Dinner last night

Seth: It’s my birthday soon.* I turn into a girl.

Nathan**: Seth, it’s permanent. You can’t turn into a girl.

Seth: No, I don’t like being a boy. My birthday soon, my penis go in the trash.

Nathan: Your penis can’t come off because it’s connected to your skin. If it falls off, you die.

Seth: What die? I don't wanna die.

Nathan: Or you’ll be really weak and sick.

Seth: But I don’t want to stay a girl. Friday and then Monday I’ll be a boy.

* It’s not even close to Seth’s birthday.

** You'll see Nathan talking in this story because Nora was out at a playdate/party.

Our trip to Paris

 

By Daddy, with input from Nora and Nathan

In honor of Nora’s 9th birthday, the three of us went to Paris this past weekend. We had a great time and wanted to write all about it.

We left early on Friday morning and took the bus to the airport. We got some breakfast at the airport.

We took a plane from Madrid to Paris directly. Once we arrived there (to Orly), Nora’s ear was hurting because she was still getting over a cold. We were ready for lunch and so took the train called OrlyVal to Orly Sud (the South terminal; we arrived to the West terminal) to go to a restaurant that was recommended to us by the woman at the tourist bureau. It turns out that it was a very yummy restaurant. Nora and Nathan had hamburgers (of course), but these hamburgers were great – as good as we get in the US – instead of the iffy burgers that we get in Spain. The fries were great too. And they had amazing Dijon mustard there as well – Daddy and Nathan loved it. Daddy had a piece of fish and a potato dish that were both so good. We ate lunch at about noon and, to our surprise, found that other people (including French people) ate lunch at that time – good to be off the Spanish eating schedule for a bit!

Then we got back on the OrlyVal train, to the Paris RER (sort of like Madrid’s cercania and Boston’s commuter rail) and took it to the actual Metro, where we caught a train to the stop near our hotel called Bossiere. Our hotel was about 5 minutes from there. We were in the 16th arrondissment (these are sections of Paris) and very near the Eiffel Tower. In fact, we could see the Eiffel Tower from the balcony of our hotel. In this first picture, it is a bit of a cloudy afternoon on Friday and it is hard to see the Eiffel Tower from our balcony, but more better pictures are coming in a minute.

We unpacked and then set off. Daddy promised us that we would only see 1 church and 1 museum per day – we thought we could handle this. (And they did!) Our church-du-jour for Friday was the Sacre Cour, one of Daddy’s favorite sites (and now Nora’s and Nathan’s too). Even though it was a bit cold and cloudy, it was still a great view. We rode a funicular trolley thing up the huge hill to the top to see the church and then walked back down.

 Then we caught a bus and went down to the center of Paris and went to the museum du jour – the Louvre (pronounced kind of like LOOVE-rah, although we didn’t quite get the hang of French). This is also one of Daddy’s favorite places (and now also Nora’s and Nathan’s). We focused on paintings and saw the Mona Lisa, some of Monet’s paintings, some huge ones by David, and some sculptures. We also had a chance to pull out our museum sketchbooks and do some sketches.

We also explored the pyramid at the beginning section of the Louvre and also a mall that is attached. Here we are at the Pyramid. We got some dinner at the Louvre. (Daddy always tries to have a meal at these fancy museums in memory of his grandmother Iny – Daddy has fond memories of eating at museums with her after visits there.) We then caught a bus home and had our first real glimpse of the Eiffel Tower at night. And here is a better picture of the Eiffel Tower from our hotel room balcony.

We had a good sleep on Friday night and awoke ready for a new day on Saturday. We meandered a bit as we walked from our hotel down to the Seine River where we were going to have a boat cruise. We first stopped to get a quick bite of breakfast, having our first (but not our last) pain de chocolate. We then found a nice bread store and got some baguettes, which we ate as the rest of our breakfast. We then happened to wander in to an amazing outdoor market on Woodrow Wilson St. – Daddy (who is a big fan of outdoor markets and has been to a ton of them in lots of cities) felt that this may have been the best outdoor market he had ever been to. Things that we saw that were a bit unusual and special included: lots of different kinds of mushrooms, tons of cheese, lots of fish, sheep’s brains (Nora thought this was the grossest thing in the world), snails, lots of breads, very fresh fruits and vegetables, and last but not least, an amazing crepe stand. This was Nora’s and Nathan’s first exposure to the real French crepes, and they were blown away. Nora watched the crepe guy making crepes for awhile. We ate butter and sugar crepes right off the griddle, which were amazing. Here is a video of Nora enthralled by the crepe guy as he made some savory crepes. As you can see, he expertly ran 4 crepe griddles at the same time.

