gps satellite navigation system company, tomtom, with the goal of creating a viral marketing campaign – has launched a game and internet reality show in france called “tomtomraid” where two teams must find checkpoints in france using only a tom tom go 700. they have no money, no credit cards and no food, but are given a smart car to get to their destinations, where they will also find a meal. i took screenshots of them today while they were eating lunch. it looks like they are around the lyon area and i think they’re moving south.

the first team is called “the chti brothers” and the second, “bonnie & clyde.” you can see them live online on the tomtomraid website in real time video and you can also read and/or send messages to them. on the site you’ll see cute messages like, “go chti brothers! remember your mussels and fries!” (specialties of the northern french, the chtimis) and the other messages being sent to the contestants.

what do they win? NOTHING! but if you vote on their site, you have a chance of winning a tomtom navigator.

you can see the action here: tomtom raid

[via alternative buzz]

tags: france travel tomtom raid gps realityshows internet viral marketing real time video race

this man is a professional model that “sits” in a window display for a pretzel shop. hey! pretzels aren’t very french!! sometimes outside people get trampled on from the massive lurking crowds that come to see him every day.

just kidding.

he is actually yogi coudoux, master of mind over body and he’s known for being able to control his breath (pranayama yoga, the art of mastering breath), lowering his heartrate, contorting his body into a teeny tiny glass box that would sit at the bottom of a swimming pool. to say that he is flexible would be the understatement of the year. he’s much more than that.

{mosimage}yogi coudoux is a world yoga master. the son of a tibetan yoga teacher, he moved to paris and opened his own schools of yoga and kung fu at the age of twenty. over the last 4 decades, he has become world-renowned for his exceptional abilities. he still performs regularly and teaches – not for shock value – but to encourage awareness of how powerful our minds can be over our bodies, revealing innovative techniques that will lead to long-term good health through self-knowledge and the mastery of self. using exercises that are simple and accessible to all, regardless of age, sex, or physical condition, he provides a program that will restore confidence, self-esteem, energy, flexibility, and restful sleep while ending problems of anxiety, pain, stress, and anger.

he’s offering a seminar in chartres to teach how maintaining good posture will improve or lengthen your overall well-being.

STAGES à CHARTRES (training/seminar in chartres to perfect your back)

December 10 & 11, 2005
Location: 28 Novotel – Chartres, France
Fees: 110 € for one day, 200 € for both days
For more information, email: le-yogi@wanadoo.fr et téléphone : 02 37 46 90 74

future events with yogi coudoux include a 6 day seminar called the KUNG of yoga: flexibility of the body and spirit (site in french) december 26 – 31, 2005.

tags: france travel yoga pranayama yogi coudoux seminar health breath control mindful living study

“…the myth of color-blind France is complex and flawed.
Nonetheless, it has exercised a powerful attraction upon both
[B]lack Americans and the French themselves.” ~Tyler Stovall, Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light

“In Paris, I lived in all parts of the city–on the Right Bank and the Left, among the bourgeoisie and among les misérables, and knew all kinds of
people, from pimps and prostitutes in Pigalle to Egyptian bankers in Neuilly. This may sound extremely unprincipled or even obscurely immoral: I found it healthy. I love to talk to people, all kinds of people, and almost everyone, as I hope we still know, loves a man who loves to listen.” James Baldwin, Nobody Knows My Name

You could visit Paris hundreds of times and get a completely unique idea of it each time depending on your own curiosity and volition. mileage will vary. For example, someone might simply want to see the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe and Amelie’s Montmartre, while others would be in search of something deeper and looking for more of a complex experience, an experience that is rooted in an entirely different aspect of Paris’ history – such as “Black Paris.”

Unknown to most of the millions of the tourists that visit the Cty of Light each year, there are tours and courses available particularly focusing on Paris’ history as it relates to the Africans, black North/South Americans, and black Europeans, who, for political and/or personal reasons made Paris their homes.

It’s an opportunity to find out about why so many blacks (Africans, African Americans and Europeans), many of them famous writers, artists and musicians, expatriated to such a complex and paradoxical space, Paris – and what it was like for them to be there.

