of pieces such as Starry Night, or the amazingness that is Monet but I thought that I would show you some pieces that I really enjoyed by aritists that you may not know.

The museum has a special exhibition on called Mystery and Glitter which is a collection of pastel pieces. I personal find work with pastels amazing. Whenever we used them in school it always seemed that you finished with more color on your arms and face than what was on the paper, but artists like Jean-Francois Millet have some pastel work that looks like it could be done in oil. The realism of pieces like his are so amazing that you sometimes have to walk right up to it before you believe it's done in pastel.

The Bouquet of Daisies by Millet

Another amazing piece was by French symbolist Odilon Redon. His work is often reflective of a world with intense spirituality and has a dream like quality to it. His use of bright colors is a nice contrast in an art gallery that is often filled with dreary oil paintings! "My drawings inspire, and are not to be defined." Redon wrote, "They place us, as does music, in the ambiguous realm of the undetermined."

The Buddha- Redon (1904)

Sam Szafran is another more contemporary French artist that has some amazing pastels. This one is called Lilette dans les feuillages

After wandering through the pastel collection I found that they had a really nice selection of pointilism paintings. I've always found it fascinating that with the use of primary colors in a specific pattern, an artist can create the illusion of secondary and tertiary colors. I love how, from far away, a painting can look like a photograph but as you come closer it is simply a pattern of various color blotches!

Here is a gorgeous piece by Paul Signac called The Papal Palace, Avignon (1900)

This next one is a piece by Maximillien Luce called Le Louvre. Luce was an interesting fellow, in that, he was an anarchist, and spent some time in prison. He often depicted war scenes as well as scenes of the working class and because he was born in Paris and spent his entire life here, many of his works are Paris landscapes. Check out this site if you want to see more: http://the-athenaeum.org/art/by_artist.php?Artist_ID=1705

Finally, I was impressed with the work of Henri-Edmond Cross and his use of color in his landscapes. This piece is called Afternoon in Pardigon. Checkout more here: http://the-athenaeum.org/art/by_artist.php?id=385

On the ground floor and second level, the museum also has a nice collection of sculptures. Many are by influential French sculpture Auguste Rodin, who is responsible for sculptures such as The Gates of Hell, and The Kiss. Perhaps less well known is Rodin's apprentice Camille Claudel. She was often the source of his inspiration, his model, and his mistress. But, she is a brilliant sculptor in her own right. A famous art critic of the time, Mirbeau wrote: "A revolt against nature: a woman genius." and that's exactly what she was. Unfortunately she never managed to establish herself as an artist in the shadows of Rodin and her talent was never fully recognized. She lived much of her life in poverty and was abandoned by Rodin after he refused to leave his wife. Claudet, poor and alone, began showing signs of paranoia and sadly, destroyed much of her work. Here is one of her pieces that survived called, L'Age Mur (The Age of Maturity). There is an interesting commentary of the piece at http://www.boheme-magazine.net/php/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=724, which discusses the meaning of the sculpture and whether or not it is an interpretation of maturing and time passing as the name suggests or whether in fact it is a representation of Rodin walking away from her with his wife.

Finally, here's some shots of the building itself which is, of course, gorgeous.

Oh yes, on the way home, I ran into an jazz band playing some tunes in the square outside the Louvre. Ah, just another day en Paris!

BONNE ANNEE!

2009-01-02T15:38:00.010+01:00

Happy New Year/Bonne Annee to all you folks out there! I hope you had a lovely New Years and aren't feeling the effects of one too many glasses of champagne! Usually this is the time of year when you can't watch television without running into a gazillion 'Best of 2008' marathons! I thought, since I'm sure you haven't had enough, I would scour our archives and find you some never before seen footage of our craziness en Paris. Here you go:

Every once in a while we run across things that remind us of home:

The Little Regina Hotel is perfectly situated just down from Gare de l'Est

We found this sign for Pennant brand Kerosene at the Australian pub Cafe Oz just down from the Moulin Rouge

Despite what you may think, all our time isn't spent perusing art galleries, or dining a chic restauraunts. So, in our down time we have been known to have "who can have the fiercest hair competitions! (Sidenote: I always win!)

This is my best Ace Ventura!

Wow, I think I saw this picture in Vogue!All that's missing are the Mom Jeans! All you ladies know that we were all sporting these bangs in the early 90's!

We have also been known to have fun with food!

Nat made a creepy crepe which warranted an even creepier face and weird fingers too!

Fun with a weird fruit called lichets! This is my cartoon alter ego!

We finally found popcorn and thanks to Laurie we have a nice supply of microwave popcorn that actually has butter on it!

After being here for over 3 months not much surprises us but when Nat had some random tighty whities in her laundry it was a little strange and off-putting!

BONUS VIDEO: Nothing like a little St. James rum the morning after Daylight Savings when the world just doesn't seem to make sense any more!

BONUS VIDEO: My audition tape for the Moulin Rouge!

BONUS VIDEO: I'm not the only one that likes to break out in song. I think that Nat has been living with me for too long. What can I say, she's learned from the master! You'll also notice in the video that Natalie is working on our candy wrapper chain that we have been diligently making since we arrived!

CHRISTMAS HANGOVER!

2008-12-29T15:16:00.007+01:00

Well, I can't believe Christmas has come and gone so quickly! I hope that you all had a wonderful time filled with fun and FOOD! We have finally awoken from our Christmas hangover that was filled with dinner parties and late night shenanigans! Here is tale of two crazy ladies and their Christmas in Paris!

We decided on Christmas Eve to throw a little shindig in our wee apartment for a few of the folks that Nat works with at O'Sullivans. It was quite the international soiree with people from Australia, Spain, Mexico, Holland, Estonia, and off course us Canadian cats! We had a lovely evening filled with copious amounts of cheese, and wine, and even got our hands on some good ole fashion Christmas crackers!

Baxter's ready to PARTAY!

The international meeting of the UN!

Christmas cracker delight!

Crowns+ wine= good times!

A little too good of a time! She got real sleepy at about 4AM, it had absolutely nothing to do with wine! wink*

So, after staying up to the wee hours of the morn to wait for the metro to open back up, we finally got a couple hours of zzzz's before waking up and heading over to Laura and Companies Australian abode. There we dined on lasagna, salad, sweet potatoes, and of course wine and brownies that Lana made with her "dirty" hands! It was quite the feast, so we came home and put our fat pants on and had a relaxing evening of movie watching and opening pressies!

Christelle, Nat, Laura, and moi!

BONUS VIDEO: Opening des cadeaux de Noel!

The meeting of Baxter and Pierre!

After recovering for a couple of days we were invited to a party at Diana and Eric's flat. We had an excellent time and Eddie brought over some authentic Italian pizza that we thoroughly enjoyed!

On the way over we ran into some giant balls! Nothing spells Christmas more than oversized magenta globes!

