My lovely little girl...

You were in a hurry the minute you were born. Kicking in my tummy like a football player and when you popped out within a few hours the consensus at the clinic was « c’était sportif! ».

An easygoing baby who was happy as long as she had her food, you very quickly became Ms. Independent.

Your first word was « màs » which was quickly followed by « Who me? » and « It wasn’t me, it was my hand » which had us all in tears laughing. 

True to yourself you never crawled but hopped along on your bum. By the time you reached the "terrible twos" you were conversing in sentences and squeezing your trembling handballs when you’d get mad… which was every time things didn’t go the way you had planned.

Daddy loved your bouncy curls and I fostered your curiosity. Expat boy was just happy he did not have any more siblings. « One is enough » his famous answer to the question « how is it having a little sister? »

You couldn’t wait to join your big brother’s school and I remember the disappointment when we announced we’d be moving 6 months later.

Lugano was your habitat despite no one realizing you understood but actually didn’t speak Italian when we first arrived.

Breganzona allowed you to spread your wings and live your independence in a safe way. You defined your values and made friendships for life. Many of these experiences have and will continue to guide you along your path. Trust your instincts, sweetie, while listening to people’s advice.

You are hard working, super organized and focus on targets. Remember not everything always goes as planned, the challenge is to find a way that works for you.

With your outgoing, kind and fun personality you captured the locals’ hearts and made Lugano your turf. “Home is where the heart is” was definitely your motto.

Moving to Paris was tough but as a true girl warrior you took it in strides and patiently waited for the next move… realizing it would not happen you changed attitude and dug your heels in declaring - after three years - that Paris wasn’t that bad after all. 

By Middle School you regained a certain independence and found your groove. You made Paris your playground and the “velib” your vehicle of choice.

While you excelled at studying, the end of school year was always difficult as you had to bid farewell to your besties every single spring for a decade, nevertheless you always found new friends from all parts of the world with whom to share your energy and enthusiasm in whatever project you set your heart on. 

The International School of Paris became your second home and you have been one of their best ambassadors in every way.

You convinced Papy to let you travel to New York (much to my delight) and ventured out to the Namibian desert a year later following your humanitarian spirit.

When I told you not to let the pandemic cramp your style you listened and your sweet 17 has been one of your best years so far. 

It is your tremendous heart and your brilliant mind that has lead you to become an extraordinary young woman. Your charisma entices others to follow you happily. You have proven time and time again what an amazing leader you are, even at a young age. No one messes with Expat girl! 

Never lose that vibe. Continue to believe in yourself and defend the issues you care about making your contribution to the world. Share that passion, don’t take no for an answer and never, ever give up! 

I am so, so, so proud of you my love. Happy 18th birthday, poppet!

Nearly there...

France, currently under its third national lockdown, is set to lift restrictions on May 3rd. Relaxed travel rules are planned as of Monday on expectations that daily Covid-19 cases will soon begin falling, however, the nighttime curfew - now in place from 7pm to 6am - might be maintained.

Nine more days... a month ago it seemed like we were back to square one but this time things are looking a bit more promising. Restaurants are set to serve patrons outdoors from mid-May, while cinemas, theatres and museums will be opening with reduced capacity. This is huge since restaurants, cafés and bars have been shut since October 30th, 2020. 

The Covid case decrease remains fragile, so we'll need to wait for the government to give further details on the reopening during its weekly press conference on Thursdays.

I cannot wait to finally be allowed to sip a coffee on a "terrasse parisienne" for 6.- Euros a cup... it will be worth every penny for the first time.

Spring is in the air... and we are allowed out for some exercise.

Lovelocks are hard to come across without tourists in town

Three more weeks to go before this place will be buzzing again

Some bars are pretty even when closed

Full points for initiative and marketing

Hanging on to the belief that soon this place will be full of life again.

Easter under lockdown

It is Easter weekend... we were suppose to be in Madrid, maybe Ibiza with a bit of luck even in sunny Ticino. However, we are... once again... in lockdown... this time across all of France. Graciously we will not need to fill out a "justificatif de déplacement" every time we leave the house and we are allowed to venture out 10km rather than 1 km but nevertheless the Parisian have all but resigned and the mood is very subdued. 

All the French aggressiveness has been sucked out of the people. Obviously amiability is still not Parisians' forte but the city has become more liveable. The lack of millions of tourists has calmed the speed and intensiveness of daily routine. The city renowned as global center for art, fashion, gastronomy and culture is unrecognizable. We have now reached a point of utter monotony. All the reasons that make Paris such a unique city are not available... restaurants, bars, museums, cinemas, arenas, concert halls, monuments, galleries, shopping malls, exhibitions, tours, all gone since October 2020!!!!

Still Parisians are showing their defiance. The river banks are full to the rim with picnickers when the sun is shining (despite lockdown) and personal trainers are making a killing giving exercise classes in the parks... who would have ever believed that is what living in Paris boils down to?

