We just spent the weekend in Paris. Sunday was a party to celebrate Axel's great uncle Rolf's birthday (80) and his and his wife Claire's 50ieth anniversary. It was wonderful to finally meet this branch of the family tree since I realized that I have inexplicably been absent at all of their gatherings. In fact, a relative from Victoria (actually she is the sister in-law of Claire...I think her name was Liz?) who was there reminded us that 13 years ago, I skipped out on a dinner with the family in Vancouver (sushi dinner...she has a great memory!) because we had just started dating and we both figured it would be weird to have me there. Liz said that her daughter brought her brand-new boyfriend at the dinner and now they are still together. It was pretty funny thinking about the early days.
Rolf was Axel's grandfather's youngest brother. This family was originally from Sweden (in fact, Axel's grandfather never gave up his swedish citizenship) and ended up in France, but all of the kids ended up everywhere. Axel's great aunt, Alix, spent a year in New York and actually speaks english with a NYC accent. So Rolf went to Canada to work, and he met Claire, who was from Belgium but was sent by her dad along with the rest of her family to Montreal during the war. They eventually made their way back to France. Claire's family also moved around a lot. I had a great conversation with Frances, another in-law of Claire's, who just moved to Victoria from Kingston, about French paperwork. Oh yes, it plagues everyone! That will be for a future blog, when we can look back and laugh...no laughing yet.
What was really cool were that the mannerisms and physical characteristics I would normally only vaguely associate with Axel's dad were displayed all over the room. His 3rd cousin, Nicolas, has the exact same hair as Axel (in fact, Nicolas' mother thought for about a second that Axel was Nicolas). The same hairline and crazy wings that offshoot from the ears. The nose and mouth is definitely Bergman. Stephane and Axel have similar movements when they are thinking (which I didn't realize until now). But my favourite discovery was the "arms crossed and lean to one side" look that most of the Bergmans have. It was so weird to see them all standing at a doorway talking to each other in the pose. It really made me smile and realize how genetics really do play a role passed our eye colour.
We stayed at Stephane's again. And this time, the endless stairs didn't seem so bad. I think I just got used to all of the stairs from our place. Totally surprised myself. Stephane showed us the newest look for Decleor, the brand that he is revamping as the newest International marketing director. I started using their products last xmas when he gave me some to try and they have changed my skin. I didn't really start seriously until April when I bought a couple more products after going for one of their facials. Even Axel has noticed a difference. Anyway, Stephane has the job of re-inventing the brand. It was cool to see the concept and how he came up with it. I'll keep you all in the loop of when the new look comes out. I had no idea how complicated it is to come up with a new idea. What is invigorating is feeling Steph's excitement when he talked about it. He has finally found a place where he can just go nuts with his vision. I love it!
The day before, I spent the day with Melissa and Tony, who were in Paris for a few days after a wedding in Ireland. We went to a great vegetarian restaurant in the Marais district. This area is the gay area and has the best stores for men. So Tony had his own shopping day! The difference between girls shopping and boys shopping is actually pretty significant. I couldn't pinpoint it until that day when Tony was looking for a jacket. It reminded me of Axel's long search for a suit for our wedding. Boys don't do this much so they don't know the inventory, what is really out there, how much is too much, when it's a good deal, etc. Hence shopping with boys is always a frenzied and stressful task. And usually it ends up either fruitless or the only thing bought is the first thing they saw and mostly liked. When girls go shopping, it's calm and peaceful, yet we always end up with something. What I realized when I was there was that I really haven't hung out in Paris enough. We have always gone to see family and maybe check out a museum. So because Axel was learning about satelite imaging all day Saturday, I had a great afternoon all to myself in the city. I took a book and walked along the Champs d'Elysees, read a little in the Tuileries, hung out outside the louvre checking out the eiffel tower from afar, and finishing it off with a walk down Rivoli street which is good for shopping. Nope, bought nothing.
I left Axel in Paris while so he could check out rockets. He can elaborate because, well, the only thing I really know about rockets is that I can spell rockets. I really have to go to one of his lectures just to understand a little space lingo.
I'm going to try and catch up on the rest of our activities soon!! Hard when we have a varying and intermittent connection so don't give up on us!
A plus.
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