BONUS VIDEO: We had a jolly good time in the elevator up to the party!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE

2008-12-23T15:04:00.004+01:00

Christmas Eve, it's finally here! I hope that you are all safe and warm and with the people you love today. I'm sure that everyone has already eaten their body weight in cookies! Enjoy! I hope your Christmas season is filled with love and laughter! Joyeux Noel

BONUS VIDEO: A Christmas message from us to you!

NEW SONGS ADDED

I have added some more French musique to the Christmas playlist. One is Douce Nuit, which is sung to the tune of Silent Night. The second is a little diddy called Vive le Vent. It is sung to the tune of Jingle Bells but the words are completely different. We had a discussion about this the other night and us Canadian folk thought that perhaps the French are unaware that the winter wind in flippin' cold and not very Christmasy at all!

Here's the lyrics and translation for the chorus:

Vive le vent, vive le vent,

Vive le vent d'hiver,

Qui s'en va sifflant, soufflant

Dans les grands sapins verts.

Oh !

Vive le temps, vive le temps,

Vive le temps d'hiver,

Boule de neige et jour de l'an

Et bonne année grand-mère !

Live the wind, live the wind,

Live the winter wind,

Which goes whistling, blowing

In the big green Christmas trees.

Oh!

Live the weather, live the weather,

Live the winter weather,

Snowball and new year's day

and happy new year Grandma!

CHRISTMAS MARKETS!

2008-12-23T13:36:00.004+01:00

Well, it's hard to believe that Christmas is here once again! It has seemed a bit strange for us not to be caught up in the hustle and bustle of preparing for Christmas with our family and friends this year. But that doesn't mean we've lost our Christmas spirit! There is so much to see and do during the holidays here in Paris that we decided to go out to the Christmas Market at La Defense with Morgan and Joe yesterday!

Facts about La Defense:

it is the major business district of Paris (think downtown Calgary-esque).
it is the western most point of the Historical Axis which stretches from the Louvre through the Arc de Triomphe up to the Arche at La Defense.
The Arche also forms a secondary axis with Paris' two tallest buildings, the Eiffel Tower and Tour Montparnasse.
with 72 buildings, 14 highrises, and 150,000 workers it is Europe's largest business district
La Grande Arche itself is is almost a perfect cube and was designed by a Danish architect who wanted it to be a 20th Century version of the Arc de Triomphe.

La Grande Arche (Find Jacie, Morgan, and Joe)

The markets that we visited were a mish-mash of venders selling everything from strange looking sausages to foie gras to tribal masks to funny clothes for pirate babies! It was definitely an interesting wander through all the stalls and the smell from the vendors who were cooking food was indescribable!

Christmas Markets and the view toward the Arc de Triomphe

We found Papa Noel in the Market!

We had a splendid lunch in the market made up of vin chaud and a dish called tartiflette. I am told that tartiflette is originally from the Savoie region of France (SE of Paris). Tartiflette is basically scalloped potatoes on steriods! It consists of potatoes, cheese, and bacon or ham mixed together in the giant pan below using the hugest wooden spoon I've ever seen! C'est bon!

After chowing down on our tartiflette we headed over to the giant mall beside the Arche. We made the mistake of entering Toys R' Us three days before Christmas but we found some cool stuff amongst the hoards of people! Although we didn't snap a picture of it, they had a giant triceratops that you could ride and it walked along! I said I wanted it for Christmas soooooooooo bad, but Natalie sad no:(.... maybe nextyear.

We did find this sweet Lego replica of La Tour Eiffel! I want to go to there!

Giant Gingi is a wee bit frightening!
Baxter came along for the day and wanted to get his picture taken in front of the giant thumb!

Later in the evening we had our first sushi experience here in Paris! It was a place called K10 and they use a conveyor belt to deliver sushi around the restauraunt. So you simply sit and check out what's passing on the belt and if you see something you like, you snag it off. All of the dishes are color coded by price so you just save them and they add your bill based on your plate colors. Very cool and very delicious!

Last but not least here's a shot of the Arche at Night

DISNEYLAND PART DEUX!

2008-12-21T21:35:00.003+01:00

After a fantastically fun-filled morning we stopped in at La Chalet au Marionette for what else, A MICKEY BURGER!

mmmm, so good!

After feeling refreshed, we set our sites on Fantasyland where we, of course, made a stop at the Tea-cups! (Sidenote, it's a lot harder to spin that thing when you don't have your dad helping you and it turns out I was spinning it the wrong way!)

BONUS VIDEO: Twirling on the Tea Cups

After twirling around in the tea cups we stopped in at It's a Small World. The line was horrendously long, which was OK with me because I have been having nightmares about that ride since I went on it when I was 10! Thankfully we skipped that one and headed over to Discoveryland! It was here that we ran into another example of the French love for Humanoid Animals!

A cheetah with a shawl, so chic!

Wow, really! He's seems quite pensive!

Discoveryland was definitely one of our favorites! We rode the Oribitron, and a Star Wars simulator called Star Tours. I also over came my fear of laser tag (Aaron, your hockey team is completely to blame!), when we went on the Buzz Lightyear Lazer blast complete with a bilingual Buzz!

But, it was here where Natalie and I "discovered" the reason why we love Disneyland! SPACE MOUNTAIN! When I visited Disneyland in my younger days this ride was broken so it was a surprise to the both of us. It's funny because we weren't sure what to expect and they don't really prepare you for what your in for. They were telling us something about lunettes (glasses), so we were a bit confused. But luckily on Indiana Jones they had done the same thing and we had to quickly prepare ourselves to go on a crazy upside down ride! Space Mountain was the same only add: Darkness, Space, Asteroids, a corkscrew, and ridiculous amounts of laughter and screaming! I can't tell you how funny our faces were in the picture they tooks of us! We came out of there with tears streaming down and sore stomach muscles from laughing so much! Even Nat overcame her fear of rollercoasters and had an amazing time! Space Mountain is a definite must if you're ever at Disney, it's craziness! The good kind!

Soir at Space Mountain

After we recovered from our intergalatic travel, we checked out the shops on Mainstreet and found ourselves some pretty stellar Disney stuff that I'm sure you will get to see us with in the very near future!

The Chrismas Tree at one end of Mainstreet

The castle at the other end of Main Street!

After perusing the shops for a while, we had a chance to see the Candlebration ceremony which is a fancy word for "we are going to have an amazing light show and light up Sleeping Beauties castle with millions of lights!" Here's the results:

We also caught the Fantallusion Light Parade but I haven't had a chance to put the video together yet so there is still more Disney magic to come!

DISNEYLAND PART 1

2008-12-21T00:20:00.017+01:00

Bonjour ladies and gents! Sorry for the delay but I am here again with another helping of Disney fun! Enjoy!

Welcome to the magic (I imagine it's a bit like the gates to heaven!)

Pics from Adventureland where we rode Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril (Natalie was just a tiny bit excited to live out her archeological dream, but she didn't realize it involved going upside down in a rollercoaster!

Then we checked out Grandma G's favorite ride, The Pirates of the Caribbean. We had a good laugh at the Pirates speaking in French, and Joe wondered if Johnney Depp visits the ride when he's living in France!

