Centre de Loisir
To our great delight, Ella has decided that she wants to be a center de loisir kid. The centres are run through the schools on Wednesdays and during vacations. They bring in a staff of counselors and plan all kinds of fun activities (art projects, field trips, games, music, etc.). So, Ella went on Monday and Tuesday and says she wants to go back every day this week (it’s currently February break). One plus is that as much as we love her friend, Olivia, the fact that she speaks English limits the amount of French Ella speaks at school. This week Olivia is in New York, so Ella is playing only with her French speaking friends and is making huge language leaps. They’ve done a number of Valentine’s Day projects (which Ella loves) and lots of other stuff that Ella deems much more fun that hanging out at home.
Abe and I took advantage of our unexpected free Monday to get a little work done in the morning and then to explore another of the lesser known museums on our list. This one was a hit. The Jacquemart-André museum is a private collection in an18th century house. M. Jacquemart and his wife Mme. André built this house in what was at the time (early-19th century?) a village just recently annexed into Paris (now it’s the 8th arrondisement). The house itself is remarkable. For example, there are several entire walls that can be lowered into the basement using hydraulic lifts to allow for multiple rooms to be combined into one large space for entertaining (an idea for synagogues during high holidays?). In addition to occasionally hosting parties for 1000 of Paris’ elite, the Jacquemart-Andrés were major art collectors. At a time when the acquisition budget of the Louvre was roughly 300,000 Francs per year, the J-A’s budget was 500,000 Francs per year. The collection includes works by Rembrandt and Boticelli, as well as an impressive collection of Italian sculpture and painting. We were also lucky because there was a special exhibit of work by Jacques Louis David that was supposed to have ended January 31, but was extended a few weeks.
Because every life needs some stress thrown in to keep it interesting, our week has also been fraught with internet problems. Given that Abe works from home and that our US phone line works over the internet, this has been a major inconvenience. The internet company (just like many other French companies, which in the US would have toll-free numbers) has a customer service number for which you pay by the minute. So, naturally, it is to their advantage to keep you on hold as long as possible and then just as they are about to fix a time for the technician to come to the house, the call mysteriously disconnects and you have to call back and start the whole process over again. The technician came today, and the internet worked for the 10 minutes he was here and then promptly stopped working again moments after he left. We have another rendez-vous scheduled for Thursday - and if you’re reading this, then I guess we can assume it was successful : )
Abe and I took advantage of our unexpected free Monday to get a little work done in the morning and then to explore another of the lesser known museums on our list. This one was a hit. The Jacquemart-André museum is a private collection in an18th century house. M. Jacquemart and his wife Mme. André built this house in what was at the time (early-19th century?) a village just recently annexed into Paris (now it’s the 8th arrondisement). The house itself is remarkable. For example, there are several entire walls that can be lowered into the basement using hydraulic lifts to allow for multiple rooms to be combined into one large space for entertaining (an idea for synagogues during high holidays?). In addition to occasionally hosting parties for 1000 of Paris’ elite, the Jacquemart-Andrés were major art collectors. At a time when the acquisition budget of the Louvre was roughly 300,000 Francs per year, the J-A’s budget was 500,000 Francs per year. The collection includes works by Rembrandt and Boticelli, as well as an impressive collection of Italian sculpture and painting. We were also lucky because there was a special exhibit of work by Jacques Louis David that was supposed to have ended January 31, but was extended a few weeks.
Because every life needs some stress thrown in to keep it interesting, our week has also been fraught with internet problems. Given that Abe works from home and that our US phone line works over the internet, this has been a major inconvenience. The internet company (just like many other French companies, which in the US would have toll-free numbers) has a customer service number for which you pay by the minute. So, naturally, it is to their advantage to keep you on hold as long as possible and then just as they are about to fix a time for the technician to come to the house, the call mysteriously disconnects and you have to call back and start the whole process over again. The technician came today, and the internet worked for the 10 minutes he was here and then promptly stopped working again moments after he left. We have another rendez-vous scheduled for Thursday - and if you’re reading this, then I guess we can assume it was successful : )
posted by M-E Family at 10:52 AM
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