Saint Martin/ Sint Maarten: Impressions

I had written about our trip but I decided not to post it because it just went on and on about what we did and ultimately I did not find it very interesting. I will, though, tell you about things that stayed with me as we ponder our possible future there.

1. The island comes across as a dump in a lot of areas. I'm really surprised at this. I know all Caribbean islands have the tourist areas and the local, much poorer areas, but St Maarten seemed even more out there, and even more so than how I found the island five years ago. We saw this on both the French and Dutch sides, but it can be a toss-up which one is dumpier. The Dumpiest of all, the Mullet Bay area on the Dutch side, is a disgrace. If someone ever put pics of that area in a travel magazine, it would def serve as a wake-up call to the Dutch Antillean government.

2. The French and the Dutch sides are completely different. Even though there are no "borders", you can immediately tell the difference, in the landscape and the road conditions. French roads are, for the most part, unbelievably smooth - a welcome relief to the car from all the potholes on the Dutch side. There have been no over-building on the French side, so it is more rustic and charming, I found. Marigot (the French capital) is still busy and appears disorganized, but not on the same scale as Philipsburg (the Dutch capital).

3. The Dutch side is American for all intents and purposes. Some areas are gaudy, loud, neony, like mini Las Vegas. The positive is that you can use the dollar and find most familiar things in the supermarket - this should not be discounted for me, I found it very exciting to be looking at Nilla Wafers and Dr Pepper cans in the shelves!

4. The illegal immigration population is apparently HUGE. From Haiti, Domican Republic, Jamaica, etc. Locals believe that this is responsible for a lot of the rising crime levels. It's a shame for an island that relies so heavily on tourism.

5. The Sunset Beach Bar & Grill was still a lot of fun! A definite must-do - it sounds cheesy but it really is impressive to watch the planes land and funny to watch the people struggle as they try to withstand the jetstreams of the departing planes. The constant chatter of the watch tower radio adds to the ambience. See pic below - taken by PeeWee:


6. The best pina colada of the week was at Taloulah Mango's in Philipsburg!

Miss Remiss

I've been neglecting writing for a month... I read somewhere something that befits me perfectly: "I don't do much and it takes me all day"

Of course, that is not entirely true because I have been busy busy and busy. Sick, coughing kids; preparing for the trip to NY/ St Maarten; the trip itself and the messy aftermath.

Where to begin?

The trip back stateside was fun, as always, but too short (as always!). The girls had a great time, of course, and were happy to be able to celebrate Halloween there again. It did rain on Halloween and that dampened everyone's enthusiasm somewhat, but overall it was fun. After taking advantage of other people's tax money in Summit, NJ (the town and the Y there puts on a Halloween shindig every year) we tried a new area for trick-or-treating and the deco on the houses and the lawns were fantastic. Some pics:




One other reason for our visit this year: my grandma celebrated her 100th birthday on November 1st - I think she looks better than she did last year. Good to know that we have good genes (PeeWee's grandma lived to 96!)


Will post notes from St Maarten separately.

Back to the grind of "not much"!

Sad to leave NYC...

You can see why...

...

Seriously, my pack-and-panic routine has officially started as we go back to France Monday night. I did not buy that much this trip, but already my two big suitcases are full and I have lots of stuff left to go, hence the panic. For all the traveling I have done, I am an extremely poor packer. I can do ok for myself, but for the kids? I brought outfits and shoes for all possible permutations of weather and activities, and then some (however I neglected to do the same for the actual plane ride over, ending up with Manolee underwear-less for the last three hours of the flight following an unfortunate seating accident on the plane toilet). Aargh. Re-packing and re-thinking what I REALLY must bring back starts tomorrow morning (do I really need to bring back the unbreakable plastic pitcher I grabbed on sale at Target? The Bendaroos the kids begged me to buy? Can the kids survive without Pop Tarts and Easy Macs until the next trip?)...

The Land of $3 Ben & Jerry's

The US is indeed the land of plenty - and cheap! When there was news that a woman was crushed to death at Wal-Marts by people rushing to score $29 DVD players, my first thought was not, OMG how tragic that she was killed, but OMG how can that cost only $29?

Anyway, it is such a pleasant experience to visit a supermarket in the US. Things that are considered luxury items in France are downright bargains - the other day at the local Waldbaums, I saw pints of Ben & Jerry ice cream being offered at 2 for $6. In France one measly pint goes for at least 5.95 euros. And the choice of flavors are utterly staggering here - and at that price, one can afford to try them all! In France, we count ourselves lucky if we find more than two flavors at any one store.

