Lexington: Trick-or-treating Postponed

City officials have postponed trick-or-treating in Lexington tonight to tomorrow (Friday) due to the incoming intense storms forecast for this evening.

Paris: Holy Crêpe!

crêpe:  thin like a tortilla but closer to the consistency of a pancake, the French crepe is used for both sweet and savory street dishes.  Be aware that the French pronunciation is closer to the English word crap than to the English pronunciation for crepe.  It is a bit unsettling.

Tonight I took a 10 mile walk in the wonderful 65 F evening along the Promenade des Plantes, a former railroad viaduct now turned into a 3 mile raised garden/walkway.  The other night I'd tried to buy a crepe from a street vendor and was told that it was forbidden to sell carryout food after 1am -but that I could eat in the restaurant.  I find this and other French laws sometimes surprising.  You can buy booze and topless soft porn magazines in the checkout lane of the grocery store.  Prostitution is legal.  Any couple -friends, roommates, gay couples- can form legal partnerships akin to marriage....but you cannot buy a carryout crepe after 1am?!  Perhaps there is some heretofore unknown hazard to late night crepes that I'm unaware of?

Anyhow, tonight I went back and despite my fretting over my poor French, I ordered a ham and cheese crepe with seeming success.  The creperies make a stake of crepes and then grill on the crepe maker whatever filling you want.  It was really good.

But the crepe guy realized I spoke English -he is the one who told me "carryout is forbidden" the other night.  He asked where I was from in English.  I told him.  I then asked if he was a native of Paris.  He looked like a number of people here who are of mixed French and Asian ancestry.  Then he says:  "I'm from Afghanistan."  Awkward moment.  So, I say "Our countries are kind of involved now."  ("Involved" covers so many things ranging from affairs to wars.)  And then he graciously says things are better now in Afghanistan since the U.S. invasion.  His father and brother disappeared into a prison there under the Taliban, and he doesn't know whatever happened to them.  He moved here 15 years ago.  He was really nice.   

Paris: Update on the Undocumented Workers' Protest

The undocumented workers who have been camping out in protest in front of the Bastille Opera seem to have left.  Here are some pictures from last night of the debris left from the makeshift camp.

Paris: The Falafel Sandwich

The delicious falafel sandwich represents one of the least expensive meals in Paris.  All of the falafel vendors I've seen are along the rue des Rosiers, the heart of the Jewish quarter.  These sandwiches consist of a white pita bread stuffed with a spicy eggplant mixture, hummus, a yogurt-cucumber sauce and a choice of curried chicken, beef, or chicken.

Paris: Arc de Triomphe

escaliers: stairs
enfer:  hell 

crise cardiaque:  heart attack 

défibrillateur:  defibillator

I live on the 5th floor up these winding, narrow stairs in the first picture with wooden steps.  The French would say I live on the 4th floor:  they count the ground floor as 0 with the 2nd (US) floor being their 1st.  My building was built in the 1800s, and such 19th century walk-up apartments are common in Paris.  In many neighborhoods small retail shops occupy the first floor.

I visited the top of the Arc de Triomphe last weekend.  There are something like 284 steps to the top.  You can see the winding stairs in the second picture.  People sit at the top just to watch visitors huff and puff as they arrive. It is not a tour for anyone out of shape or with a heart condition.  The view is indeed grand at the top though.

I must admit that I was hazy exactly whose triumph the Arc memorialized.  I can happily report the triumphal arch commemorates Napoleon and his victories.

Paris: Paris: An Anthropology of the French, Part 2

football:  soccer

pied noir:  literally "black foot", French colonists born in North Africa who returned to France when the North African colonies gained independence

Les Bleus:  The Blues, the nickname for the French soccer team

In 2010 there was quite a sports scandal in France.  The French soccer team -former world champions- lost in the initial rounds -for the first time in history I believe.  The team, Les Bleus, had been mired in a sex scandal involving an underage prostitute and in-fighting between the coach and team members.

