Free Events in Paris

I wrote a post last night and came back today to edit before posting but had not saved so it's all lost! Oh hum, I'll try again...

Paris, being a huge city, has tons of events to offer visitors and residents, some of which are free. We  decided over the past couple of weeks to check out some of the free events to see if they were worth the time spent. First, I registered on a website that offers free events in all categories from cinema and theater to sports and clubbing. I was surprised to see all the opportunities there were so tried to get tickets to a couple of movies to no avail. Then I tried the play section and scored tickets for 3 theater performances however there was only one that I would have paid the price to see. The first, Cabaret Les Chiche Capo at the  La Pépinière opéra, 7, rue Louis Le Grand, 75002 Paris, was a wacky male four-some, 3 actors plus a guitarist, who did an hour slap-stick routine. There was a female plant in the audience who created such laughter that she was almost better than those on stage. It was fun and even though I couldn't understand much of the spoken part, I enjoyed it. The second, Francisco E Cuhna at La Comédie des Boulevards, was a one-man show where he pretended to be in a therapy group with the audience members. There were a few funny moments but on the whole it was not really as funny as it could have been, according to the two French speakers who accompanied me. The third was the best, Amour et Chipolatas at La comédie Caumartin, 25, rue Caumartin, 75009 Paris, was about a young woman who was going to get married so she had a BBQ to introduce her fiancé to three of her ex-lovers. None of the men knew each other nor did they know what she had planned to announce. Two of the ex-lovers were still in love with her, the other was now gay, and her fiancé was completely jealous of the others, especially the non-gay ones. As one would imagine it was full of laughs and ridiculous male posturing. Again, my limited French was challenged but I understood most of it from the antics on stage.

 Then on Thursday I bought Parischope, a weekly publication Wed to Wed, that gives information on all the cultural events in the city and beyond. Here one finds schedules for all the movies, exhibits, performances, etc. Since we had been to 3 recent plays we found two free performances of music that sounded interesting. On Friday night we went to hear a quartet (2 violins, cello and piano) at the Auditorium St. Germaine des Prés at 8pm. It was Hommage à René Herbin but the first half was the music of Gabriel Fauré whose music I really loved. Although I wasn't familiar with either of these French composers, I was immediately drawn in to their elegant, mesmerizing compositions. I must also add that the auditorium was warm, comfortable (both surprising as we had expected it to be in a church which usually means no heat) and the musicians were all very accomplished. This was also the first time, I think, I've ever heard an all female quartet! It was exquisite!

Then on Saturday we decided to get into the spirit of the upcoming holidays and chose Ensemble Vocal Bergamasque, a concert of world Christmas music by Britten, Poulenc, Kvemo, Nystedt and others. The event was held in an ancient church, Eglise des Billetes, on the famous rue des Archives near Hôtel de Ville. The female director would hit a pitch fork against the side of her hand, move it quickly to her ear, hum out several notes for the 24-member vocal ensemble to grasp before singing each song a-cappella. Crystal clear soprano notes blended in perfect harmonies with the altos, ténors and basses filling the stone structure. For one piece the singers spread throughout the church directing their voices to the center of the room where they met and danced to the top of the dome before descending as soft as snow flakes to the ears of the pensive audience. I was brought to tears during this piece and left the concert feeling as uplifted as the angelic voices with which I had been graced.

Cirque de Soliel

One of our neighbors is giving pilates classes to the artists of Cirque de Soliel that is currently in Paris. (I had actually thought that the troop was from France but evidently they are Canadian.) Anyway, she was able to get us complimentary tickets to attend yesterday afternoon's performance of the show called Corteo. We had to take the subway to the end of the line 9, Pont de Sévre, a 45 minute trip and then we walked another 15 minutes. After exiting the subway we were confused as to where to go with nothing but freeway signs evident until we asked three different people how to get to the island where the circus tents were set up. Luckily, there was a stream of people that we followed across a 4 lane street, along a freeway, up a set of stairs, across a pedestrian bridge, through a park and finally to the entrance to the complex of big tops; to say the least it is located in a very difficult-to-reach, out-of-the-way place!

We met our neighbor in front of the box office, got our tickets and went inside to our seats. This was the third Cirque de Soleil performance I have seen and I enjoyed it as much as I had the others. Corteo follows the story of a man dying and getting his angel wings. With lots of acrobatics, fabulous costumes, the right mix of theatrics, traditional circus acts, and artistic creativity, the show was a delight to watch. Unfortunately, fewer than half the seats were filled but understandable with the exorbitantly priced tickets and hard-to-reach location. Too bad because it's a wonderful show.

Thanksgiving in Paris

I'm way overdue for writing here and I apologize for the long absence but life jumped up and grabbed me into doing other things. So, with that said, I will jump back in here and hopefully be better about posting. Thanks to those who keep hanging in there with me.

Thanksgiving just passed and in France, as elsewhere around the world outside the US, it's just another normal Thursday. Several years ago we decided to start our own tradition here in Paris so I could get the feeling of family and well being that I always associated with the holiday. Now I prepare the Thanksgiving meal for friends on the Saturday following Thanksgiving Day to accommodate all those who work the regular weekdays, I hear lots of Americans do that as well. This year we prepared herb dressing, mash potatoes, mushroom gravy, green beans, candied yams, carrots, fruit salad and pumpkin pies. In past years, we had been able to bring things from the States but this year I did everything from scratch, including the pie crust and dressing! My first time ever for that!! We did find canned cranberry sauce, my favorite, at the La Grande Epicerie across the street from, and part of, the world famous le Bon Marché. Here one can find foods from around the world and I scored 2 of the last 4 cans of cranberry sauce for the whopping price of 3,95E per can! At those prices I must pick up some cans next time I'm in the States. The turkey was cooked two floors above us at some neighbors' apartment so I wouldn't have to smell it cooking (I'm a vegetarian in case you don't know). I also gave all the meat leftovers away so I wouldn't have to put them in the refrigerator. That night we had 13 guests (1 Salvadorian, 1 Mexican, 4 French, 2 Canadians, 2 Italians and 3 Americans including myself) who drank almost an equal number of bottles of champagne and wine! and we just finished our leftovers yesterday!

You might like to check out la grande epicerie online: http://www.lagrandeepicerie.fr/#en-GB/home and
from there you can click on Le Bon Marché, enjoy Paris window shopping and bon appétit!