Happy Holidays from the Hughes Family!

We know that a holiday blog is not quite as personal as a letter -- but we had a really big year, and there is too much to share!

As many of you know, we started our year in Paris. I was working on the launch of the IAPP's European operations, so we packed up the whole family and settled into a nice apartment in the the city of lights. You can read the blog below to get the full story (the boys used the blog as an online journal of our stay). It truly was a magical time for our family. We ate great food, saw amazing art, spent a week in England, watched soccer games in Paris AND London, and made many new friends. We certainly are smitten with life in Europe!

Our normal life resumed at a busy pace when we returned from France. The boys dove into their many activities: baseball, violin, swimming, tennis, sailing, basketball, and (of course) soccer.

2009 was a big baseball year for the boys. Dinon turned out to be a star pitcher for his team, closing out the quarter and semi final victories (he was nicknamed the "iceman") His team lost in the final, but it was a great run.

Malcolm had a solid regular season, and was selected for the town all-star team again this year. A special mix of talented players and great coaches

resulted in a fantastic all-star squad. Most of June, all of July, and the early part of August were filled with many, many regional and state games. In the end, Malcolm and his team made it all the way to the state final for his age group! They lost to Falmouth in a nail-biter. And while there were certainly tears (many from the parents and grandparents who had followed the team for weeks), the boys were justifiably proud of their achievements. Malcolm contributed as a slugger, relief pitcher, and utility infielder for team. We all loved watching him play!

Soccer season was also great fun. I coached both boy's travel teams this year, which made for many multiple-game weekends in the fall. The boys participated in a soccer academy in Paris, and the professional coaching certainly produced results! They were both very strong contributors to their teams. In fact, Dinon played "up" for a lot of games with Malcolm's team (he even scored the winning goal in the last game of the year for his big brother's team). Malcolm is gaining a reputation for a ferocious shot -- and scored many goals for York this season.

During our stay in Paris, we befriended a wonderful family -- the Coens. They have two boys that are the same ages as ours, and we quickly hatched a plan to do mini "exchanges" between Paris and Maine. So Adrien and Natan spent two weeks in August with us as we visited our law school friends at Moosehead and vacationed in Acadia National Park. We introduced them to big hamburgers, macaroni and cheese, and cheese puffs (all faves now for the french boys). Malcolm and Dinon will head back to Paris this coming summer for the return leg of the swap. What fun!

Gabi continues to dedicate herself to raising our boys and looking after our family. And she does it brilliantly! Between the numerous shuttle runs around town, she continues to volunteer as a Spanish teacher in their classes. This year, Gabi joined a tennis team with some local friends. She is having a blast at practices and matches in the area.

After many years of running three associations, I have finally migrated to just the IAPP. Even in this down economy, we grew 20% this year and continue to add staff. I love my work and the convenience of having our offices right here in town. We are now up to 30 employees, and our growth outside of the US suggests that we may get much, much bigger. I still manage to get out and play soccer from time to time, but my ankles and back keep reminding me that I should be hanging up my cleats soon. I still love shooting pictures of the family. My Christmas present from last year -- a Canon 5D Mark II -- is getting plenty of work as we travel and watch the boys in all manner of activities.

Bella, our beautiful lab, is getting quite old now. She is 13 and has a tough time getting around. We love her dearly, and she still manages to perk up for pats and tummy rubs.

We wrapped up this year with a big trip and a big project. The trip was a two-week family journey to Spain. I had to be in Madrid for work for a week in November, so we tacked on

another week and Gabi, Larry (Gabi's Dad) and the boys came along. We spent the second week in the south of Spain, visiting Granada, Cordoba, Ronda, and many small towns around the house we rented. We had fun seeing a Champion's League soccer game, walking through olive groves, and seeing beautiful Moorish architecture.

Our big project is an addition to the house. Gabi and I came to the conclusion that we loved our property and gardens too much to leave them... so we decided to make our home a bit bigger to accommodate growing boys. We are in a wonderful seasonal rental this winter -- right on York Harbor -- while the work is being done. Be sure to visit us in 2010 to see the results!