France has a large population with North African ties.  One group are the pied noir who came to France after the French colonies in North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia) gained independence.  An even larger group are Arab North African immigrants.  There is something of a tension here at times I'm told between the European French and the Arab North African French.  At times the North Africans appear to feel home is more North Africa than France.  The French appear to want the North African French to be thoroughly French and let go of their North African cultural identities.

The other night Algeria tied England in the World Cup.  You would have thought Algeria won the World Cup.  The Algerian men here were shouting and driving around for hours honking their horns and waving the Algerian flag.  My friend Keith saw something like 300 Algerians on motorcycles driving through the city in a victory parade.

Every country appears to wrestle with some type of racial or ethnic situation.  The French Arabs still appear to straddle two worlds here and there are sometimes some tensions between them and French society in general about where their true hearts are.

Paris: Outdoor Markets

biologique:  organic

marché:  market

bon marché:  cheap, inexpensive (literally "good market")

cher:  expensive (Who knew Cher's name literally was French for expensive?)

Inside the Place d'Aligre market -which has 

a covered area like New Orleans' French Market

Great outdoor markets abound in Paris.  The French don't spray preservatives on their food, and many people like to shop for fresh produce, meat, fish, and cheese at street markets.  

Some are more trendy and expensive than others.  The biologique -or organic- market on Boulevard Raspail for example is currently very hip with celebrities.  Ina Garten -the Barefoot Contessa chef on the Food Network- recommends it.  On weekends the prices are supposedly double what they are during the weekday market.

Most markets open only on certain days.  A few -like the less expensive market at Place d'Aligre- open every weekday (I'm not sure about  weekends).  I liked the Place d'Aligre market best because it was close to my apartment and less expensive.  The quality and variety in these markets amazed me.  I was also amazed how an area the day before or after a market would be spotless and completely empty.  The day of the market, however, the fish and other displays looked permanent and stationary.  The vendors must build and break down these displays with great speed and keep the area really clean during and after the markets.  The Thursday market on Boulevard Richard Lenoir near my apartment was huge and featured not just food but clothes and jewelry too.

 

 

Chinese foods for sell in the market

Cheeses

Paris: Princess Diana's Last Day

princesse:  princess

voiture:  car

mort:  dead

décès:  death

One of my themed walks around Paris focused on Princess Diana's last day in Paris.  On Saturday, August 30, 1997, Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed stopped for the night in Paris on their way to London.  They had spent the earlier week on Fayed's yacht at the Mediterranean coast.  Fayed's father owns The Ritz Paris, the fanciest hotel in Paris, as well as a nearby apartment.  On Sunday, August 31st, at 12:20am, the couple left The Ritz via the back entrance with Henri Paul, the head of the hotel's security, and Trevor Rees-Jones, one of Diana's bodyguards.  They drove through the Place de le Concorde and then along a highway along the Seine with paparazzi in pursuit.

The car sped into a tunnel at the Pont de l'Alma (one of the bridges across the Seine) at 65 MPH, hit a white Fiat, and crashed into a support pillar in the tunnel.  A later inquiry found Paul was intoxicated and speeding.  Paul and Fayed died immediately.  Princess Diana died at 4am from extensive internal injuries at a hospital.  Rees-Jones suffered facial injuries but survived.  None of the passengers wore a seat belt.

Sad.  I remember distinctly hearing the surreal news that the young princess had died in 1997.

So, I was curious to see where these places are.  I visited The Ritz.  It is in the Place Vendome, the richest shopping area in the city -at least to my plebeian knowledge.  Dior, Chanel, etc. all have their flagship stores here. In 2010 the plaza has trees planted in big white planters in the shape of small cars, but these planters were gone when I was there in 2012.

