Saveur du Canada

At la Défense, there is a huge mall, le Quatre Temps. It is open Sundays, a rarity here. (By the way, la Défense is a high-rise area on the outskirts of Paris: http://courses.umass.edu/latour/2010/ladefence/JillianHaswell%20La%20Defense.html .) At the mall, there is a "hypermarché", Auchan. A hypermarché is like a supermarché, only bigger. We went there, both because we really needed to get school supplies on a Sunday, and nothing else was open (Saturdays were busy with school and music lessons so it wasn't possible to go then), and because we were able to find obscure items there, such as a lab coat for Silke for her science class. I'm sure that there must be other places in Paris that sell lab coats, but darned if I know where they are. The food section of the hypermarché is vast. I now know where I can go to get unusual Asian or South American ingredients, provided that I am willing to trek all the way out there (actually it's not so long to get there, thanks to the fast and frequent RER A train.) Particular kinds of Asian or South American are not the only varieties of ethnic food that they have however: for the first time ever, anywhere, I saw a "Canadian" food section. Here is a photo. Not entirely sharp, and a bit distorted because I had to use the panorama feature on my iPhone, but you get the idea. (You can double-click on it to get a larger version.) Let's see. . . maple syrup - well of course. . . pancake mix, cheesecake mix, brownie mix, popcorn, peanut butter, Hersey's chocolate sauce, marshmallows, immense jars of Tabasco sauce (I've never seen one that big in Canada!), beef jerky, Reese's peanut butter cups, instant porridge. Oh dear, I'm afraid that the French don't think that Canadians eat very good food!

A Sunday afternoon at the park: chariot races and a French Navy attack submarine

As Sunday is the only day of the week without school and conservatory, we intend to do something recreational every Sunday. This week, we visited the parc de la villette. La villette is the largest park in Paris. Really, it is a super-park, unifying several themed parks, as well as museums, theatres, galleries, a science world, the as yet uncompleted Philharmonie de Paris, and many many other things (such as a submarine, but I will get to that).

Some photos:

That thing in the background that looks like a giant bicycle wheel coming out of the ground - that's what it is. Other giant bicycle parts sticking out of the ground can be found nearby.

Chariot races! This looks so cool. Really they are a special kind of tricycle, hinged such that they are steered by pulling on the reigns. The children race round and round in their chariots. Sadly, this was only for small children - I was much to big. Even Jerome was too big.

This is l'Argonaute, an actual decommissioned attack submarine. You can buy tickets and go inside, from one end to the other! There seems to be hardly any space inside for people - hard to believe that it had a crew of 40.

Silke (and Jerome) inside l'Argonaut.
No, she's not talking on her phone, she is listening to the audio guide.

Although small by submarine standards, l'Argonaute is still an immense machine; clearly it wasn't moved here by truck. In fact, there is a canal through the middle of the parc, and l'Argonaut arrived here by sailing up the canal. A canal incidentally that was built by Napolean, as much to improve the water supply to Paris as to provide transportation for industry.

To get from one side of the park to the other, there are high bridges, under which boats can pass, but also, in the summer, there is a moveable bridge, which is basically a motorised dock, with trees. Here is a short video of it in action:

Bouillabaisse

These are the fish for bouillabaisse that I bought at the marché. There are so may kinds of fish, that I asked the fish seller what he recommended for bouillabaisse: this is what we came home with: bar, rouget barbet, turbot et moules. The turbot head is something he just threw in extra because it would make the broth taste good. The fish is very fresh - typically caught the day before. The small fish, like these, are whole, uncleaned, and they only gut and scale them when you buy them. In the working-class and immigrant neighbourhood near the northern périphérique that we now live in, the marchés are certainly cheaper than in central Paris, but the quality is the same.

Bar, Rouget barbet, Turbot et Moules

The bouillabaisse

The choir of collège Lamartine

I wrote previously about how Silke has music class at Lycée Racine. Jerome too has music at collège Lamartine. And choir. He is one of two new students in his class; choir class started with singing some songs from last year. Needless to say, he was feeling a little lost. The reaction? "Il faut que tu rattrapes." The kids have heard this ever since they first arrived in Paris. The short translation of this is, "You need to catch up." A longer translation, with explicit narration of the connotation might be, "You are a funny and uncultured foreigner, but there must be a reason why you have been sent to me and it is beyond my authority to do anything about it. So, unlikely as it may be, you will catch up to the rest of the class as soon as may be. There is no need to pose any questions."

For introduction, here is a recording of the choir of collège Lamartine; they are singing together with two other choirs: the choir of collège Paul Bert, Paris, and the choir of lycée français de Madrid. They are accompanied by orchestre excellence France. This recording is from a concert given in 2010 in both Paris and Madrid. (How do I have this recording? Jerome came home from school with it. And since it seems no one else has put it on youtube, I did. )

In March, the school choir has an exchange to Heidelberg. And later in the season, Jerome tells me, they will be part of the children's chorus at a concert at la Philharmonie de Paris with l'orchestre national d’Île-de-France. That is very exciting. January 2015 is the inaugural season of la Philharmonie de Paris. It is a wacky new building being built in le parc de la Villette - the first big concert hall built in Paris in a long time. Here is a fun video about the construction:

I could include photos, but it is easier just to link to their website: http://www.philharmoniedeparis.fr/en/ . And, from Jerome's description, my best guess at which concert it is, is this one: http://saison-2015.philharmoniedeparis.fr/en/activites/concert-participatif-en-famille/14457-sacre-symphonique . (Sorry: obviously their website is also under construction, since this is supposed to be the English version, but clearly mostly isn't.)

