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!

Square l'Oiseau Lunaire

I worked under contract for UNESCO during the month of May. After the first couple of days eating in the building’s cafeteria, I decided to either bring or buy my lunch and sit outside somewhere to eat. So, the first day I bought a sandwich at the nearby Monoprix (large grocery chain) and started wandering the neighborhood looking for a small park where I could lunch. Paris is a great place for parks and one can always find at least a small one hidden among buildings on side streets. It only took me a matter of a few minutes to find one that looked super but the entrances were all locked as it was closed for repairs. Just my luck, I thought, as I continued my wanderings, always cognizant of how I could get back to my workplace without getting lost (in Paris one shouldn’t leave home without a map of the city as it developed over the centuries without any sense of logical circulation patterns.) Back and forth across streets I went in search of a green space, almost giving up hope of finding one when I happened upon a tiny park tucked back between two buildings, Square l’Oiseu Lunaire. It had lush vegetation planted around the entrance, including huge artichoke plants ripe with fruit. And, even though the gardener had the watering system going to soak the plants, the pathways for human visitors were extremely dry and very dusty. Since I was worried about getting back to work quickly, I immediately found a bench upon which to sit in the spring sunshine to eat, watching as children ran through ahead of the grandparents who shuffled by thoughtfully. After eating I took a stroll to the park’s interior to explore the rest of the space, which I discovered has the ground surface of about the size of two large apartment buildings. It was, however, very well arranged with plenty of shade trees, a children’s play area, and lots of beautiful plants. But the most wonderful surprise was a piece of sculpture positioned at the end of the dusty walk-way, one I thought I recognized as being by the artist Miró. Low and behold, I was thrilled to be right but I wondered why it was installed at this particular unpretentious location. On the way out, I found the plaque that explained that on this site Miró and a group of other illustrious artists had worked. Wow, I thought, what an exciting city to live in where one just bumps into a Miró at a local park. At that moment, I decided this seemed like a very fine place to spend my lunch hours during May.

cont...carte de sejour

So, this morning my French friend Monique came by and we took off for the office where I was instructed I could get the extension for my carte de sejour. We reached the place by subway in about 20 minutes and entered through the security check in. We felt lucky because there were only about 4 people waiting and a couple of employees taking care of us. When my number was called we went up to a desk where a woman looked at my card. Immediately, she pulled out a piece of paper and highlighted several numbers, my arrondissement and the actual place where I was to go for the extension...this wasn't it! So, off we went across the river to the 14th arrondissement. By then it was just after noon and guessing that most of the employees at the office would be at lunch we decided to have a bite to eat ourselves before going to the office. We chose an Italian place nearby since I could easily find something to eat vegetarian. I picked eggplant Parmesan after asking the waiter to verify there was no meat on it. After my salad the eggplant arrive and I lifted the cheese layer to discover a layer of ham...back to the kitchen it went and I ended up with a pizza margarita, no meat in sight! Monique and I got to the Prefecture's office around 1:45pm to find a mob of people waiting inside and only one attendant at a desk. I convinced Monique that I could manage on my own and to go home since it would likely be a long wait, as it indeed was. The reader board announcing the number of the next person to be served wasn't working so I had to really tune up my ears to understand who was getting called next. For those who don't know any French, the language doesn't have a particular word for numbers after 69 so they begin using a combination of numbers that add up to 70 (60+10=70, 60+11=71, 60+12=72, etc.). However, when you get to 80 it's even tougher because it becomes 4-20 (80), 4-20-10 (90), 4-20-15 (95), etc. Anyway, after 2 hours I finally got to see a person behind a desk who promptly informed me that because my carte de sejour was good through 25 May and I am not traveling outside the country until the 2 June I needed to come back after the 25 May!!! I asked, "I have to come back here and sit another couple of hours to get the paper I need?" Her responds was "mais oui" but of course....ah another day of French bureaucracy!

Carte de Sejour

This is the residence card that I have to go and renew every darn year. It takes forever to get the first one, which starts with an application for a visitors visa that has to be made in the US before coming here. For me, that meant a trip to Chicago, the office covering the midwestern region. Luckily my friend Neal drove me up since I had to carry a packet full of documents, including French translations of everything, that was about 5 inches thick. I received the visa about a month later, just in time for my flight to Paris. Once here I had to start the whole process over again on this side of the Atlantic, that was May 2008. Now, every May I have to get out all the documents again, update a few things, get a recent photo taken and head off to the Prefecture de Police, the government agency in charge of immigrants like myself. The appointments for these meetings have to be made months in advance so like a good little resident, I got online in February and went through the online registration for a meeting. After clicking the button to confirm my time/date I was taken to a blank page so I clicked the back button to see what happened. Again, I clicked the date but the time I had clicked before was not available so naturally I thought it was done. In the past I have received a confirmation in the mail so I waited about 3 weeks but got nothing so I phoned directly to the Prefecture's office. After a long wait with an annoying repeating message, I finally got a hold of a real person who informed me that if I registered online that I would not receive anything in the mail. I told her that I also had not received a confirmation on the website so wasn't sure if I had an appointment on May 17th or not. She kindly asked me all the info to check and found out I was not, in fact, registered. Rats! Fortunately, she gave me a date and time to go in but it's not until August so I asked her what I was supposed to do since my carte de sejour runs out in May and I need to leave the country in June. She told me, no problem, just go to the Prefecture's office in the 9th arrondissement, districts within Paris, and they will give me the paperwork I need to continue my residency in the meantime. Now this whole conversation was in French so my end of the phone was struggling at times but I did get all the info I needed. Today, I decided to go and get my extension taken care of and asked a French friend to go with me. When I got to her apartment she thought we should call just to make sure...and low and behold, we found out that it isn't in the 9th that I have to go to but in the 18th! And, I don't just need my passport, carte de sejour and paper stating my appointment date and time but I also need a photo, confirmation of where I live (document like a gas bill) and some other thing. Ah, you gotta love the French for their inventive powers when it comes to bureaucracy!