Indeed, while the country's first lockdown a year ago meant closed parks and gardens as well as a stay-at-home order that allowed just a single hour a day for getting fresh air, France's latest lockdown encourages venturing outdoors. The new rules allow unlimited time outside within a 10-kilometre radius before the 7pm nationwide curfew and public green spaces remain open. The upshot: Easter egg hunts are allowed.

So, for those of you who have not fled town in search of greener pastures, enjoy your Easter Sunday in an usually quiet city known as Europe's most popular tourist city. Joyeuses Pâques!

Lockdown No.3

Well, twelve months on and we are back into lockdown - for the third time. Every time it's a little different and even if President Macron refuses to use the term "confinement" we all know how this will go down. No restaurants, bars, theatres, cinemas, discos, stadiums, galleries or any other social gatherings allowed for another 4 weeks.

The attestation is now TWO pages long and has so many option you do not know which one to tick without getting into trouble. Fortunately, even the government realized this and less than 24 hours later word has spread that we do not need an "attestation de deplacement" as long as we remain within a 10km radius of our home. Merci M. Castex.

Given you are allowed out the house for exercising, all of a sudden Parisian have become sporty. A year ago the population took to the bikes as our green city mayor took full advantage of the trend extending Paris' bike paths to over one thousand km... literally!

Today the river banks were overflowing with joggers, bikers, boxers, zumba dancers, yogis, weightlifters and capoeira athletes working out in the sun.

We will all be fit and ready to hit those restaurants when they finally open... in the meantime, my Swiss chocolate stock is diminishing rapidly as my exercise level intensifies.

A view down the Seine onto Le Grand Palais

All that is left of the tourists... lovelocks!

Working out in front of Musée d'Orsay

Picture perfect

Time for lunch on the go

Enjoying the last rays of sun...

before the clouds take over! 

Motivation zero!

Never in the past ten years have I ever lacked inspiration to write and share my adventures on my blog. However, these past three months have been tough. Sitting down in front of my screen to fill an empty blog page was way down on my priority list. Finding the motivation is challenging. I do not blame the pandemic nor the bad weather, rather the general daily routine that has become monotonous.

Paris has been essentially closed down since October 2020. No cultural activities, no sports events, no concerts, no meals out, no meeting friends. Museums, cinema, bars, restaurants, gyms, all closed until further notice.  

I have avoided public transport all together and riding the bike in winter is no fun which translates into the same daily route just to get a minimum of exercise. My bonus is a jog under the Eiffel Tower, down the Champs de Mars and back up past Trocadero a couple of times a week. When I feel particularly energetic a run through the Bois de Boulogne does the trick.

With nowhere to go the daily highlight has become the grocery shopping possibly during a time with the least people around to respect social distancing.

So, with all that Paris has to offer and none of it available, I might as well move to the country side! At least, I would get to enjoy the exceptional snowfalls...

Paris in the fall

Lockdown No.2

Passy is my hood. It is one of Paris' many endlessly entertaining neighborhoods with real people that make cozy communities in the midst of this vast, high-powered city. People know their merchants as if it were a village. You find a frenetic and human vibrancy that tourists often don't get to discover.  

Bustling with delivery trucks in the morning, people queuing in front of bakeries at lunchtime to buy their "Menu sandwich", kids running across the pathments with their scooters at 4:30pm and young office workers enjoying Happy Hour on the bistro terrace after work. I usually have to dodge Parisians walking their dogs and pushing baby strollers in Passy's vibrant market street.

It has all gone eerily quiet these past two weeks and although children are still allowed to attend school streets are empty, restaurants and shops are closed, traffic is down to a minimum and the mood is somber and rather resigned. 

During the the first lockdown it seemed the Parisians were still defiant putting up their usual feisty side, this time around we are continuing our daily routine as best we can working around restrictions and just waiting to get through this year 2020.

... and then we went into lockdown... again!

Friday afternoon and we are heading back to Paris early after a short half-term break. We cannot ignore the heavy feeling in our stomach. 

As of today France is on highest terrorist alert and on total lockdown. The only difference is that schools remain open as do the parks. However, if you live further away than 1km of a green space you won’t be able to reach it since the max radius to walk, run or grocery shop for necessities is 1000m.

We are heading into at least four more likely six weeks of staying home 24/7 except for the kids who - until further notice - are allowed to attend classes. 

Education is probably the main reason many parents are heading back to the Hexagon's capital this weekend given that most of us have been recommended to “télétravail” whenever possible. Nevertheless, over the past two days Paris has registered over 1000km of traffic jam heading OUT of the city!!!

Expat daughter who will be turning 18 soon is not happy because according to her these are suppose to be the best years of her life. Now that she is finally old enough to go out at night and meet up with her friends for a drink, she can’t even ride her bike to enjoy a bubble tea in the Marais with her besties!!!

Whatever the situation, it too will pass and as long as we stay healthy and safe we will come out the other end eventually... in the meantime I am stocking up on bottles of Prosecco and continuing my yoga classes online to keep sane. 

Closed until further notice

As of last Tuesday all of the capital's bars have been closed as Paris upgrades the alert level to the maximum due to a surge in COVID-19 cases. Restaurants and bistros will be allowed to stay open if they put new sanitary measures in place, which include registering the contact details of customers and closing at 10 pm. 

