Today, I was daydreaming! Daydreaming about the day I arrive in Paris and go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Wearing a cute dress, with a cute purse, and cute pumps, and my new French do. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I sat around doodling all day. Not productive, I know. It was a great escape from the whaling children in the background. I just realized that my family is not in my doodles. Ooooops! Pardon......you too are there, I promise, just not today. Today it's just me.
Can you tell where I got the inspiration for my Eiffel Tower photo? I was so thrilled to get the chance to read this to my 16 month old daughter. She ran off after the first sentence, but as for me, I was right there with Madeline, in Paris.Poor Madeline, she had to have her appendix removed. So sad! Don't worry Madeline, you live in France, everything will be just fine. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh......
After Madeline recovered, of course, I moved on to my next project....more French doodle. I drew a map of France (my apologies), and fantasized where else we could drive our Peugeot rental once we were satisfied with all that Paris had to offer.
Normandy, Strasbourg, the entire Alsace region, and move our way through Switzerland, Italy, ...............I think I need a personal sponsor. Any offers? I promise to use your money wisely and come back with none.
I scored this book at the library for 50 cents. Can you believe it? This book is going with me to Paris. It has everything you need to know about traveling wisely. How to reserve a room in French, taxi cab numbers, the monthly weather, maps, hotels, hostels, vacation rentals, spas, bike tours, the list goes on and on. It's written by Sandra Gustafson. A must for Americans like us.
I am continuing my education, with a new book called French: Learn In 4 Simple Steps (about 420 pgs. of simple steps). It covers the basics, words, phrases, sentences, and conversations. I am up to the Introduction: The Alphabet. One step at a time. I have two years to practice.
Lastly, I also checked this book out by Deidre Kelly, who writes about her eight visits to Paris. I will post more on this book once I actually begin reading it. As for now, I need to get back to my artistic ways.Au revoir......'Til next time!
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7 comments:
CUTE drawing, and isn't Madeline great?
"Poor Madeline, she had to have her appendix removed. So sad! Don't worry Madeline, you live in France, everything will be just fine. Yes, she will because she has universal health care coverage in this socialist country, hahahaha. ;-)
I have never seen the book Paris Times Eight. I am really curious to know how that one is, so by all means let us know about it once you have read it!
I thought of another movie for you, too: Julie Delpy's "Two Days in Paris." It is really cute. I borrowed it from the Denver Public Library, so it is there for free, I know!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2_Days_in_Paris
Have a good rest of the week.
Alsace is really cute. And we like Bourgogne too. But my husband's favorite place in France is the south West, especially Rocamadour and Sarlat. We went to our friends wedding there last summer and loved it! It is such a pretty region. Check it out...
And of course Italy is my favorite place on earth.... But you know you can travel for pretty cheap within Europe using low cost airlines. For our first wedding anniversary, the hubby and I went to Venise for 80 euros round trip each!!! You might not need a sponsor after all... ;)
You should check out this book by Stephen Clark "A year in the merde". Hilarious....
http://www.amazon.com/Year-Merde-Stephen-Clarke/dp/1582346178/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265153286&sr=8-1
Bonne journée!
Léo
I doodle about Paris all the time, so I loved this post.
When I am in boring meetings, I sit and conjugate French verbs to myself.
Thanks for sharing your doodles and your dreams.
Have you read Joanne Harris's books? Her most famous is Chocolat (the movie is good, too) but she has several others.
Cute picture, Corine! And I can totally relate to doodling with wailing in the background. I remember those days.
What would we do without Madeline? I still get out the books once in a while, and my kids have all grown past that stage!
Hello Corine....Pleased to discover your blog. Let me know when you'll come here, I'll be glad to be a complement to your books.
And you know what ? I've seen some postal cards that look exactly the same as your doodle. Really ! Next time I'll buy one to show you.
And I wanted to say to Karin, we're at this period, far from being a socialist country. If Sarkozy read that ! My God ! He and his government are, and "fight" the socialist system.....they are exactly the opposite. But that's true we get a health care protection that any government has been able to reform ...and that's a great thing for us, French people.
Hope you'll come back, Corine.
Is it a pseudonym or your real name, it sounds so french.
Hey Catherine! I know -- you are right about Sarko. But since living in Paris and being able to compare things to the States, I believe France really is a lot more socialized (in terms of services like healthcare, but other services, such as unemployment, too), even in a Sarkozy administration, than in the States. So that's my mark of comparison... That and I find healthcare to be a superior case of France's success, compared to the States where the healthcare situation is so horrible I find it unconscionable. So I was joking, of course, to point this out (and btw, I am also pretty much a socialist myself, haha!! I think socialism is a good thing, and it does have a strong history in France, despite what is happening with Sarkozy in the present).
Catherine, I loved your site. I visited it from Corine's here, but I know I have seen it before as I think you are blogrolled on some of my other contact's sites, too! I will try to get to your page more often!
Hzllo Corine. Karin wrote in a comment in my blog that she left an answer in your blog for me.....I've just read it. Can you allow me to add a little something for Karin, too ? Just to finish the explanation.
Karin, you're absolutly right. All advices are relative to the country with which we compare to. Of course, I suppose that comparing to US, our "ancestral system of social protection" can be considered as a socialist system....But I just wanted to point out that our actual government, Sarko's one, is just the opposite of a socialist one, compared to the European point of view. He is just trying to establish a kind of liberal capitalist system.
So you and I are right. I'm glad you answered. That way, Corine has a complete view of 2 French residents.
Madeline will be well cared in France, certainly. But actual reforms are making Health Care System worse than it was in the past. But I admit that, even in these new conditions, this French Health Care System is still one of the best, envied by many other countries.
Happy to have met you both, Corine and Karin.
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