I don’t have any fresh photos of Paris but I do have some videos I took in New Orleans and Fort Worth so I thought someone might like to see them. And, big news, my newest grandson finally arrived on Wednesday afternoon. His name is Liam Joseph and he weighed over eight pounds. Here’s a photo of him although I think baby photos show very little of what they will look like in a few months. I thought he looked like his oldest brother myself.

His brothers were all around him very excited and curious. My son now has to get new copies of his and his wife’s birth certificates, a new copy of their marriage certificate, then get them translated into three languages (they speak German, French and Italian in Switzerland along with an old Swiss language) and then pay to have it all submitted for the new birth certificate for Liam. (Latest news-they might accept his previous papers for the last baby born here in Switzerland. Fingers crossed) By the way, just because a baby of a foreigner is born in Switzerland doesn’t mean he will be automatically granted Swiss citizenship. I think they can apply for it in six years(?) and my son says they will all apply as a family for dual citizenship. That way his children can choose which country they want to live in and if they want to go to a university in Switzerland or the States. The schools in Switzerland are said to be very good. I was asked when my son came to Switzerland. The answer is he came after I had lived in France for five or six years. The fact that I lived in Europe helped him get a job where he did and also made him want to live in Europe. It’s nice to have a least part of my family on the same continent.

Here are a few short videos I took in New Orleans.

A one man band. He told us he goes all over the States playing and picking up inspiration.

Life jazz on a street in New Orleans.

This looks like a fun way to end a wedding: a march down the street following a jazz band.

Bourbon Street which was crazy busy on a week night in Oct. You are allowed to carry drinks around the streets and, believe me, it looked like everyone was. I left after just a few minutes as I don’t like crowds with drunk people in them.

One day we took the steamboat along the river near New Orleans. It’s a lovely, restful way to see New Orleans and the surrounding countryside-much of which is below the level of the river. A man played on some sort of instrument using the steam to make music. It was very loud.

This video is from Fort Worth, Texas. We spent some time in Texas visiting relatives and decided to see the “cattle drive” that goes right down a street at the Stockyards which used to be where cattle were driven to and processed. It’s now a tourist area and they do a twice daily drive where the long horned steer slowly plod past. I expected a little more speed but I guess it’s much safer this way.

I guess the baby didn’t get the memo about his due date. There was a full moon last night and I was hoping it would do its thing as it often does on pregnant women but it didn’t work for us. So a few more photos of what else was going on around here in Switzerland.

My son has recently really gotten into cooking. This is a pizza he doctored up. It started out as a plain one euro pizza. He carmelized some onions to put on top and then spread a layer of parmesan cheese over it all. It was really good.

I’ve been making lots of brownies. As you can see, the 3 year old likes to like the bowl.

A car from China. I think it’s the first one I’ve seen.

The back of the church in my son’s village. Look at the living quarters attached to the church. I wonder if the priest lives there?

The bell tower on the church. I’m intrigued by the wheels by the bells. I’m assuming they were there so the bells could be rung by ropes from down below so no one had to climb the tower.

My newest grandson just doesn’t want to make an appearance yet so I rescheduled my return ticket to Paris and am hanging out in Switzerland cooking, baking brownies and cleaning although the expectant mother has been cleaning like crazy as she wills her labor to start. We took a nice walk the other day and ended up at a convent which is not far up above my son’s house.

We had a sunny, cool day with still no snow as you can see.

A view of Lake Lugano in the distance.

To get to the convent, we had to trudge up these steps.

Those nuns have a killer view up there at the top of the hill.

You pull this bell if you want to speak to a nun but there was a sign asking tourists not to do so.

This pretty little church was half way up the hill in Bigorio if you couldn’t make it up to the convent.

A almost full moon climbed the sky as we headed back home and the air chilled.

Not everything is fabulous and beautiful in Paris. I see some strange things sometimes-and some awful things such as a homeless man taking a dump between two parked cars on the street. That certainly took the bloom off the rose as I hurried on down the street gagging.

Hmmm. This caught my eye in an art gallery in the 6th.

A skull decorated with feathers in the same art gallery.

There’s a sort of medical store on rue Jacob with books and models to be used by, I assume, mostly doctors and medical students. They had models in the window of people whose faces had been injured that were done a century ago.

This isn’t strange but I always find it amusing. If a Frenchman (not usually a woman) really likes their meal and there are good juices or gravy left on the plate, they will use a piece of bread and get up every bit of it until it’s almost not necessary to clean the plate. They can also get every piece of meat off of a bone, as with a chicken leg or ribs not picking it up and all of the Frenchmen sitting at my table ate their cheeseburgers with a knife and fork.

PS-I’m still in Switzerland waiting for that baby. I was booked to go home this Monday but have extended my trip another week. I’m enjoying my grandsons at the moment.

This new year finds me in Switzerland and here, on January 4yh, still waiting for the grandson to be born. He is taking his time. The youngest grandson asked his mother, “Is that baby going to burst through your human parts?” I think the labor has started but it keeps stalling. So we’ve had Christmas, New Year’s Eve and the grandsons have been happily playing with their new toys.

The boys wanted to make gingerbread men and watched a Martha Stewart DVD to get the recipe. The oldest, a ten year old, wrote it all out. I love the result of his recipe.

The view from the back of my son’s home. It would look like a Christmas card if there were only some snow. It has been raining lightly here today and higher on the mountains you can see a dusting of snow. Maurice says there is a French saying that goes: If you are in the sun on your balcony at Christmas, you will be in front of your Chimney at Easter. That may prove to be true this year.

So I wish for all of you a very happy, healthy and prosperous new year. Make it a good year. I would like a lot more travel this year myself. I was trying to think of the highlights of 2011 and for me it all involved travel: our trip to Simi in Greece, our road trip through Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, and then my trip to England. It was all great. Happy New Year!

An interesting street in Paris in the 7th made famous by Rick Steves is Rue Cler. I personally like a little shopping street in my neighborhood better and there is a really great one up on Montmartre as well, but I was in the area the other day and here are a few photos from there.

Oysters for sale in front of a window with some Christmas lights.

Colorful roses for sale.

A row of table and chairs waiting for customers. It was a little windy and rainy so I imagine most people chose to go inside.

I like this little sign for a boulangerie there.

And not far from Rue Cler is the Eiffel Tower. There was a dramatic sky from the rains and I thought it was a great background for the monument.