There’s also a course being offered next summer that sounds like it’s going to be not only a fascinating learning opportunity but also a unique “lived experience.” During 4 weeks in paris, students from Indiana University, Bloomington will examine the politics of migration, the motives, implications and consequences of transnational life – all this though text, lectures, field trips, guest speakers, music and film. to be discussed: “Why Paris? is it a refuge from racism?”; “Who are the historical and contemporary black internationalists?”; “How does black Paris fit into the black experience in europe?” “What is the OTHER Paris?” “the Paris riots” and more. Black paris is a timely and significant topic in african american and african diaspora studies not to be ignored.

The Course: Black Paris: Migration and Cosmopolitanism in the City of Light
June 12 to July 7, 2006 – Paris, France

Tours: discover african-american history in paris, black paris tours, the insiders guide to black paris.
Other Sources: Cafe de la Soul

tags: france travel black paris tours sightseeing african americans african diaspora insiders paris
study

it’s just after thanksgiving (of course, french people don’t know and/or don’t care) but to me, it marks the start of the christmas season. so i’m going to talk about the christmas markets in france. but first things first.

believe it or not, lulu IS in that picture at the christmas market in nice. can you find her? like, you know, i spy (the picture riddles?) or, remember, where’s waldo? (or “where’s wally in the uk – the goofy guy with round glasses and the striped hat and shirt?) well, where’s lulu??! hint: she’s looking at you!

the christmas market in nice is a fun one, indeed. surrounded by palm trees, the ocean breeze and a ubiquitous warmth of the the golden sun, spending christmas in nice reminds me a little bit of christmases in southern california, where i grew up.

every year in nice, the market spreads over practically the whole of “place massena,” a big open area not far from the shopping quarter of nice. there’s even an outdoor ice skating rink, but i recommend you get there early for skating because it does get drippy fast. theres’s also a little snow forest using fake snow so you can visit santa or stroll through the plastic white winter wonderland. don’t eat the snow.

artisans set up shop and there are many christmassy things to buy. i didn’t see anything that i wanted to buy but it’s fun nonetheless to admire the crafts, watch people, ice skate, catch some rides at the carnival or snack on junkfood.

there are many other christmas markets worth visiting that feel more traditionally like christmas (the snow is real!) so i’ve listed several cities below that host christmas markets from all over france (with links to their tourism offices to find out about the details of the markets):

Marchés de Noël (Christmas Markets in France)

Strasbourg (Alsace) (the most famous and largest french christmas market), Dijon (Bourgogne), Besançon (Franche-Comté), Reims (Champagne), Chartres (Centre), Avignon (Provence), Lille (Nord), Rouen (Normandie), Amiens (Picardie)–make sure to see their color lightshow at the cathedral too, Noisy le Grand (one of the larger christmas markets in Paris, Ile de France), Clermont-Ferrand (Auvergne)
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*Lulu Lundi – Monday is dedicated to posting photos of Lulu, a Boston Terrier in France.

This is also a delicious wedge cut out of weekend dog blogging (#11) kindly hosted by Sweetnicks

tags: france travel christmas markets march�s de no�l nice riviera holiday
shopping

i took this photo today from our bedroom window upstairs. a bit foggy but i love the snow! there were really big snowflakes but it didn’t snow that much. it’s weather that makes me just want to have a warm hearty soup with some pain de campagne (country bread) and curl up around the fire. i did not want to go out at all. then i remembered we were invited to lunch. doh!! totally worth it though. on the menu: roasted pintade (guinea fowl) with a potato gravy, chestnuts in butter, endive salad, pastries galore AND cheeses.

a baker comes to our house every week (yay him!) and we never know what he’ll have inside his bakery truck. it’s a little surprise for us (and many extra calories) three times a week.

