Paris Pastry

Check out Susan Hochbaum's homage to Paris' pastries!

We didn't try all of these pastries when we were in town so we'll have something to do when we next visit!

From 2009-04-18

Vous êtes américain?

I went to McDonald’s this morning to get on their free wireless since our hotel’s wireless is “en panne” (broken). As we walked to our table an elderly lady asked us “Vous êtes américain?” - “You are Americans?”. I said “oui” and she gave us both a big thumbs-up. This was just one example of how welcome I have always felt in France.

Yesterday, while we were in a bistro down the road from our hotel we made a little mistake at our table during ordering and I said to the waiter in French “Nous sommes américain” – We are Americans – as a way to poke fun at the mistake we just made. The waiter, with a huge grin on his face, replied in French “Oui, j’ai vu” - “I noticed”. Talk about funny.

My point is simply that by using a few words of French and remembering that I’m in a different country and therefore everyday customs may be different has really made my trips to France delightful. Here’s a concrete example of remembering that customs can be different…

Je vous ecoute! I’m listening to you!

A few times I have been in a shop or the bakery and the person serving me looks at me and says “Je vous ecoute!” If you directly translate this into English you get: I am listening to you. Now, the first time I heard this, I was a little bit surprised and mildly insulted. In all honesty, I felt that if I was in the US and someone in a shop addressed me in this way I would walk out. However, I noted it happening to French people – not just me the American – and it happened in different situations to me around Paris. I finally realized that the literal translation was not really accurate. What the person was really communicating was: “I am at your service – you have my attention”. The fact that I was being addressed formally (“vous”) is what started to tip me off. In French, you are normally addressed formally if you are a parent (by your children), someone you have recently met, if you are older than the person that is talking to you or if you are being served by someone. My light bulb moment was realizing that rather than the person being surly they were actually being formal with me.

My “bad” experiences in Paris have been no different than my “bad” experiences in Manhattan but they are experiences nonetheless!

Je suis retourné à Paris!

I have returned to Paris! Just for a week - on business - and without Kathie (pauvre Kathie). She's enjoying the +30C weather in southern California with our son Jake. I'm staying at a nice hotel just down from the Arc de Triomphe in the 8th district.

I'm looking forward to a walk around the quartier this evening and a croissant and café crème tomorrow morning. It's great to be back!

Arc de Triomphe

On Friday we took pictures from La Defense to the Arc de Triomphe. Today, we visited the Arc de Triomphe and took pictures of La Defense. You have to love the symmetry of the major boulevards here in Paris - thank you Baron Haussmann!

From 2009_07_12

Beautiful views from the top of the Arc! If you have time, be sure to visit. Kathie says it's only 195 steps to the top.

From 2009_07_12

From 2009_07_12

In my opinion (c'est Kathie), the best view in Paris! Beautiful!

Homage to a master - Henri Cartier-Bresson

Yesterday, we visited the Maison Européenne de la Photographie over in the Marais. I specifically wanted to visit the maison because there was an exhibit of Henri Cartier-Bresson underway and I think he was one of the true masters of photography of our time. It really was an amazing exhibit.

...these images reflect the career of a man who wanted to "put the head, the eye and the heart in the same line of sight".

Unquestionably he achieved this in his photographs.

From 2009_06_06

The Belly of the Beast?

Everytime I fly in or out of Paris' Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport - terminal 1 - I always get the feeling I'm in the belly of the beast. First stage is the trip through the intestines - the long, whitish, moving sidewalk ride from the terminal out to the gates - as seen below:


Then, when you arrive back home you reverse the course, go through the intestines once again and into the blood vessels - the long, clear tubes that transport you from the terminal to the baggage claim area and finally out onto the street...


Crazy imagery but that's the way it comes across to me...

I flipped!

Since we arrived in Paris, Kathie has been telling me over and over again that I will "flip" when we visit Giverny where Monet painted his famous water lilies - and more. Today was the day and boy did I flip!

The photo above is an example. Click on the album link on the bottom to see most of the pictures I took today. If you like Monet, flowers, water lilies, and more, then you'll like these pictures...

I'm still flipping.

2009-05-31

The "Chef" Refuses!

It should come as no surprise that the French take their food very seriously. They take dining very seriously too. There's no "herd 'em in and get 'em out" attitude here. If you go out for dinner, you are treated as a guest to the point where it is still considered rude to bring l'addition - the bill - without it being specifically asked for. Want to sit at the table all night long? No one will bat an eyelash at you. Want Fido to sit in your lap while you eat? Bring him or her along! (Can you see Fido in the snap above?)

