Christmas in Paris!

Cathedral in Auxerre - by moonlight.  Nice job, Matt!

Christmas in France with my son was a great plan. What a nice break from a busy December at the Koda Community Education Center. We wrote a big proposal for a cross border cultural initiative with Azerbaijan. It was a great experience.  And our social enterprise - Art Koda - had many successful Christmas shows.  But more about that later. Georgia doesn't celebrate much in December, except for the ex-pats.  Their big celebration is New Years, then Orthodox Christmas on January 7th, so it was a great time to escape to France to visit Matt.

Matt finished up for his semester abroad at IAU in the Aix en Provence business program so I flew into Marseille to meet him. We spent 2 nights at his host mom's home in Aix, driving over to Marseille to eat the best seafood at a highly recommended restaurant, Toin.  Aix is a lovely, cozy, college like town and a good landing for a semester abroad.  Matt studied French, media in conflict with a famous journalist, International Business, and photography.  Then we drove to Paris, by way of St. Etienne, Lyon, Auxerre, and Versailles.  Here are just some of the highlights.

my first non-Georgian restaurant...in a LONG time

Just looks like a nice college town, eh?

   

  Our Lady of the Guard Basilica

Marseille old port from basilica, highest point in Marseille

Avignon

The short cut to Roman theatre of Orange - built in early 1st C. AD

Auxerre old town - beautiful at Christmastime, and a nice resting spot

Had a wonderful time with our Servas friends near Lyon.  And a REAL french meal.  The most relaxing and interesting time of our entire trip. Great food, new and different drinks, local cheese, interesting conversation,wonderful hosts.  What more can I say?

St. Etienne, So great to stay in a real french home, and meet such wonderul, helpful folks.  THANKS!

Off the highway - wind power and nuclear power plants too.

Lyon - rainy, but the shops were still wonderful

 On to Versailles.  Matt was anxious to spend enough time there, and I wanted to see what the town was like as more than a day trip from Paris.  Our Airbnb was fabulous, with a lovely host.  I love seeing what the locals prioritize - like fresh squeezed orange juice, good jams, coffee in your room... It was a fun, and easy time.  Gardens, even in the winter, were beautiful.

                                   

 Turned in the car for a fast train and we were on to our airbnb in Montmartre.

The D'orsay had a special exhibit of female photographers. This is one of my favorite photographs.  I saw it in Elton John's collection in Atlanta once.  Funny juxtaposition of Impressionists and American Depression photographs.  Still amazingly poignant.

I forgot how much I liked this lesser known Monet, with its heavy brushstrokes

Just time to see the Rodin garden.  Good excuse to return.

 

Mass on Christmas at Notre Dame, of course.  Only difference was the policeman that processed in behind the Arch- Bishop.

Magnificent as always

Matt had to tell me about the bridge of locks. 

Left bank was a ghost town on Christmas day, but Luxembourg gardens, and palace,  the first Jeu de Paume if you will,  was still bustling.  

 

On business trips with IBM I often hung out here in the evenings, on the square just west of Sacre Coeur.  Loved it then, love it now. 

I was so pleased Matt could join me for Christmas and his first trip to Paris.  We missed Amanda, but glad to hear she had a fabulous Christmas skiing.  Then, exciting trip to our homes. Matt to tornadoes in Dallas which delayed his return to Colorado.  I flew through Istanbul for the night, then back to Koda.    Good to be back in Georgia... for another six months.
Here are a few random parting shots from the airports.

I have definitely become integrated. Now this makes perfect sense to me.  Squatting is better for your bodily functions, exercises the thighs, and more sanitary.  Of course!

One for men too. It's to wash hands, face, nose, ears and feet, before you pray

 

Festivals are somewhat different in Georgia: Tbilisoba

Tbilisoba -The annual festival committee, in the capitol of Tbilisi, worked to improve the format this autumn, after 35 years.   The winner of a public competition to rejuvenate the Festival planned for more cultural events be part of the Festival, not just drinking in the streets.(I sort of liked the wine tasting, since it is a rarity here)  First place winner Nino Lelashvili was chosen by the Tbilisi City Hall commission and online voting. By winning the top prize she also received 14,000 GEL. ($7000 dollars - really good money here!) Lelashvili recently finished a Master’s degree in Marketing Management at the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University in the Netherlands and has since returned to Georgia.  I point this out because it is indicative of the many young people are being educated all over the world, yet seem loyal and ready to come back to Georgia. I like the diversity of events at the Tbilisoba. Game tables everywhere, gymnastics, dancing, music and performances, craft booths, new food sample booths, and international food court.  

