The End of Another Chapter in Life

(written on June 29, 2012) Well, it is hard to believe that almost two years have passed since Jill and I embarked on the Paris adventure.  Today, the physical connection to Paris comes to an end.  It's hard to believe at this point that we really did it. The adventure had all the gut wrenching emotions - anxiety of leaving our family, friends and home - sadness/concern when Gram died and Donna, Mom & Dad become very sick - loneliness when Jill was in the States - yearning to be at the Lake House - emptiness of missing holidays, birthdays and special moments with friends and family - fear of Fatima when we stumbled in at 2AM (not 3!)...  But I wouldn't change it for the world. As the saying goes - nothing ventured, nothing gained (besides the extra weight I put on)... I will always treasure the time Jill and I spent together - the wonderful world we discovered together - Paris friends - picnics- the secret places we found together - the family and friend visits (Bryan, Matt, Kaitlyn, Alison, Kyrstin, Bob & Joan, Jean, Maggie, Kelley, John & Sue, brother Dennis) - Madrid, Rome, Galway, London, Brussels, Bordeaux, Istanbul, Athens (more Hydra, Pyros and Aegnea), Barcelona, Prades, Bologna and Casablanca - "our boat" for wine and the wonderful Mother's Day lunch with the kids - Jill's technology transformation - yummo food - seeing old friends in Paris (Kevin, Johnny Mac and Susanne). Professionally it was a success.  I learned how to work with many different cultures, religions and the French.  I saw Alstom's technology at it's best - I road in the cab of our newest high speed trains at 300+ kph, saw tramway tracks being laid in Algeria, visited customers who were pleased with us and saw us enter new markets in Romania.  The time there also made me realize I'm ready to try a new line of work, leaving HR for a chance to run a factory. I'm often asked what I'll miss.  Of course there will be plenty and some I won't recognize for some time to come, but in no particular order -- access to all the cheeses (especially chèvre), excellent French wine for under $10, walking & finding a unique place, the view from "Passy" bridge, out for a beer with Mark, Jon, Adam & Alan, pizza with an egg on it, duck (canard), the markets, frois gras and dinner with Gary. What I won't miss -- metro to/from work, Fatima shishing us, taxi rides to/from the airport, dog crap on the sidewalk, dirtiness of Paris streets, being confused by the language, mass in French and, most important, time spent away from Jill, kids, family and friends. I went to Paris with 3 personal goals - 1/ learn about wines, 2/ learn French cheeses and 3/ learn French language.  Two out of 3 is not bad. My French is still very sloppy. So I close this chapter of my life and for that matter this blog.  Just like the other chapters before it I believe it has transformed me into a better person.

An American Women in France -- post by Kelley

Bonjour ! That’s all the french I remember.... lol.

Well I must say that I had the most fantastic time, Thanks very much to both Mark and Jill. And my husband for letting me go. It was a short 8 days, but so much was accomplished. I didn’t imagine I could of seen and done as much as we fit in. The flight over was ok, and they even let me bring my own alcohol on the plane with me ,,,as long as it was under the liquid limit. So I enjoyed my rum and coke, movies, food and sleep over the long haul. I was even greeted with cameras and microphones when I got off the plane,,, for sure they were expecting my arrival , was I really the only american woman  to have ever crossed the ocean and land in France ? Oh well,,, my dreams were only shattered a little. I had a good 40 minutes to ponder if my ride was going to show up ! HA HA 

I was tired,, and the apartment was spinning a little, but after a short rest were on the road !  A nice little walk to see the Eiffel tower. Yes, its huge. The buildings are all so pretty, very old yet elegant looking. Not like walking in downtown Spencerport. But sort of the same with my friend back by my side on our ventures.

Over the course of the week, Mark had wowed me with all his restaurants,, I tried so many new things to eat. We wont mention the 5 lbs. I gained. Some of my awesome foods included, snails, sea bass, duck, lamb, french spaggetti(yummo), sushi, quiche, bread, cheeses, quail eggs,  and the best olives I have ever had. Not to mention, the hot chocolate ! Notice how I didn’t mention wine ? Well I saved the best for last. I loved the wine.

