Simone de Haifa

Wonderful portrait of Simone Foinquinos Melo, the family Foinquinos genealogist.

Pentateuque propriete de la famille de Marseille

Papa and Jack

Simone Foinquinos Melo Dad,Moses Melo Pinto, and her brother Jack in Tangier.

Leon Foenquinos et son vehicule amphibie

Le poster qui annoncait l'invention du vehicule Amphibien de Leon Foenquinos montre a l'Expo de Paris en 1921.

The poster that announced Leon Foenquinos' amphibian vehicle shown at the Paris Expo in 1921.

Visit to Kfar Saba

Tata Perla, Albert Abecassis Foinquinos's wife,
behind Simone Foinquinos Melo and in red Clarita Foinquinos,
Alberto Foinquinos de Caracas' daughter. On the right Albert Abecassis Foinquinos, Moses Foinquinos & Esther Abecassis son.

Jacobo Foinquinos

He was Isaac Foinquinos and Carla Pinto's son, (Simone Melo uncle), he lived in Costa Rica. He is Alberto de Caracas's brother. He was born in 1906 and died in 1984. He has no children.

Helena Melo Pinto

Helene Melo-Pinto de O'Hana is Simone Foinquinos Melo aunt and the father's sister.

Isaac Foinquinos at the Conference of Algeciras -April 7th 1906

Isaac Foinquinos was the interpreter for the Kaiser at this Conference that decided the International Status of Tanger, he is the last person looking at the camera on the right side. (he is Simone Foinquinos Melo grand father).

Clara Pinto portrait

She was Isaac Foinquinos' wife, the mother of Alberto, Jacobo and Alegria Foinquinos. Simone Foinquinos Melo's grand mother.

Clara Pinto & Moses Pinto Melo

Simone Foinquinos Melo's Gd Mother Clara Pinto de Foinquinos
with her father :at the age of 1 year Moses Pinto Melo.
This is a very old picture, and I tried to make it better.
The details on the dress are wonderful.

Article reconnaissant le genie de Leon Foenquinos

Please click on the article to enlarge it.

An article that was published in a Marseille (France) newspaper. Please read first column on the 1st page and continue on the 2nd page, then go to 2nd column of the first page then finish on 2nd column of the 2nd page.

I translated this article on October 9th 07, please look at October posts.

Alberto of Caracas family

Standing behind: Clarita Foinquinos Bendahan - Jaime Foinquinos Bendahan
Front : Isaac Foinquinos Bendahan
Sety Bendahan de Foinquinos (their mother) and on her lap Jacobo Foinquinos Bendahan.

The children are Simone Foinquinos Melo first cousins - they are Alberto Foinquinos Pinto children, Alberto is her uncle.

Alberto Foinquinos from Caracas

He was also Isaac Foinquinos and Clara Pinto's son, Jacobo's brother. He lived in Caracas.

Deces de Sara Attias Foinquinos

Simone de Haifa vient de retrouver la date du deces de Sara Attias a Tanger, en 1918, elle est inscrite comme veuve dans le certificat de deces. Donc elle est peut etre enterree a Tanger et non pas a Tetuan comme on le pensait. La famille de Sara Attias etait de Tetouan. Son mari Rafael mort, elle a surement du revenir a Tanger et a du vivre avec sa fille Rahma.

Simone from Haifa just uncovered when Sara Attias died, in 1918, she might be burried in Tangier and not in Tetuan as previously thought, and her death certificate mentions that she is a widow. Sara Attias family was from Tetouan. We think that when her husband Rafael died, she went back to Tangier to live with Rahma.

Fortunato Foinquinos Attias

Mi abuelo Fortunato, segun una Carta de Identidad del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores del Peru, nacio en 1881 y era de nacionalidad Brasilera. Entiendo que nacio en Tanger, pero no tengo ninguna constancia, documento o prueba.