We also checked out the treehouse from Robinson Crusoe and wondered how they managed to save all that stuff and how they got that organ up to the top of that tree! I guess it's just Disney magic!

Then it was off to Frontierland where we rode the awesome Big Thunder Railroad (We thought it was funny that they had a Fire Assay room in the fake mine, those Disney folks pay attention to details!

Finally, we visited the Phantom Manor which starts with being squished into a tiny room with strange pictures and a ton of people, then you get in a cart that takes you through a haunted house. We thought the creepy dead bride was a little much!

STAY TUNED FOR: Fantasyland, Discoveryland, and Disney at night!

PARADE!

2008-12-18T03:18:00.002+01:00

Bonjour folks! Well, I am happy to tell you that we have fully recovered from our Disney extravaganza! Life has been a wee bit hectic in the last couple days and I haven't had a chance to do a recap of our trip yet but once we get all the goods put together we'll get it to you!

Until then you can enjoy the video I made of the Parade complete with Mickey, Santa, and a few others! (Sidenote: somehow Nat's eyes were even bigger than normal during our time at Disney!)

DISNEYLAND!!

2008-12-17T01:42:00.002+01:00

Here's a little teaser of our marvelous trip to Disneyland Paris! I'll have much more for you in the days to come but we still have a bit of a Disney hangover right now!

A DISNEY CHRISTMAS!

2008-12-13T23:32:00.003+01:00

In honor of our upcoming trip to Disneyland Paris, I have added some new Disney Christmas songs to the music player. One is a lovely number by all your favorite characters and the other is sung by Natalie whenever she gets the chance and Belle in The Beauty and the Beast which is set in France. I found out some interesting info on the origins of the story:

Belle is french for beauty (it is called La Belle et la Bête in french).
The story is actually based upon a traditional French fairytale first published by Mme. Villeneuve in 1740.
The best known version of the tale is Mme. Beaumont's adaptation.
Her version has been adapted for the opera, Broadway, television and film. It is even the title of a song by David Bowie.
Disney's version of Beauty and the Beast is the only full-length, animated film that has ever been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture!
In the Chinese dub of the film, Jackie Chan is the voice of the Beast! so funny!
Did you know that characters from different Disney movies crossover into others! In Beauty and the Beast you can see Bambi's mother (back from the dead apparently!), Oliver the cat and Ichabod Crane in the opening song, and King Triton during the library scene.
Belle can be seen walking across the square reading a book in the Hunchback of Notre Dame and the Beast is a toy in Aladdin! I don't know about you but I'll never be able to focus on a Disney movie again, I'll be too busy looking for crossover characters!

I couldn't resist putting a video for the song As Long as There's Christmas from the second Beauty and the Beast movie! (Sidenote: Lumiere is a very accurate portrayal!):

Just for shits and giggles, here's the French version of the same song called Tant Qu'il Y'aura Noel:

FUNNY MARKETING OR FRIGHTENING MONSTROSITY?

2008-12-11T20:03:00.008+01:00

I can't quite seem to escape it...it has taken over the streets, the subway, buses, and even the pop machines here in Paris! It is something so strange and off-putting that I have been scarred for life. It catches me when I least expect it and makes me want to poke my eyes out with a fork! What, you ask, could possibly shock me so much, here in Paris, where sex shops and peep-shows are more common than pee in a pool?

Well, on the outside it seems like a fairly innocent concept. Orange juice+ animals= profit. But, somehow Orangina (yes, that is the name and before you ask it's pronounced Oran-geena), has taken these two things and mutated them into something so completely frightening!

WARNING: IF YOU HAVE ISSUES WITH ANTHROPOMORPHISM LOOK AWAY... SERIOUSLY!

This isn't the only one, there's a plethora of other animals that have been mutated into ridiculous humanoids. I really can't describe these adverts, here's a link to the rest of the posters that are currently all over everywhere here in Paris:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/18223959@N06/

If these aren't enough to make your eyes bleed, surely this commercial will have you shielding your peepers and screaming for your mommy! Check it out and then we'll discuss:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck14LKBI9GM

OK, so...now that you've taken a look, I would just like to point out a couple of things:

I understand that the French are very liberal in terms of sexuality but... Wow, I feel dirty.
Grizzly bears and giraffes in the same habitat, totally unrealistic. They need to get their facts straight.
Humanoid animal strippers are not OK, especially flamingo ones!
The octopus was completely unnecessary.
The zebras and the bottles and the bunny was just plain wrong!
Flashdance shout out, really?
One would think that mixing fur and sticky fruit juice is just asking for trouble.
I will admit that the transvestite peacocks are kind of fierce!
A chameleon and a flower, impossible!
To use the words of the hilarious Liz Lemon: "I do not want to go to there."
NEVER, I repeat NEVER, take orange juice to the zoo!

There has been some controversy over the campaign here in Europe and the UK. Considering that the drink is aimed at young people, some children's groups are outraged at the blatant sexual innuendos in the commercial. Many equal rights groups are equally incensed by the ads, claiming the commercial showing female animals catering to male ones is sexist. The company that owns Orangina, the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, stated that the ads, done by Paris agency FFL, were based on the theme of pulpeuse (which in French means "containing pulp" as well as "sexy"). They also said that the ad tested well across all demographics and apparently the French Advertising Agency doesn't have a problem with them because the humanoid bear with a loincloth in our metro is still creeping me out on a daily basis!

So, what do you guys think? Funny marketing, or frightening monstrosity?

LA MUSIQUE!

2008-12-11T00:29:00.008+01:00

Well, since it has become apparent that Christmas/Noel is quickly approaching, I thought I would help get us all in the spirit of the season with some new tunes!

I have added The Little Drummer Boy en francais by the French-Canadian artist Roch Voisine. I must admit that all I really knew of him was that my 7th grade french teacher thought he was tres beau! But I did a little digging (aka I googled him), and found out that he is originally from New Brunswick and when he is not performing in Las Vegas, he is a singer/songwriter/actor/radio host in Montreal.

I also added a tune by the timeless Frank Sinatra, because Christmas just isn't complete without a little bit of Frankie to put you in the holiday spirit!

As a bonus (especially for you Auntie D.) I have included The Christmas Song and Petit Papa Noel by the lovely Josh Groban. Petit Papa Noel is a purely French Christmas carol and has no English equivalent, so I've included the lyrics with the literal english translation. Joyeux Noel!

PS- Shout out to G. Gail for signing the guestbook, nicely done, we love hearing from you! The rest of you lurkers should be ashamed of yourselves! I kid, I kid!