We went on a really nice wine tour, and I learned a lot. Very informative on the wine region, and how to make champagne. I even found a red that I enjoy.  After that, we went to Moulin
Rouge, (feerie) the actual show. It was fantastic. By then , the wine was really , really good ! LOL The day after, we went to Montmarte and shopped around the street artists, and I actually found a canvass art work that reminded me of the show the night before. I just love it. The church was really something as well. We also visited Notre Dame, walked around beautiful gardens, and had cute lunches in side street cafes. ( with wine )

The stores were very cool too, even very smelly. In a good way. I think Abercrombie and Fitch pumps there cologne out into the street and entrance way. I liked the smell though  Jill almost needed oxygen to recover. It was a bit overtaking. Just to enter the building you got to have your picture taken with a young frenchman ! There is very cool bookstores, Public markets, cemetaries, antiques shops, zoos all to visit.

On one day, Jill and I took a train to Versailles, a really awesome place. We got to visit the king and queens palace and gardens. It was a real treat to walk threw there, so many beautiful rooms. Then we had lunch in the palace, followed by a wonderful stroll in the gardens (which of course had a little shack selling wine and treats way out in trails). I restrained and ordered water and a toblerone ! Miss Kelley cannot return being an alcoholic !  Already it was hard not to serve wine with the macaroni and cheese to my babies!

I also got to see where Princess Diana died, the tunnel looks just like it did on tv. When we drove threw it in a taxi, I actually looked behind me just incase to see if anyone was following or chasing us. ( you know, the whole first American woman traveling alone to France thing again !!!) my little fantasy for 8 days... ha ha 

I almost even found a really nice huge gold band on the side of a street. But a woman picked it up before me and tried to hand it to me. She thought it was mine,,,, next thing I know, my elbow is in a death grip, my arm is being twisted BY JILL and shes yelling at me,,,, NO, NO, NO,,,,,keep moving. Some kind of a French scam she said,,,, darn it ! My growing stardom
fantasy fell short that day, ha ha.

But all in all,,, I miss being there with my friends. Having coffee every morning with Jill again was the best, cant wait till they get home! Thanks for such a wonderful experience I will remember for the rest of my life.

January 2012 -- a posting by Jill

Now it is February 2012...January 2012 has gone by so fast! I think back and January is almost a blur, it will be hard to remember all that has happened in the first month of the year!

I had very mixed emotions upon returning to Paris. I enjoyed my six weeks home SO much! There is something so comforting and right about returning to the place that is home-your family, friends, neighborhood and village. It just feels good!

Anyway, Mark and I with Kate in tow flew to Paris January 4th. We arrived early morning on the 5th and had about a day and a half before we flew to Madrid to take Kate to her study abroad adventure. She was excited but nervous and I tried really hard not to show or express how I was feeling...although I am terrible about suppressing my emotions so I probably wasn't very effective!

We were leaving our baby in a strange country, but as our day in Madrid unfolded and we settled Kate into her apartment, I realized how much like her father she really is...fearless!!! From schooling in NYC to studying abroad, Kate just goes for it!!! She doesn't bog herself down with what could go wrong, but with what could go right!!! She is confident enough to realize she can deal with "stuff" when it happens, not if it happens-just like Mark! I guess she comforts herself with the knowledge that Daddy will be there to pick her up when she falls, but she is strong enough to continue on with bandaged knees...I am proud of my baby girl (young woman)!

Mark and I spent two days and one night in Madrid. We were back in Paris for two days and then we were off to Italy. Mark had to spend one day in Savigliano and one day in Bologna. We arrived in Savigliano late Wednesday night. Upon arriving we have a call from the HSBC fraud department! It seems someone had compromised our U.S. account and was using our debit card! Thank God HSBC was on top of things and called us the same day charges were made-payments were stopped immediately!!! That taken care of, we had to find something to eat. It was 11pm and the hotel restaurant was closed. We weren't close enough to walk to the city center to an open pizzeria so the bartender went into the kitchen and made us a ham and brie cheese sandwich on toasted white bread. It was delicious with a glass of a nice Italian red wine!!!

Thursday night we traveled to Bologna, a three hour drive. One of Mark's HR staff, Raffaella, drove us. Again we arrived late...we had reservations for dinner at a restaurant near our hotel. The restaurant owner kept his establishment open late just to serve us dinner!!! The dinner was definitely worth the wait! I had an eggplant roll stuffed with pasta and cheese-very good!

After Mark finished work on Friday we had the entire weekend to explore and enjoy Bologna (I think of Oscar Meyer every time I write that!). I looked up a couple fun facts about Bologna...it is home to the oldest University in the Western world. The University of Bologna was founded in 1088! In terms of quality of life in Italy Bologna ranks as one of the top cities! Bolognese sauce, a meat based pasta sauce is a culinary tradition in Bologna.