Le Vieux Belleville

There's a little bar/restaurant about a 10 minute walk from our apartment called Le Vieux Belleville, the old Belleville, the name of the neighborhood. The place is typical of a lot of small unknown places around Paris. The menu was pretty typical with lots of meat and potato dishes and daily plats de jours. They also regularly have musicians playing traditional French tunes so we had been wanting to go for quite a while. Finally, last Saturday night we called two friends to join us and we all walked up for dinner. I was pleasantly surprised to find a vegetarian main dish, unusual even in upscale restaurants! More surprising was how much fun we had singing along to the accordion music, well at least trying to sing along. The musician passed out sheet music for each song she played and we sang in between bits of food! For more about the place check out their website: http://www.le-vieux-belleville.com/fr/bar-restaurant-musette-le-vieux-belleville.html

Spring Fashion Week in Paris

Last week was Spring Fashion Week in Paris, an event I'm not the least bit interested in but one that was difficult to avoid as the daily news reported on the happenings. Of course, the big news that over shadowed the entire week was the firing of Dior's famous designer Galliano. As for me and as luck would have it, I changed my views about fashion week on Friday when I accidentally stumbled upon one of the week's events and saw some of the most incredible sites I've seen in quite a while. It was late in the afternoon when after having seen an exhibit of some of Courbet's works of nature and having had coffee at a nearby café I decided to walk up to the Trocadero where I was to meet a group for a couple of avant-garde plays at 7pm (that's another whole story). Along Avenue Président Wilson there are several museums and since I had time to kill I chose to check out the Palais du Tokyo, a place where artists create contemporary installations and one that I had never been too. I noticed that there were a few black limos and people out front with high powered cameras but since the Palais is connected to the Musée d'Art Moderne I didn't really think much about it, plus you see these types of scenes regularly around Paris. Inside the building I didn't see much activity but when I went to pay for my admission I was told that I could only see the installations on the first floor because a fashion event was taking place in the ground floor gallery and that that would be over at 6pm if I wanted to wait. Ah, the reason for all the people out front, I thought. So, I went and saw the very unexciting and strange art installations then decided to wait to see if the ground floor held anything more interesting. I waited in the foyer above where I could look over the balcony and watch those leaving the event. It wasn't long before the doors opened and people started flowing out which was completely an OH MY GOSH moment for me. The people were the artwork here!! I had a top view of most but several celeb types were guided up the stairs right in front of where I was standing so I got a better look at them. The shoes women had on were the most outrageous pieces, and in some cases, the most unimaginable for walking that one could imagine. Really higher than it seems could be possible to wear but one young woman practically sprinted up the steps wearing wooden red platforms that must have had about 4 inches under the sole of the foot and about 10 in the heel. Another had on a pair that were likely 5 inch heels and thinner than a pencil! I have to admit too that they were walking upright rather than slightly bent forward like many I've seen in the streets. There were also lots of women wearing comfortable shoes. One had on a pair of black standard looking men's shoes that were covered with studs, and I saw some men with studs on their shoes as well. There were plenty of flat boots some opened with the tongues hanging out or partially unzipped. I actually wondered if it had been a show of punk clothes but the booklet I picked up said it was from Maison Martin Margiela. There were a number of young Japanese fashion goers so they might have been from Yohji Yamamoto's entourage since that show was scheduled at the same place for later that night. I noticed that it looks like fur is back in fashion with young people as I saw several short tight fitting fur jackets and one of those long fur vests--appalling waste of several animals especially since there aren't even sleeves on those things, after all what's the point if it's not even going to keep you warm? There were about 10 people, mostly women, in white lab coats standing outside on their side the gallery doors greeting people. One man seemed to be the center of attention, kissing and being kissed by numerous people, so I assumed he was the designer and I found out later while watching the news that those people are the ones who do the sewing, alterations, hairdos, makeup, etc. so it was nice to see them getting some of the attention they deserve. It was most interesting watching those who were looking at the cameras to see who was paying attention to them. One man dressed in a jacket made of tiger print fabric reached the top of the stairs, looked back and waited to make sure he had his following with him before continuing. After the crowd thinned out, I went downstairs to wait outside the door that was closed and guarded by this time. Soon people carrying suitcases began their exodus, the backstage crews I suppose. A young man carry a large, heavy suitcase won my prize for best hairdo...he could have come directly from the court of Marie Antoinette! His very long black hair swooped up from the back and was teased up to about a foot above his forehead in a cone-head style. Wow, after waiting 30 minutes, I never got into that gallery but I was sure entertained by what came out of it!

