Wish You Were Here... Weeks 3 & 4

A cold, grey day in early January is probably the only time you could hope to get a photograph of the front of the Château de Versailles with no one else around except your own friends. The relatively small number of visitors inside, made for a great tour and certainly made me appreciate being a local.



Gallettes des Rois are our favourite French tradition. This year we had four - one of them baked by India. Florence was almost able to carry out her role, designated by her status as the youngest in the family, to call out who should get each slice. However, having crowned herself Queen before the cake was even cut into, she lost interest and it was left to Savannah to do the honours.


Don't forget to check out all the other virtual postcards in the Wish You Were Here... project. Each week they get better and better!

My Wild Berries. Eight

Weekly portraits of my children inspired by You Are My Wild


10 plus 10
Last week, Georgia and Savannah celebrated their tenth birthdays. They asked for a lemon seed poppy cake because "a birthday's not a birthday without a lemon seed poppy cake"! Over the past ten years they have learnt to take turns blowing out the candles. This year it was Georgia's turn to go first.

I love how the two photos reflect the differences in their personalities. Georgia captured contemplating her wish for the year ahead and Savannah caught up in the excitement of the day that, despite reaching double figures, she had been counting down toward for weeks before!

Our Bastille Day

Do you want to see some photos of the Bastille Day Fireworks at the Eiffel Tower? I have a few!


It doesn't get dark here until 11pm at the moment though so we had to find something else to fill the rest of the day. After having had the peace of our country breakfast shattered by the sound of the French Air Force jets flying over on their way to the parade at the Champs Elysées, I walked down to our Sunday market to buy fruit, cheese and bread. Essential ingredients for a French picnic.


I had wanted to go to the Bastille Day picnic beside the canal at Versailles, ever since I read this post when we first moved to France two years ago. This 14th July looked set to be one of the hottest days of the year so even though Keith was away on a work trip, I decided we couldn't miss the opportunity to participate in a celebration so close to home.



After enjoying our food there was time to relax in the much sought after shady spots under the trees. Florence also took the opportunity insisted on going for her first ever pony ride. There are no good photos of that as it was beyond me to manage a three year old, a grumpy pony and a camera (mums and dads get to lead the ponies themselves, so French!) but you can see evidence of this event on Instagram.


The picnic was a very relaxed event. Locals, dressed in white, and tourists just out enjoying the Sunday sunshine.


I think the Palace of Versailles is best enjoyed from the back garden! We don't go often enough, but I never get over how easy it is to drive into the park through the back gate and enjoy this view for free.


We went to see the fireworks with friends from the girls' school. After dinner at their apartment we left our two toddlers with the babysitter and set out to find the best place to watch the fireworks that wouldn't be too crowded or too noisy. My girls have an unreasonable fear of firework noise, but they still wanted to see the show!



Having walked from one end of the 16th arrondissement to the other we finally settled on the Place de Mexico which is one of those spots in Paris that offers up an unexpected view of the Eiffel Tower and it turned out to be the perfect choice.


We arrived with an hour to go before the fireworks started and bagged a spot at the side of the street and I got my camera out to practice my night time exposures. By the time the fireworks started the whole road was packed.

Not long after we arrived another photographer came and started setting up his tripod right next to us ready to take some serious firework pictures. We started chatting and found out he was also American and that after having scouted out shooting locations on the Champs de Mars and Trocadero, which were apparently way too crowded, he had settled on the exact same spot we had found! It was a great experience to be shooting the same scene right next to someone who really knows what they are doing and Albert was very generous with his tips and advice. You can see his amazing photograph from the night here.

So, after all that waiting here are my fireworks photos. This tutorial was a big help in ensuring I succeeded in getting some good hand held shots. Enjoy and Happy Bastille Day! Which, by the way, only Anglophones say. For the French, the day is La Fête Nationale or Le quatorze juillet.

With love...

A sweet message in the sand made for me on my favourite beach by Savannah.

A very Happy Mothers Day to all the awesome American and Australian Mommies I know!

Party in Paris

It was India's twelfth birthday this week. She wanted a simple celebration with a few friends. This is where we went. The ice rink in front of the Hôtel de Ville. An impressive backdrop for what was probably the easiest birthday party I've ever planned.