PETIT PAPA NOEL

C'est la belle nuit de Noël La neige étend son manteau blanc Et les yeux levés vers le ciel À genoux, les petits enfants Avant de fermer les paupières Font une dernière prière.		It's a beautiful Christmas night Snow spreads its white coat And eyes lift toward the sky On their knees, small children Before closing their eyes Say a last prayer.
Petit papa Noël Quand tu descendras du ciel Avec des jouets par milliers N'oublie pas mon petit soulier. Mais avant de partir Il faudra bien te couvrir Dehors tu vas avoir si froid C'est un peu à cause de moi.		Little Santa Claus When you come down from the sky With thousands of toys Don't forget my little stocking. But before you leave You should dress well Outside you will be so cold And it's kind of my fault.
Le marchand de sable est passé Les enfants vont faire dodo Et tu vas pouvoir commencer Avec ta hotte sur le dos Au son des cloches des églises Ta distribution de surprises.		The sandman has passed The children are going to sleep And you will be able to begin, With your sack on your back, To the sound of church bells, Your distribution of surprises.
Refrain Il me tarde que le jour se lève Pour voir si tu m'as apporté Tous les beaux joujoux que je vois en rêve Et que je t'ai commandés.		Refrain I can't wait for sunrise To see if you brought me All the lovely toys that I see in my dreams And that I ordered from you.
Refrain Et quand tu seras sur ton beau nuage Viens d'abord sur notre maison Je n'ai pas été tous les jours très sage Mais j'en demande pardon.		Refrain And when you are on your beautiful cloud Come first to our house I wasn't always very good But I ask for your forgiveness.
Refrain		Refrain

LE WEEKEND

2008-12-08T12:31:00.008+01:00

Well, I can't believe that another weekend has passed us by and we're just a little bit closer to Christmas! Our paper tree is still alive a kickin' too!

We had a nice weekend here in Paris. Natalie was working nights but still manage to see the light of day and come out on the town with me! On Saturday night we went to the Katia and Kyliemac 200th episode spectacular at The Great Canadian Pub. For those of you who don't know about these crazy ladies, check out their shenanigans at http://www.katiaandkyliemac.com/. They do a bi-weekly podcast on all things French and Parisian, and they're kind of a big deal so check it out!

Our hinterland

Later that evening we went across the river to check out the Christmas tree in front of Notre Dame and I may or may not have channeled the music of on Cindy-Lou Who!

Glamour shot!

VIDEO: The music stylings of the lovely Jacie Patzer

It was once again the first Sunday of the month, so we took advantage of the free admission and went to check out the infamous Saint Chapelle.

HISTORY BITES:

Saint Chapelle was built between 1242 and 1248 as commissioned by Louis IX to house the relics of the Passion of Christ.
The Holy Relics had belonged to the emperors of Constantinople since the 4th century.
By purchasing the relics (including the Crown of Thorns and 30 other relics), Louis IX hoped to make Paris the second capital of Christianity and paid an unbelievable sum of 135,000 livre to purchase them (The chapel itself only costed 40,000 to build).
The great shrine of the upper chapel used to display 22 relics of the Passion, including the fragment of the Holy Cross and the Crown of Thorns, but was melted down during the Revolution. The remaining relics are now kept in the treasury of Notre-Dame de Paris.
The church itself is made up of a lower and upper chapel. The lower was a place of worship for the palace staff and the upper was was used to display the relics and it is here where the king and his close friends and family came to worship
The lower chapel's highlights include: the azure vaults with golden fleur-de-lys, as well as a 13th century fresco depicting the Annuciation which is the oldest wall painting in Paris.

The lower chapel

The upper chapel is beyond description. It's stained glass windows are considered the best of their type in the world. 15 stained glass windows depict 1,113 scenes from Genesis to Christ Ressurection and the Western Rose at the end of the chapel illustrates Christ's return to glory at the end of Time to judge the dead and living. Much of the chapel has been repaired and reconstructed over the centuries but astonishingly 2/3 of the stained glass are the originals!

The upper chapel

Here's a map of the stained glass

http://www.planetware.com/map/saint-chapelle-map-f-f22.htm

VIDEO: Words and pictures just couldn't do this justice so check out the video!

After to basking in all that is Saint Chappelle, we went for a walk around the Latin Quater and Ile St. Louis.

Nat in front of the Palace of Justice

Street vendors along the Seine

Where's Jacie?

VERDI'S REQUIEM

2008-12-04T13:56:00.004+01:00

We had an amazing opportunity on Tuesday night to attend a performance by Morgen's choir (the Paris Choral Society) at Eglise St. Germain De Pres. The Choral Society is a group of almost one hundred volunteer singers who have been performing for the Paris community under the direction of Edward Tipton since 1994. The PCS was also joined by La Coeur des Nouvelles Voix (a choral group from St. Petersburg, Russia).

The performance we attended was at the beautiful Eglise St. Germain de Pres. The Abbey was founded in the 6th century and became one of the richest in France. Over the year, the church has been subjected to explosions, fire, and pillaging because it was built outside of medieval Paris and was responsible for it's own defence. For this reason, the church was surrounded by a wall, a moat, and three towers (only one still stands today). Although the outside of the church is Romanesque, the inside is full of 19th century paintings and gorgeous stained glass.

The church was the perfect setting for a performance of Verdi's Requiem. For those of you unfamiliar with Guiseppe Verdi's work, he was a very influential Italian opera composer in the 19th century. My knowlege of italian opera is very limited, to say the least but after doing some digging, I believe that it was first performed in 1874 in honor of the death of Alessandro Manzoni (a famous Italian writer who Verdi admired). Having never attended any sort of opera, we were blown away by not only the amazing soprano lead but how the leads, chorus, and orchestra melted together to give an amazing performance. It is really hard to describe but if you ever get a chance to see an opera, we would definitely suggest you should go. Check out the music player and scan through for two song from the Requiem. It's nothing like seeing it in a beautiful, old abbey in Paris but you will get the idea!

Special thanks to Morgen for inviting us, we had a lovely time! You can check out more about the Paris Choral Society at http://www.parischoralsociety.org/index.php and you should also check out Morgen's blog Spectatrix- the passionate introvert at http://spectatrix.com/

A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!

2008-12-02T17:25:00.012+01:00

Salut!

Well, the hunt for the ever elusive Christmas lights has come to a close and the results are simply amazing! Read on to learn about the how the events unfolded:

We began the day with a trip down to the BHV near Hotel de Ville. It's basically like The Bay or Sears x10. It's absolutely massive and it was on the sixth floor that we finally found the Christmas wonderland we were in search of! After stocking up on lumiere de Noel we stopped outside, where Nat stumbled upon the place where she will one day get married: Under a rainbow with a Unicorn and a dragon, it's going to be fierce!

We then headed into Le Marais (4th arrondissement), to check out what was happening and were finally able to get some coffee to go at the local Columbus Cafe which is basically like a French Starbucks. I was so excited to actually be able to walk around with my coffee again that I couldn't quite contain myself (I may or may not have peed myself a little!)
After enjoying a leisurely evening stroll we headed back home to deck our flat out with Christmas cheer. We started with the lights and this is what went down:

Nat worked out her stomach muscles by standing on her tiptoes and took her life into her own hands trying to put lights up while balance precariously on our table!

Baxter and I just watched and got all tangled up!

BONUS VIDEO: The big reveal!

