Ok, so I’ve been away…. And my mind is not quite switched on yet. We had an awesome time, really. My mom took care of the kids and we went to visit my in-laws. I am amazingly fortunate to have excellent support from my family to care for my daughters from time to time. I ate and ate and ate… which will necessitate endless hours on the elliptical machine/track/that evil stair climbing thing in the gym/rowing machine…insert your favorite piece of cardio torture equipment here- but I don’t care. DrMrA proved he still has the mojo to drive in the completely chaotic traffic of this crazy country and parallel-park in a space the size of next to nothing. I love this country. But what kind of blog friend would I be if I didn’t bring back a little something for my regular visitors…? I apologize to those I have left out – some of you are so hard to shop for.
First- Physioprof. I’m sure you will be delighted to know that about two days into the vacation I looked out the car window and saw a billboard for… guess what… yeah, that’s right… JAMESON… (with the tag line… Jameson, seriously playful). That silly billboard just kept popping up here and there every day throughout the rest of the trip. Like a sign- of I don’t know what- fucking fooling with me. I tried to get a picture… but I always seemed to see it after dark and I just could never get a good shot. You will have to settle for the double pack from the duty free in Paris… (Bugdoc- you will have to share the grog with Physioprof because I have never seen Guinness here!)
Juniorprof– I love strolling the streets of this town looking at the architecture…and window-shopping. My personal favorites are the jewelers- but I know you have a high fashion sense… and perhaps appreciate beautiful architecture. Although this city has the 6th most expensive shopping street in the world, no Prada could be found. Instead- I give you Louis Vuitton…. And an example of the lovely neoclassical style buildings that can be found in this fine country.
Cath– I’ve never seen a kayak here, but they do have lots of islands and other kinds of boats… I thought of you…
Now Bikemonkey– hard as I looked I never saw anyone riding a bike here- in fact if I did I would think that they have a serious death wish given the complete and utter insanity of the traffic here… but I did notice that in Paris they have these nifty public sort of rental bikes, and bike lanes all over…
Anonymoustache– I don’t have any pictures for you- but I did think of you when nearly every person that I talked to here, friends and complete strangers, asked me all about Obama- and generally conveyed their extreme relief that the disastrous tenure of George W. will end very soon. From the results of the election we know that the American people wanted a change and they wanted it badly- I don’t think I realized until I left the country how badly the entire world (or at least Europe) wanted this change as well. It is palpable.
And for the rest of you-….although I have traveled to this country every year for nearly the last two decades and got married within sight of this- looking at it still takes my breath away. Pictures don’t really do it justice… I hope that you all get a chance to see it in person someday, for it is truly magnificent..
I’ll return to blogging about science/careers/work-life balance/academic jobs… tomorrow perhaps… after I’ve worked my way through about 300 emails…
Blue Lab Coats 
Welcome back! Physioprof’s a little too easy to shop for 😉
Thanks for the shout out!
I would be happy to toast Comrade PhysioProf with the Jameson any day! For future ref, pictures of baklava are also appropriately droolmaking cybergifts. Glad to have you back, and also to hear that you had a lovely time –
Glad to hear you guys had a great time and glad to have you back in the blogosph.
Too bad I didn’t check in here earlier or I’d have poached some of the damn Jameson before CPP and BugDoc drank it all.
Great also to hear about positive world feedback about Obama. There was a couple of nice articles in Der Speigel recently on (1) The disaster that was the Bush admin and (2) The anticipation/hope/expectations of the world for an Obama presidency. I’ll try and dig up the links—if I can I’ll blog them.
Academic & C PP- It’s my pleasure.
Bugdoc- I will send you pictures of the baklava … after I get the 5 boxes out of my suitcase- which to my knowledge is still in paris at the moment. Oh, and 6 boxes of chocolates from Leonidas… like I said… hours on the elliptical machine.
Anonymoustache- I’ve got some ouzo for you if the Jameson ran out already. I didn’t see Der Speigel (although I was watching the German evening news on TV!) But we traveled just a few days after the election and the headlines were all over the European newspapers. And around my Greek friends- I delighted not to have to be in a position to try to explain the psyche of the average George W. Bush voting American anymore.
What, so if I visit I’ll have to buy my own kayak and ship it over? Boooo…
We try to kayak on every trip but it doesn’t always work out. For example in Portugal they wouldn’t rent to us because there was no life-guard on duty (end of the main season). We pointed out that the sea was as flat as a millpond and that we’ve successfully navigated some huge Pacific waves and crazy Bay of Fundy tides, but they didn’t want to know. Mr E Man’s cry of “but I’m Canadian” didn’t even work.
Cath- As you can see in the picture the sea was flatter than flat here as well. I think it would be totally awesome kayaking territory!!