We are so very lucky

There are so many ways that Wayne and I are lucky, but yesterday I really felt our great fortune for having such wonderful friends over here in France.
I spent most of the day with Segolene fabric shopping around Paris. We started in Montmartre, of course. We looked in a few of the smaller shops along rue D'Orsel, but didn't see anything we were interested in. These are the stores to check out if you are looking for fabric for costumes for dance, skating, or Carnival. They have it all--feathers, faux leather, spandex, whatever, and in between the fabric stores are "merceries"--notions stores. Some are just buttons, appliques and patches, but some of the bigger ones have knitting and needlework supplies, crafts, thread, zippers, scissors, etc.
We finally got up to Marche St. Pierre, one the biggest fabric shops in the area.

Fabric is universal

Segolene!

There are essentially 2 types of fabric stores here: ones that sell by the meter and ones that sell pre-cut lengths, or 'coupons'. I wouldn't call these remnants since most I saw were about 3 metres. I found a nice piece of stretch denim in a woven stripe for 10 Euros.

Our final stop in Montmartre was Tissus Reine, aptly named "Fabric Queen". I love this shop, as do sewists from all over the world. I found some corded trim that I hope will finish my latest Chanel style jacket. I talked Segolene into some linen. Apparently her sewing teacher, who is 86 and makes her baste everything, does not approve of linen because it wrinkles, so I think Sego will be doing this project on the sly.

Lunch in the sun

Next we headed to a shop I'd heard about on Ravelry--a tea shop in a knitting shop, or maybe it was a knitting shop in a tea shop. In any case, Segolene and I had coffee and pastries and I found some sock yarn.  My phone wasn't working, and Wayne wasn't at the apartment to look up the address, so we HAD to stop at a cafe and have Croques (grilled ham and cheese) in the sun while we waited for him to call back.

I'm sorry I didn't take any photos of the shop--I just might have to go back to do that. For knitters this is a must see, though: L'oisive The

France Duval Stall

Our final stop was her favorite shop, France Duval Stalla. This is a very small shop, but she has everything you need for a complete project. She had about 6-8 colors in her pallette, a warm grey, mauve, teal blue, gold (called "banane"), etc. From what I can remember, she had cotton jersey, a cotton/poly knit matelasse, a cotton fleece, woven linen, woven cotton and laminated cotton in matte and glossy. All the fabrics were very high quality, but well priced. She also had thread, zippers, cluny lace, bias and cording, and appliques, all in matching and coordinating colors.



After a little more walking and a quick look in Bon Marche, we headed home.
It was nice to see Segolene (it has been 10 years), and to spend time with a fellow fabric junky.

I went back to the apartment to rest for a bit, find out where we were meeting the Homelidays gang, and let our friend Thomas know.

We ended up in a really hip pedestrian street filled with people and restaurants. We walked up to the restaurant early, and when I looked around, I saw Momo, Linda and Sara sitting at a bar. Since we were early, Wayne and I walked for a bit.









When we got back to to the restaurant, Thomas was waiting for us. Cedric and Ludovine arrived a little later with Lea, their "petit puce" (little flea).
We could not have wished for a better night of friends and food. I felt like we have been welcomed into the true French experience.

Thomas, Wayne, Cedric

Eggplant

The restaurant, Il Tre, an authentic Italian restaurant--imports everything from Italy (except the vegetables, which were very fresh.


What a wonderful day!

Fried Calamari

The little flea has arrived!

Lasagna Bolognese

Ludovine, Linda, Momo, Sara

Cedric and the little flea

Seafood Pasta

Kissing everyone

I love the custom of kissing in France, and I've done a lot of kissing since we arrived.
This was my last day in the Paris office (for this trip, at least), and I was really sad to go. Everyone is so nice and welcoming, they really made me real like part of the team here. Momo especially has taken great care of me (as he does with all visitors), making sure I had tea and lozenges when my throat was sore, that I had plenty of coffee pods, that Wayne and I eat far too much everyday for lunch. For this reason, I have given him a nickname: Père Poule--Father Hen.
I had an amazing pastry from the shop near the office--something between a cake and a croissant with almonds.
The Emile showed up with some pastries in honor of my last day in the the office. I'll have to find the name, but they're like unfilled cream puffs with chunks of sugar on top.

 Wednesday night Wayne said that maybe he wouldn't meet us for lunch the next day, but I told him the guys were taking us to a sushi restaurant since I had mentioned how much Wayne loves salmon. Of course, he joined us for lunch.



