Some of us still venture out to have lunch with our closest girlfriends or dinner with couples whom we are close to, sitting on the terrasse tucked up in woolen sweaters and winter coats as to avoid eating inside. However, the insouciance of enjoying un flûte de champagne during Happy hour has definitely disappeared and the sad thing is we don't know for how long.

If it weren't for the Eiffel tower...

As usual we hit the ground running upon returning to Paris after a long summer break... however, it all took a turn for the worse last week... tons of administrative backlog, various water leaks, annoying neighbours, schedules turned upside down, forgetful suppliers, and unexpected motoric limitations had me come to a screeching halt. 

Furthermore, the limitations due to sanitary protocol have put a big damper on French laissez-faire lifestyle. It was all hunky dory while the sun was shining but with the first rainfall and cool temperatures the mood seems to have changed. Don't get me wrong Parisians are still out and about but the city has definitely lost its sparkle... at least for the time being! 

Coco Chanel Tour

My first week back in Paris and - thanks to a tip from my girlfriend in Tokio - decided to meet up with a Dutch friend for an "after-work" guided tour on the theme of Gabrielle Chanel. How to resist an invitation to retrace the history of the Chanel brand, from the creations of Coco to the legendary tailors of Karl Lagerfeld in preparation of the biggest Chanel exhibition ever to be inaugurated at the Palais Galliera, Paris' Fashion Museum on October 1, 2020!

During our tour we took a closer look at the secrets of rue Cambon, the Parisian address where Coco put her suitcases in 1918 before settling in at the Ritz place Vendôme where she died in 1971.

As the story goes, there was once upon a time a young woman named Gabrielle Chanel who masked her peasant origins and created her own Haute-Couture legend with a little help from Boy Capel, her British sweetheart. Symbol of French elegance across the globe, Coco Chanel broke codes and liberated the bodies of modern women in more than one way.

Founded in 1910, the house of Chanel created the new feminine silhouette, a stylistic revolution. The ankles became visible, the waist was released from the corset, the skin featured a tan, and hair was cut shorter. During the Roaring Twenties, the young designer redesigned the Parisian silhouette which resisted fashion trends and the passage of time. The chic sportswear outfit, the famous little black dress and her daring Chanel “N°5” fragrance all became the pledge of the timeless and the epitome of French elegance.

As Coco would say: "A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous." However, my favrourite Coco quote is: "You can be gorgeous at thirty, charming at forty, and irresistible for the rest of your life."

When the days start blurring together...

It's been three months now... 13 weeks since the corona pandemic exploded and lockdown began in France. Three weeks ago we were slowly allowed to venture out albeit parks, museums and restaurants remaining closed. Most Parisians continued to work from home and the world had definitely not gone back to normal.

Then, the terrasses opened up as did the green spaces in town, the sun was shining and people came out in hoards to enjoy a glass of rosé dangling their legs along the river Seine banks. Slowly the city's heart started beating again. Traffic began to intensify and Parisians regained their defensive posture towards the rest of the world. It seemed as if we were heading back to routine.

Only... there is now more routine. I now have to manage my virtual schedule with my "real live" and somehow the two don't always seem to synch. I have one leg in each world trying to decide which way to go. To be honest the virtual sphere has become quite comfortable to live in but so uninspiring. I need people to watch, places to go, things to see, corners to discover. The days have started to blur into one another. Wednesday could be a Saturday and nothing changes really. 

I have been out and about with my bike exploring and taking pictures, I have enjoyed picnics in the park with my girlfriends, we even ventured out for a dinner entre amis sur la terrasse on a freezing cold evening but ... for now... I will say I do not like the new normal!

Bonne fête Maman

The cafés are Paris' beating heart

Hurray, Paris' cafés and restaurants have opened up their terraces this week. It has been a long awaited loosening of government restrictions. 

Parisian cafés remained open throughout virtually every historic challenge that has come their way. They didn’t go dark during the Nazi occupation in World War II or even after the terrorist attacks of November 2015, which targeted precisely the joie de vivre they represent.

Parisians have never surrendered that stronghold but along came Coronavirus and things changed! Overnight, literally, everything closed down and it seemed like the city's heart stopped beating.

The usually gloomy gray skies were absent during the past two months of confinement. The weather has been extraordinary and when the sun shines in Paris, residents immediately stream out of their tiny flats to soak up the rays in parks and on terraces. Only in our dreams have we been able to do so... until this week. 

Paris -  still under temporary restrictions - is now allowed to open the outer spaces, at least for the next three weeks.

Finally! The café chatter is back, the chaos on the pavements welcomed and the local community is enjoying each others company in absence of the hoards of tourists. The arrondissements have turned back to becoming villages and we are all able to chill, work on your tan or sip a glass of rosé.

Café Carette is a Parisian institution: delicious and over-priced!

Open for business

Let the sun shine in

The perfect view from the Café du Trocadero 

Happy to be out and about again.