Above right was one of the ancient Queen's palaces

This 16 year old girl challenged seven chess players, at the same time. And she beat them all.  It was amazing to watch. And sometimes she would instruct and not allow her opponents to make a bad move.  I also played chess with a local young man a while back.  He was world champ when he was 9, for that age group.  I learned so much.  Chess is very popular here. And good to see the girls compete as well.

gymnastic demonstration

Nardi, or backgammon is a popular, and testosterone driven game in Georgia. 

Who knows why? I played a fellow and he wouldn't even compete.

 Like he was being polite by not playing aggressively. How boring!

I love how they celebrate fresh fruit and
vegetables. Kids even love raw broccoli - a rare treat. 

Dance demonstrations

Peace Bridge - a very modern design surrounded by 9 + centuries of
historic buildings.  Oh well. The past president, saakashvili, named this
for the crossroads from the old way to Peace and liberty. 

More games for everyone to play

Street Vendors

kids were entertained all day

Food booths from many nations were on the river walk:
Georgian pork BBQ, Israeli, Ukraine, Greek,
Kazakhstan, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Turkish

My Art-Koda Social Enterprise colleagues: Ilia and Nunu

a successful and fun day

Summer Vacation Part IV: Budapest, with family

family!

I LOVE BUDAPEST!
Our wonderful summer vacation concluded with a short visit to Budapest so my kids could meet their Hungarian family.  It was great to all be together. I had visited 3 times, each with many changes.

Gary and I visited in 1990 - most housing was still government issued, and they were just taking down the Russian alphabet and putting up the English alphabet in my 'aunt's' classroom in her rural village of Nyirmeggyes. Women were coming in from the fields in their babushkas.

Next, in 2007, my Mom accompanied me to see where her Mom was born. All the babies were grown up and having their own children, Nyirmeggyes, the small village of my great grandmother was thriving with new houses built or renovated, food markets, a Free Internet sign in the town hall, and a new french factory in the neighboring village offering employment.  Budapest was under massive reconstruction.

But this visit was special, with these great young adults now meeting, sharing family and history.  Amanda and Matt's 'cousins' are both in medical school or residency. They go straight from high school to medical school, an interesting idea and common in Europe and Asia.  We toured the Budapest sites with Orsi (a great tour guide) and Dori, and ate several great Hungarian dishes thanks to Edit including my favorite chicken paprika! We visited with my mother's cousin, who looks so much like my grandma that it was a joy just to spend time with her, and her son, Gyozi, who gave us an excellent tour of the region, a great lunch, and showed us his new home.  The city is just beautiful now, almost completely renovated, hopping with restaurants, bars, nightclubs, renovated churches and historical sites.  You could spend a month in Budapest and not see it all.

Here are some of the highlights:

palaçinka

Beautiful, updated courtyard!

Chain bridge

Margaret Island with Orsi

Matthias Church from 1255, done with renovations

Hungarian instrument - he played it like a drum

The original tribes that came together to form Hungary

St. Stephen's Basilica

I have always wanted to go to Lake Balatan. a 50 mile long lake and the largest fresh water lake in Europe. It is the holiday destination for Hungary and much of Europe,and we were able to spend the last day of the season there.  Great day, great water, great food, great train transportation.

Lake Balatan

Labor Day in the US.

for posterity :-)

The famous bend in the Danube

Next Gyozi took us on a car trip to the bend in the Danube, a great lunch and an old castle. He is retired now from the fire department and was a fire inspector.  He seems so happy.  I think retirement ain't that bad a thing!

My mom's cousin Margaret in her home outside of Budapest.
Looking good!

 Margaret, Gyozi, Orsi
and my kids.

It is so special to look at old pictures of my
US family in the US, while I'm in Hungary. 

Margaret had a picture of my great grandmother, standing
in front of my grandmother's house, in upstate NY.

Gyozi treated us to a great lunch out. Hungarian food, GREAT

Trying out the Danube

Gyozi's new home in Budapest

The Gellert Thermal Bath in Budapest was a once in a lifetime experience.  Love this place! 

from the 15th century

10 separate pools and we tried them all

... with Dori, waiting for me to
finally leave the baths, unfortunately

Finally, a night out for the kids to the Ruins!  

So that is the end of our four country vacation. It was a break from Peace Corps, but it seemed I told of my Georgian experiences and amazing Georgian people everywhere we went.  I'm back in Georgia now until next summer... lots more to do, more people to meet, more beautiful places to see, and write about.  Thanks for checking in.  God bless