We then had another bright idea:

TAPE AND SCISSORS
+

NEWSPAPER
=

CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!!!!!!!!!

We are so excited about our amazing Christmas tree made entirely of recycled goods! Newspaper for the tree and branches, a beer case as a base, bubble wrap garland, and soon it will be decorated with egg carton ornaments and a paper plate star! Here's what went down during the process of creating our miracle!

BONUS VIDEOS: The Making of a Christmas Miracle!

All in all, I'd say we had a pretty great time and we couldn't resist posing by our new tree for a few shots!

Au revoir, until next time!

LE WEEKEND

2008-12-01T00:53:00.005+01:00

Bonjour,

I hope you all had an exciting weekend! I realize that the blog has once again had a makeover. I have been learning new things everyday about how to format HTML codes and add all sorts of goodies to the blog, so please bare with me while I'm learning! I hope you all like the updates I've been making!

Now, on with the happenings of le weekend here in Paris! We had a exciting time here over the last few days. We started off on Saturday with a trip to Chinatown in the 13th near Porte d'Ivry. It was like stepping into a whole new world! We stopped in at a Chinese grocery store called Tang Freres and had a lovely time trying to not only decipher the French labels but Chinese, Japanese, and Indian! It was an interesting experience to say the least and they had an amazing selection of so many things we haven't even heard of before including pomelos, which are a citrus fruit native to South-East Asia. They taste like a sweet grapefruit and are GIANT!

On the way there we had a funny moment on the metro when the train was stalled at a stop and the doors wouldn't close. The metro here runs on a pretty tight schedule so being stopped for 15 minutes left a back log of trains behind us. But, the funniest part was watching people rushing to get into the train because they thought they were going to miss it! But there we sat, not understanding anything they were telling us on the speakers and watching to see if other people were going to get off. Luckily we captured it on video!

Then, on the way back, the train became a sardine can as a massive amount of people shoved on and Natalie was forced to make it to second base with the girl beside her! It was definitely a fun time, especially because we got the giggles and couldn't stop laughing! I wish we could have captured it on film but alas, we couldn't move our arms or legs!

Later in the evening we were treated to the first snowfall here in Paris! Check it out!

STAY TUNED: This week we tackle the task of trying to find ourselves some Christmas Lights!

DON'T FORGET TO SIGN THE NEW GUESTBOOK

NEW GUESTBOOK!

2008-11-30T01:38:00.002+01:00

Hey folks, I just thought I would let you know that I added a guestbook to the blog. So, drop us a message, we would love to hear from all you lurkers out there. Let us know what you think of the blog and if you have any thoughts for future blogs just drop us a note. Don`t be shy, we`d love to hear from you, so take a couple minutes and click the link to sign the guestbook!

PS- I want to send a special shout out to the Grandparents who have been braving the world wide web just to check up on me. I miss you guys and love you, I hope you`re enjoying our adventures!

STAY TUNED- For a wrap up of our fun-filled weekend full of ridiculous metro shenanigans and a trip to Chinatown!

Novelle Musique

2008-11-28T18:27:00.003+01:00

Well, since I'm a big time music fan I thought that perhaps some of you out there may find it interesting to learn a bit about the artists you can hear and see along the rightside of your screen:

1. REGINA SPEKTOR

Regina is alas not from France but hails from Russia and grew up in New York. I had to add her to the playlist, not only because she is a brilliant musician but she is a speaker of the truth. Paris is in fact lovely in the rain!

2. JONI MITCHELL

One of the world's greatest songwriters and a native Saskatchewanian, Joni is a classic. Her song, Free Man in Paris appeared in 1974 on her album Court and Spark and is about music promoter and close friend David Geffen who she traveled to Paris with.

3. SARAH SLEAN

Many of you may be wondering why Sarah made the playlist cut. Well, her new record, The Baroness is not only brilliant but Sarah wrote it while here in Paris. She relocated here to the City of Lights and did some soul searching in her tiny apartment and the songs on the album were the result! Thus, Slean makes the list simply because she wasn't afraid to move her life across the ocean and she has captured the beauty of this city into an amazing piece of music!

4. AXELLE RED

She is actually a Belgian singer but chose to write and perform in French. Ma Priere appeared on her second album released in 1996, it means My Prayer. The song is basically about how people in the world are acting and how she has traveled through Europe and Africa trying to keep hopeful that the world can change. If anyone else understands it better, let me know, my French is still tres horrible!

5. NOIR DESIR

These guys are a French rockband from Bordeaux. Although popular through the 90's, the band hit troubled waters in 2003 when lead singer Bertrand Cantat was in an altercation with his girlfriend after a party which resulted in her hitting her head and going into a coma in which she unfortunately died from. Cantat was accused of manslaughter and spent 4 years in prison. The bands guitarist has recently said they are planning a new album but was unsure as to whether Cantat would be a part of it. The song, L'homme Presse is criticizing the media industry, producing trash tv and sensationnal programs only to make money, and disrespecting the people's intelligence.

6. MORCHEEBA

They are a British trip hop/pop/jazz group from Britain. Au-dela is off their latest album which includes vocals from a number of different artists since the band no longer has their lead singer Skye Edwards. Their song Au dela features a French singer named Manda who is also featured on the song Gained the World. I'll let you know more about her when I do a bit more research, for now, here's the lyrics to Au-dela en anglais:
BEYOUND/NEXTWORLD
I live and die
I laugh and I cry
I empty the sea
I empty the world
I tell the flower
and the vapour lake...

Sky of all colours
Your sun warms my heart

I live and I fear
I cry in pain
In secret, I bury myself

I look for warmth
I escape in the air
To the next world

Sky of all colours
Your sun warms my heart

*Special thanks to Jon for the insider info on Axelle Red and Noir Desir

SOIR

2008-11-26T20:29:00.005+01:00

Well, in honor of Natalie completing her 24 hour marathon of hope last night I thought I would post a few more Paris by night photos. Nat and I took some time to walk around Place de la Concorde and up the Champs Elysees where Christmas is in full swing, complete with lights and vin chaud! (in case you are wondering, the marathon of hope was Natalie working her nannying job, then at O'Sullivans, and back to take care of the kids between 4pm last night to 1pm today! Needless to say she is sawing logs right now!) Anyway, on with the show!

La Grande Roue (Big Wheel) at Concorde

It was built in 1999 as part of the cities millennium celebration. It is 200 feet high and holds over 50,000 individual light bulbs. The wheel was supposed to be removed in 2000 but after side agreements, and controversy, it still continues to make an appearance in Paris' skyline during summer and the Christmas season.

One of the 8 zillion carousels here in Paris

There's nothing like some hot wine while perusing the Christmas markets

The Arc aglow

VIDEO OF THE DAY: Chaos ensues along the Champs Elysees!

LA TOUR EIFFEL

2008-11-23T20:07:00.004+01:00

La Tour Eiffel, better known as the Eiffel Tower.