A continuacion copio una parte del documento "La vida de Moyses y Abraham Pinto en la Jungla del Amazonas " , donde hacen referencia a mis bis-abuelos Rafael y Sara:
http://juifs-marocains-en-amazonie.com/espanol/Abraham-Pinto-chapitre2.html

"En mi primer viaje que hice 1881-82 desde Teffé al río "Javary" llegamos a un lugarcito que se llama "Tomantinos" donde estaba establecido Rafael Foinquinos con su mujer, Sara Attias, cuya hija aún existe aquí en Tanger, y se llama Rahma. "

My grandfather Fortunato, according to ID issue by Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Peru, was born in 1881 and he was Brasilian citizen.I understand that he was born in Tanger but I haven't any document.

According to Abraham Pinto Memories, my bis grandparents Rafael Foinquinos and Sara Attias were located between 1881-1882 in "Tomantinos", now called "Tonantins" in Brazil.

Moses Foinquinos & Esther Abecassis

Please click on the picture to enlarge it.

Look at your grand father, Cathy, Carole and Patricia. He is also your grandfather Maurice, Jacky, Jojo, Evelyne and Lily. How elegant and romantic is this picture and it's true Jacky looks like him. Simone from Haifa tells me that he had a wonderful voice and people will come to listen to his singing on Saturdays. Among them, the Consul of France was a regular. So bad that we did not get to know him!

Simone Melo from Haifa tells me also that he also went to Brazil for some time, but returned to live in Tangier.

His wife and our grand mother Esther Abecassis. He loved her so tenderly that he did not survive her death.

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C'est votre grand pere, Cathy, Caroline et Patricia. C'est aussi votre grand pere, Maurice, Jacky, Jojo, Evelyne et Lily. Cette photo est tellement romantique et nostalgique, et c'est vrai Jacky lui ressemble. Simone de Haifa me dit qu'il avait une voix merveilleuse et que les gens venaient le voir chanter le samedi. Parmi ces admirateurs, venait souvent le Consul de France a Tanger. C'est tellement dommage que nous ne l'ayons pas connu.

Simone de Haifa me dit que notre grand pere aussi est parti pour le Bresil et est reste la bas un certain temps, mais il est revenu vivre a Tanger.

Sa femme et notre grand mere Esther Abecassis, qu'il aimait tant qu'il n'a pas pu continuer a vivre apres sa mort.

Rhama Foinquinos picture

La photo de Rhama, soeur de Fortunato Foinquinos, elle etait la fille de Rafael Foinquinos et Sara Attias. Elle a vecu au Bresil mais a prefere retourner vivre a Tanger, la vie en Amazonie n'etait pas faite pour les femmes, et beaucoup retournaient. Simone de Haifa me dit qu'elle etait une couturiere exceptionnelle, et qu'elle travaillait de chez elle.

A picture of Rhama, Fortunato Foinquinos sister, she was Rafael Foinquinos and Sara Attias daughter. She lived in Brazil but preferred living in Tanger. Life in the Amazone, was not fitted to women and a lot of them went back home. Simone from Haifa tells me that Rahma was a very talented seamstress, her home was her atelier.

Photos of Simone Melo Foinquinos brothers & herself

Please click on the picture to enlarge.
Simone Melo sent me by email a few pictures that she scanned. This is the first attempt to integrate pictures to the blog. Simone's brother Jack Melo Foinquinos, her little brother Isaac Melo Foinquinos and Simone Melo Foinquinos herself, so cute!

They are Alegria Foinquinos Pinto and Moses Melo Pinto children.
Her grand Father was Isaac Foinquinos married to Clara Pinto.

In this picture Simone is about 3 years old, her brother Jack is 2 years older than her and her brother Isaac is maybe a year old. Isaac, regretfully, did not live more than a few years. Other children were born from Alegria and Moses Melo, Carlos who lives now in Israel and Meyer who died on his 60th birthday in 2000. Simone, our family genealogist, lives in Haifa obviously. Jack lives in Paris, he is a designer by temperament, as good in building design & renovation, as he was in jewelry design. A family trait too, a lot of designers in the Foinquinos family!