As for extended family, we are eagerly awaiting the newest edition of the Hughes clan -- my brother Jason and his wife Gina are expecting early in the new year. Our nephew John is blissfully, thankfully, and wonderfully cancer-free and has returned to college. And we were very grateful for many, many family visits this year.

That is it for this year. Phew!

We wish all of you the happiest of holidays!

Trevor, Gabi, Malcolm, Dinon and Bella

Daily Breakfast Run

For the last month in Paris I have been going out each morning to get our baguettes, pains au chocolate and croissants for our breakfast.  Within three blocks of our apartment there are at least eight bakeries to choose from!  We have tried them all!  It's been a lot of fun going out on my own every morning with money in my pocket to pick out pastries.

-by Malcolm

Musée Picasso

Another great find in Paris is the Picasso Museum in the Marais district.  Although I do not understand or enjoy most modern art, Picasso stands as an exception to that rule.  The collection of his works at Hotel Salé is fabulous - and I love how these small museums like the Picasso and Rodin throw in a few other masters just for good measure!  Picasso reminds me of two things: that we each have our own unique perspective from which we see the world and not to expect even the most obvious of things (a nose is not always where you'd think it might be!).  Karina - I think you saw more art in five days then in all the rest of your life!

-Gabi

Musée Rodin

Karina and I explored Rodin's gorgeous home and gardens, now a museum dedicated to his artistic genius.  Even in the late winter it's worth a visit (though I prefer the glory of it's gardens in June!).  His sculptures are magnificent and thought provoking, truly awe inspiring.  For me, it's as though Rodin can show us the life or true form of each piece of marble.  Fantastique!

-Gabi

Eiffel Tower Light Show

Each night after dark on the hour the Eiffel Tower lights up with a million white, flashing lights.  It lasts about eight minutes.  It is very cool to see it lighted up!  Even when the light show is over it still has regular lights on it and that's really cool, too.

-By Dinon

PSG Academy

Malcolm and I went to the Paris Saint Germain (PSG) soccer academy last week.  It was the local soccer team's camp for kids.  We went on the metro each day to get there and the camp was all day (9-5).  The most fun things for me were: eating the yummy lunches, watching the soccer movies (after lunch each day, in French) and playing the daily afternoon tournaments.  Most of the kids were French except one older boy from California.  We all tried to communicate but sometimes it was hard.  They gave each of us a cool new uniform including a warm up suit!

For almost the whole week Dinon and I were in different age groups so we tried to speak lots of French.  There were kids who tried to use their school English to speak with us as well.

One of the movies was Shaolin Soccer and it was a Kung Foo/ Soccer combo - it was funny!

Our soccer skills really improved over the week!  

-by Dinon and Malcolm

Visitors

We happily hosted two visitors in Paris over the past few weeks: Terri Getty, my sister and Karina McIntosh, my niece.  Terri joined us in London first for a day and then five days in Paris.  She even brought the boys a little US comfort food - boxes of mac and cheese!  Terri did some exploring on her own but we had fun joining her on some adventures, like lunch at Laduree, visiting Sainte Chapelle and going up the Eiffel Tower.  Karina came for six days during her high school vacation week to practice her French.  The boys really only saw her on Sunday and each night for a couple of hours since they were at their soccer camp each day.  Karina and I, however, covered almost the entire city in 5 days!  Whew!  We were tired each night: art museums, churches, shops, monuments, etc.  She even tried her first escargots and liked them!  It was fun for me to have some GILRS to be with, for a change!

-Gabi

Sainte Chapelle: a jewel in Paris' crown

If you are ever in Paris on a sunny day, you must not miss a visit to Sainte Chapelle.  This tiny 'Holy Chapel' on Ile de la Cite near Notre Dame, displays an amazing set of stained glass windows telling the stories of the Old and New Testaments.  The sunshine is key, giving the glass a heavenly glow.  Built in 1248 by King Louis the IX (Saint Louis) to house the Holy Relics he brought back from his travels, Sainte Chapelle is one of the oldest buildings in Paris today. Malcolm, Dinon and Terri were all impressed!  

