Winter in Geneva (Switzerland)

Winter travel has been a pain this year - it just took me 6 hours to get back from Paris (train ride is usually only 3 1/2 hours) and then, got to Geneva, and it is all covered in mushy snow and it is cold. It will freeze tonite (it is already below freezing!) so I can only imagine what mayhem it will be tomorrow morning. I know people rave about the snow and blah blah blah, I like it when I am in a chalet, by the fire having a glass of hot wine, not when I have to walk around town. This is 2nd and last winter in Geneva.

Book Recommendation: Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

This book is a page turner - and I learnt a thing or two about World War II (and trust me, being born and having spent most of my teenage years in a town deeply affected by the way, you really think that you have heard it all). The Vel' d'Hiv roundups are an episode of the past that the French can not be proud of (and I don't even think we are taught about it at school - I sure was not).

This is a book which is beautifully written and I encourage you to read it. If you do, please let me know your thoughts. Here is a synopsis of the book.

De Rosnay's U.S. debut fictionalizes the 1942 Paris roundups and deportations, in which thousands of Jewish families were arrested, held at the Vélodrome d'Hiver outside the city, then transported to Auschwitz. Forty-five-year-old Julia Jarmond, American by birth, moved to Paris when she was 20 and is married to the arrogant, unfaithful Bertrand Tézac, with whom she has an 11-year-old daughter. Julia writes for an American magazine and her editor assigns her to cover the 60th anniversary of the Vél' d'Hiv' roundups. Julia soon learns that the apartment she and Bertrand plan to move into was acquired by Bertrand's family when its Jewish occupants were dispossessed and deported 60 years before. She resolves to find out what happened to the former occupants: Wladyslaw and Rywka Starzynski, parents of 10-year-old Sarah and four-year-old Michel. The more Julia discovers—especially about Sarah, —the more she uncovers about Bertrand's family, about France and, finally, herself

2010 - here I come!

2009 sucked so much that I did not see the point of updating my blog on a regular basis, mainly because nothing really interesting happened, and I was feeling to lonely and depressed to actually want sharing my state of mind with the rest of the world (but my close friends did get the whole story for sure).

2010 will be different for sure. It has already started pretty well - I got to spend New Year's Eve with my boyfriend and part of New Year's Day. Ok I had to nuture a little hangover all the way back to Geneva but it was so worth it.

Then, I received confirmation of the date for my oath ceremony for my American citizenship and I am so excited about it. I will officially be an American citizen as of January 28th. For those who have known me for a little while now, you know how important this step is.

So I have decided that I will start updating this blog on a regular basis. Hope you will enjoy reading it!

Just for Ken....

As promised. I just had my friend Ken on the phone, who complained about the fact that I had not updated my blog since mid-august. I told him that nobody wants to hear/read about somebody depressed while reading a blog (FYI I am not depressed anymore, hence the blog posting!). So here I am, all cheerful, after talking with Ken for 25mns or so (Ken, I hope your boss is not reading my blog otherwise you can't bill for those 25mns).

As per usual, talking with Ken is always uplifting and entertaining - and he also let me in into a secret (which I will not share here unless you, reader, bribe me - and I have expensive taste).

And why the hair cut photo you might ask, well it is so that Ken will recognize me when he comes to the Mint in a few weeks!.

Ciao for now,

"Seven Pounds", by Gabriele Muccino with Will Smith

This is remarkable movie. The plot is interesting and it does take a while to realise what may or may not happen, with the occasional twist every now and then. A little depressing for sure (so you better watch it when you are in a good mood!). And don't forget to pick up a box of tissues too (because the tears are more likely to happen about 1:40mns into the movie!).

Will Smith is such a good actor and so talented. He has come a long way and he totally deserve any recognition is getting.

Re-discovering Prince....

1984 - the video of "When Doves Cry" was playing over and over on the TV in the promotion of an upcoming TV channel called Canal +. (the kind that pay - a bit like cable TV). Anyway, I was 13, thought that the guy coming out of the bath tub with a rose in his mouth was pretty sexy. This was my introduction to Prince. Then came the movie Purple Rain....and gosh I loved the clothes...Yes my teenager years was the 80's . Yes I did have the look (or trying to have the look - since the parents were not particular keen on it but who cared I was a teenager).

2009 - I saw Prince in various settings before but the best so far was last Saturday, at the Montreux Jazz Festival, at the auditorium. The sound was so clean. A crowd of 3,500 people, and me in the front row. 25 years later, Prince is still the sexy man who came out of that bath tub. Saturday's shows (he performed them back to back) are his only shows scheduled for Europe in 2009.

The set was amazing, picking up from his earlier years, re-arranged in a jazzy mood....His guitar playing wowed me, his stage presence was perfect, eclipsing himself to make room for his band members when appropriate, his voice - gosh the guy can sing...

I really felt I was re-discovering Prince (and music) all over again. He is the kind of musician that lifts you by his music and what he has achieved. I remember one line in Purple Rain, when the venue manager says: "No one cares about your music but you" - think about this, that might have been true but Prince stuck to it, did what he wanted, not responsding to "the trends"....If anything, he should be an inspiration to us all (as my friend Peter said).

Saturday, I re-discovered Prince, I re-discovered music...I got inspired.

Ferris Wheel....in Geneva

We actually have two right now in Geneva (one by the lake and one by a park on the other side of the old city). Why have one when you can have two right? Anyway, did you know that the Ferris Wheel was a response to Eiffel Tower? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferris_wheel).

It reminds me of this awesome book "Devil in the White City" - great book that combines the story of the Chicago World Fair in 1893 and the true story of a serial killer. It is full of history details but the book is written like a novel. Pick it up if you don't know what to read this summer.