Debora Foinquinos

Hola Debora,

Welcome to the Foinquinos Family Blog.
We are all so pleased that you have decided
to join us.
We would very much appreciate if you would
introduce yourself so as to enable us to get to
know you better and to situate you in the
family tree we are building.
We very much hope and wish many additionnal
members of the family will join us in the near
future.
I and on behalf of all this family, we warmly
welcome you again in this your home.
With love
Simone M. Foinquinos

Who was Jonas in the family tree?

Jonas was the brother of our great grand father, Abraham.
Jonas, Abraham and Rafael (who married Sarah Attias) were brothers.

Our great grand father Abraham Foinquinos had 2 sons Isaac (Simone de Haifa gd father), and Moses (he was the grand father of Henri and Albert children ) and a daughter Esther.
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Jonas etait le frere de notre arriere grand pere, Abraham.
Jonas, Abraham et Rafael (marrie a Sarah Attias) etaient freres.

Notre arriere grand pere Abraham Foinquinos a eu 2 fils Isaac (le grand pere de Simone de Haifa), et Moses (le grand pere des enfants d'Henri et d'Albert) et une fille Esther.

Spelling of our name/Comment s'epelle notre nom

L'orthographe de notre nom s'est transforme de Foinquinos en Foenquinos, surtout dans les pays francophones. Il y a aussi des Foinkinos, Foenkinos, etc... Apparement nous serions tous de la meme famille.

The spelling of our family name changed in french speaking countries from Foinquinos to Foenquinos. It is also spelled Foinkinos, Foenkinos, etc... Apparently we are all related.

Jonas Foinquinos and Bensadon

As I said in my previous post, Jonas (Yona) Foinquinos was married to Reine Bensadon
daughter of Rabbi Abraham Bensadon, Rabbi of the Island of San Miguel in the Azores and a prominent Kabbalist. This is an anecdote about Rabbi Bensadon.
In October 1849, while he was in Tangier, he was mistreated badly by a group of Moslems, this provoqued a serious diplomatic incident as Rabbi Abraham was a French National.
One day that he was wandering in the streets of the city predicting the close arrival of Messianic times and the revenge of the jews, a crowd of Moslems challenged him. As this event was close to the entrance of a Mosque, they also wanted to force him to take off his shoes as a sign of submission to Islam. (Jews are considered by Islam as Dhimmis - second class people)
Of course, he refused and he was beaten severely.
As He was French, the French Charge d'Affaires M. de Chasteau, considered the affair as an
insult to his country and nearly declared war on Morocco.
France demanded the Moroccan authorities to apologize and that the responsible be punished
otherwise there will be military retaliation. The Moroccan authorities finally accepted.
Simone M. Foinquinos

Jonas Foinquinos from Tangier

Today I am going to talk about one of my Great Gd-Father brothers. Jonas (Yona) Foinquinos was a prominent and very generous man.
On one of his numerous travels to the Azores in 1869, to Ponta Delgada- Island of San Miguel, he was asked if he would contribute to the Synagogue, he accepted gladly and made a contribuion of 7620 reis for the synagogue Shaar Hashamaim in Ponta Delgada.

Jonas was married to Reine Bensadon who was the daughter of Rabbi Abraham Bensadon, Rabbi of the Island of San Miguel. He was a prominent kabbalist born in Tlemcen -Algeria .

Jonas and his family had their home in Marseille (France). He had three sons and two daughters : Messod - Abraham - Leon (Yehuda) - Fortunee and Sol.
He was a wealthy man, and any prominent visitor in Marseille will be hosted in his house which was in The Olives quarter. He was Member of Cultural Societies - lover of old scripts - he even made a donation of a very old Pentateuque script to the Museum. Unfortunately, he lost a big part of his fortune in the crash of 1925.

