PINAY FRANCOPHILE

Avertissement : Ce poteau entier a été à l’origine écrit en anglais et traduit par le traducteur de Google. Il fait un pardon littéral de traduction ainsi le Français, littéralement. J’essaye un poteau français au profit de mon jeune ami, Adrien, qui ne lit pas ou ne parle pas l’anglais.

Caveat: This whole post was originally written in English and translated through Google Translator.  It does a literal translation so pardon the French (literally).  I am attempting a French post for the benefit of my young friend, Adrien, who doesn’t read or speak English.

Une des choses que j’ai essayé de faire pendant mon dernier voyage en France était d’essayer et rencontrer une partie du peuple j’ai rencontré en ligne. Il y avait de Kala qui est un membre du groupe de Pinoy Expat mais qui était occupé avec une soeur des USA à Paris le même temps j’étais. J’ai essayé d’atteindre dehors à l’autre qui s’étaient arrêtés par Pinay New Yorker une fois avant pour s’enquérir de quelque chose que j’avais écrite environ. Alors il y avait de Jeannie, qui, bien que nous n’ayons pas vraiment projeté sur n’importe quoi concret, était réellement le seul que je suis parvenu à rencontrer.

Jeannie avait habité à Paris avec son fils Adrien pendant plus de dix années et avait de façon ou d’autre trébuché sur mon blog ici. Nous avons jamais vraiment placé un moment et un endroit mais l’avons maintenu flexible — il s’avère cela a établi mieux pour nos programmes. Elle a eu son fils dans le remorquage quand nous nous sommes réunis — un dix-année-vieux jeune homme dont les dispositifs philippins sont indubitables, mais dont le sang français est également évident. Un jeune garçon très beau en effet !

One of the things I tried to do during my last trip to France was to try and meet up with some of the people I have encountered online.  There was Kala who is a member of the Pinoy Expat group but who was busy with a sister from the US in Paris the same time I was.  I tried to reach out to another who had stopped by Pinay New Yorker once before to ask about something I had written about.  Then there was Jeannie, who, although we didn’t really plan on anything concrete, was actually the only one I managed to meet up with.

Jeannie has been living in Paris with her son Adrien for more than ten years and had somehow stumbled upon my blog here.  We never really set a time and place but kept it flexible — it turns out that worked out best for our schedules.  She had her son in tow when we met — a ten-year-old young man whose Filipino features are unmistakable, but whose French blood is also apparent.  A very handsome young boy indeed!

Over dinner at L’Alsace, one of the nicer restaurants along the Champs Elysees, Jeannie and I spoke about motherhood, missing home and a future visit to Paris and for them, to New York.  A genuine “Igorota” by her own admission, Jeannie beams when she talks about her home in the Philippines: Baguio.  We talked as if we were two long lost friends who found one another again, and yet it’s the first time we ever really spoke and laid eyes on each other.

Adrien patiently sat with us even if he couldn’t understand anything his Mom and I said in Tagalog or English.  We made a deal for him to study English, and for me to work on my French, so that when we see each other again (hopefully soon), we would be able to talk to each other.  He smiled that handsome smile of his that showed an impish dimple on his face.

Jeannie raised him well.  He was well-mannered and very tolerant of us even if we took our time with the meal and exchanged stories.  Mother and son are inseparable, and they were generous enough to have brought me back to my hotel, even if I managed to get Jeannie confused with my directions to rue de Berri.  But she got me there.  All I brought with me was the bagoong I brought — a colleague of Alan who has lived in Paris for decades had told us her one request was bagoong because the local Filipino store didn’t carry it, and when I got Alan his bagoong, I made sure I brought some for Jeannie. 

When we parted we already made plans for a daytrip to Brugge in Belgium — for next time!  Meanwhile, Adrien and I have some studying to do.  Hopefully when we meet again, we’ll be able to talk to each other without Jeannie translating.

I requested two books from Alan this year which he obliged: Joie de Vivre: Simple French Style for Everyday Living  and A Year in Provence.  I started reading JOIE DE VIVRE yesterday and I managed to finished the chapter on breakfast yesterday afternoon.  I enjoy reading the book because of the way Robert Arbor relates the French philosophy about eating, food and life in general.  It’s a meticulous guide not just to what they eat, but how they eat it and why they eat it the way they do.  Arbor dispenses his own brand of wisdom while giving the reader an insight into his personal history.  Each page rings true of the subtitle of the book “Simple French Style for Everyday Living”.

