How to use this Page

I'm a little nuts: I love packing and planning for trips. Our recent family trip to Paris was no exception. Here are five little investments I'm so glad I bought and brought:

1. My red Merrell Lorelei shoes. Half sneaker, half sports shoe, all cute, these were SO comfortable. The red, surprisingly, went with almost everything. Or at least I thought I did, so that's what matters! There I am, at left, posing as if for a Merrell shoe commercial...!

2. The Rick Steves Paris guidebook. Not only are there great tips about transportation, how to order food in French, and travelling with kids, but there are FANTASTIC walking tours. We used the Historic Paris, Left Bank and Monmartre tours. I felt like I was getting an insider's view of Paris. And I left feeling like I hadn't missed any of the essentials in those areas. You can actually preview some of those tours on his website, and also download free audio tours of Paris and Versailles. I didn't even try those--since we had kids riding along it didn't seem realistic to pop earbuds in for an hour-long tour. But I bet they're as awesome as the book.

3. My PacSafe TourSafe Travel tote. At a steep (at least for me) $100, I was reluctant. But I wanted a biggish zipping tote with theft protection--and one that was at least a little cute. This more than delivered. It has ant-slashing fabric and handles, plus zippers that are tough for someone to open without you noticing (say, on the Metro). The side outside pockets were especially awesome--big enough for a large Vittell bottle or a decent-sized umbrella. Here is a shot of me descending the Sacre Coeur dome steps, carrying that tote... and even managing a smile. The straps were so comfy that I barely noticed I was dragging around my thick guidebook and all that random mommy stuff like...

4. Wet Ones Wipes in 20-sheet travel packs. I thought I was done with these things since my kid is nearly a second grader, but I brought them along and I was so glad I did. Public bathrooms were frequently lacking soap, and we also made a lot of meals out of ice cream and crepes purchased from streetside vendors. I felt like a champion mama everytime I broke one of these babies out for the kids.

5. At the risk of being a PacSafe shill, I also loved my Toursafe Petite handbag, which was basically a reddish mini version of the travel tote. I scored mine on deep discount (about $30) from eBags. It had the same antitheft features as my tote, but this one converts from a shoulder bag to a crossbody. It was also small enough to pass the "small bag" requirement of some places in France, including Versailles. The tote would have been too big. Here, at left, I am at a pond in Versailles, with my purse (and those red shoes!) I have no idea what thing I am contentedly gazing at. That is pretty much the happy look I had on my face the entire time at Versailles, which was one of my very favorite spots we explored!

Coming soon: 5 spots around Paris where your kid WILL be glad they came...

My favourite art museum has to be Rodin’s.

The gardens are spectacular and the statues powerful.

 I’d say he was depressed with the human condition – man’s capacity for sin, suffering, thinking … but then there is philosophy with his masterpiece – The Thinker and …..the KISS.

Love, passion, the embrace – ahhhhhh!

From the sublime to the ridiculous – Rodin to The Pompadou Cetre for Contempory Art.

The Centre is a modern masterpiece of tubes and contemporary design. Inside is the obligatory white space and terrible installations. But then there was a Warhol and views to die for of Paris.

Paris is definitely a grand city with palaces, bridges, Arc de Triomphe Les Invalides … memorials to Napoleon and heroes of the past.

5 Stars Geronimo Stilton #11: We'll Always Have Paris Lewis Trondheim Nanette McGuinness Papercutz 56 Pages    Ages: 7 and up .......................... .................................... Back Cover:  Geronimo Stilton is the editor of the Rodent’s Gazette, the most famous paper on Mouse Island. In his free time he loves to tell fun, happy stories. In this adventure, Geronimo [...]

Public Domaine, a skateboard art and culture show currently on display at Gaite Lyrique in Paris, features an installation of classic board designs brought to life. The animated was created by skate legend Natas Kaupas.

(via Mike Geiger’s Twitter)

Cartoon Brew: Leading the Animation Conversation | Permalink | No comment | Post tags: Gaite Lyrique, Natas Kaupas, Paris, Public Domaine, Skateboards

So, there’s this really wonderful book that I found at the New York Public Library a few weeks ago. I mean, I don’t even know how to describe how special it is.

The Dull Miss Archinard is not that book. But I probably never would have come accross it on my own.

The book is called Toward a feminist tradition: an annotated bibliography of novels in English by women, 1891-1920, by Diva Daims and Janet Grimes, and it is a list of books by women that have a bit of a feminist bent (or an older-than-average heroine, or a heroine with a career), with blurbs compiled from contemporary reviews. It is the reading list of my dreams. I mean, aside from all the descriptions of books about how having children out of wedlock will inevitably lead to everyone involved dying the most miserable deaths possible, whether for moral reasons or because of the state of society, depending on the political inclinations of the author. But the books that delight in wretchedness seem to be counteracted by books about women founding salons, or farming coconuts. It’s pretty great.

Anyway, I noted down many titles, and The Dull Miss Archinard, by Anne Douglas Sedgwick, was the first one I sought out. It’s about a guy named Peter Odd, whose estate neighbors on that of the Archinards: a spendthrift father, an invalid mother, and two young girls. Katherine, fourteen-ish, is courageous, scientifically inclined, and very smart. Hilda, maybe twelve, is timid, emotional, and intense. Odd makes friends with Hilda, who quotes Chaucer at him, and it flatteringly fond of his company, but when Odd’s wife dies, he leaves England and doesn’t encounter any of the Archinards for another ten years.

Then he encounters Katherine in Paris. He’s impressed by her wit, her manner, and her velvet gown, but mostly he’s eager to see Hilda again. Hilda, though, is kind of hard to track down. Odd spends increasing amounts of time with Katherine and her parents, but Hilda, if she appears at all, only pops in to say high between coming home from the studio where she paints and going to bed. Eventually Odd finds out what’s going on: Hilda is working herself to the bone in order to support her family in the lifestyle to which they insist on remaining accustomed. And also he realizes that he’s in love with her, which is awkward, because by that point he’s gone and gotten himself engaged to Katherine.

All of this should be significantly more fun than it actually is. I mean, it’s okay. I sort of liked most of the characters. Getting to be indignant about the way the Archinards treat Hilda was pretty enjoyable. The section towards the end where Hilda, Katherine, and Peter Odd all repeatedly accuse each other of being base was as unintentionally hilarious as it was irritating. But it could have been much better. Especially if Sedgwick’s editor had forbidden the use of the word ‘base.’