Recently in the category : Learned
k&k get cultured #5 : urban art tour
this month's k&k get cultured was an urban art tour led by our good friends Michelle and Axel (of Paris Urban Adventures & Gadabout World fame).
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since a picture is worth a thousand words, and the topic was art, i think i'll let them do the talking...
here is a sampling of what we saw:
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if you are interested in a bit more info, Michelle put a link on the k&k forum - which you can find here.
we had such a great time on the tour, we may just have to do it again in the fall!
échecs
How I spent my Thursday afternoon.
by Kylie
Here's some vocabulary for you:
Chess - Échecs
Eng French
King Roi - (lit.) King
Queen Dame - (lit.) Lady
Bishop Fou - (lit.) Madman
Knight Cavalier - (lit.) Rider
Rook Tour - (lit.) Tower
Pawn Pion - (lit.) Pawn
I noted in the rule book that calling the "Dame" the "Reine" and the "Cavalier" the "Cheval" is technically incorrect. Though typically that wouldn't stop me. And it amused me that every time my opponent (age 8) moved his Knight he said - CA-VAL-I-ER . One syllable for each square to count how many places to move his piece. Adorable.
He took great joy in smacking my pieces down as he took them.
I won, though.
But just.
Think I need to be boning up on my chess playing skills.
k&k get cultured #2 - les égouts de paris
Last time I didn't manage to get any photos on the blog before I inadvertently deleted them ALL, so this time I'm getting a couple of these photos up now, before I (inadvertently) do the same thing again.
We met early on Saturday, so thanks to all of you that braved the cold and managed to get up in time to make it. It was chilly on the riverbank, so it was actually a bit of a relief to get inside the sewers!
Here are some of our intrepid adventurers on the
lookout for a little culture!
We had enough people to get the group rate (yay!) and had a tour guide all to ourselves. The visit took about an hour and we learned many very interesting factoids about how the sewers work.
FACT: Certain vaccines are mandatory for sewer workers.
FACT: The Paris Sewers have 2100 km of tunnels.
FACT: There are lots and lots and lots of rats in Paris. (And they don't cook.)
FACT: The sewers can be really smelly. However, some metro stops actually smell WORSE.
FACT: Streets aren't just labelled above ground, but below ground as well, to aid with navigating throughout the sewers.
FACT: Kyliemac can outrun a stationary Sewer cleaning ball. Take that, Indy!
We learned a lot more about how the sewers of Paris operate, but if you want to learn more, you'll either have to google it for yourself, or brave the sewer on your own. Although I suggest it with a guide!
LES EGOUTS DE PARIS
Open everyday except Thursday and Friday from 11am to 4 or 5pm depending on the season. (And it's closed in January every year for two weeks for maintenance. I suppose it smells less then.)
Metro: Alma-Marceau Station (Line 9) and cross the river.
RER: Pont de l'Alma station RER C
learning the abc's
One of the many surprising things in coming to France is that they don't WRITE the same here as they do in Kyliemac's America.
When I was teaching the little people, they had difficulty understanding my cursive writing, and I would have to resort to printing everything in order to make sure they understood it.
And don't even get me STARTED on the numbers business...
can YOU name the seven dwarfs? in french?
lately i can't help but notice that Disney's "Snow White" has been remastered and can now be purchased on blu-ray. this information has inspired the following question:
can you name the seven dwarfs?
you have one minute. go.
try not to cheat, k?
now, can you do it in french?
Doc: Prof
Grumpy: Grincheux
Sneezy: Atchoum
Sleepy: Dormeur
Happy: Joyeux
Bashful: Timide
Dopey: Simplet
Green and yellow
Different regions in France have used their own methods of dealing with the issue of recycling for a few years now (some better than others), but Paris is finally making a really big effort to encourage people to sort their rubbish.
What makes this particularly exciting is the arrival of the yellow bins. These bins have been available in aparment buildings for a while now, and you could see them in a few different métro stations last year, but now you can see them in lots of parks and other public spaces around Paris, which means you now have two bins to choose from when you're throwing stuffs away in public! Green is for normal rubbish, yellow is for lecycuraburs (recyclables).
France is coming pretty late to the environmental awareness party that the rest of the world seems to have been in on for years now - but it's better late than never, I guess. The environmentally-conscious greenie in me (bred in a lot of Australians, I think) is absurdly excited about this. Hence this very geeky post. But now when I sit in my favourite park at lunch time, I can throw away my rubbish without feeling guilty.
a tip for when you're in the RER
one of the things that isn't really obvious when taking the RER is that not all of the trains are the same length. this means that sometimes there will be a short train, and if you aren't at the right part of the platform, you'll be left behind.
so if you look up, you'll see handy signs like these that will tell you what "repere" the train covers - and make sure that is where you are on the platform. that is unless you LIKE running after the train...
personally, i don't. i only run when chased by zombies.
handy french vocab:
arrêt = stop
court = short
long = long
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