this was in our baker’s truck this week and he kindly let us take a picture of it. it’s bread shaped into a hedgehog with mischievious chocolate eyes – most likely applied AFTER baking . i think real hedgehogs are cute (from afar), but this one’s even more so. isn’t it too adorable?! the bread was a “pain au lait” (“milk bread”), not unlike a soft brioche but not as sweet and baked with significantly less eggs.

tags: france travel pain au lait boulangerie brioche hedgehog french breads

…(or a pain au chocolat) and some milk. he’d been floating for a distance of 800 miles surviving on rainwater and the flying fish that luckily landed on the deck of his boat.

i guess after nearly three weeks of just fish and water, i’d want something completely different too. yup. a croissant would fit the bill. anyway, i thought that was a cute, funny story, and with a happy ending! [via reuters]

some time in the 80s, german filmmaker, philip gröning, asked the grande chartreuse monastery located near grenoble, france if he could make a film about life there. after much contemplation, the monks and nuns kindly gave permission 13 years later under the condition that gr�ning use no artificial lighting, no music except for the monk’s chanting, no commentary and no interviews. given those restrictions, one would imagine the final result to be compared to something akin to watching paint dry for nearly three hours but apparently has instead gained cinematic recognition and rave reviews for beautifully capturing the essence of a monk’s life. gr�ning spent six months at the monastery shooting the film and living the life of a monk. the film, “into great silence” was premiered in venice, italy last september and was officially released this month (distribution will probably go the art house route).

the monks are from the strictest monastic discipline and they take a vow of silence for most of their lives there at the grande chartreuse motherhouse of the carthusian order which was founded in 1084. speaking is not forbidden per se, but is done as little as possible. they also do not sleep more than 3 hours at a time and have monastic responsibilities all day and night that leave them literally no free time. when gr�ning was living at chartreuse, some monks were actually against him being there and shooting the film, so he tried to tell them in advance where he’d be so they could avoid those areas (by writing notes, a means of communicating at the monastery without talking).

the film IS a monastery rather than being a film showing a monastery. since there is nearly no talking, the viewer is more focused within, watching from the point of view of a monk, contemplating the silence, the repetition and rhythm of a meditative life. this is the first film ever about life inside the Grande Chartreuse.

More Info
About Into Great Silence and where it might be available for viewing (a movie trailer is on the site as well)
Review: Into Great Silence
More about the carthusian monks and nuns
chartreuse liquors made by the monks

tags: into great silence chartreuse france travel monastery french alps films

he’s baaaaaAAAaaack. stephen clarke, author of the laugh-out-loud and huge success, a year in the merde has released a new book called, merde actually, part deux of paul west’s hilarious adventures in france. the new book was launched this month, and stephen clarke will be available for a reading and signing in paris. the details:

When: December 13, 2005, 8:00 p.m.
Where: Alimentation Generale, 64 rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud 75011 Paris – Metro: Parmentier

The signing/reading will be followed by a concert by Amen Viana, whose music fuses rock, jazz and blues.

france doesn’t celebrate (duh!) but we are celebrating our own thanksgiving en famille sans turkey. *GASP* yes, this year is a vegetarian day of thanks – to think about all the animals for which we are thankful, that ended up in our stomachs.

and here’s a thanksgiving quote that i thought was pretty good:

“I celebrated Thanksgiving in an old-fashioned way. I invited everyone in my neighborhood to my house, we had an enormous feast, and then I killed them and took their land.” –Jon Stewart, The Jon Stewart Show

Be good and have a great thanksgiving.

a cool tidbit about exam questions for the french high school diploma (the bac) – via Yahoo and AFP:

“When France’s high school students sit next June for the exam that determines if they graduate, culture-and-arts majors will be quizzed on a song by 1960s drugs-and-love rock icon Jimi Hendrix, according to the education ministry…”

Read the full article

this book(let) from 1945 was written by the Information & Education Division of the US Occupation Forces. yes, france’s ally, the u.s. during WWII. it is in a question/answer format, based on complaints and observations of the american forces about france. the main purpose of this publication looked to dispell any french stereotypes american forces might have had, and to integrate american soldiers better into france with minimal levels of culture shock.

it is written surprisingly from a humane perspective encouraging tolerance, understanding and acceptance.

an excerpt from the forward:

“…It lists the criticisms, misconceptions and ordinary “gripes” which American troops in Europe express most frequently when they talk about the French. Each comment, or question, is followed by an answer — or discussion. Some of the answers are quite short, because the question is direct and simple. Some of the answers are quite long, because the “questions” are not questions at all, but indictments which contain complicated and sweeping preconceptions.