I had also been to the Pont de l'Alma before but went back.  There is a replica of the flame from the Statue of Liberty there.  It is a gift to France from some Americans to thank France for the Statue of Liberty and its repairs. (It is the small glint of gold in the picture above with the Eiffel Tower in the background.) Today people paste memorial messages about Princess Diana and leave flowers there.  Below the intersection is the tunnel where the accident happened.  I'm not sure if they were planted as a memorial or not, but now there are rose bushes planted on the embankment above the tunnel.

Paris: Protest du Jour

protestation: protest

travailleurs: workers

sans: without

papiers: papers (either plain ol' paper or documents...just as we use the word papers in the US)

travailleurs sans papiers: undocumented workers, illegal aliens

Paris serves as a booming capital city and a meeting place for the world. Throughout its history Paris has become the home and haven to a long list of exiles and political dissidents such as the Ayatollah Khomeini, Baby Doc Duvalier, Lenin, etc. Like Washington, DC, there seems to be a different protest here every day.

This weekend there was a major street march in Montparnasse denouncing Israel's attack on the Gaza relief flotilla. There was a much smaller gathering in the Trocodero I encountered of Peruvians trying to save the Amazon.

Yesterday -and into the night- however, I encountered a big protest gathering by the travailleurs sans papiers -a group of sub-Saharan Africans living and working in France as undocumented workers. They gathered yesterday in front of the Opera Bastille.  Some of the men were asking pedestrians for donations. Others sang and played on drums.

Later in the night when I walked by -because the Metro stop is next to the Opera, perhaps 100-200 men were sleeping on the sidewalks in front of the Opera. It was a strange and sad sight. It underscores the debate going on in almost every prosperous industrialized country -in China with North Koreans, in France with Africans, in the US with Mexicans- around what to do with undocumented workers. As in the US, these low-paid, low-skill immigrants do a lot of the dirty work in France. So, they are needed in the labor market to some extent but are the first fired when the economy goes into recession.

Paris: An Anthropology of the French

argent:  money (in common use), technically this means silver

monnaie:  money

hate:  haïr...but I have trouble pronouncing this, so...

détester:  detest (I use this word instead.)

gauche:  literally this word means "left" as in Rive Gauche or the Left Bank but it also is an adjective for a person who lacks sophistication or tact

nouveau riche:  literally "new rich", often meant of people who have gained wealth but not personal taste

The French have an interesting -and to me- better perspective on wealth, money, and conspicuous consumption.  In general, they appear to think splashy displays of wealth are vulgar.  Time after time here, my American view of bigger is better has encountered the French view that quality and importance should not be associated with big, fancy, or splashy.  This is definitely not a nation of Hummer drivers.

For example, I went to Poilâne, the most famous bakery in a city of wonderful bakeries.  I expected it to be some big, fancy store.  Instead, it was a tiny shop tucked away on a side street.  Likewise, Pierre Hermé, a very famous pastrymaker here, is in a very chic but tiny shop by St. Sulpice Church.  Quality is not always associated with quantity in the French mind.

Likewise, a friend works for a very wealthy couple here in Paris.  One day I walked with her back from lunch and saw where this couple lives.  I expected such a wealthy couple to live in a mansion or some grand apartment along a ritzy boulevard.  Instead they have one small floor on the second floor of a building above a gay bar and falafel shop in the Marais.  

Another friend told me that French sensibilities emphasize that wealth be shown in the quality and taste of a person's clothes and home.  Others would define your social class as well by your manners.  Ostentatious public displays of wealth such as a huge home, big car, or splashy jewelry tended to be viewed as gauche and something associated with the nouveau riche rather than a person with taste.

Whether rich or poor, in my experience the French seem to expect people to be polite, quiet, and in good taste.  Perhaps strangely considering the city's reputation for rudeness, the Parisians have been to me the most polite people on the planet.  I've found that when treated respectfully with courtesy and at least an attempt at using the French language, people have gone out of their way to help me. 

