Paris Events
Jazz For Parents and Kids
Jazz starts early this May with Finland in Paris - Finnish jazz performers set the stage for Place Saint Sulpice’s breezy tones. Throughout the warm weather months, Place St. Sulpice is often the venue for various events ranging from cultural exchanges to book and antique shows.
Photo by Chris Card Fuller 2008
Among the myriad of events featured in this year’s 8th Jazz Festival at St. Germain-des-Pres, Saturday, May 10th programming includes a “Jazz Ball” for parents and kids. The ‘Petit Bal Swing dance and musicale kermesse starts at 6 …
Date: May 9th, 2008 |
No Comments
August in Paris: Camp out and Rock en Seine!
2-Day Festival Passes have just gone on sale this week (75 Euros). If you’re already in Paris, and you’re one of the first 500 to book through FNAC, you’ll get a free Rock en Seine t-shirt as well.
Now’s the time to book your campsite if you plan on attending Paris’s 6th Annual Rock en Seine music festival (2008). This year’s event kicks off with the August 20th performance - Rage Against the Machine (45 Euros). (Keep in mind that Rage Against the Machine is not included in your …
Date: April 21st, 2008 |
No Comments
French Cooking: Choucroute
Choucroute Platter served at the Brussels Cafe, 71 Blvd. Exelmans, 75016
When it comes to ‘comfort food’, nothing does it better than ‘choucroute’ (pronounced ’shoo-croot’) or Alsatian saurkraut on a cold day in March. Accompanied with a crisp Riesling, this meal will make you completely forget the howling winds and pelting rain.
The region of France most famous for ‘choucroute’ is Alsace - and I’ve been told that the best place to eat choucroute in one of Alsace’s most famous cities, Strasbourg is right across from the Strasbourg cathedral.
However, if you’re in Paris, you need go no farther than most Alsatian (as well as Belgian and German) brasseries for a good ‘choucroute’ or you can make a great dish yourself (as long as you buy the right sausages).
You can buy your saurkraut either ‘cru’ or ‘cuit’ in most delis (cooked or uncooked). The best cooked saurkraut has bits of ham mixed in. Add to that salt pork and sausages of all sorts. I bought my sausages for this dish at J. Valliot, 21 Rue Daguerre.
That’s where I came across a particular brand of sausage that deserves special mention.
This sausage is called Saucisse de Morteau. If you’ve never tried this regional specialty, you’re in for a treat.
Date: March 13th, 2008 |
2 comments
Bringing in the Chinese New Year in Paris's 13th arrondissement
Photo by Chris Card Fuller ©2008
It may be the Year of the Rat, but in Paris’s 13th arrondissement, dragons were in abundance. The New Year began Thursday (Feb 7,’08), but Saturday afternoon, many of the businesses along Avenue de Choisy (Metro: Porte de Choisy) received visits from dragons of many colors to bring good fortune for the entire year.
Photo by Chris Card Fuller ©2008
You can tell where a dragon has already passed because of the red confetti sprinkled along the sidewalk and you can tell when a dragon is about to arrive by the noise of drums and symbols which announces his imminent arrival. A smart shop owner will be sure to have a fresh green salad hanging from the second floor balcony. When the dragon arrives, he gives his blessing to the shop by taking a little stroll through the shop (and hopefully not breaking too much bric-a-brac in his wake). When he exits he stands up on his hind legs to reach bring down the suspended salad which he eats and then regurgitates into the shopkeepers bowl. If you’ve never seen a dragon eating salad, this is something not to be missed.
The feeding frenzy was contagious - feeling similar hunger pangs, Mark and Angelique took us to one of their favorite restaurants in the neighborhood (they have several). Restaurant Imperial Choisy, 32, Avenue de Choisy specializes in Chinese and Cantonese cuisine.
Date: February 10th, 2008 |
1 comment
February - the month for blooming romance in Paris
“The Bewitching Hour - Sunset at Versailles”
Where patriotic red, white and blue blurrs romantic: Blue, White, and rose.
Photo by Lori Bertolini ©2007
Was there ever a more romantic time to be in Paris than February? Judging by the recent events of this past weekend - President Nicolas Sarkozy’s Saturday marriage to Carla Bruni and the nip to the air that has most of us wanting to stay under the covers an extra hour - February is most definitely becoming the most romantic month to be in Paris.
If you were one of the fortunate tourists to be wandering through the Versailles gardens this Sunday (Feb 3,’08) you might have had the opportunity to ask President Sarkozy for an autograph as he and his new bride snuggled into cafe seats at the Versailles garden’s Cafe Flottille - opposite the reflecting ponds. The photo of this newly-wed couple splashed across Monday morning’s Le Parisien looks like the typical cafe couple you’re likely to see on a crisp Sunday afternoon in February.
Date: February 4th, 2008 |
No Comments
May 1st: Lilies of the Valley for Labor Day
Photo by Chris Card Fuller ©2008
Today is a holiday for everyone except those in the restaurant business. This year May 1st turns out to be a double-header - two holidays wrapped into one, Ascension Thursday and the Fete du Travail,or the Worker’s Holiday. I’ve always associated this European holiday with parades in Moscow’s Red Square. Guess that’s because I’m and a product of the ‘Cold War Era’ Actually, May 1st Labor Day was inspired by an event in Chicago.
The important thing to remember about May 1st if you’re visiting …
Date: May 1st, 2008 |
No Comments
Learn to Speak French
“Why bother learning to speak French? It’s a dying language.”
This was the test question my examiner asked of me for my finals after studying French language and culture at the University of Paris for a whole year. It seemed like too easy a question for a final exam – but I’ve often noted that examiners love to give students questions including just enough rope to hang themselves.
Because this coming week (until March 24th’08) is ‘French language’ week, I thought it might be helpful to talk about the benefits of studying French
Date: March 14th, 2008 |
6 comments
April in Paris: Marathon and Foire de Paris!
April in Paris takes on a whole new dimension when you consider that the month will start off with the annual Paris marathon on April 6th this year (2008). Be sure to take a close look at the NEW ROUTE if you plan on running in the marathon. If you haven’t already signed up, it’s too late to participate for this year, but you can start training for 2009. Just remember to register on the Paris Marathon website no later than November.
Even if you don’t plan on running …
Date: March 9th, 2008 |
No Comments
Paris en Couleurs
Robert Capa’s photo of the ‘New Look’ (greatly enlarged as an exhibition advertisment in front of Hotel de Ville)
The photo exhibition at Hotel de Ville (Paris’s City Hall) is a definite can’t miss show. It’s worth the wait in line on a sunny afternoon in February - but some of the star attractions are surprisingly bypassed by the majority of visitors.
I’m referring to the wing devoted to the photographer Peter Cornelius, a German in Paris who has been overlooked in past years, partly because of his early demise in …
Date: February 7th, 2008 |
No Comments
Birdsongs: Olivier Messiaen
When I was still a student in Paris, a friend sent me on a quest. He wanted me to get the autograph of a composer named Olivier Messiaen.
He told me that Messiaen was a genius, that he used birdsongs to compose some of his music.
He told me it should not be such a hard task because the composer was an organist at the Trinite Church. He played the organ for mass every Sunday so if I could find the church, I could also find the composer.
I discovered the hardest thing about finding Monsieur Messaien would be trying to pronounce his name.
Date: January 29th, 2008 |
No Comments
