Spring is here!

Well, Spring is here! After a mild winter, the spring season seems almost like summer as we've been having 25-25C weather. Many people are wondering what summer will look like, especially since most housing in France lacks air-conditioning.

Well, Marie-Eve and I took advantage of the wonderful weather and went out for an early morning jog around the Floral Park in the Vincennes Woods. To our delight, the vast planters were filled with blooming tulips!

Another Day at the Office.

Compared to the window-less hole in the wall of the Bellamy Building, my new “office” is a palace. While not an actual palace, it is a castle – Chateau de Vincennes! Initially the site of a royal hunting lodge, like Versailles, the castle was built in the 13^th/14^th century and served as a royal residence until Louis XIV built the illustrious palace at Having served as a prison, weapons factory and even a boulangerie, the Castle had been used as a barracks since Napoleon. At the beginning of World War II, the castle was used as Gamelin’s headquarters. Unfortunately must of the castle was damaged when Waffen-SS exploded stores of explosives as the Germans retreated from Normandy. (See images here)

You can find me in the Service Historique de la Defense, Département de la Marine, which is located in the Queen’s House. The reading ream is a paradise compared to those of the Archives Nationales or the nearby Départemenet de l’Armée de Terre. With nice padded chairs, ample space to spread out documents and a friendly staff, this is researchers’ heaven.

For those who wish to stop by and see me, my office hours are M, T, W, F 9am-4pm.

Quaint little village in the middle of Paris.

What is interesting about Paris is that in the middle of this huge urban jungle, there are little quaint areas like this that are nestled away far from the typical touristy locations. This little neighborhood, known as the Square des Peupliers, is located south of Place d'Italie in the southern 13th Arrondissement. These little houses are currently owned by a people who are "intellectuals and other liberal professions" and are very proud of their vegetation. The locals are known to refer to this area as the countryside. And with the relative calm, it is not hard to imagine oneself in the countryside.