-Gabi

internet problems

On Friday February 13th (just coincidence) our internet service at our apartment died. Unfortunately, that meant that our high speed internet, cable TV (with our only English channels) and our landline apartment phone were ALL out of service. This greatly complicated life overseas for us. Skype, email and consistent internet have made our lives easier, happier and in the case of Trevor's work, manageable from Paris. The slow and unreliable service we have found since has meant no blog for a long time!

-Gabi

Bertillon Ice Cream

Yesterday we went to Bertillon Ice Cream on Ile Saint Louis, one of the islands in the Seine River. They had lots of flavors of ice cream and all the ones we tried were REALLY good!  Most of the flavors here are different from the ones in the US.  Around half of the flavors are fruit and some of the others are things like chocolate/ hazelnut, nut flavors and salted caramel.  I had pineapple and chocolate.  They were both REALLY good!  I think that Bertillon Ice Cream should be the most famous in Paris!  

--by Dinon

The Eiffel Tower

Yesterday we went up the Eiffel Tower with our Auntie Terri.  We had been waiting for this the entire trip!  When we got in line Dinon and I were nearly bursting with excitement!  When we finally got on the elevator we rushed to the window so we could watch as we went up.  We stopped at the 1st level but stayed on until the 2nd level, where we had to get onto a different elevator for the top level.  The view from the 2nd level was amazing!  You could see lots and lots of Paris from there.  We chose a very good day to go up with blue sky and no clouds.  Then we hopped back on the elevator and rode it to the top!  I felt a little bit dizzy being up so high!  The view was AMAZING!  We saw all of Paris and could recognize many places we have already visited.  I checked out the view through a telescope at the top.  I had lots of fun on the tower!

--by Malcolm

Westminster Abbey

What an amazing amount of history in one building! Westminster Abbey is an overwhelming place: church, burial place, lesson in royal lineage and power and memorial to important British writers. Old has a different meaning in Europe. We visit historic homes and museums in New England that are 200-300 years old, even right in York. Westminster Abbey is more than 700 years old!!

With the kind assistance of those who work at the Abbey the boys and I had an amazing visit. The boys followed a children's trail and I used an audio guide to make sense of it all. The continuity of royal use for the Abbey, as a place of baptism, coronation and burial is astounding. It's a parade of royals and their spouses, albeit a cold, stone parade.

In the Henry VII Chapel the boys were brought up by a guide, behind the roped off area, to sit in the same seats the Monarch and Prince of Wales use! They were thrilled! The guide even allowed us to take a photo (otherwise prohibited inside the Abbey) of that moment.

The boys found famous people sharing their names (a statue of John Malcolm somebody and DH Lawrence - Dinon claimed it was his name just mixed up) and were awarded giant chocolate coins for finishing their trail.

--Gabi

The Changing of the Guards

On Thursday we walked to the Changing of the Guards and we had a tour guide with us so we learned lots about it. We learned that the Queen lets her workers go early most Thursdays and she cooks dinner for her husband - his favorite dish is Shepherds' Pie! We also learned that she doesn't like Buckingham Palace that much but prefers to live at Windsor Castle, just outside of London. Unfortunately, the rain changed the way the ceremony happened but it was still really cool. First we saw the Horse Guards and I got to pat one of the horses on the nose! We saw St. James' Palace, the really old "Hunting Lodge" that Henry VIII built next to St. James' Park. It looked like a castle on the top. In front of Clarence House, where Prince Charles lives when he is in London, we saw the guards changing in their little booths. They were wearing really funny bear skin hats! They looked like big, black puff balls on their heads! The Changing of the Guards was really cool!

by Dinon

Double Decker Bus Tour of London

We had a really fun time going on the double decker bus tour around London! We sat up top on the upper level right in the front row! What a view! We saw all of the top attractions and landmarks in London. We saw Big Ben, The Parliament Buildings, The London Eye, The Thames River, Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, and lots and lots and lots of double decker busses. We could learn about what we were seeing on our earphones in almost any language we wanted. It was fun to try all the languages!

by Malcolm

Fulham vs. Portsmouth

On Saturday we went to an English "football match":  Fulham vs. Portsmouth at Fulham's home stadium, called Craven Cottage.  We were rooting for Fulham because they have a former New England Revolution player, Clint Dempsey, on their team.  We sat in the FIRST ROW just to one side of one of the goals!!  When the action was on our side of the field the players were only about 10 feet away from us!!  In the first half we saw Fulham score on the other goal.  Portsmouth had some shots but none went in.  We tried some traditional British sausage rolls at half time - they were yummy!  During the second half, lots of the action was down near us.  We saw Fulham score twice more down on our end of the field.  The first goal was a break away and the second, scored by the same player, ended with a celebration right in front of our seats!  Fulham won 3-1!

