Next! French Drivers License

Having lived through a rigorous immigration process in the US and more recently in France I thought I was prepared for anything. Then I tried to get my French drivers license, which for some was apparently as simple as "Hello Madame yes we realize you drive on the opposite side of the road in Australia but here is your French license immediately".

My experience was more like " Once you have completed all of the documents please return a few more times so we can tell you some additional documents to complete. And once you have all of those we will tell you that you need a letter from the Canadian Embassy stating that you had permission from the Canadian authorities to live in the US for the period of time you were there."

WHAT???

So I explained that in Canada we are allowed to move to any country we choose, as long as that country accepts us. Not good enough. I need the letter or no driver's license. Okay. So I asked the Canadian Embassy for said letter.

WHAT??? We don't give Canadians permission to live in other countries.

Yeah I know.

So having failed miserably at the straight echange I get to take the legendary French driving course.

First the paperwork, which takes approximately 1 month to process and begins only after the submission of  4 photos, 6 stamps, 2 A5 envelopes, proof of residency, visa, passport and foreign drivers license translated by an accredited translator.

Next the 256 page study guide, (price 15€) in French of course, mandatory, which has at least 10 pages describing the meaning behind dotted lines, depending on the length of each, the distance between the dotted lines, how to measure your speed based on the number of broken lines you pass per second ( you know you are going 90 kmh if it takes 1 second to pass two dots and two spaces in between), and the secret signals these patterns provide including upcoming solid lines. I am in trouble.

Third the classroom sessions and accompanying on line exercises. for 559€ and 35€ respectively.

Then the first written exam. I was not quoted a price but I am sure there is one. Many fail. A mandatory wait period, and then restart.

Once I have passed the exam I can begin to take driving lessons, minimum 8 hours. In a manual transmission. If I don't take the exam in a manual transmission I will have a restricted license. And then of course the driving exam, which most people fail at least one.

Wish me luck!

Yesterday's wine

More than a year since we decided to do a special taste test we finally made it happen.

It all started with a visit last year to Beaune. On Sunday morning before leaving for home Alison and I found ourselves at yet another wine merchant sampling the local goods while our friends did some important museum tours. While sampling we were informed of a recent study done comparing wines from Borgogne decanted, or simply opened 1 hour, 4 hours, 12 hours and 24 hours prior to drinking. We were surpised to learn that every wine expert participating in the blind test preferred the wines opened 24 hours before.

So of course we had to try it.



On a Thursday evening I bought two good 2011 Mercury 1ere Cru and opened one. On Friday evening I opened the other an hour or so before the guests were to arrive.

Each of us received 1 glass with the 24 hour opened wine and a second glass with the newly opened version. I was the only one who knew which was which. 

The results?

1. Everyone could tell there was a difference between the two.
2. Most of us knew which one was opened first becasue it was softer and had a more generous aroma.
3. Half of us preferred the wine opened longer. Half preferred the newly opened.

Try it yourself and see. I believe the rule applies only to wines from Bourgogne, but it could be an interesting experiment with any wine.

Nebbiolo don't tell everyone

Upon moving to ParisI wanted to make a big effort to meet people quickly. Having moved 17 times in about as many years I know how important it is to get established quickly and make friends. I was lucky to discover MeetUp, an idea with post 9-11 origins, created  to help people make real life connections using the internet. It works.

This week I dined out with Paris Urban Adventures at Nebbiolo.
I was the first to arrive, typically Canadian, and had a nice chat with Frederico, who just opened the restaurant a month ago along with his wife Sonia. The business is the perfect marriage of Italy and wine (him) and France and cuisine (her).

We started with this lovely sparkiling wine Alta Langa, a champagne
style but not from Champagne which was surprisingly delicious
with parmesan dipped in the best ever balsamic.

The Gavi di Gavi was paired with the Burrata,
a super creamy mozerella and puree of beets.

A Valpolicella Ripasso
that puts most others to shame
to go with the black rice salad.

And the Amarone.
Just delicious.
Served with veal and fingerling potatoes.

The cheese course, a Testun I think with grape must..
By this time I am forgetting to take photos of the wine
which is unfortunate. We had sampled quite a few wines by this time!
It was also very good, a Brachetto Piemonte served with fresh peaches. 
Frederico convinced us to pour some of the delicious wine into our peaches.