One can't walk two steps in Paris without being bombarded by the images of this most famous tower. Its engineer, Gustave Eiffel originally planned the tower for the Universal Exposition in Barcelona in 1888. But, after being told that the tower did not fit with the design of the city, Eiffel took his plans to Universal Exhibition in Paris where he built his tower a year later. The tower was initially met with much controversy and was called an 'eyesore' by many Parisians, but Eiffel responded to criticism by saying that "the curvature of the monument is mathematically dictated and will give the impression of strength and beauty." The tower soon became a symbol of the avant-garde movement and is now widely considered to be one of the most amazing pieces of architectural art in the world.

So, you may be wondering what exactly it takes to make one of the most widely recognized symbols in the world. Well, you have come to the right place. I happen to know that:

The tower took only two years to build! (1887- March 31, 1889)
300 iron workers put 15,000 pieces of iron together with 2.5 million rivets.
Amazingly, only one person died during the building of the tower and this was only due to the fact that he was showing off for his girlfriend below!
The tower is a total of 320.755 meters (including the antenna) and 8.56 million kilos!
At most, the top of the tower sways 12cm in high winds.
There are 1665 steps to the top.
Today, the tower is painted every 7 years with 50 tons of paint in three tones of brown with the darkest beginning on the bottom. It takes 25 painters 15 months to paint it with brushes!
The four sides of the tower include the engravings of 72 famous turn-of-the-century French scientists and engineers.
There are actually 4 light beacons at the top that alternatively rotate around and can be seen from 80km away.
During it's lifetime the tower has been scaled by a mountaineer, parachuted off of, almost sold for scrap metal, and during the war the tower was responsible for intercepting a radio message that led to the capture of the infamous German spy and exotic dancer Mata Hari.

It just so happens that I got a chance to visit the tower on Saturday night, and it was absolutely stunning! Although it was a wee bit chilly on the top, the view of Paris from there was breath-taking. I've been talking about how gorgeous this city is at night and from up there, I'm not sure if it could get any better. Take a look for yourselves!

Glamour shot from the Trocadero across the Seine!

The tower is blue because France currently hold the presidency in the European Union

The blue with yellow stars reflects the EU flag. The tower is usually a golden/orange colour but has been blue as well as red before for the Chinese New Year.
View from the top along the river

We had a chance to see the sparkles up close! The tower twinkles for 10 minutes at the start of every hour from night fall until 2 am!

Check out this link to see the full video from the top!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3NkdVeZWQw

DROITE ET GAUCHE

2008-11-21T23:31:00.002+01:00

DID YOU KNOW?

That the River Seine, flowing from east to west breaks the city of Paris in two. Paris is only 10 km by 11 km, so you can walk across the city in less than two hours!

The Left Bank (Rive Gauche), is on the left side as you face the direction the river flows. It contains some of the cities most romantic districts, including the Latin Quatier, as well as Boulevard St. Michel, and St. Germain de Pres. Throughout history the Rive Gauche has been a haven for writers, artists, and philosophers including Picasso, as well as Hemmingway, Simone de Beauvoir and F. Scott Fitzgerald who all frequented the Cafe de Flore and Les Deux Magots during their time in Paris. (Sidenote: we attended a Philosophical Cafe at Cafe de Flore and it was lovely but ridiculously expensive even for Parisian standards!). The Rive Gauche is now home to various bookstores, and clothing stores aimed at the many students attending university at the nearby Sorbonne.

The Right Bank (Rive Droite), is on the northern side of the Seine, and is more well known for it's sophistication and elegance than the more free spirited area to the south. It's most famous streets include the Champs-Elysees and Rue de Rivoli which runs past the Tuillieries and the Louvre. Top companies and banks are generally located in this part of the city but the arrondissements to the north have become much more culturally diverse and free thinking. Including the very bohemian Montmartre and our own arrondissement the 19th. Which is a cultural melting pot including a large Asian and Indian population.

LA VILLE-LUMIERE

2008-11-20T20:11:00.006+01:00

Bonjour,

I can't believe that it has been almost two months since our arrival here in La Ville-Lumiere, quite literally The Light City or City of Light. So, how did Paris come to be known as The City of Light?

Well, at first glance, one would think that it may have originated from the beauty that emanates from this city at night. The magic of the nights here are something I have only recently discovered in my wanderings. As the sun sets it seems as though this breath-taking city only gets more beautiful. As night falls, it is like rediscovering everything all over again. Buildings become lit in spectacular fashion as the boulevards sparkle with the arrival of the Christmas season. The Louvre emits a green glow, the Eiffel Tower sparkles on the horizon, the square in front of Hotel de Ville is aglow, and Notre Dame seems to hold mysteries beneath its shadows. It's an amazing experience and one that should not be missed if you are ever in the neighbourhood!

After my new found discovery, I was sure that I had found the answer as to why I am living in the City of Light. But, alas, the beauty of the evenings here in Paris are not the reason it recieved it's infamous name. The name actually originates from Paris' fame as a center for education and ideas as well as it's early adoption of electrical street lighting. The first 'electric candles' were used to light the Grand Magasins du Louvre and later the Champs Elysees. Since then, Parisians have made the lighting of buildings into an art form and I must say it is simply magnificant. It really does take your breath away! C'est incroyable!

A WHOLE NEW LOOK

2008-11-17T19:42:00.003+01:00

Salut,

Well, as you can see, there's a few changes that have happened to the site. I thought that since we've are living in a new place now, why not shake up the blog a bit and change it up. So I hope you like it and if you want please check out the music player on the right side bar, I'll try to keep it up to date with some lovely French music pour vous!

We had ourselves a great weekend! Natalie started a new job at a bar called O'Sullivan's back in our old stomping grounds in Montmartre. She showed up at 10am to work till 7 but was mistaken and in fact works a shift from 10pm to 7am. So while she slept during the day, I wandered through the shopping streets in Le Marais and Les Halles and found myself an amazing purple purse!

I also had a chance to attend a house warming with Morgan and Joe. Braden and Laura have just moved the location of their Hidden Kitchen to a gorgeous new place near the Louvre. For those of you itching to know what Hidden Kitchen is, Braden and Laura had the wonderful idea to host dinner parties in their home where they serve you a 10 course meal with matching wines. Although I have never been, after tasting some of the food, I would recommend that if you are ever in Paris you should make a stop. I'm sure it is a dining experience you won't soon forget! (plus, they have the cutest Boston terrier named Tatti!)

I thought that it might be a good idea to start a bit of a Did you know? segment to the blog so that you guys could learn a bit more about the place we call home...

DID YOU KNOW?
That Paris is divided into 20 arrondissements numbered from 1 to 20. The 1st and the oldest contains part of Ile de la Cite, the Louvre, and Tuileries. The other arrondissements spiral out clockwise from there. Each of these arrondissements is also divided into quartiers, giving Paris 80 distinct neighbourhoods.
(Can anyone tell us what quartier we are in here on rue Mathis?)

(http://www.hotel-in-paris.org/hotel-in-paris-french/04-district-paris-hotel.htm)

2008-11-14T13:21:00.000+01:00

Grrr Argh!

