Les Soldes

People, I'm not going to claim that les soldes are a valid reason to come to study abroad in Paris in the summer. But they are definitely a good side benefit. Les soldes (the sales) are a 5-week (approximately) period around July when stores are allowed to have sales. Believe it or not, over here the government controls this sort of thing. I expect there is another sale period around the holidays but I don't know for sure.

So les soldes are on right now and this afternoon I walked right into the middle of them. I had decided I wanted another scarf although, or more likely because, the one Nancy gave me is great and I've already worn it twice. And I wanted to get some Yves Rocher anti-fatigue foot gel--I love this product and I buy a tube anytime I am near an Yves Rocher. I knew I did not want to spend much money so I thought to go to H&M, which I also love.  I Googled the locations and found that the nearest one was in the 6th on a street called Rue de Rennes. Then I Googled Yves Rocher and behold! They had a location about 3 doors down and across the street. Off I went into the Métro. You can say what you want to about other forms of transit (my colleague Jim's tag line is "I found this great bus!") but I am irrationally attached to subways. Rue de Rennes turned out to be a fair-sized shopping street with a FNAC (electronics), a Zara, and even a Pandora store (who knew?). I hit Yves Rocher and they had a lot of stuff soldé so I got foot gel, lavender shower gel, and a shower puff for under €6. H&M had all their sale stuff on one level, so of course that level was full of people. I jostled around and found a cute sleeveless top as well as a cool scarf: a light peach background with Dia de los Muertos-style skulls on it in black. I'm excited to wear it! Then I went into Marionnaud (Sephora-type store but more fragrances than makeup) just to take a look. I got some perfume from the Couvent des Minimes brand (Mom, take note! Should I get you some hand cream?). Can't wait to wear that either as it is a great citrus scent and I ran out of my C. L. Bigelow Lemon right before I came. Paris is full of undesirable smells at times and I do not want to be one of them!

So that was my dip into les soldes. It was fun and a nice change from the U.S. where Macy's seems to have a "One Day Sale" every day. We are onto you, Macy's!

On a totally different note I spoke to my friend Nicole on the phone today. She was my home stay hostess when I was on study abroad as a student 10 years ago. She lives in Caen (Basse-Normandie, northwest coast of France) and used to be an English teacher but has been retired for a long time. I am planning to go out to visit her for a day, possibly next weekend. I had also raised the idea of bringing some students to visit Normandy and she seemed to think that would work with some help from a couple who are friends of hers, Jean-Alain and Françoise. Jean-Alain is retired from the Regional Council in Caen and Françoise is just a generally energetic person. I will have to see what my students think and who wants to go. They were very interested when I talked about Normandy in class. We have talked about the Norman Conquest and they are starting to understand how long & how deeply the English/Americans and the French have been connected. Plus, Caen is lovely and it would be nice for them to see another part of France.

Tomorrow we have a 2-hour guided tour of the Louvre. That, of course, will be excellent! À bientôt!