Thursday, June 22, 2006

A love & hate relationship

Yesteday I ranted about Paris, today I want to render justice to the people and the things we love here: there ARE sympathetic shop keepers indeed, the pharmacist and the boulanger in our neighborhood are extremely friendly; our neighbours in our building have also been very nice, and they all have spontaneusly offered at one point to look after Milo should the birth occur at night; I have made some tue friends among my French colleagues at work...I have to be objective!

Last night it was the Fete de la Musique: like every year on June 21, France celebrates the summer solstice allowing musicians to perform in the streets of all its towns! The performances in Paris range from pop concerts with over 25 artists at La Defense to a little band performing at the brasserie around the corner. The athmosphere is just irresistible! We took a small tour around the neighborhood (can't walk much these days, unfortunately! We are at - 20 days to the due date and although I haven't gained much, a mere 10 kg, I have a limited distance range!) and enjoyed the small band at the brasserie...Milo was enthusiastic, and, for one night, like him several other toddlers were out and about with their parents...the city was envelopped in a sort of village-festival type of aura! On days like this, we love Paris!

6 comments:

giovanni said...

Irrésistible ! Do you like French punctuation ? (space in between) Well, you do not seem to discuss French but Parisien (mal)behaviour... But are les parisiens et les francais vraiment tellement diifférents ?

Allora, 20 giorni... Mentre tanto spero leggere oltre racconti tuoi belli. Scrivi molto bene! Di vero!

As you may have seen, I put another comment on your previous post, which aroused vivid reactions! Love-hate relations can be interesting, tiring, upsetting but... in the end it all depends on our capacity how we live with them. Don't you agree? Sei di accordo? Tu es d'accord ? Estás de acuerdo? Ben je het me eens? Einverstanden? (ah, que suena bonita, pero no estoy seguro que eso sea el equivalente en alemán)

giovanni said...

Funny, like always I write in a hurry and just saw that my major mistake is in... Dutch. Yes, Dutch indeed. And just to prevent you from saying it wrong, it should run: Ben je het met me eens? Or, but more in writing than speaking, Ben je het met mij eens?

Alice said...

I love Paris too! Despite my fear of their customer service, teehee ... ;) No, obviously nothing is ever completely "terrible" or "awful" but it has another side to it as well. You wouldn't be living there if you didn't love it after all. ;)

Clo said...

Giovanni, I hate French punctuation!! My mobile, word and PC are all set in English!!! Thanks for all your insights on this topic, indeed life is never black or white, isn't it? As Alice says...\\Don't worry about the Dutch, I'm not that up to speed yet, makker!

giovanni said...

Sometimes, when I read a French novel, I like the extra space before the question mark... But hai ragione, all these accents (graves et aigues) sono un hassle, uguale nel spagnolo! (ed anche, però meno, in italiano). In olandese c'è solo accenti in parole come café, intuïtie, financiën, hé...

giovanni said...

... e hè, gek (hè? wat zeg je? gek is zonder accent! O ja, stom hè...), financiële, atheïst, coïtus, absenteïsme, cliëntelisme, financieel (hé, dat moet toch met een trema? Nee. Maar waarom financiële wèl? Omdat het accent op de e ligt), genoeg!

Dutch is not easy, as you may already have noticed. In Belgium they show "Baantjer" (un policiáco holandés) subtitled in .... yes indeed. Isn't it strange. Can you imagine Oklahoma tv substitling Colombo? Ah, mi piace tanto inspettore Colombo!