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New Civilization News: Young Love: Together In France |
Category: Children, Parenting 13 comments
12 Feb 2006 @ 17:43 by swanny : Love 12 Feb 2006 @ 17:44 by Quinty @68.226.88.25 : Oh, you must go to Europe, and you will realize that even in Pau if you run out of toothpaste there will be a store there where you can buy a tube. I sometimes feel as if I were going into the depths of the Amazon when I visit Paris. Yes! A foolish irrational unease on my part, for I have been to Europe many times. All you really need is your passport and a credit card. For they are quite as civilized over there as we are here in Providence or Athens. Even Texas, Alabama, and northern Maine. She'll be in a fascinating and lovely part of France, not far from the Spanish border. Being partial to Spain, having a Spanish background, I hope she crosses the border and visits Girona or Tarragona. Barcelona is an interesting place but I far prefer Madrid, which isn't nearly as full of itself. I would tell you about my earliest experiences with girls, but this is a family oriented website. 12 Feb 2006 @ 20:14 by Quinty @68.226.88.25 : Places near Pau Carcasonne One of many views Another view Girona The old part Tarragona (link:  |A street}
Roman ruins 15 Feb 2006 @ 11:32 by dempstress : Re Quinty's comment about the toothpaste I live in the small island country of the United Kingdom. I am resident in Edinburgh in Scotland (the northern-most lump) but was born and raised south of London (in the south eastern-most lump). That's about four and half hours by train. Some years ago my mother arrived for a visit and came off the train looking white with worry. The problem? She'd forgotten to bring cotton wool and took some convincing that such toiletries were available in the frozen north. Funny enough people do somehow manage to get by all over the place...... 15 Feb 2006 @ 16:47 by jazzolog : I Was Laying Low, Dempstress after what quinty said about needing only a passport and a credit card. I know Paul pretty well and he never would want to sound chauvanistic in any way at all, but I'm afraid someone might mistake his comment as being from some shovey American type. But does all the toothpaste in Scotland taste like haggis? 17 Mar 2006 @ 10:46 by jazzolog : Time For Ilona's Takeoff Last minute bustlings about: powers of attorney, immunizations, school records, packing, continued worries about bird flu in France, student riots in France, English/French dictionaries, packing, travelers checks, our passports (just in case), time and terminal in Cincinnati, does someone have the ticket? Oh yes, and re-packing. Monday afternoon the whole entourage gets together for bon voyage. There also are 40 OU students going over to study with Keenan's dad. Will they be on the same plane, I wonder? Am I most the nervous in the bunch? 17 Mar 2006 @ 12:19 by dempstress : OK.... ....now breathe deeply. OK, just concentrating on keeping breathing at all to start with. DON'T read the papers about terrifying things happening on other continents as perspective flies out of the window when offspring fly the nest. Just remember that even in the barbaric hinterlands which are Europe daily life is just that. (No, not barbaric....just 'daily life'.) Also bear in mind that many of the population over here think of America as the scary, dangerous place, awash with psychos with guns, violent street gangs, drive-by shootings and with most of the population zombied on class A drugs. Oh yes, and cockroaches. Not the place you live? Probably not, but that's what we read in the papers. By-the-by, I didn't think Quinty was being chauvenistic at all, indeed I was re-enforcing his point. Abroad is just another place and one can gernerally get by in it. Meanwhile tell Ilona to take a good look round Monoprix for what is cheap clothing in French terms but which still manages to provide some of that French chique. Oh, and the only time toothpaste in Scotland tastes of haggis is if you're cleaning a mouth that's just eaten haggis. No, most of the time it quite naturally tastes of whisky. 17 Mar 2006 @ 16:46 by jazzolog : Monoprix A store? [link] 17 Mar 2006 @ 16:58 by dempstress : Yes... aieover in France last year I bought a couple of tops, trousers and a bag which were all very reasonable, easycare and with a little exrtra something style-wise. Verrry Francais, tres chique! (Actually, not sure this is blog material, so feel free to delete.) [And I can't wait until you get to Scotland and start looking for the whisky-flavoured toothpaste. Hmmm.....a gap in the market perchance?] 