--by Malcolm

The London Eye

On Friday we arrived in London for a week.  On our first day we walked to the London Eye and went up on it.  It is the worlds' "tallest cantilevered observation wheel".  Each capsule can carry up to 30 people at a time and it takes 30 minutes to go around once.  Each capsule has glass sides so you can see outside of it and when you're at the top you can see almost the whole city of London!  We went up at dusk so we could see the sunset and the lights turning on around the city.   We could see Big Ben and the Parliament Buildings lit up!  It was really, really amazing and a great start to our London trip!

--by Dinon

Matsuri

On Saturday we went to an awesome Japanese restaurant named Matsuri.  What was so cool about it was that all the food came around on this little conveyer-belt on little saucer sized plates. We got all sorts of food- salmon sake, tempura, chicken yakitori, and lots of other yummy things. Another cool thing was that you didn't order the food, instead you just took what you want off of the conveyer-belt.  At the end of the meal they counted up the plates and you pay a price per plate.  It was the best Japanese food I've had in my life.  My favorite was the salmon sake, although the tempura was very good, too. 

--Malcolm

The Bird Market

On Sunday we went to the Bird Market on an island in the middle of the Seine River called Ile de la Cité!!!!!  We saw birds and rabbits and a couple of other animals, it was so cool!!!!!  Malcolm and I loved the rabbits.  They were really, really cute!!!!!  There was one really cool table where the birds and some rabbits were out of their cages.  We got to pet the bunnies!  That was my favorite thing we did yesterday.  I want to go back!  I wish I could have a bunny or a bird!!  My favorites were the blue parakeets and bunnies.  Since I can't, I try to give the city's pigeons lots of "hugs" but they don't seem to want any!  

by Dinon

Napoleon: his armor, weapons, tomb and monument

We have had an intensive course on Napoleon this past week.  The boys and I visited the Hotel des Invalides, the 17th century military hospital and veterans home built by Louis XIV.   The Musée de l'Armée is housed there and has roomfuls of armor, even boy-sized sets for the little princes!  We were all amazed at the collection of weaponry:  swords, shields, spears, daggers, pistols, rifles and cannons in every shape, style and size - some quite grotesque!  Napoleon's tomb is housed at Invalides as well, an impressive space and building yet my boys wanted a more gruesome, underground "tomb".

We also visited the Arc de Triomphe, which was completed in 1836.  Napoleon promised his soldiers a triumphal arch in their honor after a great victory.  We climbed to the top and had a fabulous view of the city from there: The Eiffel Tower, Les Invalides, the Champs Elysée, the Louvre, Notre Dame, Sacré-Coeur, etc.  The boys got quite a lesson on French military history, and who Napoleon was, the good the bad and the ugly!

--Gabi

Allez Obama!

We celebrated the Obama inauguration last night by having an "American" party with the boys: hamburgers, Orangina (okay, not so American), and potato chips. It was great fun.

The inauguration was front page news on every European newspaper at the newstand today. The Guardian (UK) had the headline: Let the Rebuilding of America Begin. Le Figaro (France) ran with a quote from Obama, "Rebatisson l'Amerique" (We will rebuild America). All the news channels, and many of the network channels, carried the inauguration live.

Overall, there is a huge amount of support for Obama in Europe. He is enormously popular, and there was a real "buzz" in the air today as people talked about the inauguration.

A little global goodwill towards Americans is certainly a welcome thing!

-- Trevor

Allez Paris!

Hello again... I am finally writing a blog entry after two busy weeks of travel.

