What's in a name...

Here's something fascinating. Names. Names reflect cultures, I am convinced. Here's a list of French names we are getting accustomed to. Some were somewhat familiar, but many are certainly new to us.

Men's names:

Cedric
Nils
Theo
Loukas
Matthieu
Guillaume
Arnaud
Hugo
Alexandre
Damien
Renaud
Thibault
Enzo
Emilian
Matheao
Francois
Aurelien
Emmanuel

Women's Names:

Justine
Ambre-Marie
Camille
Romane
Samah
Joanna
Iona
Beryl
Naomi
Emma
Nour
Juliette
Fanny
Chloe
Valentine
Selma
Ines
Dominique

And, then, if you add the names from my school the lists become very, very diverse, indeed!

Men's names in my language classes (a lot less men than women):
Smisssorn
Yuki
Young Gi
Mark Yu
Ricardo

Women's names in my language classes:
Chikako
Mayumi
Hadeel
Han Na
Jean
Myriam
Marina
Charisse
Esra
Canan
Tomoko
Kiyomi
Flora
Lou Lou
Yeonhwa

Paris is certainly a melting pot of cultures, and the names prove it!

Now, let me show you something amazing that we found just recently. If you know our family very well at all, you know that we are READERS. Nothing more glorious than books, books, and more books! We miss bookstores in America. Well, guess what we found? An English bookstore in the heart of Paris. And, not just a bookstore...but a USED bookstore! With lots and lots of personality! Check out these photos...








And, next to the old typewriter...


The kids were lost in other worlds and could have hung-out here for hours...

An old piano, that was actually in tune! (Notice the Iacoca book to the left of Todd. Hilarious!)


Who would have thought we could come to Paris to find the Iowa Review! :-)


And, finally, a view from the front door of this bookstore. Just fabulous. It faces the Seine River and the Notre Dame Cathedral. What a place! Most certainly, the Pedersons will be back to this bookstore in the future!

So, we walked across the river, past the Hotel de Ville...


and, what did we discover? Ice skating! We've heard of these rinks around Paris, but had never seen one for ourselves. Very fun!


Our destination for the day was the Pompidou Centre. It's a pretty famous place here, but famous for how ugly it is to the Parisiens. It holds a modern art museum on the top floor.


Here's what we saw in the plaza next to the Pompidou.



Cool fountains we'll have to return to see in warmer weather. They look very fun!


A guy playing his saxophone. He was playing moody jazz music that fit the gloominess of the day perfectly.


Then, there was this gypsy lady sitting in the middle of the plaza playing one note again and again and again and again and again. Hilarious! I doubt she made much money that day. :-)


We went up to see the view.


Certainly worth it. Paris is such a beautiful city!


As we sign off, we can smell Spring in the air here in Paris. It's raining everyday, the temps are slowly rising, the days are longer, and the sun shows itself for an hour or two each day and it feels just like Spring. It's wonderful! Here's hoping your Spring is coming soon, too, and that it will be grand.

Au revoir!