Well, we are back in the game! Our furious struggle with all that is French internet has finally come to an end! We won the war and are so unbelievably happy to be back with you folks and bringing you info on our travels! We hope you haven't missed us too much because we sure missed you!

Now where do we begin...

When we last left you we were in the process of moving from our vacation home into our more permanent residence here on rue Mathis in the 19th. We have settled in nicely and have even made friends with the lovely Asian man who runs the laundromat downstairs. His smile has a way of brightening our day! Our neighborhood is an amazing melting pot of so many cultures. It runs along the beautiful canal and has shops and markets galore. On our traveling budget, we have taken a special liking to the Bazaars where you can get anything you need for just a few euros. A few nights ago we went for supper with Jon to the Thai/Chinese/Vietnamese place just downstairs and had a delicious spread of duck, and frogs legs (they really do taste like chicken!)

We have also attended our first brunch. (Thanks Morgen and Joe for the fabulous blueberry pancakes!) It was delicious and the coffee from an actual coffee machine was a beautiful thing! Natalie is still in the process of trying to cat whisper their cat Zora, I think she'll come around eventually!

We have also been spending some time with a delightful British bloke named Jon. He has introduced us to his love of rugby and football and has fit in rather nicely to our crazy little world! We have even corrupted his classy brandy drinking ways and he has formed a new love for all things rum! (Especially good old fashion grog!)

This week VE Day was on Tuesday so we decided to make our first trip out of Paris to Chateau Fontainbleu, 50 km south of the city. We took the double decker train out to the forest and spent a lovely day in the Forest, where we climbed amongst the rocks and leaves. It was an absolutely gorgeous day for walking about and sharing a picnic!

We're right there!

She-Ra Princess of Power
An actual holly tree! Can you find Baxter?
Tree-huggers
So cute!
Glamour shot!
Can we pretend like we're gonna fall into the fountain!

The Chateau itself is beautiful. It was first built by Francis I as royal hunting grounds. Francis first introduced the Renaisance to France after captivity in Italy. It was later used by Napoleon as a replacement for Versaille because the Chateau there had been emptied by that point.

Creepy giant fish in the lake (I'm sure they had human faces!)

Peek-a-boo
Where's Jon and Jacie

Unfortunately the Chateau was closed, but it was nice just to simply walk around the grounds and into Fontainbleu, which is a cute little French town full of shops and cafes. It was here that we enjoyed our first taste of vin chaud (hot wine), and where Jon fell in love with grog, otherwise known as hot rum! Afer a lovely stroll we headed back to the train station. We were running late and made it to the station just in time. The whole scene unfolded in slow motion as the buzzer signifying the departure of the train sounded, Jon was yelling to hold the train and I was running in slow motion from the ticket stop and jumped on just as the train left the station. It was all rather dramatic!

VIDEO OF THE DAY: Solid Gold Dancers at the Chateau!

For those of you who are reading this, thanks for sticking with us. We promise that barring any more run ins with French internet mumbo jumbo, we're back and we look forward to sharing our journey with you!

A bientot!

2008-11-04T15:44:00.000+01:00

Hey folks, sorry we've been MIA as of late... We have in fact not falling into the abyss or been taken captive by the French sercret service, no, we have been moving once again and have many stories to tell but unfortunately our internet in our new apartment is causing us grief so we are coming to you from a lovely WiFi hotspot in Parc Monceau.

We hope to be back up and running in the next few days so stay tuned!

2008-11-01T01:03:00.000+01:00

Happy Halloween!

Hope you're all having an awesome Halloween! Natalie, Baxter, and I had our own costume party!

Aaaarrrrghhhhh!

The Queen of Hearts is looking fierce!

Of course Baxter decided to go as Dionysus the god of wine and inspirer of madness and ecstasy!

Check-out our Halloween Special where we share with you the origins of the Jack o Lantern and tell you a scary story set right here in Paris!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofn1-jqX0Wc

2008-10-30T22:56:00.000+01:00

Boooooo0jour,

Happy 'day before' Halloween!

What a strange world we are living in where every store isn't overflowing with costumes and candies galore! Paris had been left nearly untouched by the Halloween craze that has swept through North America but that doesn't mean we can't have a little Halloween fun of our own!

Since, L'halloween is Natalie's favorite 'holiday', I decided to surprise her with a fun filled day of scary goodness (even though it was only the 30th)! Our first stop on our spooky adventure was les Catacombes in the 14th district of Paris. For those of you unfamiliar with the Catacombes of Paris, they are a famous underground ossuary.

The tour began first by decending a winding staircase 20 meters below the surface where you enter the tunnels of a limestone quarry dating back as far as the 11th century.

The quarries

It starts getting a tiny bit scary!

The "quarryman's foot bath" was a small pool of groundwater for the quarryman's personal use

Sculptures in the Port Mahon gallery were created by quarryman Decure who carved a model of the Port Mahon fortress where he was kept prisoner by the English while serving under Louis XV

As you move further through the labrythn of tunnels you approach what is known as the Ossuary. It is here that the remains of over 6 million people are stored in 780 meters of galleries. These remains did not always rest here. Most of Paris' large churches had their own cemeteries but overcrowding in burial grounds such as that in Les Innocents near Les Halles was causing disease and illness. In some cases the ground level of the church yard had risen 10 to 20 feet just from the volume of human remains!

The first human remains arrived in 1786 and were simply thrown into a heap. It was only under Napoleaon I that the site was renovated. Long bones and skulls were arranged in neat rows, providing a wall behind which the rest of the bones were piled in a jumble. Amongst the millions of bodies rest many bodies from the riots of the Revolution and the Reign of Terror that followed, including the body of Maximillien Robespierre.

Walking amonst the millions of bones was an indescribable feeling. I'm not sure if we could have found a more eerie place to spend the day before Halloween. But, if you are ever in Paris, you should definitely consider making a stop to pay your respects to the millions of souls whose bodies now rest deep below the surface in the depths of the tunnels.

After making our way up the narrow winding staircase and back onto the surface, I surprised Nat with a stop at one of the few costume stores here in Paris. We felt like we were back home with the pirate swords, face paint, and wigs of all shapes and colors. We picked up a few decoration for our apartment and headed on up the way to the fanciest candy store we have ever set foot in. Halloween isn't complete without some good old fashion chocolate!

We hope you all have a SPOOKtacular Halloween and stay tuned for a special Halloween Video Blog tomorrow!

2008-10-27T22:23:00.000+01:00

Salut, friends and family!

We realize that we have been horribly absent from the blog for the last few days! But, we have been in the process of lugging our belongings down five flights of stairs, down the street, and back up five flights of stairs to our temporary holiday home on rue Veron! We tried to get to you folks yesterday but had a run in with utterly useless adapter plug-ins for our computers and went on a scavenger hunt to find the nearest "future shop" (Side note: nothing is open here on Sunday!). We did eventually stumble upon an electronic store in the biggest shopping mall we have ever seen... and being that it is in Paris of course, it is underground!