For starters, breakfast is simply toast, butter and/or jam or honey and coffee — but despite what seems to be lean fare, it is a time to spend mulling about the day ahead.  As Arbor aptly ends his chapter, he says “My advice to you is to enjoy your breakfast and to give a quick thought to each day’s potential.  This is the first big step in discovering joie de vivre.”

So enjoy my breakfast I did, this morning.  I’ve finished my toast with Mountain Maid Strawberry Jam (straight from Baguio — I bought it myself during my last trip to Manila in April of this year), and a few dollops of I CAN’T BELIEVE IT’S NOT BUTTER.  (Okay, it’s NOT butter..)  I have my 16 oz Starbucks San Francisco mug here, still half filled with coffee.. Angel is beside me watching Dragon Tales, and we’re just sitting elbow to elbow on the couch, chilling.

I am suddenly reminded I’ve all but given up on my French lessons.  Time to get that on my list again.  Soon.. Meanwhile, I have to prep my kitchen for the new stove that’s being delivered this afternoon.  (See me smiling from ear to ear?)

While the Museums of Paris contain a huge treasure trove of classical works by the masters, going to them is just like going to any other museum.  It pays to know as much information about the hours, the admission fees and the major exhibitions housed in each one.  Like the museums in New York, there are certain days or hours when admission is reduced, when admission is free (!), when the museum has extended hours of operation (the Louvre is open until 9:30PM on Fridays), and the most important information you should seek out is when they are closed.  (Most museums are closed Monday.) 

The Louvre must be one if not the biggest of all museums worldwide.  It also has quite an inventory in its huge collection.  What is a visit to the Louvre and to Paris for that matter without a peek at La Jaconda — or Mona Lisa as we all know it?  Mona Lisa is now housed in its permanent wall in the Denon Wing in a Salle (or hall) aptly named after it.  Although photography was allowed all over the museum in 2005, it was prohibited this time around in the areas where the prints and paintings are housed.  You can still take pictures where the statues are, but be mindful of prohibitions to take photographs as the museum staff are always on the prowl.  If you only half a day to spend at the museum, plot where you want to go so that you don’t waste time looking for specific works or masters that you are interested in.  The Denon Wing alone can take you all afternoon or all morning.

The Louvre has ATM-like machines inside from where you can purchase tickets with cash or your Mastercard or Visa.  All pertinent information to touring the museum such as plans in various languages and brochures on other events are found at the information desk in the middle of the main lobby underneath the huge pyramid.  From there, all you have to do is look around and you will find the escalators heading to the three main wings:  Denon, Richeliue and Sully.  Again, I recommend you concentrate on Denon if you are pressed for time. 

The museum now offers a Da Vinci Code Tour Audio Guide (which, again, is new and was not offered in Feb 2005) for Euro 5.50.  I would’ve gotten the audioguide if they were available last year when I specifically sought out the works mentioned in Dan Brown’s bestseller.  Audioguides, in general, are good to have (specially when they come free with the museum entrance), but tend to slow you down.  You might also want to consider bringing your own headset like I did when I did Chartres.  (More on that in a later post.)

Take your time touring the Louvre.  Unless you know you will be back, the tour is useless if you cannot remember any masterpiece you passed, and believe me, there will be one after another if you were paying attention when you studied Humanities.  The Louvre website is a treasure trove of information.  From floorplans to a database where you can go back to for information of what and who created that statue you posed next to, to where the works of a specific master is located, you just have to take the time to navigate the website.

It also pays to research what other points of interest are near the Louvre.  You can actually walk across the bridge behind the Louvre to the other side of the Seine and hike to the Musee d’Orsay.  Or you can explore the Garden d’Tuileries and walk along the Rue de Rivoli and windowshop.  I’d take my time going around the Louvre.. you will always find yourself in awe of all these treasures.  Happy museum hopping!

