Gems from this summer

It's always a party with the Defranchis

In honor of summer

and because I'm feeling a little nostalgic...

French kids & film

Basically, this is how I'm hoping my little boys will turn out if I only speak French at home.

Well, minus the swearing perhaps. Also, I want to see Monsieur Papa and Le cochon de Gaza.

St Ouen ward in Paris

Wow, I just took these pictures off my camera--completely forgot to download them.

Look, it's my relief society in Paris!

Last day at our ward:

This one time, we decided to go to the fun fair at the Tuileries... but it was pouring rain. We did it anyway.

I'm not joking when I say POURING rain

And the MPA demanded proof, so here it is:

Andrew was here!

A while... and a rant (but a rave first)

It's been a while since I've blogged, but I've just been working and enjoying life with my husband before school starts, bringing with it the inevitable end of life as we know it. That, and trying to make major life decisions that don't result in our being haunted by the ghost of Spencer W Kimball. It's so good to be back and be settled in. I love our new apartment, and our neighborhood. South of Center Street was... kind of ghetto, I'll just say that. Now when we go on walks there are gorgeous, ancient trees to give us shade with little children playing in sprinklers, lovely little homes and a perfect park right next door. And my sewing corner is now in our bedroom which gets gorgeous sunlight in the evening, so I have my own corner of heaven. This really is the ideal place to end our time at BYU. I'm sad now that it seems so close: it's been a good life here in happy valley. Did I mention we now have amazingly fast internet? I love it!

So here's a funny story. The other day I saw this girl who looked vaguely familiar. I remember thinking how overdressed she looked (massive heels, too many bracelets, an overly sophisticated hairdo...) The image of a little girl that got into her mother's closet came to mind. Later this week I realized she was a friend of a friend on Facebook and I remembered how I knew her. Minimal Facebook-stalking later and ta-daa, she has a blog. But it gets better: it's a fashion blog. And here's the thing: there were a lot of nice outfits and all, but it just felt... overdone. And there was a "shop" page were she sold old clothes she didn't want anymore. What?

All of this to say: I'm not quite sure what to make of all these so-called fashion bloggers. I follow a few that I like, but I get the impression that these days everybody and their dog is a fashion blogger and writes "what I wore Wednesday" articles and "outfit posts". Meh. You have to have a killer sense of style to venture into that... and an interesting personality. (Also, how are student newlyweds affording an entire bookcase-full of designer shoes? It kind of screams credit card debt--not cute.) For example, I love this girl because she's just really funny. Not taking yourself too seriously is important, especially if you're launching yourself into something as... well, artificial, as fashion blogging.

I'm not a fashion hater; in fact, I really enjoy getting dressed up. I even blog about it every once in a while. But I have little sympathy for fashion victims. There's a problem when what you wear gets in the way of "you." The whole point of wearing clothing (well, apart from covering your nakedness) is to look good, right? But when you're overly trendy or your accessories get in the way of your mobility... you just look like you're trying too hard. I still remember these wise words from a girl in my freshman dorm: "I want the clothes to make me look good, not the other way around."

By now you're probably thinking "how do you get away with being such a style snob?" No credentials, but I do have a trump card: my country basically invented fashion (and after a summer in Paris, I can tell you that middle-aged french women are the classiest ladies ever). I also spent a good amount of my teenage years learning from trial and error. I'd show you photographic proof, but I'm pretty sure my parents were too ashamed of me because we mysteriously have very few pictures from my teenage years...

The madman's well

Yep, that's what Puy du fou means :) And it's even more fun than it sounds. It's basically a park tucked into gorgeous woods with all sorts of shows and attractions portraying different time periods of french history.

And more specifically, it also tells the stories of the region , la Vendée.

One of my favorite attractions is the Gallo-roman stadium, complete with Christians being fed to lions (don't worry, there's a miracle and the lions don't touch her. A hyena chases the roman senator though :), bloody gladiator fights and chariot races. It is AWESOME. For those of you that don't know, the Gauls were the people that lived in a large area of what is now France when the Romans took over. If you've ever read Asterix and Obelix comic books, they're Gauls.

So here's an idea of how awesome it is:

oh no! here come the lions!

two rebel Christians drew a fish in the sand, an early Christian symbol

and they got in trouble

thank goodness, turns out Damien the centurion is one of theirs!