 It was hard to drag Nora and Nathan away from watching the crepe guy, but we eventually made it down to the river for our river cruise. We enjoyed going up and down the river and seeing the sights. Most amazing was a lady who introduced the cruise in like 7 different languages – French, English, Spanish, Italian, Russian, German, and Portuguese. She only said a sentence or two in Russian, German, and Portuguese, but we were impressed with her fluency in 4 languages.

 After the boat ride, we took a bus back to the center of Paris and went to Notre Dame.

 It was amazing because of its window, says Nora. It didn’t look like a stained glass window from the outside, but once we went inside, it was a huge stained glass window that was very pretty. Nathan thought it was pretty cool too.

Then we walked from the island where Notre Dame is to the other, fancy and smaller island. On the way, we had one of those Paris moments. On a street corner, we happened upon a wonderful jazz band:

http://www.myspace.com/thebuddydicolletteband

We listened to them for a while. Here is a video from youtube taken a few weeks before we saw them – this seems to be a regular place that they like to play.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovmz7KVDY_k

Then we went and got gelato which, despite the cold, was great. Nora had vanilla and caramel, and Nathan got chocolate and vanilla. 

 Then it was time for our museum of the day. We went to the Musee d’ Orsay. This museum had lots of impressionist painters. Nora’s favorite was Van Gogh, especially his self-portrait. It was a bit crowded and we didn’t have time (or a place) to sit and sketch, but it was a nice museum to explore.

On the way back from the museum, we walked by the Place de Concorde, where there was a huge ferris wheel. Nathan all by himself came up with a great pun, calling this the “Paris wheel.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roue_de_Paris

We rode it and got great views of the city, just as the sun was going down. 

 

And finally, our day ended with dinner. We went to this restaurant called Frog XVI pub. There are several Frog pubs in Paris, and this one was close to our hotel. They had good beer (for Daddy) and great hamburgers for everyone. And as part of their kids’ meal, Nora and Nathan got a really dessert – a chocolate brownie with whipped cream on top. Plus there were TVs there and we could watch good soccer. And they spoke English. Nora decided she wanted to go back there to eat on Sunday night again!

Hard to beat a day like Saturday! But on Sunday, we got up, got our pain de chocolate and baguettes, and walked down to the Eiffel Tower. We went all the way to the top! It was a long ride up. At the second floor, we had to change to a new elevator. But then we got all the way to the top and it was a great view.

 Then we walked down the river a bit and saw the small version of the Statute of Liberty that is nearby. Then we went into the center of Paris and went to the Marais, which is the old Jewish section of town. Daddy had heard that there was this amazing falafel stand there, and for Daddy this turned out to be true. Daddy said it was the best falafel sandwich he had ever had. We walked around a bit and looked briefly at the Jewish Museum of Paris. (Since we didn’t do a church on Sunday, we ended up doing two little museums.) Then we caught a bus over to the Orangarie museum where we saw the Money water lily rooms. Then we walked around a big holiday (Christmas) market that was on the Champs Elysses near Place de Concorde, and Nora and Nathan got another crepe. Nora said it wasn’t as yummy as the first crepe but was still pretty good. Nathan lucked out because the guy making the crepe messed up and gave him a nutella crepe instead of the sugar crepe that Nora got! And then we went back to the hotel for a bit to relax, followed by another dinner at the Frog.

And finally, we catch our flight home (today)! Overall, it was a really great trip.

Spending time with Seth

Seth and I (Mommie) spend a lot of time together. Partially, it’s that two nights a week Jon takes the big kids to swimming lessons, so we’re left to our own devices. And partially, it’s that Seth already has good sheep-dog instincts, separating Mommie from the herd and shepherding her away for his own personal one-on-one enjoyment. Then, there’s the fact that Seth and Mommie have about the same amount of appreciation for high culture (e.g., art, architecture). That is to say, no appreciation whatsoever. So while the big kids + Jon are off enjoying the fruits of Europe, Seth and I spend a lot of time together.

This weekend was one of those instances. But while I’ve come around to actually enjoying and looking forward to his company, after about six hours the charm wears off. Why? To put it delicately, my toddler Never. Shuts. Up. It wouldn’t be so bad if he were just talking to himself; occasionally, for instance, he’ll launch into the “trucks with cranes on them” song and happily sing (off-key) to himself for awhile. I really enjoy these moments. But mostly he just wants to have a conversation, toddler-style. This mainly entails asking lots and lots of questions, typically ones that are nearly impossible to answer for a 3-year-old. Here’s a sample from today’s bus ride:*

Why bus not moving?