This booklet may not convince those who are hopelessly prejudiced, but it may help to keep others from being infected by the same lamentable virus.”

the full booklet is available to read online here: 112 gripes

there are a couple of groups in paris that organize rollerblading “runs.” one’s on sunday (unless it’s raining or the streets are wet), meeting at 2:30pm near place de la bastille (37 boulevard Bourdon). rollerbladers of all levels are welcome. they’re planning a special run on december 18 where you’re encouraged to wear a christmas themed costume. if you go to this, please take photos and send some to me! [see their site L'association Rollers & Coquillages for details]

the other paris rollerblade group’s ride is every friday night (unless it’s raining or the streets are wet) from 10pm to 1am for nightskating! meet at Place Raoul Dautry, 14th district, just in front of the Paris Montparnasse station (between the tower and the station). [see the Pari Roller site for details]

i walked through a cemetery just a few days ago in search of a pirate’s tombstone that supposedly was shaped into a huge wine bottle. on the way, i ran into these “tombstones” (pictured) because…well, look at them! they are so….hmmmm…how shall i say? eye catching, to say the least. ok. they are STRANGE. one plaque says, “to our parents” the other has the dates of death (1902 and 1911) and their names. what to think? there are a few possibilities here: 1) the children of the deceased hated their parents and wanted to make the ugliest tombstones EVER; 2) the tombs were bombed during the war and were later re-assembled…REALLY poorly with superglue; 3) these are fake, “practice” tombstones for a class assignment made by students of the l’universit� de la tombe (grave university. ok i made up that school) – what grade do you think they got?; or 4) the children of the deceased actually really loved their parents who both happened to be highly original modern artists (for their time: the late 1800’s) that created “found art” using rocks, petrified cow dung, cement pieces, rubble and other found objects, and therefore the surviving kids dedicated these found art-like style tombstones to their parents’ legacy. something like that.

ugly or not, the more i look at them, the more i sort of like them. i mean, they’re definitely not of the conformist variety, which gets extra points in my book. being bold in “style” is not remiss here, either and if you think about it, it probably took a lot of care and time to make these, much longer than your run-of-the-mill, standard BLOCK tombstone. see, they sort of grow on you, don’t they?

this week brings lulu to the city of calais, an important commercial french port town, in the north of france just along the strait of dover, the narrowest portion of the english channel. she decided to hang with “Les Bourgeois de Calais” (the burghers of calais), an impressive sculpture and one of the more famous works by french sculptor, auguste rodin (in the u.s. he’s probably better known for “the thinker” and “the kiss”). the sculpture represented a monumental historical event that occurred in 1347.

during the 100 years war, calais’ king philip vi abandoned the city, as it was taken under seige by english king, edward III. merci philip! the inhabitants were left to starve as edward III waited for the city to surrender. nearly a year later, with nooses around their necks and holding the keys to the city, six influential town citizens offered their own lives so that the king would consider letting the rest of the town live. luckily, none were killed with the help and urging of england’s queen phillipa (edward III’s consort), who was french and originally from the nearby northern french town of valenciennes. calais was returned to the french 200 years later.

rodin completed the burghers of calais in 1888, and there were several casts of it made after rodin’s death. while the original statue still stands in calais, other versions are scattered across the globe: Stanford University in California, in the sculpture garden of the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia, the gardens of the Musée Rodin in Paris, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem and in Victoria Tower Gardens next to the Houses of Parliament in London.

