April, let's go to Berlin

Hello all, since February blog's url changed and I've been away from the blog. But here I am and I'll put online a few things I've been doing during these past months.

April was our family trip to Berlin to visit our eldest daughter who's studying there. A must see in Berlin is the Charlottenburg Palace... or Schloss Charlottenburg. One sees it on the bus from Tegel airport to Berlin. We took the U-bahn to Sophie-Charlotte-Platz and walked along the Shoss Strasse to the palace. On the was we passed 2 groups of pétanque players... We visited the garden where you could take a very nice walk.

View Berlin in a larger map

Freezing cold in Vitry!

Winter arrived late but brutally... temperatures are way below zero here south of Paris, we're getting -6 or so. Last night we had a few snow flakes and I decided to take a small walk to the park behind our house. I'll admit it was quite difficult to take my gloves off in order to take a few pictures... It's rare that the pond would freeze that much... it maybe happened once in ten years!

just an old photo to see what it will look like this summer...

Jean Dujardin at the Golden Globes

Exciting times for French cinema as Jean Dujardin wins the Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical... great speech too as he received his Globe!!

Intouchables

My family and friends really loved "Intouchables", film with François Cluzet and Omar Sy. The film focuses on the relationship between Philip who is tetraplegic and Driss, a young man who just came out of prison. It's based on a real story.We found the film funny and touching, one that talks about disabilities - it's Philip's physical disability caused by an accident, but also Driss and his family and their difficulties as they face poor life conditions, a hard working mother who has no idea what her sons are up to - youths hanging out with the wrong persons, ending up in prison. Driss will attempt to "rescue" his little brother and try and put him in the right tracks. The film depicts what it can be like living in a poor French suburb when you're not white and you don't have parents strong enough to guide you through life.
Intouchables is also about music and love. Driss and Philip will find out that they have a lot in common as social barriers come down and the two protagonists become friends.
I highly recommend this film!

I'm back...

I'm back online with my new computer, a Sony Vaio, which I hope will be a good work companion. In December my Acer broke down and the screen went all black... yes even French computers go on strike when they work too much!!!

Best wishes to all for 2012!

Here comes 2012, and I would like to extend my sincere wishes to all, may this year be positive all and bring us all joy!
I think I will concentrate more on simple pleasures of life, be more caring about the family, enjoy being together and doing simple everyday activities. We hope to do some traveling and discover beautiful places and extraordinary people. But at the same time, this year should be about less about consumption and maybe think more about how to impact positively our community and our environment. As we can see in our everyday life the effects of mismanaging our planet - global warming, pollution and the list is long... We also see increasing poverty and injustice around us. We can do much better and we need to start in our home, doing small things. We’ll think about all that and try and figure out what tiny actions, as a family, we can do each day to contribute to a better world.

....Bonne Année 2012 !