Who's who in "Our Paris"?

[trechic]

OK...well I will jump in here next.....
I have been a single, single woman with no children under her roof for 4 years now, and completely loving it! I adore my kids and they are all currently living within a short distance from me. Every Sunday morning we meet for brunch together and catch up on each other's lives. Prior to that, I was a single mother having been left without a word by my husband of 18 years with whom I had two of my three children - never to have seen or heard from him since. He left me with nothing but a lot of debt (IRS), credit card, etc. It was a trying and difficult time to say the least, but today I have absolutely no regrets!! It was thru that time that I found out truley what I was made of and that I could survive anything. I have been living on the east coast of Massachusetts for a good part of my adult life. So, I am surrounded by the water and beautiful beaches and so when I do yearn to get away, it is mostly to the great cities of the world that I am drawn! My oldest son, Jarrod is an entrpreneur - first born, focused, driven and on track. He started a business with his cousin called www.aizling.com. It is a website that pairs medical professionals to facilites online. He also has a new little sideline website called...mygreensfees.com which gets ppl tee times for discounted prices My youngest son has a roofing and siding business and my daughter is just back from a year in San Diego and looks like she will be waitressing and enjoying the beach this summer...hmmmm....As for me, I opened my own nail salon here on the Cape 10 years ago and it was a very good decision for me. I love my work, and I love my clients. They are like family to me! I am extremely busy in the summer and then when things begin to slow down in the Fall, I like to get away. So, Paris here I come - Oct 26th will be here before I know it!!!

[willow]

Hi Everyone!

First off, thanks to sistereurope for sending me the link to this forum!

Modified May 14 2008

My name is Anna, I'm 22 and an accountant and future CPA!

I have degrees in finance and accounting, with a job in the not-for-profit sector of audit. I am so excited about it and as you can probably guess, I love numbers.

I am an immigrant to the US from Poland and just recently became a US citizen. I come from a big family of 6 kids, which means my parents have always run our home like a mini-army.

Besides numbers, I love dogs! I am owned my a Saint Bernard named Tarzan, and I eventually want to get into dog conformation! I love big dogs, the more fur and slobber the better! But unfortunately my next dog will have to be smaller and probably a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel since I will be miving into a condo.
I have been to Paris once, but have already fallen in love with the city through French class in 7th grade. I always loved watching the phony video lessons where the students walked around in Paris, and looking at pictures my french teacher took. I never got a chance to do study abroad for many reasons, among them were the travel restrictions for our school post 9/11. In college, my course load never allowed it either. Ever since, I've rented French movies, listened to French music, followed travel forums, and obsessed over Paris. My room has posters of views from Paris, Eiffel Tower candles, and more! My family knows my obsession and just shakes their collective head at it. They don't get it, and think I am crazy.

I am planning my second trip to Paris between Dec.29 and Jan.4 with my best friend Katie! My parents still don't know about it because they won't approve of it, but too late airfare and apartment are booked!

[willow]

My plan for the Loire Valley is to take the TGV to Tours where I will be staying overnight at the Hotel L'adresse. From there I plan on going on a tour with either Acco-Dispo or Alienor. They provide mini-bus tours of various chateaus, and their route changes depending on day. This way I can cover several different chateaus without the hassle of driving a car or planning the route.

As for the rest of my Paris trip, I will be relying on the Metro and my two feet. Though I do plan on doing a night bike trip with Fat Tire on either my first or second night. I figure that is a good way to familiarize myself with the city and meet people.

Despite all my planning and research I am quite a bit nervous about the trip since no one in my family has tried anything familiar. We weren't even allowed to live away from home from college, if that gives you an idea of how strict my parents are. I actually booked the trip and then told my parents about it so that they couldn't forbid it or anything like that. (Yes I am a legal adult, but in old traditional families, it makes no difference to parents!).

I'm sure you will be fine trechic! I'll share any tidbits I pick-up, I plan on keeping a live blog while in Paris since the studio I am renting has Wi-Fi.

[luckymama]

I am SO NEW to this site, but I will see if I can send something. I am sisteuropes' mama and I am so excited about my upcoming trip to PARIS! I cannot wait to taste the wonderful food, and of course, the VIN! Everyone that I tell about my upcoming tirp tell me that "you will LOVE it." I do not know of one that has been there and not fallen in love with the city and I am sure I will also. I know that my daughter loves it so much she is talking about, someday, having an apartment there. Gee, that would be wonderful.