But, we are back in the game now and enjoying the luxury accomodations at Chateau Blanche, just up the street from Amelie's cafe Deux Moulins! Baxter has been enjoying some down time as well and wanted to take you on a bit of a tour of our maison:

Baxter "hanging" out

Smooth operator! PURE GGGOOOOOLLLLLDDDDD!

He felt like he was back in the Cretaceous Period

Baxter kicking it with St. LePage
Playing us a diddy on the melodica
He was so excited about the melodica that he had an accident!

Now, as a special bonus for all you folks who have stuck with us during our absence we have two... yes TWO very special Cribs episodes for you! Just follow the links below and check out our new home!

The South wing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgYOvekxoXA

The North wing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKvXHiSCUyg

Note: Stay tuned for the SECOND FLOOR!

2008-10-23T23:12:00.000+02:00

Hey ladies and gents... We just wanted to give a shout out to all those peeps who have been commenting on the blog!... We really love hearing from you and appreciate you taking the time to check out the blog. So without further ado we give the final Cribs episode of the series, but fear not, we are moving on Sunday and will have a whole new set of lovely Cribs videos for your enjoyment!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK4pZSp_y0Y

2008-10-19T20:50:00.000+02:00

Bonjour

The long awaited Cribs #3. Follow the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlJdgg-5NKM

2008-10-17T22:39:00.000+02:00

Bonjour,

We thought that today we would fill you guys and gals in on some of the interesting things we've discovered while wandering the streets of Paris...

1. If you ride the metro, be prepared to get up close and personal with your neighbour. Also be prepared for any form of entertainment including: accordian players, guitar players, panflutests, poets, and puppet shows. Sometimes the metro gates like to trap you! Each metro station is a giant labrynth of tunnels, do not try to understand how it all works, just follow the signs and always keep your ticket! Oh yeah, and if you think you can get rid of all your change to buy a carnet of tickets, it only takes a maximum of 20 coins, after that it ejects them all and it sounds like you just won the jackpot!

2. There are stairs everywhere! Not just in Montmartre, everywhere!

3. The 5th floor is really the 6th floor and that extra set of steps is a real bitch to go up! Especially with luggage! Side note: The lights in the stairwells are on timers so you don't have to go up them in the dark! We learnt that one the hard way!

4. French dogs are really well behaved but some of their owners are not! AKA: watch out for poop!

5. A map is usually a very handy tool to have but if you come to Paris throw it out. None of the streets run in any sort of rational direction. Plus, you often find the best places when you let go of the map and just wander. This is what the French are famous for and it even has a name, flaneur (a person who wanders the city in order to experience it).

6. Many of the delightful cheeses here have a film on them. We are still not sure if you eat that, we'll get back to you on that one!

7. Nutella contains an unknown form of addictive drug, and apparently tastes different depending on the country where it was made and the quality of the hazelnuts that are used.

8. Apparently it's legit to drink alcohol whenever one feels like it. On the steps of the Sacre Couer, at the Eiffel Tower, or even in a metro station.

9. French beer is surprisingly very good.

10. Be prepared to be on display for all to see. Parisiennes have made an art out of people watching and every cafe and restaurant is set up so that everyone at the table can creep on those mulling about on the street. It's actually quite entertaining!

11. Coffee here comes in itty bitty little cups and costs you a small fortune!

12. Do not, under any circumstances eat a nut off the ground in a park!

As a bonus we thought it was about time that we brought you some never before seen photos from our wanderings about the city. So, sit back, relax and enjoy:

The view down the street from our humble abode
(Note: as the sun sets this lovely corner is occupied by a lovely madame of the night!)

The stairs in this city are deadly!

I've sent Natalie to live in a small cubby hole in the Jardin de Plantes

Where's Natalie?

This is a daily occurance for moi! We eventually find our way somehow, usually without the map!

The view from inside the Louvre

Note: It's pretty incredible that all those different statues are actually lifesize!

We couldn't resist. Smoking is bad for you but these made us think of you buddy!

Baxter had a good time soaking up the sun in front of the Invalides

Beautiful

It really does exist and it's giant!

Please, stay tuned, we promise to bring you Cribs #3 this weekend!

2008-10-14T21:47:00.000+02:00

Hey folks... now we realize that we have been absent for the last few days but a las we have been busy dealing with various life issues like where we're going to live at the end of our stay here a the Chateau Montmartre... Fear not though, we promise not to disappoint all you anonymous lurkers who we urge to make yourself known! (we like comments people!)... We are back now and hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend. We certainly tried our best to have a lovely feast here and were very thankful to be enjoying it en Paris!

We had an eventful weekend enjoying the city and making our first trip to the Canal... We wondered about for the afternoon and if everything works out we hope to be staying in a place that is not far from the Canal so we'll bring you pictures galore... After a nice afternoon out and about, Natalie had a sleepover at the house where she is nannying and I held down the fort at the Chateau and to my surprise I was treated to an impromtu fireworks display!

BONUS VIDEO OF THE DAY: Fireworks in front of the Sacre Couer

After a relaxing Sunday complete with a picnic in front of the Eiffel Tower we headed over to Jean Michel's and proceeded to play knock knock ginger with his neighbors until we finally found Hugo and Joeffrey! They treated us to champagne and pasta alla carbonara and we played a rousing game of Euro Monopoly en Francais might I add! We had some laugh and got our butts whooped by the two savvy Frenchmen and headed home for the night.

We've started to get settled here and have become accustomed to the all the nuances that give Montmartre it's own unique identity. Nuances such as the transvestite that greets people and families on our street as they go about their day to day lives (we have affectionately named her "Gladys of the kNight". She is pure GOLD and one of the many reasons we love Montmartre!

2008-10-10T12:24:00.000+02:00

BONUS VIDEO OF THE DAY:

The long awaited MTV Cribs part deux!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP1LT8oQY0U

2008-10-09T21:49:00.000+02:00

Baxter was a bad dino today! We caught him in the act!

BONUS VIDEO OF THE DAY: MTV Cribs (part 2)

Stay tuned!

2008-10-08T22:57:00.000+02:00

Aujourd'hui we decided to go check out Parc des Buttes Chaumont. It's a strange feeling going from the hustle and bustle of everyday life here into one of the most beautiful parks we have ever seen. When the Parisians decide to make a park they spare no expenses and this one was complete with:

A lovely waterfall

Steps with a crazy person at the top!

A bridge over not so troubled waters

An excellent view of our humble abode

A New York funky tree

And, to our surprise some Canadian geese. We figured they must have hitched a ride in our plane and got all confused and figured a Parisian life isn't half bad. A beautiful park, an unlimited supply of French bread, plus they can bully all the other wimpy Parisian birds. Ahhh, we've taught them well!

BONUS VIDEO OF THE DAY: How'd they do that?

2008-10-08T09:09:00.000+02:00

BONUS VIDEO OF THE DAY

Follow the youtube link below for an exclusive tour of : Notre maison (part 1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6vvEmO7iac