A Vermand finds a home

After nearly a year of trying violins, Silke has chosen one. It is made by the talented young French luthier Bogidar Vermand. Vermand's website is at http://www.vermand-luthiers.com/en/home/ . This violin has a lovely rich but lucid sound over the entire range, and fantastic power and projection. Here are a few photos. Although it looks aged, it is in fact new: 2014.

First days at Lycée Racine

So school has started! So far, so good. Lycée Racine is turning out to be a wonderful institution for Silke. Silke said it is somewhat strange to be in a class where instead of being asked where do you come from, or what are your hobbies, the very first question asked of anyone is, what instrument do you play? Naturally she already has some good friends, for example Andrea, who plays the piano; they have already made plans to play some Beethoven violin sonatas together. (Actually, Beethoven didn't write violin sonatas: he wrote "Sonatas for piano with obligatory violin; apparently he didn't really like violinists, whom he found to be arrogant.) They can do this right at Racine when they have a break in their schedules, since Racine has pianos in several rooms. It even has dedicated practice rooms! And of course, a secure room for people to leave their instruments in during class.

Silke says that the principal teacher for her class, M. Duflo, is very funny; when handing out their schedules he said, "Shall I just tell you now who are the good teachers and the bad teachers?" Of course he was only joking. Or maybe not, but in any case he didn't actually tell them. He said it would take a month for them to be able to find their way around Racine. Lycée Racine is actually in two locations about 4 blocks apart, and sometimes they have to run from one to the other between classes. The main location also has hallways which meet at funny angles, and floors that are at different levels in different wings. The first time that Silke had a class on the 5th floor, she was heading up a staircase with stone steps, when she reached a point where the stone steps ended, and were followed by wooden steps: at that point there was a small sign, "Please do no use this staircase". (I think they don't want to hordes of students wearing out the wooden steps. Otherwise they would probably have to replace them every 50 years.) So she had to find another staircase! One hall she came across had skulls in glass cases along the walls. Animal skulls - she doesn't think that any were human.

One thing that struck us about her schedule (6 mornings a week, since she has school on Saturdays), is that she has music class. At first this seems odd, because her entire class are music students at the conservatory, mostly at the CRR, where they would get taking in any case the following topics: musical analysis, physics/mechanics of music instruments, history of music, chamber music, orchestra, and options such as composition, vocal ensemble, and jazz. What could could they do at their school they is not already covered at the conservatory? But of course, music is infinitely rich, and you never run out of things to do. As the music teacher was taking attendance, he had people say what instrument they played, and every time, he would name a chamber music piece that could be played by the previous 3, 4 or 5 people. Silke found this impressive, because randomness ensured there were some unusual instrument combinations. It turns out,  he is no ordinary Lycée music teacher. His name is Vincent Warnier; he is a famous organist, had made over 20 recordings (which you can find on iTunes for example), and he is a regular host, critic and guest on the radio station France Musique. Here is an excerpt of Vincent Warnier playing the Poulenc concerto for organ:

Of course he also plays the piano decently, and said that he is always available to accompany any students if they have something they are working on and want to practice with piano - remember that Racine has many rooms with pianos. So I don't have to mention really that music class at the Lycée is something that Silke more excited about than she probably expected to be.

There are also choir and orchestra options. Again, everyone will be doing those things at the conservatory in any case, but nevertheless, everyone is very highly encouraged to sign up for one or the other at the Lycée. They explained that the reason is that the high-up poobahs in the educational administration don't really understand about the double cursus program, and the association with the conservatory and all that. So the lycée orchestra and choir makes sure to perform at each least one event yearly where all the administrators of the school system will be present (and ideally the Minister of Education as well), and this does as much as anything to ensure continued support for the double cursus educational program .

Finally, it is not all music all the time: Silke is also excited about the association sportive at Racine; they do a number of different sports all year, including archery and swimming, which two Silke is most enthusiastic about. We have to see if we can keep Wednesday afternoons mostly free of other commitments so she can join the association sportive.

The best thing about Lycée Racine? There is an Eric Kayser bakery close by, and they have our favourite chocolate ice cream (which is something like 40% dark chocolate), that we like to have while watching a movie once a week. Silke can stop by on her way home and get some!

l'Académie de Musique meets its fundraising goal

Despite my pessimistic prediction, l'Académie de Musique reached its fundraising goal of 20,000 € on Kiss Kiss Bank Bank! This is fantastic news, since it is such a worthwhile organisation for promoting classical music. Silke won't actually be playing with them this year, because she will be fully engaged with the ensembles of the CRR (and elsewhere), but we are still very happy about this. We will certainly be attending their concerts!

L'Académie de musique has a newly-designed website at http://academie-de-musique.com . You can also visit their parent organisation at le-palaisroyal.com .