[Becky (Berkeleytravelers)]

Hi, Willow -- my first trip to Paris was alone, and I was more than a bit intimidated but finding out that I could cope was quite liberating and I then went back many times by myself. I don't know what your arrangements are (maybe you don't know yourself yet?), but I had a flat and no one to fall back on. So, with my remnants of high school French (at that point, many years in the past) and a decent phrase book, I decided that I would just have to plunge in because otherwise I was going to flat starve to death since my return flight was a week off!

It's all going to be fine, and you almost can't have a bad time!

[Becky (Berkeleytravelers)]

Willow, you will have a great time. The Marais is varied and interesting, and pretty lively. One thing I would suggest -- when shopping for food be sure you watch (and imitate) what the locals do in the produce section. Basically, in some stores at least some products have to be bagged by a clerk (e.g., the really expensive mushrooms in the food part of Bon Marche -- well worth a look, just check for the nearby Metro stops and you won't have any problem getting to and from); but the rest, you bag yourself, and then weigh and print out an adhesive label that tells the cashier how much to charge (the machines have pictures of the items on the keys you press so you don't need to know the French for "potatoes" or whatever). Also check out the various street market areas (e.g., rue de Bucci and many others) for food shopping.

One of my best "no, the French are not rude" stories is from that first trip. I did not catch on about the produce, and the cashier just took all my bags back and put all the labels on for me -- she was very nice about it, and I was mortified for causing her so much more work.

My final tip -- take a canvas or mesh bag with you to carry all your food purchases (and probably other things as well). You'll feel like you (temporarily) live there, in no time at all.

[GitteK]

becky - you should see some of the postcards I have in my 1973-scrapbook: with women in tight skirts, high toupeed laquered hairstyle, pointed stilettos - and with cars/scooters so old they should be in museum, like this one:


They (both cars and women) must have been more up-to-date in 1973, I can see that from my photos, but I guess they didn't make new postcards very often then !!!

[andi]

Boo Hoo!! I live smack bang in the middle of the UK, nowhere near any sea, in an industrial town but approx 20 minutes to the country side in any direction.

Here are some pictures of my city in the Victorian days approx 1910

The city was full of Bottle Kilns that made the plates and cups, very unhealthy and smokey.


These are the workers in the china factory making the cups and plates. I think in this picture that they are "Dipping" the cups into the glaze that puts the shine on your cups and seals the clay.


As well as the bottle kilns we were also a mining community and mined coal and also china clay. In this picture it was a clay mining pit that you can see in the foreground. None of the mining takes place now, the last coal mines closed down in the late 80's.


This photo shows the bridge and tram lines in the town, the railway station is just past the bridge on the left. This bridge is still there and we walk under it almost everyday to go shopping in town. The building on the right behind the bridge is also still there and still a functioning hotel.


This picture shows what the city looks like today, it is taken from the top of the hill were we walk our dogs last winter. There are still a few of the bottle kilns scattered about but no longer in use, coal use has also been restricted now and the air is very much cleaner.


This picture shows you another view from the hill, showing the rows and rows of houses, many of these houses were built in 1880 for the workers in the pottery factories and for the coal miners.

And finally here are my 3 fabulous daughters, aged 12, 19 and 21

[Shoesy]

O.K., everyone. This is me........or at least part of me. The photo was taken and installed by my jet-lagged son who just returned from California a few hours ago. ;D

[Roniece]

Hello everyone, just introducing myself ... just found this site and registered my screen name as "Parisbound" as that's what I will be in 2 months time.... counting down the weeks now! very exciting... it will be my 3rd visit in 3 years so I'm hoping I can keep returning on a yearly basis. I am married and have a beautiful soon to be 22 year old son. My husband is an architect and I work as an Office/HR Manager - yes, lots of people problems I get to sort out! LOL
I live in Sydney, but originally from New Zealand which is where my heart is - go the All Blacks I say for the world cup this year! I will be in Paris for at least two of the rugby games, but not sure if I can get tickets at this late stage... oh well, I live in hope!

My screen name on TA was Roniece Dawson-Bruce - which is by real name - it's just that I didn't know when I registered I could use a nom de plum! Blonde moment on my part really so no[-one to blame but me!

We have two adorable miniature Dacshunds named Ollie and Otto - they are tan short haired and extremely spoilt!!

I think that is all about me for the moment at least... oh my favourite thing about Paris is getting lost and asking for directions... you can meet some very helpful nice french people that way

Thanks again for allowing me to tell you a little about me - enjoying reading all the posts about everyone else too...