One of his sons : Leon was an Engineer, he was a genious, I would even say a phenomenon. At age of 22, he had more diplomas than any person could obtain in a lifetime. He was an inventor, he invented everything one can think of in our modern times : from an amphibian car - to the traffic lights - the lottery system etc. etc. He spent all his fortune on inventions, finally he died at the age of 65 sad and lonely since no one recognized his work.

Many, many years after his death, the Municipality of Marseille honored his memory by
naming the place where he used to live : Place Leon Foenquinos.
Simone M. Foinquinos

Emigration fron Tangier to south america

First of all I wish to welcome Armando Bonilla Foinquinos, bravo Armando! I am so happy to have you amongst us, we very much hope others will join soon. In French we say : slowly,slowly, the bird build his nest.
Somme of our bloggers will wonder why you call me Simita, only very close members of my family know it and I am glad to consider you as my close family, you always cared for me each time there was some danger in Israel and I am so grateful for your concern.
The Pintos you are referring to, are also members of the family., I made part of the Pinto Genealogy tree.
My full name is Simone-Simy-Alegria Melo Foinquinos (that is why some call me Simita)
I am issue of Alegria Foinquinos Pinto and Moses Melo Pinto -
My grand 'Father was Isaac Foinquinos Benshabat :married to Clara Pinto Dodo.
Lets go to the emigration from Tangier to South America.
In Tangier all the main powers had schools, the Germans had a german school, the French had their School, the Spaniards had theirs, Italians, the Brits also and there was the AIU (Alliance Israelite Universelle) founded in 1864 by the French Henri Cremieux. Most of the jewish community went to that school and had a multi lingual education. This school created an Alumni Association . The Alumni Association assisted in the funding for the external migration of poor young men. The greatest emotional stress faced by the community was the sending of these young men out of Tangier to find employement opportunities in South America. In June 1896, Isaac Laredo and M. Laredo spoke to the Marquis de Comillas requesting a 50% fare reduction for three needy young men who wanted to emigrate to Argentina. They were also impressed with the development of agricultural settlements in the Holy Land and Argentina. The Marquis responded favorably to the idea of the reduced fare. The Marquis suggestion to write to Cie. Generale Trans-Atlantique (prominent French shipping Company) in Paris was accepted.Menahem Nahon noted that seven additionnal young men were looking for assistance to leave Tangier for South America. However, when the time came for the fare reduction to be implemented, the Marquis refused to honor the recommendation. Without the reduction, the regular fare was 40 Ducats per passenger. The Junta (Jewish ruling commitee of Tangier) could not afford to give assistance to these young men. Thus they went by themselves.
Many young men of the Community continued to go to Latin America to make their fortunes.
Only males left, since the females were required by tradition to remain at home. Brazil and Argentina were favored immigration targets. Once in Brazil the young men of thirteen and older were employed as salesmen and peddlers. The older men who had settled in the larger cities of Brazil would help their younger relatives when they arrived, sending them farther up the Amazone River. The final stop was Iquitos, Peru which eventually developed into a community of Moroccan males.The young males would often mate with local women but rarely marry. They would have children whom they could not take back with them to Tangier when, having made their fortune, they decided to return home.. On rare occasions, when such a woman would be brought to Tangier, they were called "la Indias". One such woman, a devoted convert to judaism, was referred to as "Tita Rahel" (auntie Rachel) and was fondly remembered and loved by the community. Today many Indians in Iquito bear Moroccan surnames. That is all folks for today .
I hope you will not find the above boring - Espero que no se hallan aburrido, pero esto forma parte de nuestra historia.
Un abrazo con mucho carino para todos
Simone M. Foinquinos

