Drawing

When in Paris, you can't help but be inspired by the arts. The museums -- which honestly I haven't even started to hit yet -- are amazing. The streets around Montmartre are full of artists doing portraiture and selling works of varying styles. And in the parks and street-side cafes you occasionally see people sketching.

The city has a long tradition of being a world center for the arts. I'm currently reading The Greater Journey - Americans in Paris by David McCullough, which tells the stories of American expats -- many of them artists -- coming to Paris from the 1830s onward. I've enjoyed reading it and learning how our experience and reactions to life in Paris are very similar to those of Americans coming over almost 200 years ago. Much of the book is focused on artists such as Mary Cassatt, John Singer Sargent, James McNeill Whistler, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Samuel Morse (yes, of the telegraph), and others who came to Paris to learn in the French art schools and from the paintings of old masters that hung in the Louvre and elsewhere.

Despite coming from a family of artists (my grandmother, four aunts on both sides of the family, and now two cousins all were/are artists by profession), I've always been more of a dreamer than a doer. While I could easily drop $100 in an art shop, prior to coming to Paris I'd spent a grand total of maybe 10 hours in 25 years doing anything artistic (with the exception of photography, which I've continued to do on a regular basis).

But if I was ever to do anything more, how could I pass up the opportunity to start working on some drawing or painting while in Paris. So, I took advantage of the classes offered by WICE and signed up for a three session drawing course.

The course was taught by Jan Olsson, an American expat who has lived in Paris since 1990. We had six students of varying abilities and under Jan's guidance we all improved a lot and got comfortable sharing our work with others. It was really an enjoyable course and I look forward to taking some of the next sessions throughout the year. I also look forward to continuing to practice, learn, improve my drawings, and take on new and more challenging subjects.

Here are a few that I've done recently.

Le Ferme

Last weekend we made a trip out near Versailles to visit Les Fermes de Gally - a huge farm that sits just beyond les jardins de Versailles.

The main goal of the trip was to continue our October tradition and pick out a couple of pumpkins for carving. Upon arriving we saw that everybody was grabbing wheel-barrows so we did the same and headed into the farm.

Our first stop was the orchard that had rows and rows of apple trees of all different varieties. We all enjoyed picking the apples, particularly the Golden Delicious variety. I remember them tasting good as a kid but it seems that over the years they have become mushy and tasteless in the States. Over here it is like the '70s again -- they are crisp and taste great.

After filling most of a box with apples, we walked over to a variety of fields and greenhouses and picked a few strawberries and a bunch of tomatoes. We then made our way back to the pumpkins and the kids made their selections.

It was fun to be able to get out of the city, get a bit muddy, and do something that made us feel very much at home.

Riding the Metro

Our primary form of transportation in Paris is the Metro. It quickly gets you to just about anywhere in 10-30 minutes. We'll use it fairly regularly to go places, particularly when we want to get out and see a bit of the city.

While it is fast and convenient, it can also be quite crowded. This was a concern for us even before arriving in Paris and was the biggest factor in deciding to pick an apartment within walking distance of the school.

One of the first things we did upon arriving was talk to the kids about what to do in the event that we somehow became separated on the Metro -- for example, if not all of us was able to get on or off in time. The plan is really quite simple. Whoever is on the Metro rides to the next stop, gets off, and stands on the platform. The other(s) then catch the very next train. They ride it to the next stop and when the doors open there will be rest of us. While it is simple, I'm sure the 2-4 minutes in between trains will seem like a terribly long wait for all of us if one or both of the kids get separated.

Fortunately, we haven't had to use this plan but last week we came close. Most trains all exit on the right side  doors. A few will alternate right and left depending upon the station. But one that we ride fairly regularly has doors open on both sides at the stop we use to transfer. This is a very unusual layout. We first discovered it very early on when we got off on the wrong side and couldn't find the connection to our next train back home. When I finally sorted it out we had to wait for a train to arrive then all dash across the train to the other side.

So last week we were at this stop and all headed towards the next train. As I was walking I noticed that Clay wasn't with me. I sped up a little to see if he had scooted up toward Erin and Paige, who were a little ahead of me with a few people in between. I didn't see him there so made a very quick decision to head back against traffic to the train.

At each stop the trains will have their doors open for about 30 seconds. When I got back to the train I saw the doors still open and Clay standing alone on the other side. We had gone one way and he the other. I should have kept a much closer eye on him, especially at that station. But I'd grown a bit too comfortable.

Fortunately Clay was able to dart across the train to my side before the doors closed -- another 5-10 seconds later. It was a good reminder for us.

We are not alone

Paris is an excellent city for expats. The number of anglophones and organizations that support anglophones is amazing. We have already done activities with the school, the American Church in Paris, WICE, and Message. The latter two are specifically geared toward providing activities and support for English-speaking residents of Paris.

There are walks, coffee hours, tours, classes, conversation groups, seminars, neighborhood gatherings, message boards, books, and more offered by these organizations.

This past Saturday we attended the Bloom Where You're Planted seminar hosted annually (since 1970) by the American Church in Paris. The program is geared towards new anglophone arrivals in Paris. There must have been somewhere around 100 attendees.

There were talks on discovering Paris, the markets, starting a business, the French education system, raising happy kids, staying healthy, cooking, etc. One talk focused on the stress associated with being an expat -- something we really related to.

The day also provided us a chance to talk with other expats and to share stories and advice. That is something that we've enjoyed as we've met a variety of people through the activities of these various organizations.

The best part of the Bloom Where You're Planted day? The all-day child care was great. But, tops was closing the day with wine and cheese tasting. They offered about a half-dozen wines from various regions of France with a complementary variety of cheeses. It was wonderful.

Photos - Versailles

We explored the gardens during "Les Grandes Eaux Musicales" when all the fountains are on and classical music is played in the background. It was quite lovely.

The geese were a lot of fun until "Meanie" aggressively grabbed a bit of ice cream cone from Paige's hand

Erin's brother Clark stayed with us for a few days and joined us on our visit to Versailles

We enjoyed renting bikes and took a nice ride around the 230 acres of gardens