Be well
Roniece

[mtngrl]

I have not yet read all 16 pages...yet! But I will. Love the idea of getting to know people.

I am a SAHM, which really means I am in the car shuttling kids most of the time. DD is 16, so can drive herself now, but DS is 13 so I am still the chauffer. I do a lot of volunteering at the schools and for the kids sports teams.

My DH is a retired military officer, so we have lived all over the US. He retired a few years ago and were so happy to be able to stay in the PNW, which is home for both of us. We are in the Portland, OR area currently.

My first trip overseas got me hooked. Our first trip was when the kids were 4 and 7 and we had less than 2 weeks notice, but managed to meet my husband while he was on a port stop in Portugal. The rest is history...whenever time and the budget allows...I am planning the next Europe trip.

We went to Paris/Normandy in 2001, shortly before 9/11. Loved it and have wanted to go back. And now we are...in one week! Can't wait!!!

[grunblack]

I'm on the later side of 20's, majored in psychology and am currently working as a human resources advisor for a council in Adelaide, specialising in areas such as recruitment and learning & development. Our Sept/Oct trip will be the first for my husband and I to Europe (spending time in Italy, Spain and France and have been saving madly!). We have spent time in Hong Kong and Vanuatu and hubby spends time in China and the States for work. We'd love to travel more but this is really the first time we've both been in able to (job and study wise) get a longer trip organised that doesn't involve work, so you can imagine how excited we are - I've already started planning europe trip #2 (with a lot more of Paris and the French country side on the list).

I'm really enjoying being part of the forum and can't wait to share information about our time in Paris - contributing more than just questions!

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome!!

[muffya]

Its nice to read about so many people I've come to know throught TA! I'm Muffy and I live in Fresno, CA and I'm a travelholic. Its a small town, but we love it! I'm on about my third career (don't want to get bored!) I started as a lobbiest in Washington DC for a telephone company, did fundraising for Cancer, public relations for phyical rehabilitation, marketing consulting, and now am apprenticing as a jeweler. I have two kids, 6 and 9. I'm an avid tennis player (not too good though) Love to cook and plan trips!
I've been traveling to europe since I was twelve, and for the last ten years have been fortunate enough to go every summer. My kids have been going since they were infants. I have seen europe from a new perspective and done things I would never do if I didn't have kids!
My first Paris experience was at 16 while at boarding school for a summer program in London. A weekend trip with art history teachers made me a lifelong museum lover! Wanted to be an art history major, but lack of jobs turned me to Biology! Just returned from France two days ago, and already thinking about our next trip.

[greyghost1]

I just happened on these posts.They are a great read. I, too, always was curious who was who on TA...at least the more long-lived writers. So thanks for the great reads.

So I guess I'll give it a try. The above is our weimaraner "Spook" and next is my husband...the "beanie weenie man"



My Dad met my Mom as an officer stationed at Le Harve...she was RAF. My first trip abroad was on the Queen Mary in 1956. We stayed for 6 months with my Mom's family outside Liverpool.

I next travelled to the Scandinavian countries with my sister in 1970. We spent 3 weeks driving through Norway, Denmark and Sweden.

After getting a MBA at SFSU, I joined Crocker Nat'l bank and made it 10 years before the corporate culture did me in. During that time I travelled extensively in the UK by myself.

I met my husband in 1990. We were both in construction. He is an estimator and I owned part of a storm drain construction company in Southern Calif. We finally decided it would work as a marriage and we got married at Lake Tahoe on April 13, 1994 in a hugh snowstorm. We were to get married on Emerald Bay but the TAHOE STAR could not leave its dock...too much snow falling & blowing.

During the years with Joe I made him get a passport and our 1st trip was to Scotland, the Cornwall coast and then a week in London where we rented an apartment. It was a wonderful trip
and for the next 10 years I begged him to go to Paris with me but he refused because he was afraid of not being able to speak the language. So we visited all over the UK.

Finally in 2002 I convinced him to go to Paris over Thanksgiving for 4 days. Since I figured it was a one shot deal, I booked us at The George V in a suite. Well, he enjoyed it as much as I did and we have been back every year. This past year in an apartment on rue Princesse. Unfortunately, next year he wants to again explore the western Scottish coast. I'll just have to sneak in a by myself 4 day Paris trip somehow.

Again thanks for your posts, it is super getting to know you all better.