Good news from Simone Melo Foinquinos

Well my dear and unknown members of the Foinquinos Family, yesterday I had a wonderfull surprise,Armando Bonilla Foinquinos, my longtime virtual and dear friend and remote member of our family phoned to me. I must say that I was really worried about him and the family because of the earthquake in Peru. Thus, I sent an E-Mail to him the next day of the earthquake to make sure that no one was hurt. Finally I received yesterday a phone call and you can imagine how happy I was. The Peruvians Foinquinos are, to my knowledge, issue of Rafael Foinquinos and Sarah Attias, Rafael from Tangier and Sarah Attias from Tetuan, I think she is buried in Tetuan if my memory is exact. The doubt persist in my mind because I was so desappointed for the lack of cooperation I encountered along these years, that I just packed all the research archives in a big carton and did not touched it for five years. Now that I met my cousins Simone-Cathy-Caroline, I decided to go into it again and give it another try. Perhaps this time I am going to encounter members of the family more willing to help and to cooperate.
I must say that the first response we had was from Daniel Melo Foinquinos from Manaus.
What a charming person, well I hope that all the Foinquinos unknown till now are as charming as Daniel. He even invited us to come to Brasil - I live in Haifa/Israel - it is quite a long way away
but the distance must be of no importance when the objective is to meet people of your own family.....do you agree with me?
I look forward to have reponses from the Foinquinos Family in Belem - Recife/Pernambuco -
Florianopolis and of course from Peru, you are quite numerous thank God.
On how the Family decided to emigrate to the Amazonas and Venezuela, I shall revert later.
A lot of Love for all of you.
Simone M. Foinquinos

Musicians in the family

We have a nephew in Israel, Avraham Tal, who has his own band, Caroline and Cathy know the band. They made records in Israel and they are quite famous there. The father is Maurice Foinquinos Tal my cousin, Albert Foinquinos' son, who lives in a Moshav in the Golan region where he owns a Bed and Breakfast Inn. Caroline told me that the band even tours in Europe and that they played in Geneva for a peace conference.

Another musician is Jojo's son in Paris, Rubin Foinquinos. He composes, plays and sings and I met him for the Bar Mitzvah of Patricia's son Henri in Paris and I can say that he got it. He sang a duo with my niece Valerie and I thought he inherited his voice from his father Jojo (Albert's son), himself a singer and architect.

My nephew Ron, Cathy son, is also a musician, he plays guitar and lives in Tel Aviv, and accompanies singers who record in studios. He is still young but very talented and we'll hear more about his music in the years to come.

Also in Paris, my nephew Henri, Patricia's son, constantly write lyrics, mostly rap music and sings with his friends. He is 17 and is going to the Sorbonne this year to study finance and management.

My sister Caroline loves to sing too, always did and I think always will. Although she is quite busy with her career at the World Intellectual Proprety Organization, she finds time to sing jazz tunes in Geneva or when she is on assignement anywhere in the world. It's called passion and fun. Her websites are:
http://www.myspace.com/singerlynncarl
http://www.lynncarl.com


Simone of Haifa says Gileno and Eric Foinquinos might be related to our family. They are quite popular and any search on the internet brings up their names. So Simone, you need to enlight us.

Last, but not least, there is Anais, my daughter, always sang even before she could talk, she is 10 and knows all the songs of Phantom of the Opera, The Sound of Music, Westside Story, Grease, Anastacia, etc... she already performed in public at her school and for other venues. Her voice teachers tells me that she is a natural. She wants to write her own musicals one day, we'll see...

We also have other creative artists, drawing/painting, fashion design, etc....