Seven girls and I set off into Paris on the train after school on Friday. I'd packed snack bags to keep them going until dinner and threw in a few party favours I'd picked up in Super U that morning. The masks were a surprise hit. The girls wore them on the train, in the metro and the whole time they were skating, much to the amusement of commuters and passers by!


The rink at the Hôtel de Ville is the last of the Holiday Season's temporary ice rinks in Paris to remain open. It costs just five euros to rent skates and the crowds have gone at this time of year. After dark, lights on the roof sparkle all night long.


It was a cold night but the girls were happy skating for an hour while I watched and worked on my night photography.


People come from all over the world to see the view from our local ice rink!


Once they we were done skating we warmed up with some street snacks, churros, nutella crêpes and the biggest Barbapapa (cotton candy) I've ever seen that was inhaled before I could get my camera out to snap a photo!


India has a pretty sophisticated bunch of friends, but they couldn't resist the carousel this night, especially as they got this beautiful double decker ride all to themselves.


After the fun at the Hôtel de Ville, we braved the metro once again to get to our dinner date at Chipotle. The beauty and cuisine of Paris is lost on these girls most of the time, what they really want is a good burrito and a Dr. Pepper. This was my first visit to the Paris Chipotle which opened last May and it was the perfect place to take these girls for a birthday dinner. The servers were patient while they slowly made their choices (in English) and then changed their mind. We had a big table tucked away upstairs all to ourselves and no one cared when the noise level rose - and rose!


It's not always (ever?) easy being a parent to a sixth grader. We are finding it a challenge as we navigate this path for the first time, but on this night the girls smiled and laughed and were polite and couldn't believe it when I said yes to all their requests for treats. For my birthday girl I was happy to indulge.


And the highlight of the party? Checking out the cool shoes on the last day of les soldes!

India was born on my 28th birthday so you can do the maths and figure out that this year's number was a big one for me! Not content with Paris on my doorstep, I'm getting on a plane in a few hours to spend the weekend with Keith in Rome. It's our first visit. If you have any must do's please let us know.

Bon weekend!

Our Twelve Days of Christmas

Well Christmas came and went in a flash with a flurry of last minute crafting, cooking and wrapping. We just about got all the decorations out before Santa came down the chimney.


My favourite addition to the collection are these santons which are a souvenir from our trip to Provence.

Just like last year, we attended the Christmas Eve service at the American Cathedral in Paris adding a tour of the lights along the Champs Elyseés on the way home.


Christmas morning starts early in our house. Several hours before sunrise which makes for grainy but excited photos.


This year Florence figured out Christmas and encouraged by her sisters was thrilled to open all her presents as quickly as possible. For the first time India received all grown up gifts of clothes and jewellery. Slightly bittersweet as she had nothing to play with on Christmas Day. Growing up is hard to do!


We ate our second turkey dinner in a month, but with traditional British extras of bread sauce, parsnips, brussels sprouts and Christmas Crackers containing paper hats that must be worn until the flaming pudding arrives.


After reviving our traditional afternoon Boxing Day Party for our Paris friends that was still going strong at midnight, champagne having replaced the mulled wine, we spent the next day packing for a short but sweet trip to California to see our friends there.


The arrival of the Paris and London New Years were noted before we officially celebrated the dropping of the ball in New York and then just about kept awake until it was New Year on the west coast!


On the must do list while were there, was bowling with best friends, seasonal ice skating, shopping at Abercrombie, dinner at Chipotle and coffee at Starbucks. Yes, we can do most of that in Paris but it's not the same and it costs twice as much!


We got back to France just in time to mark Epiphany with a Galette des Rois. This year our boulangerie's almond filled puff pastries have been voted number one in our Département. Délicieuse!


Each Galette has a feve baked inside it. The ones from our boulangerie are local street signs. We have quite a collection as the cakes are sold all the way through to the end of January and we have to support the number one baker of Kings Cakes in Hauts-de-Seine!

Tradition says that whoever finds the feve in their slice of cake is king for the day. India won, but now it's back to reality, school and laundry. Well it will be once my broken washing machine gets fixed!

Happy New Year!