[Anne]

OK, I have been postponing that for about a month now, but here we go :

As my avatar subtly suggests it, I am an Alsatian (I know, I know... ) . I was born in Strasbourg, a beautiful city in Alsace, on the border with Germany, some 43 years ago . I lived there for the first 31 years of my life, except for some of my student time . I met hubby in business school and then had a (short) career as a financial controller . I have a daughter who is now almost 16 and twins (boy and girl) who are almost 13 .

I quit working just after the twins were born . First, I realized that I couldn't raise properly three kids while working 50+ hours a week (plus heavy travelling), and second I had to resign from my job anyway because we left Alsace at that time since hubby got a job as a European Union official in Luxembourg .

So we went to live in an area called Lorraine, on the Luxembourg border, about 220 kms from Strasbourg . Lorraine is not half as nice as Alsace, where my heart still lies, but we visit the family in Alsace fairly often (I would be glad to visit much more often if only it didn't mean staying at my in-laws' ... )
Anyway, so I went brutally from being a career woman in a big city to being a house mom in a dead place ... That was tough, believe me . I was lucky enough to find some wonderful friends here, and that helped a lot .

So now I am still at home, which means that I am a household administrator, a cook and a (poor) gardener . As far as the kids are concerned, I am also a school coach, a taxi and a living purse . I also do volunteer work at the kids' school and at a consumers association .
We travel quite much, so I spend quite much time planning this (I am a bit fastidious in that regard) . Hubby and I hate the "stay on the beach" kind of holidays, we both like to visit old town or to hike in nice countryside areas . Of course the kids are not that enthusiastic about these kind of holidays but they cope well enough . Visiting Paris is always a bit of a family struggle because the girls then get mad about shopping while hubby and I want to visit (not that I dislike shopping either ) and my son hates shopping anyway . There is a new TGV from our place to Paris since June, so I guess that we will go to Paris more often now anyway (jealous, arent you ?... ;D)

[Penny]

I had tried to write out a version before posting but :oit ended up being about 3 pages (in Word) so trying to be as brief as possible.

I'm 60 ahhhh!
I've lived in several states, 15 in Missouri, 15 in California both N & S, 30 in Dallas with a couple of years in Chattanooga Tenn. I'm now back in Missouri where almost all of my immediate family live.

I have 2 brothers and 4 (now 2) sisters that I did not meet until I was 26 years old. very long story. and more nieces, nephews, great and great-great and one great-great-great niece. One son who has been in the active and reserve military for 24 years.

I'm was always the navigator so I guess I always had the travel bug. We would go someplace and the next time my Dad would say "OK Penny where do we turn"?

I've worked in lots of different jobs but worked in some capacity in food/entertainment business for many years.
My most exciting job (where I first started traveling for business) was "eating pizza for living" I was an anonymous auditor. I travel as far south as Orlando Florida, as far North as Toledo Ohio west Las Vegas and Phoenix, East Augusta Georgia. Would fly into a major city and then drive to the locations. I have traveled to many other places but those were vacations or visits to friends.
On the TA map I created I have 239 locations listed and that is only the ones they list to add. I've been in some towns that don't even have stop lights.
My last job was in the IT department of a large real estate reinvestment firm. 1997 is when I made the trip to Paris with my box for the 1st time for 21 days to train the Paris employees on our in-house tracking system. the downside is all expenses were paid so we got real spoiled.

I have a minor sometimes major disability called fibromyalgia. I had to have some facial reconstruction done in 2001 and the results and pain threw me into a major flare-up, in 2002 I finally had to give up working and now live on Social Security Disability.

Major change in life style.

There are many things I can no longer do such as long road trips in car.

But I haven't stopped dreaming and was able to go to Paris in April with most of the trip paid for with money my sister left me for that! we had planned to make the trip together in 06 for my 60th birthday.

So I love to read what others have done and seen and hopefully be able to put in my two cents with hints of my own.

[Jody]

Penny! I feel your pain! I had just typed a nice long post for here when the power went out and I lost it!

Had to do it all over again and here's the result.

I’ve spent the whole morning reading all the profiles of my fellow Paris Addicts. In fact Parisaddict is my screen name on TA.

My body knows it’s 68 but my mind keeps telling me I’m only 32. I’m married to the same man for the past 46 years and we live in a suburb of Orlando, FL. We’ve lived here for 21 years since we were very fortunate to be able to retire early and indulge in our love of travel and hanging out! We previously have lived in Pittsburgh, Dallas, once before in Orlando, and Detroit. When we decided to quit the corporate rat race we chose Fl because of the weather, family and also I was licensed to practice pharmacy here in case I wanted to do some part-time work. I finally gave that up about 4 years ago when the working hours became intolerable and dangerous.

