french muslim women.

Nowhere is the divide between natives and immigrants more in the media eye than France. Riots and the ban on headscarves in schools have been major headlines over the past year or two. Which makes this article on French Muslim women activists on NPR of special interest.

in the news: fifteen days into ‘08

Are they? Or aren’t they? The media speculates that President Sarkozy and Carla Bruni married last week. (Washington Post)

Meanwhile, Sarkozy’s 10-year-old son has been receiving death threats. Really? (AP)

Did I mention that Paris, Je T’aime is now available on DVD? It is. Go buy it. And afterwards you can ponder the upcoming sequel New York, I Love You, in which Scarlett Johansson will make her directorial debut. (MovieWeb)

Seeking a challenge? Over the whole high-speed Chunnel business? Sign up to cycle from London to Paris for a good cause. (The Citizen)

real estate: those who can afford it edition

Today’s NYT had an inside lookat owning a duplex in Paris… for those of you out there who can afford it or are clever enough to come up with a way of supporting yourself there. I’ve always personally leaned toward the crepe stand dream–the start up costs seem minimal, and a diet of crepe nutella is pretty much every girl’s dream, isn’t it?

Some of the more interesting bits of “In Paris, Selling a Duplex”:

“Foreigners bought 7.9 percent of all the apartments sold in the city in 2006, according to the latest statistics available from the Paris Chamber of Notaries. Italians were the most frequent buyers, followed by Americans and the British, but in some arrondissements — including the touristy Fifth, Sixth and Seventh and the more serenely residential 16th, … Americans were the top buyers.”

“Mr. Hilton and Ms. Delgado [the couple selling the Paris duplex] have decided to move to Miami, where they have already bought an apartment. In the end, the couple said, they were disappointed by what they consider poor levels of service and an education system that they felt stifled creativity and did not provide positive reinforcement for their children, who are now 9 and 13.”  

Stifled creativity? An interesting complaint out of the city that has been home to a seemingly endless number of creative minds in history.

paris in ‘08

• The French smoking ban will continue to be news for a bit longer, seeing as how “cigarette is a French word.” (NYT)
• Paris plans to launch a self-service electric car systemto complement Velib, the popular bicycle project that took the city by storm last year. (The Times)
• A high-speed rail train connecting Paris and the Northern UK could be completed within five years. (Macclesfield Express)
• According to several sources, Lifetime is working on a miniseries about Parisian fashion designer Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel. (Forbes)
• After losing the presidential election, Segolene Royal has confirmed that she will run for the Socialist’s party leadership, potentially building the foundation for a 2012 presidential run. (Forbes)
• And just for fun: Paris, je t’aime has posted a “You know you’ve lived in Paris…” list.

another dining option in paris

A high-end restaurant will be opening this weekend on the second story–a treat for anyone who has ever longed to have a delectable French dining experience with the city of Paris providing the romantic table lighting.

From the AFP article:

But what the diners might like to know is that the kitchen — ovens, sinks and all — had to be squeezed up a tiny service lift in bits and then welded together again…

To begin with, the old Jules Verne had to be picked apart and every piece weighed before being carted down the four-metre-square (43 square feet) service lift clattering up and down the iron-laced tower.

“They were not allowed to add any weight to the existing structure in order to safeguard it,” said an official for the monument’s managers, the SETE. “They had to take into account the weight of partition walls, the fake ceilings, the chairs, the carpet, everything.”

Then the new bits and pieces too had to be weighed and sized up before being squeezed into the tiny service lift, sometimes in bits, and put back together again like Lego toys.

“Ducasse’s restaurant finally turned out to be even lighter, weighing in at 40 kilos (88 pounds) less,” said the official, who asked not to be named.

Then to save kitchen space, some of the total 47 cooks working for the new restaurant were relegated to a large underground centre built in 1908 and located right under the gardens that surround the historical monument.

will wonders (or smoking) never cease

 

When in Paris this past August, the aspect of the culture that most fascinated my boyfriend is that of the cafe. Along the sidewalks, tiny tables large enough to hold a coffee mug and an ashtray are surrounded by chairs upon chairs, all looking out to the sidewalk, the street, the city. To be in Paris is to watch Paris and watching Paris is best done with a cigarette in one hand and un cafe in the other. Just ask Hemingway or Sartre or Bouvoir.

Or better yet, ask them what they think of the smoking ban that will go into effect on January 1. In a year that has had the world speculating about the downfall of French culture, this seems a bit like adding insult to injury. This ban most recently prompted The International Herald Tribune to run an article titled: “Will the smoking ban in France mean the end of cafe society?” Do we really want to imagine a Paris that isn’t passing the days watching itself from a cafe table?

Nevertheless, the ban is supported by a majority of the French people and it perhaps demonstrates a France looking for a more modern, cleaner image. But that doesn’t keep me from longing to buy a pack of cigarettes and duck into my local coffee shop and drink and smoke to the end of an era… but wait, we have a smoking ban, too…

of interest

• This op-ed flew under my radar last week: Postpartum Impression. An interesting look at health care in France after childbirth. It’s worth reading if only because how often do you hear someone say, “The French bureaucracy isn’t so bad either.”
• Posted today on ParisDailyPhoto: 

“Advertisers love Paris, but Paris doesn’t like them… Today, the Paris council decided to reduce by 1/3 the amount of advertising space in the city. This will impact not only the space in general but also the size of posters. Thus the 1,000+ 4 x 3 meters (13 x 10 feet) billboards will soon be banned and so will the 6,000 smaller ones that are on display in the windows of shopkeepers and cafés. It will also be forbidden to advertise within 50 meters (164 feet) of a school, on the embankment, in Montmartre, etc. Needless to say that this measure is pretty controversial…”

• The Kitch[e]n is offering a new look for an old French tradition–Bûche de Noël (Yule log) softie:

“Bûche de Noël is a traditional French dessert served during Christmas holidays. It is usually decorated like a log in the forest and ready for the fire. They are usually made from sponge cake and frosted with chocolate buttercream and decorated with sugar, meringue, and marzipan to resemble snow, tree bark, fresh berries, and forest mushrooms.” (The link also includes recipe recommendations for the more ambitious kitchen folks.)

• Another brick crumbles from the wall of the great French tradition that is Not Working. According to the Wall Street Journal, “France is moving a step closer to allowing shopping on Sundays, with Parliament within the week expected to take up a measure that would permit all furniture stores to stay open on the country’s traditional day of rest.”

south of paris

According to The New York Times, the immigrant situation in Marseille is far better than the unrest that so frequently emerges in the form of riots in Paris. What’s keeping the peace? Rap, says the article.

And thanks to the power of multimedia, you can also check out some French rap for yourself–”The Sounds of Marseille.”

gossip, gossip

Apologies in advance. I usually prefer to stick to the quirky or charming stories out of Paris and ignore the more gossip-y tales, but even I can’t ignore this morning’s chatter about Sarkozy and Carla Bruni on a date.

Carla Bruni! I bought her album Quelqu’un m’a dit at the Virgin store on the Champs-Elysees in 2003 and still consider it one of the finest unresearched purchases I’ve ever made. I’ve never taken it off my iPod (Note: it’s a good idea to have at least one artist willing to serenade you in French on call at all times). It’s that lovely. I can’t say I blame the French president one bit.

But… I feel as if Sarkozy is a step down from Clapton. Someone better strike a deal with her to write her memoirs soon.

viva la french culture

2007 Golden Globe Nominees

• Best Performance by an Actress, Comedy or Musical: Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
• Best Foreign Language Film: Persepolis and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
• Best Animated Feature: Ratatouille (American film, but a moral victory for French culture)