Resume of Simone M. Foinquinos

What a wonderful idea Simone Lund Foinquinos had.
I have been working on my family as she said for more than ten years, all alone,
I travelled several countries for the purpose, sometimes people cooperate, and some times
they seem excited about the idea and simply do not respond. I suppose it is not a particular
quality of the Foinquinos.
The Foinquinos close members of my family whom I met and remember with love, were all
full of love and generosity towards everybody, no matter where the people came from and
who they were. They never closed their doors to anyone who come to seek help.
I also was born in Tangier, so did my parents, grand parents ever since the famous Edict of
Expulsion of the Spanish Kings in 1492.
I could trace my family in 1342 in Toledo and Aragon. Also in Trujillo.
In Toledo, the family owned land properties and Houses which were confiscated by the church.
My full name is Simone Melo Foinquinos - during the centuries, the name was alterated ; to become first Melol, then Melul - we have also portuguese origines.
Mi Grand'father Isaac Foinquinos was the official translator of Willhelm II Kaiser of Germany
in addition he assisted at the Algeciras Conference as a representative of the German government. This Conference ruled the Status of Tangier as an International City ruled
by seven superpowers nations, each nation ruled alternatively Tangier during seven years
via an Administrator of the City. Tangier was the Diplomatic Capital of Morroco.
All the Embassies and consulats were in Tangier.
My Uncles were diplomats in Honduras and Costa Rica.
We have in our family a lot of musicians - composers - Engineers, in France there is a place
in memory of Leon Foinquinos, my grand'father cousin.
Well, I gave you a gist of our close family.
I very much hope that other members of the Foinquinos family will join us.
,we are not looking for inheritances, nor money..LOL
why I say that : because once I was loooking for some information for an Italian friend and the
people I met just kicked me out thinking that I was coming to claim an inheritance.
Asi es, que a notar : no queremos herencias ni buscamos plata, lo unico que buscamos es
amistad y reunir de nuevo a la familia en un arbol y Dios mediante poder reunirnos todos
en algun sitio con muchisima alegria.
Un Abrazo para todos
Simone M. Foinquinos

My close family in Morocco

My father Aaron Henri Foinquinos, his brother Albert Foinquinos and his sister Allegria Foinquinos were born in Tanger. His father was Moses Foinquinos and his mother Esther Abecassis, they both died when my father was a few years old. My father was the youngest.
Esther Abecassis' sister, Simone Abecassis, took care of them. She was very strict, I think she was a teacher, but raised them with dignity and values.

My father moved to Casablanca and to Safi, to manage and then own fish, apricot and tomatoe canneries. He was the president of the Cannery industry in Morocco, was a practising jew as he studied in a yeshiva, was known for his humor and his generosity. He died at 44, and is burried in Tanger where we were vacationing.

He married my mother Annette Bohbot, the same Bohbot family who imported all the tea for Morocco. Four daughters were born from this union. I am the first, Cathy the second, Caroline the third and Patricia the fourth. We all left Morocco in 1970 about one year after my father death to live in Israel. I remember, it was a few months after the attempt on the king's live at the Skirat Palace.

Today we all live in different countries, my sister Cathy is still in Israel with my mother, my sister Caroline in Geneva, Switzerland, my sister Patricia in Paris and me in San Diego, California.

My oncle Alberto, lived also in Casablanca and then in Marseilles and in Israel where he died last year in Kfar Saba, a village not far from Tel Aviv. He managed also canneries and worked in real estate. He was married with Perla Levy and had 5 children, Maurice, Jacquie, Jojo, Evelyne et Lily. All live in Israel except Jojo who lives in the South of France. Jacquie did too, but he is going to retire in Israel very soon.

My aunt Allegria, was the only one to stay in Tanger. She had a school for small children and I remember teaching there in the summer when I was only 14. She also loved playing canasta at the Casa d'Espana. She did not marry and had no children. She moved to Spain with her longtime friend Juan Delgado and is burried in Israel.


When I know more about how we all relate to the rest of the family, I'll post it.

Migration to Latin America

Jews from Tanger and Tetouan emigrated to the Amazonia at the end of the 19th century.
I received by email such a wonderful account of this migration from Rafael Foinquinos who now lives in South Florida but was born in Peru.

"At the end of the 19th and beginning of 20th century there was a significant migration of Jews from Tanger to the Amazonas region in Brasil and Peru. There was a economic boom in that region related to the rubber which was extracted from the plant of the same name. Some of these explorers returned to Morocco but other stayed in Sud America. In Iquitos, Peru (located in the amazonic region), there are a lot of descendants of these migrants, my family is one of them.( I recently found the history of one of this explorers, here is the link:http://juifs-marocains-en-amazonie.com/ , in the second chapter, my great grand parents are mentioned).