The girls had a great day running through the giant Toys R Us in Times Square (they still love the ferris wheel) and the Nintendo Store, where an interactive Mario kept the kids entertained for a good while. The Candyland King was a hit too - see below:

No wonder Hana calls NY the greatest country in the world!!

French (baby) butts

Slow month for posting... Been in the US for the last two weeks and have not had time to post anything. The month of July is a big blur - the end of school, weekend trip to Paris to meet up with friends, getting ready for the Big Trip - then getting here, going almost straight to NJ to my friend M's house where the girls had been signed up for camp for the last two weeks... am back at my parents' house in Queens and am just exhausted beyond belief. Feeding and washing up the girls tonight seemed such an endeavor!!

Anyway, the girls were at camp that was run at this fancy club in NJ and one of the things that I noticed was the ubiquitous signs asking, no, demanding that members ensure that infants and toddlers wear swim diapers AND plastic diaper pants on top. This is, according to the signs, for the health, hygiene and safety of all club members, and clearly directed unprepared members to the club store for purchasing the required items. Looking around the resort-looking outdoor pool, the American toddlers playing around all seemed to have huge butts, with their wet swim diapers and the plastic pants barely covering them.

Such a contrast to the pools in France - I have yet to be in one which demands that kids wear swim diapers. The result: very svelte French baby butts in the pool - but god knows what goes on in the pool!!! And I know all those kids cannot be toilet-trained!

On that disturbing note, I take leave now and will be back when I am feeling less lethargic and more rested!

London Calling

Took the girls to London for 6 days - visiting old friends and old haunts, and it honestly left me wondering why I was in such a hurry to leave the place both times I lived there (1995-1999, and again from 2004-2007). In hindsight, I think for both stints it was the fact that I was working at a job that I did not enjoy - funny that both times it was PeeWee who rescued me out of London - the first time to go to La Reunion for a year, and the second time to move to Rennes.

The girls had a blast. Manolee has no real memory of London other than what she sees in pictures, but she was able to appreciate the double decker buses and the Princess Diana Playground in Kensington Gardens (on the one day that it did not rain during our stay). Twice we enjoyed lovely Thai food at the best pub in London, Churchill Arms, where we were welcomed with hugs and kisses (it helped that we used to go there at least once a week when we lived there) and I introduced the girls to Indian food (Hana loved it, Manolee hated it). Hana got to catch up with a number of her friends and even got to go back to the Lycee where her 1st grade teacher recognized her right away and was very happy to see her.



I was getting grumpy towards the 4th day because I had done nothing for myself, just chauffering the kids around from one place to the next. Then our good friend K (in whose place we were squatting btw) took me and Manolee to Westfield, supposedly the biggest shopping mall in Europe - and my mood lifted considerably. The mall itself is very American and very well done - and best of all, Manolee behaved impeccably, letting me try on shoes and browse for nearly one whole hour.

Now we are back in Rennes, back in rain...!!

The Disney Magic... in Rainstorm

A quick recap of our trip to Disneyland Paris in early February... yes, the trip that PeeWee booked without my consent, because really, who wants to go to Disney in northern Europe in the middle of winter?

Well, turns out lots of people do, lots of people like us who paid a lot of money and are determined to have fun despite the awful weather. And the weather was indeed awful the first two days - the picture above is taken at breakfast, when we could not even go into the park because it was closed (due to heavy wind). That did not stop the kids from chasing every character they spotted, hounding them for pictures and autographs, and when the park did open up, from lining up for up to 1-1/2 hour for the popular rides. We also had a great heated pool at the hotel, which was a welcome relief after a day of freezing one's butt off outside.

Manolee stayed mainly in Fantasyland, enjoying Peter Pan, Dumbo, and the merry-go-rounds. Hanaya was disappointed that she was short 2 cm to go on Space Mountain, but she braved the ones that she could do, like the Aerosmith Rock n Roll (her favorite), the Tower of Terror, the Thunder Mountain, and the Pirates of the Caribbeans.

The characters' French names threw me off quite a bit though. Well, Mickey is Mickey (pronounced Mickay) and Minnie is Minnie, but Eyeore is Bourriquet, Goofy is Dingo (pronounced Dango), Chip n Dale are Tic et Toc, Scrooge McDuck is Picsou.

The third day was actually sunny, albeit freezing cold. Look how happy the kids look:



I have to admit, even though I am the biggest cynic I know, I think the Disney Magic is still out there, even in midst of a rain/windstorm, even in freezing northern Europe!