Italian plus French equals American???

Cinema Paradiso... an Italian classic! Combine this with Le Grand Palais, a Parisian Classic, and what do you get? A weird mix of American paraphernalia from the 1980s it seems.

The idea of a drive-in cinema under the dome of the Grand Palais - currently the largest existing ironwork and glass structure in the world - sounded tempting. The notion of sitting in a vintage Fiat 500 while watching "Greace" or "La Boum" made it irresistable. I bought tickets online the minute they were on sale.

Walking into the large lobby of the Grand Palais I was hit with Reece's peanut butter cups, marshmallow fluff and other wonderful American gourmet food. I am thinking: "Where does this fit in with Cinema Paradiso?"

Next, I come across an Amercian diner set up under the glass dome with a vintage Coca Cola pin-up girl smiling at me. NOW, I am confused.... but not disappointed. It is just not what I had expected.

Venturing past the smell of hamburgers and pop corn I discover a rollerblade rink, if that is what you can call a portion of bare concret floor sectioned off by a huge wall with a DJ installation blaring out 80's disco music.

Uhhh, I think I am getting my brain around this Cinema Paradiso concept (not a very clear one but never mind) and I'm starting to like this place. Donna Summer here I come! ;)

Tucked away to one corner I locate rows of video game machines from the 80's. Boy, does Pac-Man bring back memories from when we were young.

However, the piece-de-resistance MUST be the Barbie football table. Now, WHY didn't they have that when I was growing up? In my days getting your hands on a 24cm wide pink plastic Barbie swimming pool was a luxury, not the mention the pink camper. Oops, I'm giving away my age...that was the 70's!!!

I have still to return to Cinema Paradiso this week to watch "La Boum", a French Classic from 1980 starring Sophie Marceau. Will my Fiat 500 be pink???

Dear Mona...

When I first arrived to Paris two years ago, I was introduced to an enthousistic lady with a big smile at the school's Welcome Workshop. Meet Ms. Paris Tours! I was told that even though her kids had graduated from school, she still liked to hang out with the PTA (Parent-Teacher Association). Boy, "hanging out" was the understatement of the year ...

Little did I know that this organized Dutch lady with a character - who offered tours for parents while the kids where at school - would mark my life in Paris significantly. The eternal explorer in me signed up immediately for my first tour which lead us through the area of Montmartre. When I discovered "La Maison Rose" at the end of the tour I knew that this was what I wanted to be doing for the rest of my stay in Paris. Discover the secret corners of city of lights!

I have been on various chocolate tours, a Seine cruise, a luxury fashion expedition and a guided visit through the Louvre. A journey around the Bastille area, an excursion through the Marais, an Angel safari, a discovery of La Sainte Chapelle and rendering homage to Napoleon's tomb are just a few events I enjoyed. I lost my heart to the treasures of the Cognacq-Jay museum and the Musée d'Orsay. All are unique moments in my memory.

The lovely Ms Paris Tours comes injured, sick, at -7C, twice a month, every month. She keeps track of all the RSVPs and checks attendance on her spreadsheet. She sends out reminders to those who've forgotten to pay or to sign their check... it's a lot of work! She loves sharing Paris with others.

Thank you for inspiring me to start exploring Paris on my own account and discovering a passion for uncovering the new and unrevealed. Thank you for always taking care of us, for going the extra mile to make us comfortable. Thank you for making sure we are happy which in return makes you happy!

Dynamo - Light & Motion in Art

A century of light and motion in art, from 1913 to 2013, was the title of the Dynamo exhibition at the Grand Palais, a show that brought together major works that deal with light and motion. The two main parts ‘Vision’ and ‘Space’ were divided into 16 subsections dealing with various aspects of phenomenal experience: immateriality, monochrome, interference, immersion, flickering, haziness, instability, distortion, the void, the invisible and permutation, from artists including Ann Veronica Janssens, Anish Kapoor, John Armleder, Carsten Höller, and Xavier Veilhan.