We got back from Brussels mid-day on Sunday, and pretty quickly turned around to go out to our first soccer game in Paris. Paris Saint Germaine, the local team, was playing Sochaux. PSG is a well-known team in soccer circles -- they were the first major club for lots of famous players (including Ronaldinho). The fans were pretty lively -- lots of songs and banners and (ahem!) gestures to the opposing team.

PSG won in the end, 2-1. We all had a blast...

(photo by Dinon, our budding photog)

-- Trevor

Belgian waffles

The very first thing we did in Brussels was try their famous Belgian waffles! The first one we had was a regular waffle coated with caramelized sugar on the outside. It was DELICIOUS!! Then, the next day for breakfast I had a Belgian waffle with whipped cream, bananas and chocolate sauce!! It was the best breakfast I've had in my life! I wished we could have stayed there longer than two days.

--By Malcolm

Manneken Pis

We went to Brussels, Belgium for two days. In Brussels we saw a famous statue / fountain called the Manneken Pis. It is a bronze statue of a naked boy peeing. There are many stories about him but one of the most famous is of a little boy who put out a fire in the city hall with his pee. He saved the King and Queen so they put up a statue in his honor. The people of Brussels dress him up in over 100 different outfits! We saw him one day in shepherd's clothing and one day he was naked! I thought it was a very funny story and he looked very funny!

--by Dinon

Opéra de Paris Garnier

The boys and I were amazed by the size and scope of the Paris Opera House. Designed by Charles Garnier for Napoleon III it took 13 years to complete and opened in 1875. The Grand Staircase is awe inspiring on it's own with it's many colors of marble. (Dinon particularly liked the metal sculpted lizard climbing up the stair railing!) The Grand Foyer is covered in amazing mosaics and gilded chandeliers and the auditorium is many tiers of red velvet with a "newly renovated" (1964) ceiling painted by Marc Chagall!! The boys learned the meaning of opulence with this visit!

--Gabi

The Louvre

The Louvre is awesome! It is a huge palace that was turned into an art museum which now has the world's largest collection of art. I thought the Louvre was really cool. I saw around 1000 pictures and that's a small part of the museum! We went on a "Food and Drink Treasure Hunt" with some friends. The #1 most famous thing we saw was the Mona Lisa! We saw an ancient Egyptian tomb, the Sphinx, and a lot of other really, really cool stuff. Some paintings were about as long as a double decker bus! My favorite painting on our treasure hunt was "Les Noces de Cana" by Paolo Caliari, painted in 1562. There were lots of cute dogs hiding in this painting!

--by Dinon

Ladurée

 Dad took us to a famous café / bakery, called Ladurée.  It first opened in 1862.  For lunch I ordered their club sandwich, it had chicken, bacon, greens, and mayonnaise, and it came with french fries and a salad.  Dinon ordered an egg and cheese omelette.  For dessert we could order any pastry from their patiserie.  I ordered a chocolate cream filled cream puff and Dinon had a piece of deluxe chocolate cake!  It was the best lunch and dessert that I've had in Paris!  Very fancy!!

--by Malcolm

Nutella Crepes

There is a really good crepes stand on Rue Cler, which is just around the corner from our apartment.  Malcolm's favorite kind of crepes is banana Nutella and Dinon's is Nutella.  They cost around $5.oo each.  It is our favorite snack in our neighborhood!  The man who makes them is very nice and knows us now.  We have gone there four times already!  Yum!

--by Malcolm and Dinon

Musée de l'Orangerie

The highlight of our "field trip" today was a visit to l'Orangerie, a small museum at the corner of the Tuileries dedicated to Claude Monet's "Water lily" series. It has two large oval rooms, each containing four enormous paintings of Monet's garden at Giverny. Each painting depicts a distinct time of year or time of day at the garden/ pond. The glass ceiling provides glowing natural light that makes you feel like you are at the gardens. The boys brought their sketch books and colored pencils and did their own rendition of one of the paintings!

-Gabi

The Ferris Wheel

This morning after a yummy breakfast of croissant and hot chocolate we decided to take a "field trip" for our school day. One of the places we went was a GIANT ferris wheel at Place de la Concorde next to the Obelisk. It had little sealed pods that could fit four people. It was maybe 200 ft. tall! Dinon and I took a lot of pictures while we rode it with Mom. It was a very clear day so we could see far. We saw the Eiffel Tower, the Obelisk, Montmarte, the Louvre, L'Orangerie, and the Arch de Triumph was straight down the Champs Elysées. We got to go around the ferris wheel four times!

