After two weeks of being in France, we finally decided Conrad was ready for the BIG CITY - Paris. (The actual truth: it was raining, so no climbing and Paris was the next best thing). Here we are on one of the many bridges over the Seine. Conrad was impressed and kept on sleeping. Grey skies and a few raindrops here and there set the scene for a classic wintry Paris day.
Here we are in front of the Palais de Justice on the Île de la Cité.
Across the way is Notre Dame that is currently celebrating its 850th anniversary. We decided to go in and take a stroll since it had been over ten years since either of us had visited. It's mind blowing to imagine the work and years it took to build this beautiful cathedral.
When I took my one year of French at Smith, the class was based on a series of videos and audio tapes called "French in Action" with much of the "action" taking place in the Jardin du Luxembourg. I wanted Paul to take this photo for Becky to remind her of the fun times we had in class learning how to answer, quelle heure est-il?
On our way to dinner, we walked past the Place de la Bastille the memorial of where the Bastille stood until the French revolution.
Paul also caught sight of the work of the famous urban artist "Space Invader" that might be familiar to anyone who saw the documentary "Exit Through the Gift Shop". Seeing it was a little like spotting a celebrity.
Serendipitously, a climbing friend (Austin Holey) had recently moved to Paris and is cooking at a new restaurant, Bones, in the 11th arrondissement. We decided to head over and check it out and see Austin. It was great - a super cool spot with fantastic food and drinks. It wouldn't have been out of place in the Bay Area, which is saying a lot for a restaurant in France. This is the upstairs near the bathrooms where I found a quiet spot to feed Conrad with our woodland friends.
We took the metro back to our car with friends Ingar, Nora, Michele and Lander who met us for dinner. It was Conrad's first train ride!
Here we are in Cuisiniere - can you spot Conrad in the pile of stuff we've spread out on the forest floor?
Another classic Font top out problem, which Ingar made look really easy and everyone else flailed around on. Two bad slopers to a big pull to a crimp. You can see one of our new French friends in red spotting Ingar. Gregoire is one of the Thibault clan - and as all of the Bay Area climbers who visit Font can attest, he is a really cool guy. He's taught us all kinds of useful French words like, "mec" (dude), and has a totally infectious laugh. It's nice to hang out with the locals.
Courtney on Mur de Cordier, a tricky problem that was a project of a couple people in our group. On her first day back in Font in three years, Courtney sent her nemesis - after splitting a tip. What a re-introduction to tiny Font feet and techie climbing!
After a great day of climbing at Cuisiniere, the rain and snow reappeared forcing us to entertain ourselves away from the boulders. Paul, Conrad and I decided to take a tour around the tiny town of Larchant where we are staying with the Goodhews.
This is the Basilique that you might recognize from our 2005 blog posts.
A cool plant growing on the side of a building in Larchant. There are quite a few of these on the houses here. I wonder if they have blossoms in the spring?
Evidence of the snow. It's been really cold here and we've heard that it has been the worst winter weather-wise in years. Not ideal for a climbing trip, but fortunately the baby has been keeping us busy on days that we aren't climbing and heck, we are so out of shape that it almost doesn't matter! We did have a brief spell of 17 degree celsius weather a few days before this, which means there was a 20 degree swing within 48 hours or so!
- Lyn
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