At the end of the day, I said my good-byes, kissed everyone and headed back to Montmartre.




We will see Momo and Cedric one more time, Friday night. Our friend Thomas, who we've known since he worked with me at Borland in 2001 will join us, and Cedric's girlfriend, Ludovine and their baby, Lea, if Lea cooperates.

I had some time to hang out with Wayne, then we headed to the area North of Sacre Coeur to meet Segolene, another person we've known for a very long time. She lives with her family near Bordeaux now, but came up to see us and spend the day fabric shopping with me tomorrow.
It was so great to see her after 11 years--she has two little girls now, and her own internet based business, but she hasn't changed at all.
She picked a great restaurant (thanks to her brother who lives in Paris): Le Preum's. The food was excellent--very fresh and with a great blend of spices.

HELP! I can't stop eating

We are surrounded by good food, and my co-workers are shameless enablers.
This morning Momo brought pastries--I chose an almond croissant.
A little later I looked over at Momo's desk and he was surrounded by women. I had to call some of them back to get the photo. Momo claims it is only because he brought pastries, but I'm not buying it.

Momo et les dames

 A little later (again), Franck came in and announced that he had baked pear cake last night, and I should have a piece. How do you say 'no' to these things and seem rude? I just can't risk insulting my colleagues.

Franck's Pear Cake

Wayne met us for lunch again, this time we went to a cafe for crepes, and they were very good. I had ham, cheese, and egg, then I probably shouldn't have, but I got a dessert crepe, too: coconut and Nutella.

One of things I love most about spending time with my co-workers and friends over here are the great discussions we have about cultural differences, places we've traveled, even language differences.
Apparently Wayne looks very French--he's had people come up to him for directions, speaking French. Even when he tells them he doesn't understand, they keep going. I told him he needs to get and American flag hat--that'll fix it.
I won't be seen with him, but no one will mistake for French.


Tonight we're staying in and having smoked salmon, baguette and cheese for dinner. We might have salad later, but then again, we might have cookies. :)

Un jour avec l'equipe

It was cold and rainy today, but not this bad...

I had another work day with the French team today. I arrived a little earlier today and stopped to get a chausson au pomme at the bakery near the office. As soon as I walked in, Cedric handed me a coffee pod and said "this is necessary in the morning".
For lunch we went to a Thai restaurant Momo took me to last year. I took photos on my phone, but cannot figure how to transfer them, so I'll post them later.

Stalingrad Metro station

After dinner I still needed to do some work since this was a release day.
We headed to a restaurant a couple of blocks away at 8:00 --Pomodoro. It turned out to be really good. We started with a bottle of one of our favorite wines, Nero D'Avola. We shared a pizza with mozzarella, pepperoni and egg.
We sat right next to the kitchen, so we got to hear "Papa" speak Italian. I got some points when I said Grazie instead of Merci.

Pepperoni pizza with egg (Wayne LOVES this)

All the desserts were made in house, so we decided to try the Tiramisu. The first bite reminded us both of our dear friend, Gilberto LoCoco.

The tiramisu....

...about a minute later.

Pomodoro in Montmartre

Too much Tapestry

Courtyard of Musee du Moyenne Age

Dang it! I thought I had posted this one--from Sunday.

  think Wayne has now officially overdosed on tapestries. This morning we visited the Museum of the Middle Ages (formerly known as the Cluny Museum). I visited there last year with Mario, but the main thing I wanted to see, the set of tapestries known as "The Lady and the Unicorn", was being restored. Today I got to see them in person. The only problem was I was not the only person who was excited to see them--it was almost as bad as trying to get close to the Mona Lisa in the Spring.

Cooking Fireplace

Fortunately, Wayne enjoyed the rest of the museum, so it was worth the visit for both of us.

Tapestry in Musee du Moyenne Age

Detail of one of the many tapestries

a well in the courtyard

A window displayed in the Museum of the middle ages

"My Only Desire" from the series "The Lady and the Unicorn"

A plaque commemorated children lost to Nazis in WWII

We stopped in a restaurant across the street from the museum and got a small bite to eat and some coffee.

The tablet in this painting mentions the many
people who have died for "liberty"

Keys to the Bastille

We then headed to the Marais to visit the Carnavalet Museum, the History of Paris museum. This was pretty boring to Wayne, but he doesn't have the fascination I have for France, Paris and their histories.

Shop Sign (maybe a tailor) in Musee Carnavalet

Another Juliette

It rained a bit while we were in the last museum, and then the sun came out for awhile.