Troyes

Last Wednesday we took the train from Paris Gare de l'Est to Troyes, a town about 1.5 hours east of here that is also the capital of the Champagne region. The entire trip we played an Italian card game called Buracco, too difficult to describe but a game that can be played with 2, 3 or 4 people and one that is played pretty cut-throat in southern Italy. When we arrived a woman who had been traveling across the aisle from us nicely escorted us outside the train station and pointed us in the direction of the hotel we had booked. It was late afternoon, cloudy and cold but we were full of anticipation as this was the first time either of us had visited this town. We immediately found the tourist info office where we picked up a local map then walked about 5 minutes to Hotel l'Arlequin in the historic center.
The hotel was simple but nicely renovated, bright, clean and quiet so we were happy. After dropping our bags, we ventured out to make use of the last couple of hours of daylight. We first started by following one of the walking tours designated on the tourist map but soon gave that up as we stopped in the first church along the way. The town center still has many of the original half timber structures from the 16th century, some leaning quite strikingly to one side or the other so that one can see the only thing holding them up is the tight fit between two other buildings. The town has done a great job of ensuring their upkeep and many are in use as businesses such as hotels, restaurants, groceries, wine shops, etc. It was fun just to see all the varieties of uses these buildings still have. That evening we found the local movie theater and went to see the newly released French film Les Femmes de le 6em Etage, the women of the 6th floor. The next day we spent exploring Troyes....
Troyes has been a town center since Roman times (although there are no visible signs left) but a local museum says that there is evidence of human habitation since 400,000 BC, pretty amazing! There seemed to be a grand church at ever turn and the ones we could get into were colder inside then outside. We froze, welcoming the warmer but rainy weather outside, but it was worth seeing some of the remnants and artworks from the 13th-18th centuries. In addition to the majority Catholic population, the town has always had a thriving Jewish community. The historic Synagogue has been preserved and there is now across the street a contemporary Jewish studies center, L'institut Universitaire Rachi. The town also has several museums, two of which we visited. The Musée d'Art Moderne was our favorite with works by French artists from 1850 through 1950 shown in a magnificently renovated building dating from the 12th century. The art collection was small but wonderful with some works by Millet, Courbet, Degas, Gauguin, Matisse, Rodin, Maillol, Cézanne and many others not so well known. It was a joy to view the pieces leisurely, close-up and without having to stand on tiptoes to get a glimpse that is often the case in Paris.
We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Troyes and recommend it to anyone who wants to explore towns outside of Paris and actually close enough by train that one could go for a day trip.

Conversation group in Paris

I know it's been far too long since I have written here, and if it weren't for a couple of kiwi friends who are always bugging me to write more, I'd have likely already given it up. So, to keep them happy, and anyone else who is interested in my comings and goings, I will try to do better in 2011. Plus, after finishing another semester of French classes, I suddenly have more time to dedicate to it.

For anyone looking to brush up or improve her/his French conversation, there are tons of options but most will cost you dearly. However, there is one exception that I found through word-of-mouth in one of my previous French classes. It costs 10E per year (yep, you are reading that correctly, that's ten euros per year) and one can go as often as s/he likes. Each afternoon from 2-7p.m. in a windowless basement room at the Institute Catholic de Paris, four native French speakers, all retired professionals, volunteer their time to sit at individual tables directing conversations with people from around the world who want to improve their speaking abilities. Each Tuesday evening there is also a special presentation or activity that lasts from 7-9 pm and one Saturday per month they offer guided tours in different parts of Paris. The place is located on the side street behind the St. Germain des Prés Catholic Church at the metro stop (lines 4 & 10) with the same name on the Left Bank.

Yesterday, I attended the group for 1.5 hours after having a coffee at a nearby café with a friend from El Salvador. That was interesting as we only spoke French, he with his strong Central American accent and me with my strong Anglo accent. I would like to mention that I've been told by a couple of teachers and other native French speakers that my accent is identifiably Anglo but it is not strong nor is it particularly identifiable as American. My aim of course is to speak like a native French....well that might take some time but I do try.

And so, I descended into the cave of French conversation where I sat at the table with an Irish man and women from China, Venezuela, Columbia, and Iran. It's always quite an interesting mix of people and the French discussion leaders are often interesting as well. I did learn yesterday--well I likely learned it before but can't remember all the quirky rules in French--that when you use "si" instead of the usual "oui" for "yes" it is to give a positive response to a negatively posed question. Okay, so that's your French lesson for the day and if you know someone who is visiting or lives here and wants to brush up their speaking for little cost, have them check out the website for Cercle International de l'ARC at
http://arc-cercle-international.over-blog.com/