Worst blogger ever

I am a terrible blogger. Its has been almost a month since my last post and the worst part is that the past month has actually been really quite exciting and I have lots to blog about. It starts off with my mom coming to visit me. She arrived on The 29th of October, and after a very unfortunate lost baggage dilemma we were able to fully enjoy our time together. We spent the first 2 days in Paris, wandering around my neighbourhood and visiting the Pere Lachaise Cemetery. It is the place where famous people like Jim Morrison, Chopin, Oscar Wilde and Edith Piaf are buried. It is also incredibly beautiful and some of the tombs are really something else. It was a perfect time of year to go because the leaves were just starting to change colour.

On the Sunday morning of my mom's visit we got up early and caught a train to Bruges, Belgium. It is a rather small medieval town quite close to the border of Holland. In the 14th and 15th centuries, Bruges was a very important port because of the canals that made trade easier. (sorry for the horrible history lesson!!) Anyways, it is now a very beautiful place, although a bit sleepy. Mom and I drank really great beer and ate belgian waffles and mussels and other flemish specialties. We spent 3 days walking around the pretty town, wandering into cathedrals, museums and lots of chocolate shops.

Once again, the time of year was really great because the colours of the trees made all of our pictures really beautiful. We spent a really nice 2 nights there but I am not sure there would have been much more to do if we had been staying any longer. Its a great place but it is also quite small.

Our next few days in Paris we visited the Musee D'Orsay, the Catacombs of Paris, and I took mom back to the Monet exhibit. Since mom has been to Paris a few times before, we didn't do all of the touristy things and it gave us a chance to do some stuff that is more off the beaten track. The best part of her being here was mostly just getting to catch up. We made really tasty dinners at the house and drank good wine, we slept in a little later than we should have and maybe stayed up too late too. It was a really fantastic week and it did make me miss home a bit more.

I forgot to mention before that during this time, the family was away in the Mauritius Islands so I had the house to myself and mom stayed here with me. It was a good break from "work" and when the family got back I was happy to see them again. Since then, I have been back to the daily routine of hanging out with the kids and going to my french classes.

This past weekend, Graham Johnstone and his wife Erny were here in Paris! The 2 of them are living in Algiers, Algeria right now for Grahams work. I met up with them for Dinner on Friday night to catch up and it was really great. On Sunday Afternoon, we met again and went to the Moulin Rouge to see the show. I have to say that it was not something I was really expecting to do while here, because I thought it was pretty touristy but I was pleasantly surprised. Although it clearly isn't something that Parisians do, it really blew me away. The costumes, the dance and the whole allure of it was really something incredible. There must have been around 100 performers and at least 100 different costumes (all of which were equally sparkly, feathery and just beautiful) in the 2 hour show. At one point, a pool lifted up from the stage and a girl swam with 3 pythons, each at least 2 meters long. After that, 6 miniature ponies came on stage. My jaw was on the floor for most of the show!

After the show, Graham, Erny and I walked for a while and found a nice restaurant, ate a nice leisurely dinner and walked some more. Since I arrived here in August, I have heard people talk about how amazing Paris is at Christmas but I wasn't really prepared for it to start so soon. On our walk after dinner, we passed by the Galeries Lafayettes and Printems, the 2 largest department stores in the city. They had apparently recently unveiled their new window displays, because there were at least 40 people ogling at each window. When we finally did get to look, I understood why so many people come to see them. The ones at Printemps were all done with a theme of art, so all of the backgrounds have a print of a painting from the Louvre. I can't really explain how incredible they are, so I took a few pictures. The don't however do them much justice either!

The other thing that is very Christmassy, is the Christmas markets being set up. There is one at the bottom of the Champs Elysee, and another in La Defense but they are not just any market. There are hundreds of little, wooden, cottage type houses everywhere!! The markets open this weekend and I am dying to see what it turns into because I have to say I am a little confused by the houses at this point.

The main road here in La Garenne Colombes was decorated yesterday with big garlands of real fir branches and gold. It even smells like Christmas!! Everyone getting in the spirit here is making me excited for the holiday season... and for coming home!

Because I have so many pictures from when my mom was here, I think I am going to try to post a few every couple days. They take a long time to load so if I do it that way, maybe I won't get so frustrated.

Apologies again for being a bad blogger.

Love you all,

Margaux