Amsterdam in the spring

Sorry for the absence. We spent last week in Amsterdam where Troy held one of his two big panel meetings of the year. And it was great! Friendly people, beautiful weather (unusual for the Netherlands in April we're told) and endless things to do and see.

While Troy toiled away with his conference, the other Monkeys went to the nicest zoo we've seen in along time, the NEMO science museum, a massive indoor play area, and all sorts of walking. Our Dutch hosts also set us up with a 90 minute canal cruise past all the famous sites:  the Anne Frank house, the Opera, the skinniest house in Amsterdam (about 20 feet wide) and lots of others. On Thursday afternoon, after the conference we all went to the Keukenhof Gardens, where there are literally millions of tulips, roses, hyacinths, etc on display for 6 weeks of the year. Stunning! 

An exhausting week but well worth it. Allie did a great job walking long distances without much complaint, and didn't even seem to notice the ladies in the window dressed only in their underwear as we skirted (ha!) the edge of the red light district. And Troy finally got some Indonesian and Malaysian food. Yum!

And this weekend - off to Bretagne for the 1 May holiday (French equivalent of labor day)!

An interesting Easter discovery

Even though Easter was two days ago, we just got another reminder how differently France and the U.S. celebrate, particularly with regard to Easter eggs.

The French don't particularly subscribe to the whole Easter egg thing. Chocolate eggs, sure, they're OK with that, but the concept of dyeing actual chicken eggs is not something they do here. First, it was pretty difficult for us to find white eggs. All the eggs here are brown. No better or no worse, just the product of darker colored chickens (white chicken breeds typically lay white eggs, brown/gray ones lay brown eggs).  It's not impossible to dye brown eggs, but let's just say pink doesn't work well and the green looks like something out of Dr Seuss.

We did finally find white eggs that we could dye for Easter - in the kosher section of the supermarket. I enjoyed the irony of that. We already had some Paas dye shipped to us earlier in the month, and off we went, a-dyeing.  So far so good.

And then, Allie surprised us by bringing home some candy and 2 colored eggs (real eggs!) home from school. How charming! Understanding that she has kids from all over the world in her class, Allie's teacher went the extra mile (or 1.67 kilometers, I guess)  and had them color eggs. And they were colored very nicely too, in thick enamel paint with a swirling 2-toned pattern.

Dana held one to her ear and shook it tonight. It sounded...different. Good thing Allie never dropped the eggs. Next year, we need to explain to the French that you must boil the eggs first.

A secret glimpse of the Ecole Maternelle

The little monkey had a back to school night at her school a few days ago.  Needless to say we jumped at the chance to get a glimpse inside the school and actually see hard copies of the projects they do in their 15 hour day (Ok, a bit exaggerated).  Some of the past blogs about the Ecole Maternelle explained to our readers that parents are not allowed in.  You leave the kids with a hug and a kiss at the big blue doors and hope that they find their way.  So, we thought it would be fun to smuggle in our camera and sneak a few photos to give you a peek inside a French public preschool. 

Keep in mind this is one of the smaller ones you will see but generally they all follow the same pattern.  The cement courtyard as you see in the picture is quite small and one can only imagine what "recess" is like with 50 kids running throughout.  A lot different than the spacious green grass, monkey bars, swings, basketball hoops we grew up with but then again, we weren't in the middle of Paris.

The classroom is quite organized thanks to the new teacher (Allie's third one for the year).  As expected, we were bombarded with materials Allie has completed throughout the semester.  We were pleasantly surprised that there were more happy faces on her work than sad. (The French grading system in the Maternelle)  She actually understands the assignments now as opposed to resorting to just doodling on her paper.  

All in all, we were pleased with the visit, didn't get caught taking our hidden pictures and glad our little monkey is finally settling in and learning French.

As far as where she will be headed to "kindergarten", well... not this school.

Paris Marathon Pictures-2009

The Paris Marathon

Today was the 33rd running of the Paris Marathon. With something like 35,000 participants expected from 90+ different countries, it's a pretty big deal. And fortunately, the finish line was about 3 blocks from our apartment. 

After watching the first 2 hours on TV, we went down to the final turn to cheer for our friend Steve, who finished in about 3:45.  We also saw strong finishes from Superman, Minnie Mouse (who had a decidedly Asian and male look to her this day), and a man with a plush pig wrapped around his head.

For those who have never done it, be assured that 42.2 km is a long and exhausting run. Hell, it was exhausting just watching it. So, in good Monkeys in Paris fashion, we rested our weary legs in a sidewalk cafe with some light refreshments. Cheers!

Happy Spring Part Deux

Spring Fever has hit the 16th Arrondissement.