We’ve first went to Paris about 21 years ago and have been lucky enough to make it there at least once a year since then. We are left-bankers or actually rue Jacobins , we’ve stayed at just about every hotel on that street. We’ve finally settled on the du Danube as our home away from home. Though with the Euro rising and the dollar falling we may just go with an apartment next time.

We usually try to time our visits for any brocante or current exhibition we are interested in seeing. The Nov. show at Bastille is a favorite and I can’t wait to get there this year. At one point we had collected so much we opened a small shop to sell the excess, but it’s a lot easier to eBay.

We both love driving in France and have made several trips to Picardy for the WWI battlefields. My David has a particular interest as both his father and all his uncles fought there. He might not even have been here except for the war. His American father serving in the Canadian army met his English mother while she was searching for her brother’s grave in northern France. The rest is history!

We’ve also enjoyed the Loire , Normandy and Brittany. The driving is so easy in the countryside and it’s fun to poke through the beautiful villages. This past Nov. we decided we’d head south after 2 weeks in Paris but so many things were closing for the season we ended up with 4 days in Lyon, 6 more in Burgundy and then ended up in Auxerre for 3 days before returning to Paris to finish up our stay. This year we’ll start off with a few days in London for the big Olympia antique show before heading for Paris and the Bastille brocante. We’ve decided it’s easier to fly direct to London then take the Eurostar to Paris and quit messing about with airport security , delays and connection times.

That’s about it. I just want to say I’m very happy to have found this place . Hopefully , I’ll be able to help someone as I know I’ll be taking a lot of help from you all.

BTW…my screen name IS my name .

Jody

[Darcy]

Bonjour mes nouveaux amis! J’adore aussi Paris!

I’ve really enjoyed reading all of your introductions and wanted to introduce myself.

Travel is my passion and if I’d been born rich instead of beautiful, yeah right!, I’d indulge in it much more often! On our first trip to France in 2004, my husband and I spent three weeks in the South West of the country and then only three days in Paris. I expected to like Paris but I didn’t expect to fall in love with Paris. Could I love it more than Budapest, Lisbon, Prague or Edinburgh? Well, Budapest is now my second favorite city!

I have returned to Paris three times since 2004 and, although I’m there about 10 days each trip, I always run out of time before I run out of places to see and things to do. I’m amazed at posters on other boards who say they’ve been to Paris, so what is left to see on a second trip?!

My husband doesn’t share my passion for travel, and is not able to walk 10 miles and climb a thousand steps every day, but he understands my need of it. After our first trip to France together, I’ve returned with either a friend or relative. My May 2007 trip was my first solo trip to Paris and it was, by far, my best trip! Except for our first trip, I’ve always rented apts and though I know it’s not for everyone, it really works for me. For me the only negative to traveling alone is eating alone. If anyone here is going solo and wants a dinner companion, let me know!

Just a little personal info: I am 61, a retired accountant. We live in a small, historic town in North Carolina, having moved here eight years ago from southwest Florida where I lived for 25 years. That’s where I met and married my husband 10 years ago. He was retired then so I decided to join him in the leisurely life. And if I didn’t spend so many, many back breaking hours working in my gardens, I would have a much more leisurely life! My husband has one child, with spouse and children, on each coast, while I have managed to stay completely childfree. ;D Although Darcy is not my real name, I have wished it were since I was 10 years old, so now I am Darcy!

A big Merci to demarais for telling me about this wonderful place! My goal in life is to visit Paris as many times as she has.

[Anne]

OK, can you see the photos now ?

[steve]

I am not my favorite topic of conversation, but...

I'm 54, my charming and lovely wife is 52, and we've been married for 31 years (this last boggles my mind). I've led a rather peripatetic life. I was born in the Bay Area--I've lived there on two occasions, LA twice, Seattle once, near Winchester in the south of England for almost 10 years, and now back in Denver (also for the second time).

I'm a tech writer, and have spent the majority of my so-called career writing programming manuals. My CALW is an IT project manager, having switched from Civil Engineering about 15 years ago.

We are reasonably well-traveled, and pretty much take a trip whenever some money comes our way. We're about to bite the bullet and drag our 70s house into this century. No kids--we're far too irresponsible. The world's best dog, a 5-year-old Golden Retriever, lives with us. We garden, cook, eat, drink, and consume music with wild abandon.