Merry Christmas Joan.

Parc de Sceaux.

Last weekend the we joined some new friends for a journey to the outskirts of Paris to a magical land known as Parc de Sceaux. This was the day of the Japanese cherry blossom festival. We took the RER to Sceaux and walked to the Parc. Sceaux is a nice little town that would have you paying 10 Euros for a bunch of grapes ($13.37) if you're not careful. Our travel partner found the same grapes for 4 Euros. Once we entered the park we were just amazed at the size, age and beauty of everything. The landscaping and architecture were like nothing any of us (well the Scuglia's) had encountered before. Unfathomable.


When we got to the meadow where the blossoms were in bloom there were loads of people picnicking in the grass playing frisbee and football(soccer), loads of badminton and volleyball.


As one would expect there were many children running around which means the girls had their share of fun in the sun. I don't think they really appreciated that they were frolicking in the grass among the blossoming trees (and bitchin seersucker pantsuit) in the massive gardens of some centuries old French chateau. Awesome.




It was such a short train ride. I can't wait for our next visit to Parc de Sceaux.

Morning Commute

The girls go to school on the Ile of St. Louis to the Ecole Maternelle Poulletier in what is really the oldest part of Paris. I thought it would be neat to chronicle their (our) morning commute to school to show you a part of our Parisian experience.
This is our stairway just outside of our apartment door. The girls take turns. One gets to open our door while the other gets to turn on the light in the stairway.
This is the door to our building on rue du Vert Bois.
Here Vivien is hovering on the way to the Metro station. We call her 'Crazy Legs' for a reason.
This is where we get on the Metro at the Arts et Metiers. This is our station.

The Arts et Metiers station is one of the coolest in all of Paris. Next stop Chatelet station.
Here we transfer from the 11 to the 7 and will exit at Pont-Marie.

We will then cross the Quai de Celestins and cross the Siene on the Pont-Marie.


This is the view of the Siene in the morning from the Pont-Marie. We will walk along that row of buildings and take the first right (where the stairs to the Siene are) to school.

Once we hang up Izzy's coat we'll head up to her classroom....
...and drop her off.
Then upstairs to Viviens classroom to drop her off. I think next we'll document our trip back home.

Square du Temple.

While Erin was running laps at Square du Temple the kids and I hit the playground. It was a very cold Parisian morning. I rarely get to grace this blog so I just had to post this photo. Maybe we can get a photo of both Erin and me with the kids someday before they're in high school.

'En Francais'

I've included here some photos taken during my stay in Paris the two weeks leading up to Christmas. First you'll see the girls' school Christmas program which took place the day after my arrival. I escorted them by myself so it was truly a trial by fire seeing as I was the only person around without a working knowledge of the French language. We've been trekking through the 3rd so there are some random photos of the 'hood. Also you will see us putting our mark on the Pont des Arts with the lock I've engraved. On the foot bridge there are hundreds of locks scribed upon by couples hoping to seal their love. You can see the Pont Neuf in the background which is the oldest standing bridge on the Seine. 'Pont Neuf' translates to 'New Bridge'. Ironic don't you think? We had Isadora's ears pierced so there's that and we took a trip to the Eiffel Tower. It had been snowing in Paris and the two upper levels of the tower were closed due to ice so we opted to go up another time. I'll be posting more photos of this expedition so be sure to check back. Thanks and Happy Day!

Nöel 2009.