Why train not moving?**

What’s that noise?

Why bus stop?

Why people get on?

Why he have no hair?****
What she doing?

Why bus driver drive crazy?*****

Why there girl bus driver yesterday?*****

Why dogs have no hands?

What uno mean?

What dos mean?

What ochonueve mean?

Why red light mean stop?

What yellow light mean?*******

This only stopped when a gaggle of teenagers got on the bus and started playing rap music (“This my favorite song!”)

* Every day spent alone with Seth involves at least one post-nap bus ride. Luckily, there’s two buses that do a 40-minute loop starting at our apartment, making for a very convenient outing. I've begun thinking of them as my "sunset rides" -- for about $1, I get a 40-minute tour each night at sunset.

** We pass an old diesel engine parked in the middle of a roundabout on our bus loop

****Sometimes Mommie is thankful that nobody in our neighborhood speaks English.

*****Ditto.

*****Most Madrid bus drivers are male, so Seth noticed when one day there was a female bus driver. And while we’re talking about bus drivers, random sociological note: other than their smoking habit, Madrid bus drivers appear to be in 10x better shape than Boston-area bus drivers.

*******Mommie made the mistake of telling a toddler that the yellow light means both slow down and, because we live in Boston, speed up. This is clearly too much for a toddler to comprehend, and thus this question gets asked over and over.

Wall of ham

Seth and I went shopping this morning and noticed that Al Campo has put up their holiday display:Yes, that's a wall of ham in honor of the holidays. The price per ham, FYI, is 95 Euro. And the totally empty store you're seeing? 10 AM -- apparently that's well before people make it out to do groceries.

More generally, we've split up this weekend -- Jon + big kids are in Paris, doing the museum/church tour in honor of Nora's 9th birthday. As churches/museums aren't really Mommie's scene (or Seth's, though he'd probably tolerate them a little better), we're home doing errands and enjoying the sunshine and warm weather.

El Ratoncito's commentary

Querido Nathan,

Bienvenido a Madrid. La Hada de dientes no pudo venir esta noche - que no tenía tiempo suficiente para coger un vuelo desde el Zaragoza, donde se tiende a otra familia americana. Así que me envió, Ratoncito Pérez, en su lugar. Yo soy la versión en español del hada de los dientes.

Mis orígenes provienen de una historia escrita por un príncipe español en 1894. El príncipe tenía ocho años, y había perdido un diente. Su padre (el rey) pidió que una historia sea escrita para la ocasión, y el autor Luis Coloma lo hizo. En la historia, yo vivía con mi familia en una caja de galletas en Madrid, pero con frecuencia se escapó de casa a través de las tuberías de la ciudad, y en los dormitorios de los niños que habían perdido sus dientes. La historia cuenta cómo astucia engañó a los gatos merodeando en los alrededores y las monedas de oro a la izquierda en lugar de los dientes.

Amor,

El ratoncito

P.S. Dile a Nora que me siento, en España, la tarifa es de dos euros. Véase más arriba, de dejar de oro.

[NB from Mommie: Apparently el ratoncito also served as social commentary on the rich/poor divide in Madrid. However, he decided not to elaborate on this aspect of his existence in the above letter to Nathan. Perhaps next tooth.]

Bread

It’s a rainy weekend here, and I’ve gotten around to writing our blog about Spanish bread. A few preliminary updates, though:

- We are again swimming in the Spanish germ pool. In the past two weeks, we’ve had roseola (x1), the stomach flu (x6), colds (x2), and malaise (x2). Seth’s had it the worst – been in school for a grand total of two full days out of the past 10. And there’s no end in sight – we’ve got him home for at least tomorrow, too. We apparently need to learn how to say (in Spanish) “Is your family harboring a Norovirus? In that case, my child can’t play with yours.”

- For one of those weeks of Starhill illness, I was away in Cyprus, visiting a colleague and his family. Wonderful and very interesting island – beaches, ancient archeological sites, birthplace of Aphrodite, and lots and lots of food. Not a good situation for Jon, though, who could only venture forth from the house (e.g., to take non-sick children to school) at the risk of a giant poop explosion from the ill.

- Nora had her 9^th birthday Saturday, complete with a party with girls from the complex. Jon organized the activities and I Seth-wrestled during the event, which was good, because one of the above-mentioned colds (me) and stomach flus (Seth) was occurring at the same time as the party.

OK, back to bread. It’s customary in Madrid to purchase a daily loaf of bread, usually a baguette, for consumption during the day. It’s really not an optional part of living here. For instance, even though the entire city is closed Sundays, bakeries stay open as a kind of public service to people who couldn’t possibly consider eating day-old, frozen, or square bread. We adopted this white bread addiction local custom without any trouble whatsoever.

