One of the biggest cultural differences between the French and Americans is the acceptance of public nudity. I don’t think I need to tell you which side I’m on: I’m a big proponent of it. As long is I get to keep my clothes on in public. But for others? Allez-y, mes amis! In spite of their alleged laissez-faire, free-wheelin’ attitudes, San Franciscans are not…
Real, live French women on why French women don’t get fat. (via The Food Section)
Sorry about the less-than-stellar photo. I was trying to take a picture in a hectic métro station, and when there was a break in the frenzy of commuters, I tried to get my shot. But soon the people behind the glass in the information booth started taking notice of me snapping a few pics of the high-security features of the métro, like metal railings and…
France, one of the last countries to ban smoking in restaurants, is ready to ban smoking, alledgedly on January 1st, 2007. Like most things here, it’s not quite a ‘done deal’…(in French, there’s le conditionelle, a verb tense that gives politicians a bit of wiggle room, like shoulda-woulda-coulda). Restaurant and café owners feel the ban will hurt business. But I’m wondering: Won’t it help? People…
One of the hardest things about living in any foreign country is, of course, the language. Seriously, learning any language is really hard I’m sure, but anyone who can master French, who wasn’t pushed from the womb and spent their lifetime in an all-French speaking environment, I take my chapeau off to you. For the rest of us, it’s a challenge. Even the most mundane…
The temperature in my apartment hit quite a high during the heatwave (canicule), climbing to almost 110ºF (40ºC.) People don’t like to use fans in Paris, and air-conditioning is even more suspect. So windows stay closed, and we are slowly simmering, and broiling, if you’re anything like me and live in a rooftop apartment, where the temperatures climb higher and higher than the rest of…
So far, this week… …I ran over a not-quite-yet-dead pigeon by accident with my shopping cart. …My mobile phone died. …My ATM card expired. The bank told me to wait for the replacement card. Which was sent in May. …My credit card was cancelled, which I learned while at the cashier with a overloaded cart at BHV. There were thirty people behind me. And they…
I’ve been wondering lately why I live here. Winter is freezing cold. You can barely go stay outside for more than a few minutes without the icy blasts (which sound good now) sending you back indoors, to get under the covers, snuggly with a steaming cup of hot chocolate. Then we have spring. Which this year lasted 4 days. Then summer comes, and Paris melts…
[UPDATE: Vert d’Absinthe has closed their boutique in the Marais. Absinthe can be ordered via their website here.] Paris is always full of little surprises, like any major city. It’s always fun to poke around and find something new and unusual. And there’s plenty of the unusual in a big city like Paris, as I often report. I think of Paris as a big village,…
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