Mark and I had a great time exploring Bologna. The architecture was beautiful and the food was great! I however spent the weekend sniffling, blowing and coughing my way around the city. The weather was damp and bone chilling cold... It was still fun! A couple comments about the food...we have not had good bread in any of the cities we have visited in Italy! Why is Italian bread so delicious in the U.S. but in Italy we find no "Italian" bread as we know it? Another thing I've come to understand about the food, it was all very good-nothing surprising in favors, just plain old good Italian food! Then I realized what makes a food yummo (a term I stole from Rachel Ray)! When your mouth is experiencing an explosion of unexpected delicious flavor-it is the unexpected flavor explosion that makes a food yummo...just my opinion!

 

It was nice returning home on Sunday night. I was exhausted and sick and had four days to recuperate before leaving for Casablanca, Morocco!

I will not assume that everyone knows Morocco is located in North Africa as I know of two people who were unaware!!! Anyway, Mark and I arrived in Casablanca Friday evening. An Alstom driver picks us up from the airport and drives us to our hotel on the beach! The drive was very interesting. We passed by many small farms, small markets and people riding bicycles. You would see entire families riding on these very small motorized bikes! A child would be in front of Dad who was driving, Mom would be hanging on to Dad and a small baby would be slung around the Momma's back! Of course there were no helmets...a different way of life! As we approached the city, traffic was horrible and the drive turned frightening! Oh my God it was the worst ride of my life! But we survived and made it to the hotel just after sunset! The hotel was beautiful and very Moroccan in color and design. We had a great room over looking a beautiful garden and the Atlantic Ocean. The weather was fantastic...mid 60s and very little wind! Perfect! We had a nice meal in a traditional Moroccan restaurant. The chef was supposedly the best chef in Morocco-I don't know, maybe! We discovered a very delicious local red wine and enjoyed a bottle with our first meal in Casablanca. Dinner started with a fish soup that was, yes I will say it...yummo! The unexpected flavor was the oyster in a half shell in the middle of the bowl soup! Tres bien! Then we had a lamb tangine and couscous. Tangine is a cooking method in a clay flat bottom pot with a funnel shaped lid that is used in the oven or grill. The evening ended with a belly dancer!!! How fun was that...


We woke early Saturday morning and took a long walk on the beach. It was a beautiful day with lots of sunshine and very little wind! The beach was full of men, young and old, playing soccer!  They were everywhere and we were constantly dodging the players as they would run and kick the ball all around us! We headed back to the hotel to shower and start the day. We thought we would walk to the grand Mosque, The King Hassan ll. We walked about an hour or so and still only saw it from a distance! we taxied back to the hotel, had a great lunch of grilled fish then sat on the terrace, in the sun, skyping family and friends! Dinner that night was at a restaurant on the water that was recommended by Mark's boss. It was a French restaurant, the atmosphere and foods were fantastic!

Sunday we had to move inland. Mark had to prepare for work on Monday! Inland Casablanca was very different from the beach! The city was not gorgeous by any means! It was under much construction and was very dirty. It was sort of intimidating with all the Muslim garbed men and woman. As we walked to the Medina, the fortressed old city full of shops and such was a little unnerving. It was very crowded and people were bumping into us...I just held on to Mark's hand as tight as I could and tried to enjoy the experience of a new culture, one that was so very different from our own! We had a late lunch at an outdoor restaurant and again had very delicious tangine, this time beef!  We also had a traditional Moroccan dessert and tea! While we were eating the call for prayer went out! Prayer towers are located all around the city and at certain times of day chanting starts, over loud speakers, calling Muslims to prayer. That was very interesting!

 

Monday night Mark, I and his team went on a short bus tour! We went back to the mosque that Mark and I tried to walk to but never made it! The King Hassan ll Mosque is beautiful! While we were watching the sun set and admiring the structure and enormousness of the mosque, the call to prayer went started. All the men went in one door( seemed like the main door), took their shoes off, went inside and knelt on the hard marble floor for prayer. The women entered a smaller side door...not sure where they went! After the mosque we went to the medina, the shopping area inside the walled in ancient city! We were told to leave our purses on the bus because of the pick pocketers and thieves (thought of Alladin)!


Rick's Cafe was next! For those of you who have seen the movie Casablanca with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman know of Rick's Cafe, the American style restaurant in Casablanca. We had a very nice dinner and the evening was enjoyable! Home on Tuesday...YEAH!

The month ended with a visit from Kate!! She may have needed her Mom and Dad...We had a great time enjoying Paris and visiting with each other!:)


That was January in a nutshell! I will let you know what February brings...au revoir!