Leslie Lewis & Gerard Hagen

Bonjour de Paris ... 

Chers Amis, 

It has been too long since I last posted to you. Many things have conspired to put me behind including computer problems, concerts, teaching, traveling, arranging, rehearsing, practicing, booking gigs and on and on.  Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled to have all of these responsibilities, but I have had to prioritize and this newsletter, along with a number of other things, had to wait. 

So I'm writing this on a new MacBook Air and getting used to using an AZERTY keyboard…

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Bonjour de Paris ...

Chers Amis,
 
It rarely happens but... we had last weekend free. So with some extra time on our hands we made up for the fact that we missed celebrating Thanksgiving for the first five years that we lived here and had Thanksgiving dinner with friends on Thursday, Saturday and Monday night.  The reason that we were free was that our concerts in Minsk and Riga were postponed until a later date. Having previously experienced Minsk in January,  we're okay if they wait until spring…

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Bonjour de Paris ...

Chers Amis,
 
Leslie and I hope that all is well with you.  It is fall in Paris, the sun has left the building, so to speak.  Somehow this year I seem to be able to embrace this situation better than past years, or perhaps it is because it is still early in the season.  We'll see how I feel in February!  As I walk the city going to and from work, I have been enjoying the grey skies along with the changing colors of the trees and the crispness in the air. Recently there have been…

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Bonjour de Paris ...

Chers Amis,
 
It is September in Paris.  That means that it is "la rentrée" which for families with school age children means get ready for the school year and get back to work after summer vacations.  For us preparing for my teaching during the fall trimester at IMEP is as close as we get to that experience.  La rentrée also means that normal life in Paris resumes after the summer break.  The city is again full of Parisiens who now outnumber the tourists.  The stores,…

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Bonjour de Paris ...

Chers Amis,

It is often the case that we send out a newsletter upon returning home to Paris from time spent away somewhere.  This time it was a quiet few weeks spent with friends in the lovely seaside home of our friend Lois in La Baule, FR.  Over the past few years, as August rolls around, this has become an annual trip for us. Due to our lighter than usual work schedule this year, we were able to stay for a considerable amount of time. We spent our time at the beach browsing…

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  Bonjour de Paris ...

Chers Amis,

So we are back in Paris after a week in Italy. This trip was a birthday present for Leslie and she made the absolute most of it beginning with doing a ton of research on locations, accommodations and with things to do in the area. She decided that she wanted to see Lake Como and so we made the arrangements to make that happen. She was able to direct our activities based on all of the reading that she had done in preparation for the trip.…

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Bonjour de Paris ... Chers Amis,

We just returned from a killer four days in Porto, Portugal.  Other than a quick run out that Leslie made to Volnay, FR earlier this month, it was the first time that we left Paris since returning from the jazz cruise in May. The weather was fantastic, (so nice to see the sun everyday) and the city is beautiful in terms of both the people and the surroundings. We have been curious about the city since we met some people from Porto in Paris a couple of years ago. So…

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Bonjour de Paris ... Chers Amis,

So many things have transpired since I last reported to you. It's best that I follow events chronologically in order to lessen the chances of forgetting something important or more to the point, funny. 

Our concert at Jazz Club Grenoble was great fun. It was produced by a group of very active volunteers who love jazz music. These people rent the space, the piano, the P.A., do the advertising, buy and sell the drinks and food etc. They met us at the train station,…

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Bonjour de Paris ... Chers Amis,

We are seeing more and more nice days in Paris of late. Perhaps we can dare to hope for springtime in Paris this year. To go along with the nice weather, our work routine has been pretty mellow this past month. The "yellow vest" protesters have not caused any problems for us. The protests seem pretty crazy on television, but unless you happen to live in the protest area, or had your business torched, you wouldn't know what was going on. We have been working in…

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  Bonjour de Paris ... Chers Amis,

We are both back in Paris after spending a few days in Bordeaux with Peter and Nicole Giron.  There is a "fast" train that goes from Paris to Bordeaux in two hours (normally the trip by car is around five hours) so it is an easy thing to use Bordeaux as a get away location. The four of us spent one day exploring the southern Atlantic coastal area of France. We made the two hour drive to Biarritz and checked out a few of the coastal towns…

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