If you don't like something or it isn't cooked to your expectations, you simply send it back. The other night I ordered the "croque madame" because I just had to try one. Remember my previous post on this topic? Well, it appeared without the egg and, as we all know now, a croque madame is not a madame if there's no egg. I mumbled something about the egg and the waiter whisked the dish from the table - my objections only heard by his shadow - to have the egg added. A few moments later it appeared, with a smile from the waiter, and an egg. Yes, it was good.

Of course, the tradition cuts both ways. We were in a sandwich shop and Carol ordered a sandwich on a baguette. The young waiter who took our order came back and sheepishly informed us a little later that "the chef refuses" to make that sandwich on a baguette - a baguette may only be used if the sandwich is "take away" (aka to go), he explained. Imagine, a sandwich chef? Well, if it had been Los Angeles, it would have been the sandwich artiste who refused. In either case, we shut up and ate our chef-inspired sandwiches. Yes, they were good. (And, by the way, when is a sandwich maker a "chef"? Answer is: only in Paris!)

Today we said good-bye and à bientôt to our great friends Carol and Charlie from Washington, D.C. We'll miss you guys!

Alternative trendsetting in Paris

I saw this sign the other day...

It basically says that only electric cars that are charging may park here. Anyone else gets towed away and as I mentioned in a previous post the guys on "Parking Wars" are pussycats compared to the parking police here in Paris.

I happened by at exactly the right time because there was an electric car getting charged...



And then last night we were out on our nightly walk and happened to see an electric car driving around - maybe even the that was getting charged? It certainly appeared to me that the two young men that were driving that car were on a trendsetting edge that Paris is known for in many ways!

What I love about Europe

Well, it's "small". And I don't mean that in a pejorative way at all. I can't tell you how thankful I am for the fact that yesterday I took a plane to Copenhagen, met customers and partners and was back in Paris to sleep in my own bed. Today, I took the train to Cologne and spent the afternoon with an important customer and am writing this blog post on the train ride back to Paris. And, I will sleep in my own bed tonight.

Everything - and I mean everything - is within a two hour flight. What's not to like about that?

50% of my business is within a two hour flight and the other 50% of my business is - well - much further away?! Hmmm, let me think about that for a second...

I guess a picture is worth a thousand words, eh?

p.s. Did I mention that I boarded the train 5 minutes before it left the station and no one said a peep? That I didn't have to go through a pat-down search after the metal detector because there was no metal detector?! Oh, and the bar cart is being wheeled through and I don't have to pay for my drinks? Sorry, gotta go now...

VO versus VF

No, this has nothing to do with a certain Seagram's brand.

VO = Version Originale
VF = Version Française

As movies are released they typically appear here in France - assuming they came from Hollywood - as VO or "version originale" to start with and then a few weeks or months later they get released here as "version française".

What's the difference? VO means the movie is released in English with French sub-titles (sous-titres). VF means the movie is dubbed into French. So, the key for us anglos here in France is to get to the movie while it is still "VO".

This afternoon, we went to see "Good Morning England" which was hilarious and we absolutely recommend it.

Skill testing question for readers: What is popcorn called in France? Le popcorn.

Parking Wars - Paris Edition

Paris is awash in law enforcement. So far I have seen cops on foot patrol, cops on bicycles, cops on motorcycles, cops in cars, cops on inline skates, cops on horseback, cops in boats on the Seine and, I'm sure, there are cops in the air. They are everywhere and when you don't see a cop, you see the army walking around in threes with their machine guns.

So, it is not surprising that Paris is also awash with parking enforcement people - and they mean business. I see cars getting ticketed or towed all the time. We also ran across the use of the famous "boot".

If I was A&E TV I'd be thinking about a new series: Guerres de Stationnement, édition de Paris. I wonder if Steve "Garfield" speaks French? I can only imagine what a Paris street argument with Paris parking enforcement would look like. It would be worth pulling up a chair at the local brasserie to watch though!

Coffee hunt

My search for good coffee is finally over. Before we moved to Seattle, I don't think we knew what good coffee really was. Then, after a few years living in the heart of the Starbuck's death star, we grew to understand coffee and its subtleties.

Eventually, we tasted the ultimate: home-roasted, home-ground, home-percolated coffee that was unbelievable. Who was our saviour? None other than Kim Cameron. Yes, that Kim Cameron.

Now, at home in Seattle, we have our own green beans delivered to the house. We roast them in our Italian roaster, grind them in our Italian grinder, and have great coffee every day. Gone are the days of lining up at a Starbucks. (Sorry Howard.)