Finally getting my scrapbook layouts online!  These are pictures of our suite at the HOTEL WESTMINSTER in the Opera area, walking distance from the Louvre, the Opera, and the Place Vendome.  We stayed there the first three days of my stay in Paris.  Unlike many of the more modern hotels, I think Hotel Westminster’s charm is in its ability to take you back through time…

Click on thumbnails for larger picture

 

The pictures I used on the lefthand layout were all less than good quality so I had to “play” with them by converting the background photo into a watercolor graphic, and I “cured” the poor picture quality of Alan’s and my shot caused by lack of proper lighting by converting them into black and white photos.

Don’t ask me why but I totally failed to take pictures of the Hotel Warwick Champs Elysees where I stayed from Monday to Wednesday which was a total departure from this with its modern decor. 

Alan and I took a lot of pictures in the receiving/living room of the suite but I’d rather keep that private.  More scrapbook layouts coming! 

This is actually one of my first scrapbook layouts cut into two 12×12 layouts.  The text appearing on the page is below.  Both photographs are mine and were altered through the simplest of photo software.  More to come!

Text reads:  Alan and I had both visited the Louvre previously but we had done it separately.  This time around, we planned on visiting the Louvre together.  Since both of us had explored the Denon Wing in search of the famous Mona Lisa, we thought we’d do Sully and Richelieu for a change.  And return we did on our first afternoon.

The Hotel Westminster was just walking distance to the Louvre, and although it was a rainy afternoon, we took our umbrellas and walked to this must-see attraction of the City of Lights.

Like our own museums in New York, you cannot hope to complete the tour of the Louvre in one day.. not even in the two visits we’ve both done.  So it is still on our itinerary for our next visit to Paris.

The foreground is a composite of two photos I took outside the Louvre, walking from the Garden d’Tuileries.The background is a hall that I have passed both times.  Our first stop was still the Denon Wing because I discovered they had reinstalled the Mona Lisa in its permanent area.  What you see here is the hall housing the Sculptures of  Pre-classical Greece with the statue of BORGHESE THE GLADIATOR with his arm stretched up below.  (Alan refused to strike the pose.)

I think it was at the Parist Tourist Office at the Carrousel du Louvre that I picked up this free magazine PARIS MOMES. I picked it up because it said “Paris”, it was free, and it had a nice layout that screamed “Kids”.  Inside were a lot of illustrations, photos and ads that I thought would make a pretty embellishment for my memory book.  I took two copies as was customary and I started cutting out the pictures today.  Having two copies served me well because it allowed me to do both sides of each page without sacrificing any graphics.

I’m all excited to create my background paper now although I haven’t quite made up my mind yet about which part of the scrapbook it would go well with.  It’s all about Paris, that’s all I can think about.

Camembert is apparently a place in the province of Normandy in France, and legend has it that ” (it) dates back to the 18th century and is named for a Norman village in which there is a statue of the creator of this particular variety (Marie Harel). Originally, this cheese was dry and yellow-brown, but after a few modifications it became softer and more earthy. In 1855 one of Marie Harel’s daughters presented Napoleon with a piece of that cheese, saying that it came from village called Camembert. He liked it a lot and from that moment Camembert became known by its contemporary name. At the beginning of its ripening, Camembert is crumbly and soft and gets creamier over time (usually 2-3 weeks). A genuine Camembert has a delicate salty taste.” (Source: Cheese.com)  Perhaps next time I’ll try and see if a day trip to Camembert is doable from Paris or Lyon.. meanwhile, I have some cheese I can’t wait to enjoy.

The Executive Assistant of the President and CEO of the company Alan works for is a Filipina.  She is a long-time Paris resident who has a French husband and lovely French-Filipino children.  I told Alan to ask her what she would want us to bring from New York, particularly the Filipino stores here in New York and she came back with “Bagoong.”  Although there is a Filipino store in Paris, they do not sell Bagoong.  So I bought her the regular and spicy variety of Kamayan Bagoong, and I bought the same for Jeannie who I wasn’t even sure I’d get to meet up with.  (I told her I would’ve just given it away to the next ) Pinoy I walked up to on Champs Elysees if we had not seen each other.)

I also heard that Hershey’s is also a treat.  (I only found this out when I was there, so I didn’t get to bring any.)