All Foinquinos in Peru are descendant from my grandfather, Fortunato Foinquinos. He was from Tanger, his father name was Rafael Foinquinos and his mother Sara Attias (they also were from Tanger).

My Grandfather had 3 sons and 4 daughters. Rafael (my father, 88), Piedadi, Blanca, Flora, Sara, Jorge and Roger (He was in Morocco, 10 or 15 years ago) . My aunt Sara lives in California (Riverside, very close to LA).I know that there are Foinquinos in Brasil (which I believe should be related closely to us, maybe descendants from my grand father brothers). I have found also Foinquinos in Venezuela, they also have their roots in Tanger."

Thank you, Rafael for sharing this bit of our family history with us. I am sure Simone from Haifa will know how we relate to that branch of the family.

I have also found on line almost a book on the same subject, Jews in Amazonia, this is a documentary that was made in Brazil with the participation of the Diaspora Museum in Tel Aviv. The book is written in portugues, so a little bit hard for me to comprehend. If someone could translate the most important parts in English or Spanish I will send them the link.

More info on the general migration of Moroccan Jews can be found on the following link:
http://www.orthohelp.com/geneal/amazon.HTM

Origins of the family

The family name is sepharadic. It means Phoenician. They might have started in Spain and gone to Morocco like all the jews escaping the Inquisition. They are from the area North of Morocco, Tanger, Tetouan. Simone from Haifa will know more than me on this subject.

I came across the actual text of the Edict of Expulsion from Spain, I copied the link so that you can read the whole text. Every sepharadic jew knows about it, but we rarely if ever had the chance to see the actual text translated.
http://www.sephardicstudies.org/decree.html

Voyages - Travels

Comme on est une famille de voyageurs, partageons nos experiences. Je peux parler des miennes et des pays que j'ai visite ou sejourne et vous pouvez parler des votres aussi. Quel est l'endroit que vous avez le plus apprecie et ou vous retournez avec plaisir chaque fois? Pour moi, Paris quand le temps est au beau, est un endroit de decouverte illimite. Chaque rue a une profusion de patisseries, boulangeries, cafes, fromageries et bien sur librairies. C'est a se demander comment ils ont assez de clients pour rouler tellement il y en a. On peut marcher des heures sans s'ennuyer. L'architecture est sublime et nous plonge dans l'histoire. Les musees aussi ajoutent a l'interet, le Beaubourg je me rappelerais toujours la voiture suspendue de Dali, le Louvre et ma surprise devant le tout petit tableau de la Mona Lisa et la foule devant, le chateau de Vincennes moins connu que Versaille, etc... Et la Seine qui longe les plus beaux monuments! Et les jardins .. Au milieu de la ville, meme dans les quartiers les plus bruyants, des ilots de calme.



As we are a traveling family, let's share our travel memories. I can talk about my travels and the countries I visited or lived in and you can also talk about yours. What is the place you like the most, where you can go back to and feel happy? For me, Paris, when the weather is nice, is a place with unlimited possibilities. Each street has plenty of pastry shops, bakeries, cafes, cheese shops and of course bookshops. One wonders how they all manage to stay in business. You can walk hours without getting bored. The architecture is sublime and one feels immersed in history. The museums add to it, the Beaubourg (Pompidou center), I'll never forget the suspended car of Dali, the Louvre and my surprise at the tiny size of the Mona Lisa and the crowds around it, the Vincennes castle less known than the Versailles, etc... And the Seine winding along the most famous monuments! And the gardens! Even in the middle of noisy areas, they are islands of silence.

Recettes du Maroc et d'ailleurs

Mes soeurs, surtout Cathy et Patricia, cuisinent encore Moroccan style. Postez vos recettes pour qu'on les garde en famille! Au plaisir de les lire et de manger chez vous. Simone

Shana Tova

Shana Tova to our family, thay you may all find harmony, health, happiness and success. This will be a memorable year to find each other and maybe meet somewhere in the world. What a great reunion that will be! Love, Simone F. Lund