We recently came across a blog post titled "How not to drink black tar in Paris?". I don't dislike the coffee in Paris but also don't yearn for it. The coffee in Paris is kind of like a slap that would wake you out of a sleep. Nothing wrong with an occassional slap - especially if leather is involved - but I don't particularly wish to endure one with every demi-tasse. As the blog author wrote:

...the French market is saturated with Robusta beans, grown in their own former African colonies. Robusta coffees are high in caffeine content, and brew into dark, oily, acidic liquid that gives me a toothache just thinking about it. In countries that are known for better coffees, like Italy and Spain, the predominant type of bean is Arabica, which is much more aromatic and less acidic than Robusta.

The author was kind enough to name a few places where one could either get a good cup of coffee or buy your own beans and have them ground. One of them was less than a 5 minute walk from our apartment which fortunately is equipped with both a mocha pot and a French press. I walked into Verlet and threw down the gauntlet, in French: Je cherche le bon cafe pour mon press, Monsieur - I'm looking for good coffee for my press. He smiled wryly at me and responded: Then you've found the right place, my friend!

When vous becomes tu

In English, "you", as a pronoun, is used in all types of relationships. However, in French there is a formal you - vous - and an informal you - tu. I was taught in school what the textbook difference was (i.e., your boss or parents versus your friends). I also know that it can be considered impolite if you use tu in the wrong situations. So I have generally always used vous when speaking with anyone in French.

Today I learned a new French verb: tutoyer (to use tu) which is used when one wishes to communicate on more familiar terms (i.e., switch from vous to tu). I learned it when one of my colleagues said I could tutoyer after I responded in the vous form in an instant message to him.

The funny part was when he told me that I could "tutoyer" him my brain thought that tutoyer was some sort of future tense of the verb "kill" ("tuer") so I thought he was telling me that I would kill him for something he did. When I told him that he replied: "mort de rire" - He was dying laughing!

...but at least now I could "tu" him!

Marchés aux Puces

Paris is well known for its flea markets - "marchés aux puces" - so on Saturday we headed out to the marchés aux puces at the Porte de Clignacourt. It was an easy trip up there from Les Halles on the #4 metro line. We spent a few hours walking around the various shops and itinerant vendors stalls to see all kinds of goodies from clothes, Rolex watches (ya, right!), furniture and gawdy entrapments of all kinds mixed in with the occasional interesting find.

Anyway, the first dozen and a half of the pictures in the slideshow above give you an idea of the flea market. Later that evening we went out for a stroll and I, once again, got a lot of great shots of the area around Notre Dame Cathedral. As I told Kathie: "I can't go by without taking some pictures!". I hope you enjoy them.

There's something about Paris at night that captivates me...

Day 5 pictures...

Less pictures today since today was a work day. After work Kathie took me over to the Palais Royal to see the garden. It at the opposite end of the street from the "Bourse" which I posted a picture of yesterday. Basically, it's less than 5 minutes away from the apartment. A great spot to eat lunch, read the paper or simply to get some sun on a nice day!

Don't let your wives see the pictures of the beautiful shoes for sale...

Day 4 pictures...

The lines were too long for the Kandinsky exhibit over at the Centre Pompidou plus it was a beautiful, warm and sunny day so we walked over to the flower market on the Ile de la Cité. After the flower market, we toured the inside of Notre Dame Cathedral, had lunch and walked back to the apartment via the Seine. After a late dinner we took a stroll and took some more pictures at and around the Louvre.

Tomorrow morning I metro in to our office in La Defense - I'm looking forward to seeing everyone!

Day 3 pictures...

Despite the rain (and jet lag) we managed to get out today!

Petite déjeuner - Breakfast

I'm trying to get into everyday life here in Paris. So today I got up, walked down the 66 steps and strolled around the quartier (neighborhood) looking for a boulanger (bakery) and a place to get some fresh fruit. I didn't have to go far as you can see! Words cannot describe how awesome the croissants were, the brioche au chocolat was out of this world and the strawberries - from Spain - were pretty good, too.

Parisian apartment living typically means small kitchens and small refrigerators. This forces you into buying fresh food. It's pretty typical to purchase what you will eat for dinner on the way home from work, for example.

We've arrived - Nous sommes ici!

We finally arrived in Paris and got to our apartment around noon. After meeting with our landlady we took a well deserved nap and then went out for an evening stroll and a quick bite. Kathie's already in bed but I thought I'd get a post published before I turned in. Feel free to click on the pictures above to see the whole album.

I'll leave it to Kathie to blog about our plane having to divert to Winnipeg due to overflowing toilets. Yuch. Oh, and her lay flat bed in business class from Toronto to Paris whereas I was relegated to the pretzel-shaped seats in row 58. And my "meat" product dinner on a tray versus her gourmet meals on china. I'm not bitter about any of that. No, really, I'm not.