Paris: The Mystery of the French Toilet

toilette:  toilet

WC:  "water closet" in English, used to mark some bathrooms in restaurants, etc. with foreign visitors

In France -as well as Spain, Germany, and probably much of Europe- the toilet has two buttons to flush instead of one.  The larger button empties the full tank.  For only ...er...liquid waste...you use the smaller button which only empties half the tank.  It is really a smart idea to save water.

Public toilets are also quite different in ways.  In many museums you pay 20 to 50 cents to use a public toilet.  On the street they also have toilet machines that you use.  Once you leave, the machine closes completely, flushes, and washes the entire inside before opening for the next user.

In most restaurants and other public places, bathrooms may either be unisex or the men and women's room share a wash area with the toilets in little closets off from these rooms.  It was kind of shocking at first to walk out of the WC to wash my hands and encounter a strange woman washing up.

Paris: La Fête de La Musique, Part 2

racaille:  originally "riffraff" or "hoodlums" but today used to describe people involved in the hip hop culture who sometimes try to intimidate or rough up people

Yesterday was the Festival of Music throughout France.  I went out at dinnertime to see it, but I think I went too early.  There were a handful of bands set up around the Marais, Bastille, and Latin Quarter.  I had expected live music, but about 2/3rds of the bands I saw consisted of people with loudspeakers set up playing music. 

Some savored moments:

Latin Quarter near Saint-Michel:  Three middle-aged men played live music and were trying to sing classic rock songs in English.  They weren't awful, but they weren't very good either.  They made me smile.

The Marais:  A woman and her friends had set up loudspeakers and a karaoke machine in the big French windows on the second floor above a gelato shop.  The young woman had a really good voice and engaging manner with the crowd...kind of like a French Gloria Estefan.  She sang some Tina Turner, Mary J. Blige, etc.  At one point a garbage truck pulled up in front of her "stage" to get the trash.  She greeted them, and the crowd all clapped for the garbage men who bowed to the crowd just before getting in their truck and leaving.

The Bastille:  Near my apartment on a side street some guys has set up speakers and a turntable and were playing hip hop music.  A big crowd of teenagers all dressed in black and hip hop clothing had gathered.  I had to keep suppressing a smile seeing all these skinny French kids dressed up like Jay Z.  It was a lot of fun though.

Paris: La Fête de La Musique, Part 1

fête:  festival

musique:  music

The Summer Solstice is Midsummer's Day.  On this day in France for the past 29 years, today also hosts the annual La Fête de La Musique, the Festival of Music.  Friends here tell me it is wonderful.  Throughout Paris there will be dozens of stages with every imaginable type of music being performed.  Any group can request a stage and perform on this day.  I hope the weather is wonderful for it.

Paris: The Terror of the French Washing Machine

machine à laver:  washing machine

eau de javal:  bleach

détachant:  spot remover

France has many wonderful things, but its washing machines are not one of them.  In many small Paris apartments, the washer and dryer are a combined machine that you load in the front.  This sounds ideal -no moving wet laundry from the washer to the dryer- but in practice you can only do small loads, and it takes hours for the full cycle to finish.  

My friend Keith calls these machines the clothes' boilers because hot water in France is hot, hot, hot!  

Once the cycle begins, it also seems nearly impossible to stop the cycle.  Perhaps this is more an issue of poor French and user error, but I do not miss France's washing machines.  

Anyhow, limited supply of shirts meets mysterious goo on Metro seat and viola!, the American traveler must learn interesting the words like eau de javal.

Paris: Radio FG

chanson: song

I listen to French radio in Paris quite a bit.   I mostly listen to this radio station called Radio FG that plays Europop and advertises with an English slogan "F@#king good music." (Get THAT by the FCC in the U.S.!) It is available streaming at:

Radio FG

V. V. Brown

When I lived in Paris in 2010, one very popular song on the radio was V. V. Brown's Shark in the Water. Radio FG played it a dozen times a day.

Marc Lavoine

It is catchy, but I'm more enjoying a popular French singer named Marc Lavoine. His music is dark, romantic and moody. Think Josh Groban...but better.