18 Mar 2006 @ 00:39 by Quinty @68.226.88.25 : Is Ilona flying to Paris? I like the French. Many of our countrymen, those occupying the so-called “darkside,” frown upon the French. This doesn't speak well of us. We look down upon "old Europe," and Socialism, and the two or three hour lunch. Nor can we accept in our craw that the French may not care what we think, or about the "American way." That they may think their culture is a little superior. That they know how to live. And that they may have their feet more solidly on the ground. There are rightwingers here in the US who have made a profession of tearing down the French and the Europeans. This does not speak well of us at all. But then, like everyone else, we are human, right? So the "stain" is commonly shared. We may yet be too innocent to realize it is happening here, to us. But Bush and co. are taking us far along the way toward realizing something is fundamentally wrong. Even their dazzling vulgarity may wake us up to the neon on the road. Another thing I like about the French (I don't find them rude at all) is that they will often raise a ruckus to protect their rights. This can lead to inconveniences, such at that time we had to take a bus to Brussels to fly out on a plane which would have left from Paris had not the union been on strike. I can’t remember if it was a general strike or not. No matter, they were right and had to remind their government that they would not give up the concessions they had once fought for to make their own lives a little better. That how working men and women live has its importance too. And that they will not be deceived by the bosses’ lies even if they are supported by the full force of convention and authority. Here in the US those lies have become a matter of faith. And maybe that’s why so many rightwing Americans do not like the French. Protesters there fling cow pies at McDonalds windows which is sacrilege here. And even though a giant corporation claims GM food is good some residue of common sense among the French holds out. And we see that here as “class warfare.” In the world of George Bush the corporation is the true government. Perhaps the French are too obsessed with the tiny mechanical toys in the fountain outside the Pompidou Center. Where, incidentally, a great restaurant is located: Benoit. Go there if you have a chance. Be ready though to spill a few hundred and they don’t accept credit cards. It’s worth it. Will Ilona fly to Paris? She may want to stay away from the Latin Quarter if the students are still rioting. The French cops may not realize she is merely an American tourist passing through. If it becomes quiet in that quarter, the most interesting, to my mind, in Paris, there is a wonderful restaurant next to Shakespeare and Co called Le Petit Chatelet. The costs are moderate and the food is very good. It is directly across the river from Notre Dame, a must see for any visitor. A beautiful and fascinating place. And to the right of Notre Dame, facing it from the Left Bank, you’ll find the Ile Saint Louis. A walk around the perimeter, which is ignored by tourists, must surely be one of the great urban walks in the world. You may not see anyone there except someone who lives in one of the seventeenth century buildings walking his dog. Is there dog doo on the streets of Paris? You bet. Do people smoke in restaurants? They sure do. it never bothered me. What’s more, you can buy Cuban cigars there. (Which I do.) And the people know how to look at others without intruding. I may have gone on too long this evening. Please forgvie me. But the desire to prattle on in type struck. Have a good one, as we sometimes say here in America..... 18 Mar 2006 @ 14:38 by jazzolog : April In Paris They'll be coming up to Paris next month no doubt. As for Tuesday, Air France 8701 lands at DeGaulle around 9 AM. They've got about 4 hours in Paris this time. What to do? Essentially they'll be busing to Orly for the flight to Pau. I'm not sure what they'll see en route, but I intend to get into a map later today. Just getting to come in to Paris, land and take off again would be thrill enough for me...at this point. 18 Mar 2006 @ 16:24 by Quinty @68.226.88.25 : The drive from DeGaulle to Orly may be disappointing. Since there may not be much to see except French freeways, industry, and grimy apartment blocks. I remember something Rusch once said: "You always enter a great city through the ass end." Ie, what she sees on the drive to Orly shouldn't fool or mislead her. 18 Mar 2006 @ 19:41 by jazzolog : The Last Time We Drove the Cross Bronx Expressway (at 5-10 mph average) Ilona was on the cellphone to Keenan, who had called her from London. Sigh... It was Heaven. Other entries in Children, Parenting 30 Mar 2008 @ 09:34: OLD SOUL AT HOME: BOON TO SOUL EVOLUTION 24 Feb 2008 @ 21:18: My Dad 13 Jan 2008 @ 13:16: Don't be a sucker, man - face the cougar, baby ! 2 Jan 2008 @ 16:42: A Crappy New Year from the rabbit... 24 Dec 2007 @ 08:25: A Child Is Given 8 Sep 2007 @ 16:10: Let Kids be Kids!!! 19 Aug 2007 @ 11:07: Heavy With Child 6 Aug 2007 @ 20:17: Genealogy 26 Jul 2007 @ 12:44: Healthy Kids have enormous energy 31 May 2007 @ 14:49: Being Enthusiastic and giving Encouragement to Children
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12 Feb 2006 @ 10:42, by Richard Carlson