I can't sign off without mentioning the organizer, Camilla, who is warm, gracious and welcoming to all, including a local who joined us part way through the meal and the owners who by mid evening gave up on any supposed formailty they meant to keep and sampled the rest of the courses along with us. Great spot. I almost want to keep it a secret, but that wouldn't be fair to this couple who deserve every success in life. Thank you to everyone for a memorable evening.

Chateau de Chantilly - (out)side benefits

I have done some significant travel in July of this year including Montreal, Alberta, Connecticut, Paris, London, Wiesbaden and Tel Aviv. Imagine the surprise of my significant other when I suggested a day out of Paris last Sunday. This time though we went together.

 I live less than 30 minutes from the beautiful Chateau de Chantilly. Whatever took me so long to visit? And what else am I missing?

Once off the train you take a short walk through a park, past the Hippodrome,
Then you see this gorgeous stand of trees. What a welcome.

The walk  through the beautiful trees
is in itself an experience not to be missed

Then the chateau from afar
much like a fairy tale

Up close we are not disappointed

Brief pause for creme de Chantilly

And a walk through the woods to burn
the chantilly calories and enjoy the peace. 
You could spend hours here. We did. 
There are "rooms" designed for dining, games 
and other events.

Fountains galore

And sculptures to embrace the beauty of the fountains

Contemplating life outside of Paris.

A reminder to us to open our eyes and hearts to the beauty of nature. We live in what many consider the most beautiful city in the world, and were visiting one of the most beautiful chateaux.The chateau is home to one of the finest collections of ancient paintings in France (second after the Louvre museum),  And yet no matter how impressive the chateau its art, its library, for us the surrounding park was the highlight of our visit. 

The choices we make

I am thinking about the choices I make, although sadly I do this more often in reflection rather than in advance of an action.  One particular occasion brings to mind the opportunity for greatness and also the more predictable path chosen.

I had the occasion to work as an external consultant to a large multi national,  a demanding, frustrating and very rewarding position. Over time I began to feel like part of the team, a real partner, irreplaceable even.

During one business trip a visiting executive joined us for the meeting and also for dinner. Upon arriving at the beautiful history charged restaurant I was surprised to see one large table for everyone who was employed at the client, and a smaller table with a sign that said "Agency". Many of us stood around confused by this arrangement, since only a few of the providers present even worked for an agency, until each of us who were not employees were gently asked to sit at the smaller table.

I thought of many things, (be warned  not all of them were rational) including being relegated to the kiddie table at large family gatherings, discriminatory practices in the Southern US where Rosa Parks refused to sit in the back of the bus, and yes, even the Jews in Nazi Germany who had to wear the star to show where they did or did not belong. Clearly I was having a strong reaction to this situation.

Mostly I thought how pissed off I was and how I would love to excuse myself and take a taxi back to the hotel. I mean who invites people to dinner and then seats them with each other at a separate (smaller) table?

The anger, hurt and weirdly shame, were honest emotions.  I wanted everyone to know how I felt.
I wanted someone to do something.

One member of the client team sized up the situation and promptly sat with us at the kiddie table. Another team member came over as if to join us but it was all a bit awkward and she ultimately sat with the visiting exec, texting me an apology during the meal.

I spent the next days thinking of all the things that could have been done differently, including not setting up the tables that way in the first place, having a well communicated client - only dinner without the external consultants,  pushing the tables together, mixing the groups, etc., etc. You will notice I only thought of options that someone else could take, pointing out how victimized I felt.

The anger only diminished when I admitted to myself that I too had choices, and in fact I had made one:

1. I could have excused myself and enjoyed dinner on my own
2. I could have expressed my dismay at the situation verbally, since I am well aware it was written all over my face
3. I could have forgiven the client team, assuming there was no ill intent
4. I could have carried the anger with me for a couple of days, refusing to accept the act of grace by the client who sat with us instead of at the big table, and while sitting there all angry I could also have brushed off the texted apology from the second client team member.

No need to tell you which choice I made. Let's just say Gandhi would not have been proud.

It is important to note that most people had a lovely evening either blissfully unaware of the hurt feelings at our table or unwilling to do anything about it. A few people were aware and attempted to make it right. At least one person (me) spent an evening and at least a day stewing in anger which did nothing to resolve the situation and made others feel defensive about their choices. 