Here is a selection of my favourite photos:

Entering the Grand Palais wondering what is wrong with the fountain?

Visual impressions

Contemporary Art

Lights in the fog

Colourful interpretation of neon lights 

Modern version of a garden fence?

An empty corner to decorate in your house?

Multicolours is what I like

Shadow games

Multicolours

Monocolours

Transparent colours

Lost in the medium of space

Lost in the medium of motion

Lost in the medium of movement

Abstract selfportrait

Celebrity Day at Roland Garros

When a friend calls to invite you to a VIP booth at Roland Garros in Paris you drop everything and run...

How fast can a day's planning change? Answer: VERY.

By lunchtime I was sipping a large glass of Chardonnay along with my Melon-Prosecco soup, filet de veau et fleurs de courgettes and a scrumptious chocolate dessert with Yusu ice cream.

These are the perks of being invited to a VIP lounge. 

Feeling quite chuffed with ourselves, my friend and I ventured into the private tribune to watch Novak Djokovic who had just started his match against Philip Kohlschreiber and a gripping and entertaining game it was.

However, we were frozen through and through by the end of it - the VIP seats are in the shade since June is suppose to be a warm month!! - but it was worth it.

Next, we would get to enjoy the cherry on the cake: Rafael Nadal. However, Flamenco Lady decided to notch it up one step and went on a mission to find us seats in the sun.

She came back with braclets to the Players's Lounge, no less, where we immediately bumped into Michael Chang and his family. If you remember him you are giving away you're age. ;) Chang was the youngest-ever male player to win a Grand Slam singles title when he won the French Open in 1989 at the age of 17. This could be good! ;)

I love my bracelets

Players' Lounge

I am no tennis freak therefore I cannot tell you the names of the top lady players we hung out with at the bar. I had my picture taken with an Argentinan player who had just won the mixed match thinking Expat boy - who was born in Argentina - will love this one! Turns out he's Uruguayan. Oooops.

I just googled him. Guess what? I have a photo with Pablo Cuevas smiling next to me. He won the French Open men's doubles title in 2008.

Then came the big moment. Rafa was about to play. Trying to wiggle our way onto the players' tribune - only for guest personally invited by the players - I was introduced to Rafa Nadal's father and his manager. "Hola, encantado." (I'm thinking: Encantada? You bet!)

We were seated right behind Nadal's family with a superb view onto the court and enjoyed an exquisite game of tennis IN THE SUNSHINE!

We sang Happy Birthday when Rafa entered the stadium and cheered him on in Spanish all through the match. After a pretty swift and easy win over a Japanese player he was presented with a huge birthday cake and we all got to sing Happy Birthday again... In FRENCH!

VAMOS RAFA!!!

Toni Nadal, Rafa's uncle and coach

Rafa keeping eye contact with his coach

A busy schedule...

This last month heading towards the school year's end feels a bit like December... and I don't mean weatherwise. Although if someone would light the chimney and serve fondue it would not surprise me at this point.

No, I am talking about our agenda. This month we are doing what everyone imagines us doing all year round, we are running from one event to another... and it's fun.

We are hopping between Avenue Montaigne, the Theatre de Champs Elysees, the Grand Palais, the Italian Embassy, the Galleries Lafayettes Gallery and Roland Garros. I will never dare complain about Paris; meaning the city. It has so much to offer, all you need to do is grab the opportunities!

A RDV with my hubby to attend Igor Stravinsky's "Le Sacre du Printemps" sounded like an exciting idea last night. We sat through the first half where I had to admonish Expat husband twice to put away his blackberry during the performance, a clear sign of his level of interest. Admittedly the performance was unusual. Even I who usually find some sort of novelty inquisitiveness was at a loss. Plain weird. Sorry, Igor.

So we slipped out during the break feeling like to teenagers skipping school and headed to the Grand Palais where the most impressive plant exhibition was celebrating its opening night. Clearly the highlight of the evening was one of the sponsor's stand showing off a magnificent decor adored by mobs of beautiful people. Ah Paris, je t'adore!