Drei Mädchen Hause

some German for old times sake and to please a little bit my father. This week end I had the most beautiful time. Monica and Cristina joined me in Paris for three days.

As they know Paris more or less we acted more like "natives" and less tourists. Therefore: hairdresser, shopping on Rivoli and most of all they decorated my house. As Ioana gave me a coach, a table and a lot of other little things, Florence gave me a washing machine I really needed to put some order in my 28 square meters. And it was done in less than a day. A new "penderie", a lot of lamps and it looks like the most adorable little nest.

As Monica's mission was also to calm Mom's fears about my place in Paris she took a lot of pictures. Here are some with the little garden in front of my apartment. It looks rather nice and I really enjoyed during the summer reading a book or sipping a glass of wine on the benches.
Afterwards we took a scroll on Montmartre as it was the feast of the wine with Anne and improvised a cheese -wine picknick on the stairs of Sacré Coeur. And we did not succumb to the temptation of these sweets.

It can't be the City Hall...yes it is... no it isn't

YES IT IS! Take a regular, fairly intelligent, educated, East European (with a heavy central european background) woman in her early thirty, put her in an Eurostar and just let her wonder in London.

Here I was... Alice in Wonderland.

What an wonderful experience to walk in London with my sisters. Monica as the perfect guide and Cristina as the most attentive and quick to understand. Names of places so familiar from readings, and films, popped out from our memory and brought smiles on our faces if not explosions of laughter.

We walked around in parks (I am reading now Ms. Dalloway - we talked about it with Monica while in London). Now I can follow characters moving around Westminster, park St. James…

As Monica lives near Greenwich we visited also the Marine Museum (only Cristina in fact because with Monica we just wanted to walk on the grass and especially relax in the shade of the Astronomical Observatory thinking about... time.
It is such a different city, so full of surprises, so alive. It reminds me in a way of Berlin, not really in architecture but in this openness towards experimenting with heritage and creativity.

Paris, while probably one of the most beautiful cities in the world, is lacking this state of spirit.

Some pictures with us and the wish we will meet soon.

I confess that I am in love...

with this city. It is probably the biggest tautology you read today. And the odd thing is that it is true (ha ha ha).

Staying at Ioana's house (she has a TV set and an oven - magic devices) allows me to walk from the south of Paris (2 km south of the Montparnasse tour) to my office located near the Opera.

This part of Paris is rather richer than the north one (where I usually live) and much better organised. The display and the adverts of the shops for instance are more in harmony with the architecture of the buildings than on Boulevard Voltaire for instance.

So, since Monday, every morning, I cross the Quartier Latin, the Jardin de Luxembourg, la Tour Eiffel and the very, very chic Avenue Montaigne or, even more impressive, the Place de Caroussel and the Louvre.

Add to this the best weather (sun and wind) and you have my daily "happy cocktail".

Today I plan to take a book and just sit in Jardin de Luxembourg and read. Yesterday I was in a hurry when I crossed the park, but today I will take my time, I will read and especially I will day dream about the two day trip to London planned for Saturday. We will visit Monica's new place and a little bit on the city.

And you? How are you?

Happy moments...

to share with you. Small, very small things happened, things I saw or hear this week-end and made me happy.

Firstly the weather: a beautiful blue sky and a very naughty little wind that made you shiver, but not nasty at all.

I decided at around 11.00, on Saturday morning, to explore the market at Barbes-Rochechouart. My advice is to start earlier if you do not want to be traped, without malice and very friendly, in between two human streems trying to move down and up the very narrow space under the metro lines. But I am very, very proud that I got 2 kilos of tomatoes for 1 euro and 2 kilos of pears for 1 euro. This means that I will eat mainly tomatoes with pears for one week. :):):)
A happy moment, especially for my wallet.

Another happy instant: the walk I took on Sunday to Beaubourg (every first Sunday of the month the museums are free of charge - not the extraordinary exhibitions just the regular ones): silence, the boulevards empty of cars and scarcely somebody on the street. I took my time to look around while going down the hill.

The exhibition, Big Bang, tries to fit in a quite little space (the museum is under reconstruction until January 2007) quite a big issue: the Deconstruction/Construction of the world. Everything started with a huge explosion that created the world as we know today. An exciting travel into modern art, with wonderful exhibits, just that, when I got out, the world as we know today was not very appealing and all I could thought of was to lye down on the pavement in front of the museum and just wait for the end.

But did not have the time. At around 3 (and it was already 1.30) I was supposed to meet Anne at l’Arc de Triomphe. And I decided to walk instead as I had some kilometres (4,6) in front of me.

I got better and better walking on the banks of Seine and everything was fine when I met Anne.

And your week-end?

Technical stuff

Hello,

In order to leave a comment you just have to click on "0 comments" and tick Anonymous. If you click on the enveloppe is to send me a message.

Cheers !

Monday blues

Good evening dears,

The day is over and the blues is little by little gone. Thought, before leaving the office to let you a little note with the latest news:

I got wonderful news from Tunis. Caroline and Milad had a baby girl, Audrey, on 28th of July. So you can imagine that I started the weekend with the best feeling ever.

Saturday: Bruckner (7th symphony) in front of the Sacré Coeur with the Orchestre de Ile-de-France conducted by Yoel Levi. Beautiful and touching. Especially when a family behind me started making signes with one of the musicians (contrebas) like we used to do with our father when we were kids (and long after).

Sunday: I made a walk from Montmartre to the Madelaine, Concorde, Saint Michel and than to the Romanian Church (really pleasant to hear again the service in Romanian) and than back home crossing the Paris Plage (not so impressing under a grey sky and quite a wind), la Mairie de Paris, Beaubourg (un clin d'oeil to Brancusi). I should take a camera to illustrate a little more my sayings.

And yours? How was your weekend wherever on this big/small Earth you are?

Bises

Ioana

Friday Fever

Thanks for your encouragements. A little bit under pressure (especially that it is no spellcheck here).

After an evening of craizy laughters in front of "Angélique et le Sultan" and a small (very small, mom) glass of cherry brandy at Ioana's I started later this morning and got the chance to see Boulevard des Capucines from Madelaine to the Opera comming to life. Tables being prepared and this wonderful smell of viennoiserie and coffee in the air.

I couldn't resist the temptation (yes Kiki) to enter the Starbucks near the office and buy two very nice coffees: coffee of the day - delicious and a macciatto for Ilinca.

And I tell you: life is soooo much better with a nice warm coffee cup in my hands, surrounded by bits of morning conversations and most of all thinking ahead that I will tell you all about this morning. Ok it is also Friday.

And you? How are you?

Some mix photos

My mom and dad in Louvain. They discovered this garden with Daniela last year and we went for a walk this spring.

Some of my family, several years ago: the golden years : Dad with Ioana, Mom wiht Cristina, Mama-I with Monica and Mircea

With our brother, Alecu, in Romania this winter. My favourite still picture: empty bottles and Monica's favourite no more cookies. Ha ha ha

I love this picture from Scotland. For those familiar with "Le pays des Trente-six mille volontés -The Country of Thirty-six Thousand Wishes" of André Maurois it seems like the bit of sky the tailor uses for Michaela's dress.

Welcome

Dear friends,

as it is obvious that I do not manage to talk to you as often as I would like I decided to try "to blog". (I do not know how is it translated in fact in English but it is very fashionable now in France).

So I'll start tomorrow with some very intelligent and meaningful (HA HA HA) insights of Paris in the morning.

So can't wait to meet you here very soon.