-Malcolm

The Obelisk

Today we went to the Obelisk at Place de la Concorde. The Obelisk was a present from the Egyptians to the French. It was made 3,200 years ago!! It looks like a big pillar with a triangle of gold on top. It has Egyptian writing and pictures on each side. It was very, very tall!

-Dinon

Cooking Kings' Cakes

Yesterday was our first cooking class in Paris. It was very cool! We took the Metro for the first time to get there. There were 7 other kids in the class besides Dinon and me. We made Kings' Cake because it was the day after Epiphany, when French people eat Kings' Cake (Gallette des Rois). Kings' Cake is a round pastry with puff pastry outside and almond custard or chocolate inside. Each Kings' Cake has one small porcelain toy baked inside it and whoever gets the toy in their piece of cake is the "King" or "Queen" for the day. It was very difficult for Dinon and me because we don't speak French but the Chef gave the class in French. I am looking forward to going back for more cooking classes later this month!

by Malcolm

The Mile Run in Paris

On Monday, Mom, Malcolm and I ran our first mile around the Eiffel Tower and its park.  It was really fun and here is a picture of it.  It rarely snows in Paris but it snowed on Monday, January 5th, 2009!  The Eiffel Tower looked really cool in the snowstorm.  Then we walked home to our apartment and bought lunch on the way home.

-Dinon

Le Musee D'Orsay

Today is the first Sunday of the month... and that means that the museums are FREE today!!  We spent the afternoon wandering the Musee D'Orsay and enjoying the Impressionists.  The "cafe behind the clock" was a perfect venue for a Parisian lunch ...it felt a bit like Hugo Cabret.  The boys remembered the Impressionists from their art at school and enjoyed the exhibits.  The building itself is just as impressive as the art!  

Our neigborhood

Yesterday we wandered our neighborhood markets and cafes and walked under the Eiffel Tower.  Just around the corner from our apartment is Rue Cler, an amazing food market street.  So much fresh cheese, meats, chocolates, bread, wine and pastries and so little time!  The boys should be able to go buy things on their own soon. One of these days we'll go up the Eiffel Tower but the lines were too long yesterday.  

-Gabi

 

Dinon's Best Lines (So Far)

On the fresh chevre we had for lunch:

"Tastes like it just came out of the goat!"

Learning to say "thank you" in French:

"Si vous poulet." ("If you chicken", instead of "si vous plait").

We have arrived!

After a bit of craziness at the airport in Boston, we have arrived!

Our direct flight to Paris was delayed (from 5:30 pm to 2 am) when we arrived at the airport on Thursday. So we immediately jumped in line to see if we could rebook onto another flight. Fortunately, we got tickets on Aer Lingus to get to Paris via Shannon and Dublin. It was a bit of a roundabout route, but a good choice in the end. We found out today that our original flight was cancelled. We would have been really miserable had we sat at the airport until 2 am!

Amazingly, all of our luggage arrived with us at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. We had a car service arranged, which promptly took us to our new apartment. Here's the address:

The Hughes Family

190 Rue de Grenelle

Paris, 75007

France

PHONE: 011 33 9 50 95 33 02 (we think)

We are in the 7th Arrondisement, right next to a great market street (Rue Cler). Our first trip out of the building inevitably resulted in Nutella crepes for the boys on Rue Cler! We are mere steps away from bakeries, cheese shops, wine shops, grocers, and cafes. Que formidable!

The apartment is fine. It is not a hotel, nor very luxurious. But it is fully functional and is in a wonderful building. We have already started to make it our own by moving some of the furniture around.

This morning, Malcolm and I went out to get croissants, pain au chocolat, and baguette while Gabi and Dinon made coffee and hot chocolate. It all felt very "French"!

We will head out soon to do some shopping to stock the apartment. Tomorrow, we will probably visit the Louvre, as museums are free on the first Sunday of each month. On Monday, I start work and the boys start classes (with Gabi AND their new French/art teacher).

The adventure has begun!