So early on in our stay in Madrid, we sampled bread from all around the area: the supermarket (surprisingly good), a couple very local chain bakeries (OK) and then the bakery that sits on the main street in Alcobendas. We stopped there; their bread is heavenly. There’s a baguette-like bread called “gallega” which is thin with flaky crust; a cousin called the leiña, which is bigger and chewier; there’s also a poppyseed baguette, a sesame seed baguette, a plain white baguette, a whole wheat baguette, and, for lack of a better descriptor, a fat baguette. Of course, all of these have names in Spanish which I can’t remember when it’s my turn to step up to the counter. So it’s taken me awhile to figure out how to order the exact kind of bread we like, and we are still trying all the varieties, as they appear and disappear at random. The place also has butter-based sweets (croissants, napoleons, and a dozen other kinds that we can’t yet name), pastries with cheese/meat fillings, cookies, coffee drinks, and because we’re in Spain, beer, wine, and hard alcohol. They also sell bingo/lottery tickets. My favorite is the lottery advertised in a poster on their door, which reads “Wouldn’t your life be better if you won a rack of ham? Buy here and enter the XXY church lottery. One winner per week!” The advertisement’s decoration includes a side of ham, just like they sell (for 80 Euros and up) at the local grocery store.

The most interesting thing about this bakery, however, is the attitude that comes with the bread. The place is run by three brothers, all with big ears and hound-dog expressions. Occasionally, you also see their father, who has the same big ears, but is cheerful and talkative – probably because he’s retired. Pictures of him as a young man, presumably circa 1950, decorate the wall. Often, a baby girl with the same big ears appears as well—next in line to the gallega fortune. The baby’s mother consistently looks like she’s at the end of her rope, perhaps because her husband (we can’t tell which one he is yet; all three brothers appear indifferent to her presence) spends all day every day at the bakery.

Anyway, I digress; back to attitude. Unlike Jon’s padel instructors, these brothers have no problem making decisions. Spending a fair amount of time in the bakery, I’ve often seen them argue with patrons, for instance about the kind of bag the bread should go into or about what kind of lottery tickets the customer should buy. Typically the arguments occur at such a high velocity that I have no idea what it’s about. I’ve also personally a) been scolded for mistakenly telling them that we were taking out the food rather than eating in (easy to do if you confuse your ll verbs like llevar [take out] and llenar [fill up]; b) ordered the last two muffins (for my kids!) and had them plated by one brother but repossessed by another; c) been berated for ordering the wrong thing in the wrong location within the store (if you’re eating in-house, bread, butter-based items, and cookies must be ordered separately in a kind of Spanish Bakery Kosher law). And the cost of the same loaf of bread changes daily, according to which brother happens to wait on you (or perhaps, the mood of the brother who waits on you). Nobody ever leaves upset, but it is quite a trial to get the goods sometimes.

Over time, however, they seem to have come to accept our family and are even occasionally friendly. They give the kids lollipops or bread sticks. When I was in Cyprus, one of the brothers asked Jon where I’d gone. And one day when I was struggling to get out the correct word for the exact baguette I wanted, one of the brothers asked (in Spanish) “Well in English, what do you call this bread?” When I explained that in English there’s only one word for the dozen different kinds of baguette they sell, he just shook his head in disbelief at our American ways.

Next up: Daily bread delivery service. Yes – they have such things here in Spain. What else would the long, thin mailbox-like containers at your front gate be for?

Unexpected tooth loss (not Mommie's, thank heavens)

So Nathan quite unexpectedly lost a tooth at dinner tonight. We will see who appears at our piso tonight -- the Tooth Fairy or the Ratoncito Perez, who is more culturally appropriate for our current living situation.

In any case, Nora helped Nathan write his letter. Recall that Nora was a bit put out because Nathan got two Euro from the tooth fairy's last visit. Here's Nora's letter, starting with the address:

Sr. Raton: 1 Euro por el diente!! (in place of the address)

Hola Señor Raton,

Nathan tiene que alertar ti porque se calle su diente. Pero esta vez Nathan quiero SOLAMENTE 1 EURO!

Gracias,
La hermana de Nathan

Translation:

Mr. Mouse: 1 Euro for the tooth!

Hello Mr. Mouse,

Nathan needs to alert you because his tooth fell out. But this time, Nathan wants ONLY 1 EURO!

Thanks,
The Sister of Nathan

Hopefully, this will be an incentive for Nathan to start writing his own letters to the tooth rat.