The moment we feel powerless or victimized could become our shining moment. It could also be the moment we fall back on old patterns and stew in our stuff. Here's hoping the lesson I learned helps me respond with more grace should I have the occasion to relive such an experience. 

Calm Cool Collected in Chicago

Question: What should you do when someone is applying a rule to you which is to no one's benefit?

Answer: Remain calm, cool and collected. 

For example, while dealing with the Delta ticket agent today who explained that she would be checking my bag to Hartford, even though she could see that my ticket had been changed to transfer at Detroit to head back to Paris. Her point was, (if she even had a point) that originally I had purchased a ticket which included a Hartford leg, so she would have to apply the rule of not "short checking the bag", which she would be doing if she checked it to Detroit only.

We both knew that I had already spent 30 minutes on the phone with a Delta ticket agent and then her supervisor to have this corrected. And yes they had already charged me $192 to not fly on the Detroit to Hartford bit. But rules are rules, even if they are not real rules, and she either needed to send my bag to Hartford today or charge me $150.

Clearly arguing and explaining were getting me nowhere. So I took that negative energy and turned it right back into her, like some weird kung fu move learned in a previous life.

I said, "Okay. I understand. Go ahead and send the bag to Hartford. I am not going there, so once I arrive in Paris I will ask them to go ahead and send it to me in Paris."

Huh.

End of disagreement.

My bag is on its way to Paris, with a brief stop over in Detroit. No extra charge. I am trying not to gloat.

Efficiency: How North American

Yesterday in Paris I watched three officers write a parking ticket. For the same car. They all stood facing the improperly parked vehicle and wrote in their respective parking offense books. It appeared as though two of them were writing on blue forms in triplicate and another was completing pink forms. I am pretty sure the blue forms of the two offers were identical - what do you call triplicate doubled?

All this to say, there could be some inefficiency in France. And when you think about it, any city with 20 mayors in 20 city halls could be suspected of having some built in inefficiency.

Let's compare this with my North American home culture where we are oh so efficient:

Speaking: We talk fast and use short sentences. Everyone has a shortened form of their name in case we do not have time to say the whole name. Okay there are places where the whole name takes a lot of time, like Billy Bob Ray Lee, but in most circumstances I wonder if this short cutting is really necessary. In Nova Scotia we take it to a higher level by trying to say even short sentences really fast, so "Did you eat yet?" becomes "Jeet yet?". No time is wasted on speaking.

Eating: In North America the typical meal occurs between two other activities, such as working and working, or during other activities, such as Facebooking and watching television or you guessed it, working. Restaurants are often motivated to get the first group of diners on their way in order to make way for a second or third shift, completely possible when we have many diners beginning at 5PM (no one would show up for dinner here before 7, which is still considered very early for anything except a pre-dinner drink, called an apero). And upon arriving at a restaurant we expect the meal to appear within mere moments of our backsides hitting the chair. So much more efficient than, say arriving a bit later in the evening, enjoying an apero and some nice conversation, receiving entree, main and dessert in a leisurely manner (yes, the entree comes before the main, no matter what we write on American menus), and finally a small coffee (the one concession to time efficiency here in France) as final topics of conversation are wrapped up. 

Working: You know it, that thing that occurs during eating, also during sleeping but hopefuly not during more intimate activities. We North Americans all arrive early in the morning, make our way to our respective desks without so much as a how do you do to our colleagues, sit at our desks and work. Alone. Without talking, which would only consume time.  This is quite different from my experience in Paris where everyone arrives a little later (they probably slept in after that late dinner, or didn't sleep at all after that even later coffee). Each person takes a few minutes to kiss their colleagues, or at a minimum shake their hand, ask how they are, listen to the answer, and respond in kind. Anything interesting that has occurred since the day before is shared, sometimes over a very small coffee, and then the work day can begin. The work day almost certainly involves a lot more conversation than the average North American is used to, as each topic deserves some team input and discussion. In the middle of the day everyone stops and has lunch, usually together, and more conversation takes place. Finally, by 6 or 7PM, each person leaves after taking a moment to say goodnight to their colleagues. It takes some getting used to, all this talking and time that could have been spent, yes working. Alone. At my desk. Teamwork without the actual talking to people is what I was used to.

On balance? If enjoying a three hour dinner means I have to accept some inefficiencies, I choose the three hour dinners. Thanks Paris for not always being easy, but for never being boring.