It's awesome because they really make you a part of the show. I may or may not have teared up a little... At the beginning, we were sitting on the same side as a group of Gauls who were booing the Romans that arrested the Christians (before the show started) and all the spectators started booing the senators and other Romans, it was awesome.

We had lots of fun, as you can see.

letting my inner viking shine

my cousin Estelle and aunt Adeline

my other aunt Véronique

Then there's the seriously incredible falconry show:

this guy was a bit close for comfort

Andrew has the wingspan of a royal eagle

And there were plenty of other shows, like the one where a viking drakkar rises out of the water to attack a village...

And in between there are villages, shops, artisans...

aw, a little crusader

Oh and of course there's a musketeer show, although that one was kind of random. And there was jousting and doing all sorts of acrobatics off horses.

The grand finale is an evening show overlooking a mini lake and castle with over 2000 volunteers, pyrotechnics, and all sorts of awesome stuff. The show tells the story of the region beginning in the middle ages and goes through world war II. One thing that really struck me was the pride that the people of the region take in their history and the enormous work they do to preserve it. For example, the falconry show isn't just a really cool show: they use those proceeds to breed and care for endangered species of the area and to perpetuate the tradition. This guy flies around the park all day with his geese following :)

The whole place is fueled by a school of performing arts with the specific purpose of preparing youth to continue to maintain the park. It's really incredible.

Interesting fact: Vendéens were actually staunch royalists, so during the revolution they suffered a lot because they refused to accept the new government and had tried to fight for the king. It was kind of interesting to see the other side of history portrayed in the show, it's a story that's rarely told. I had always just assumed everybody was glad to see the king go, but to the Vendéens it was also a religious issue: "God and the King" was their motto, and they believed that being faithful to God meant supporting their king, who was a divinely appointed man.

Many of the attractions had deeply religious messages, so the stories were not just fun and exciting, they were also very inspiring. So if you ever head over to France, you should definitely not miss the Puy du fou!

Bastille day

This year, the theme for the military 14 of July parade was "honoring France's overseas territories". And yes, the polynesian guys did the haka. Woohoo!

Sadly, they only did it once up by the big shots, and we were way at the end of the parade so we missed it. Lucky me, it was online, so you get to enjoy it too!

My sister Sylvia came to stay with us in Paris, so there were three of us to fight our way through the crowds.

We survived, and we even saw the back of Sarko's head.

No, that's not him, although wouldn't it be awesome if presidents still wore cool hats?

 

There he is. I think. And here are some more cool divisions of various parts of the french army, and overseas divisions. There were so many of them, don't ask me who's who.

Check out those 'staches! Pretty sure these were North African

Yeah swords and feathers!

Some people were smart and sold these sweet contraptions: they're called periscopes, and the English translation on the side was hilarious: "what a pity, your neighbor can't see a thing! Maybe he should do as you, and get a periscope. But, the real." Cool eh? Just a simple cardboard box with mirrors. I had totally forgotten these existed.

So watching guys in fancy costumes march by got pretty old, but then the planes started flying over and that was awesome. Plus, everybody can see those just fine :)

The little girls next to us were so excited to see the horses. Again, some pretty sweet helmets too.

We got tired of the marching and the haka guys never came, so we ended up leaving before it was over, but I'd say we got the full experience. And as a favorite French pastime, we had lunch at McDonald's. Hey, don't judge, we had coupons. You don't pass up 2 euro 50 for a happy meal (organic yogurt included).

That evening we braved the crowds again to go see the fireworks. Let me tell you, you might think Stadium of Fire is nuts... that is nothing. PEOPLE EVERYWHERE! Plus, everybody smokes, so I was giving a lot of dirty looks... hey, I'm slowly turning into a Parisian. That is not a good thing people... But we did get a good spot and were able to lay out our little blanket and enjoy the rest of a massive multi-artist concert against racism while we waited, so it was awesome.

please note: Andrew and I wore bleu-blanc-rouge 

Best Bastille Day ever.

Today is

my last Saturday in Paris. I leave for Bordeaux Monday, and after that it's one stop in Madrid and then... back home! Crazy.

The joys of handwriting

OK that sounds dramatic. I meant fountain pens are compulsory through elementary school

also, I am aware that I have the handwriting of a child. I'm working on it.

Right now

Just sitting at the table working, with the window wide open so I can hear and smell the pouring rain. It's absolutely beautiful. Living in Utah, you forget what real rain is like. It's one thing I will definitely miss when I leave this place.