Smile.

One thing that always makes me smile is, when sitting on the metro and suddenly an accordion player starts playing some bouncy french tune. It's a guaranteed pick me up and never fails to make me smile.

Be careful which cheese you choose.

One of the things France does so well is cheese. walk into any supermarket even the small ones and there is a huge range of cheeses for all occasions. Not to mention the Fromageries which are shops devoted entirely to the sale of cheese.So, it is easy to find cheese and not knowing a lot on the subject except that I like cheese, I have been trying different ones. Mostly I do like the ones I have tried, however there is one drawback to many cheeses and that is the smell. It is quite amazing actually how bad some cheeses can smell. To make matters even worse is that apartments in Paris are nice and small. Tonight as i sit writing this I can't quite seem to get rid of the smell of the particular cheese that is now sitting in my refrigerator and it seems that if I open the fridge for something the ("delightful") smell re wafts around my little room. So the moral of the story is be careful of which cheese you choose when living in a small apartment.

Bizare mating rituals of Internationals and Parisians are a strange breed!

I think one of the main things an expat living in Paris will tell you is that Parisians in general, are a strange breed of people and that it is hard to make friends with the locals. Most expats start out in Paris with high ideals of wanting to not just be hanging out with other English speakers or Internationals. Instead wanting to integrate and meet French friends. However, after a few months of living in Paris it soon becomes clear that it is not so easy,it's a case of making friends with other English speakers and expats from other countries or make no friends at all. I think it is hard to make friends with Parisians because many of them have tight insular friendship groups that they have had for many years and they just have no need of adding to their groups. So, in a search for like minded people to hangout with I have been joining some meet up groups that organise events to meet other expats. Having attended three very successful meet ups through the Aussie meet up group ( one of course being Australia Day) I decided to join an Internationals meet up group. Tonight was the first meet up I attended with this group and I dragged S along with me to check it out. Which, in hindsight was a wise thing to do or the evening might have been a total waste of time. We went to a tapas bar (yes I am aware I am in France not Spain) where S and I enjoyed a few glasses of yummy Sangria. We were there a little early and along with a few other early birds enjoyed a bit of a conversation trying to find a language in common. After a little while and quite a few more arrivals S and I began to notice that there was a certain age of person attending this function and that most of them had been living in Paris for 10 to 15 years plus already and had just started attending this meetup. It was then that we decided that most people in the room were probably already divorced at least once and it seemed to be their form of picking up other long time expat (divorcees?). Cynical of us maybe but all I can say is that I think I was the youngest in the room and apart from S's five years seniority by a good ten or fifteen years. So yes I was glad I had dragged a friend along, but at least it was an experience.

Lost!

Lost - one artists inspiration,if found please return to artist lost in Paris. I must be the only artist to move to Paris for inspiration only to lose it altogether. At the moment no matter what I paint it all ends up looking horrible. On a more positive note though, it is a great city for viewing other's art. On thursday I went to an amazing exhibition of Emil Nolde work at the Grand Palais (which is an artform in it's own right.) Also, I am going to the big Picasso exhibition here in Paris on wednesday at two o'clock. I know this because you have to book to go and see the exhibition. Not only book a date but a time as well and it's a very popular exhibition because I had to book a week ahead to get in. It's the first time I've ever heard of booking to see art but hey it's Paris right?

Life in a movie!

Sometimes living in Paris is like being in a movie. Take this morning for example. Getting up having coffee, breakfast and getting change.d Taking extreme care with clothes, make up, hair etc putting on hat and coat, remembering this is Paris after all and you can't go outside in any old thing unless you want to endure the stares in the street. All dressed and looking good, heading down the street to the metro Alessia. Wandering down the street in a happy daze white and cream stone buildings complete with black wrought iron surrounding you. Shops on every side adorned with sales signs on the way to meet S for some general and aimless wandering round Saint Germain for window shopping and just mere enjoyment of being out and about in the Parisian streets. So, walking down the street to the metro (rrrrriiiiiiippppp) stepped in dog poo... one of the many little packages of delight left all around Paris for those poor unsuspecting people who are lost in a dream world somewhere else. Hey I said a movie I didn't say it was a happily ever after.

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That bit came later (after the scraping of boots on cement or the jumping in puddles hoping to eradicate the delightful smells that come with said dog poo) with the wandering and the looking in shops and enjoying being in Paris. Also, the enjoyment of the pistaccio and raspberry macaroon that we found in a delightful little patisserie or the purchase thanx to my sisters christmas present of a bottle of Givernchy perfume from Gallery Laffayettes. All in all I think it was a pretty good day in Paris.