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*Lulu Lundi – means Lulu Monday and is dedicated to posting photos of Lulu, a cute, traveling bostie in france – every Monday!

this is also serving up lulu’s heaping bowl of weekend dog blogging #10 chez sweetnicks!

tags: calais burghers of calais rodin travel france dogs dog blogging

speaking of video games, here is one called “ladybugs” developed by our french software developer friends at midori based in burgundy. this one’s for very little kids and is soooooo adorable. three activities are available: a maze where you guide a ladybug through a garden to find its home (exit); a race against another ladybug and a color recognition exercise to match the color of a ladybug with the same color house. it’s so cute and has really fun sound effects and an excellent sound track perfect for little ones. click here for more information about: ladybugs

Download the demo of Ladybugs for Mac

Download the demo of Ladybugs for PC

i never thought i’d ever say that france’s postal service was cool, but la poste is so very cool!

they’ve released a set of stamps featuring classic video game characters from Legend of Zelda, Mario, Pac-Man, Prince of Persia, Lara Croft (from Tomb Raider), Insomnia, Spyro the Dragon, Rayman, Donkey Kong (modern version) and two Sims. Also featured is Adibou, mostly known in france.

Yay!

The set of 10 stamps retail for 2.65 euros ($3.09 USD).

purchase online here: la poste’s la boutique du timbre

[via gamasutra]

tags: stamps france laposte videogames jeux video

a group of 15 french illustrators have assembled their work to be included “en bande dessinée” in a (cartoon-style) book called, “Les Beaux Dessins” (beautiful illustrations), a title inspired by cabrel’s latest cd, “Les beaux dégats.” they’ve dedicated their art to the one and only, inimitable francis cabrel and 12 of his most popular songs, songs that continue to transcend generations, and will probably remain popular for years to come.

i believe it is the first of its kind, in terms of taking a legendary french singer and his lyrics and re-interpreting them with illustrations, all in one book. i’ve just ordered it online.

contributing illustrators: Virginie Augustin, François Avril, Béhé, Ted Benoît, Buche, Max Cabanes, Jean-Claude Denis, Ferri, Jean-Claude Götting, Manu Larcenet, Emmanuel Lepage, Jérôme Lereculey, Mazan, Ana Mirallès, Cyril Pedrosa and Zep.

it’s available at amazon.fr (this was just released this month so it is not available at amazon.com for the moment. please check there at a later date.)

[related: francis cabrel organizes sos musiciens benefit concert for new orleans]

in 1976, french filmmaker, claude lelouche, along with his formula 1 bud, shot a short film during the wee hours of the morning in paris. (it was remastered by jean-clement soret and simon gershon, hugh johnson and andrew stirk.) through a simple, one-take shot, and without any special effects whatsoever, this short is a mesmerizingly compelling ride in a ferrari 275 gtb through the streets of paris, driving on the wrong side of the road at times and interpreting the red lights as mere “suggestions” – he doesn’t stop once for a red light, and there are a lot of them. hey! kind of like the drivers in new york!

click here to view the short

[related: interview transcript with claude lelouche (in french)]

i couldn’t drive pass this village without stopping to take a picture of its name. le trou d’enfer translates as HELL HOLE (hell’s hole, or the hole of hell). ask any of the inhabitants; you’ll recognize them from a mile away as their jutting forehead horns give them away… ; )

“where do you live?”

“i live in hell’s hole.”

doesn’t “hell’s hole” sound even worse than just “hell?”

—————–
i remember trying to go to hell….michigan.:D but the bridge to hell was broken.

where have you gone?

though it took 53 years to decide, the roman catholic church has declared that a healing from 1952 in lourdes, france – was, indeed, a true and bona fide miracle. the story

wine fanatics everywhere are probably already filled with beaujolais nouveau right now as i write this post! today is the official release of the beaujolais region’s (lyon to the south of burgundy) special wine (vin de primeur) made from gamay grapes and released the third thursday of november every year.

how is it different than other wines? the process: beaujolais nouveau is produced by carbonic maceration followed by pasteurization (bypassing the malolactic fermentation process in other wines) and therefore takes a mere six weeks to produce after harvest. it is a type of wine that does not last and is best consumed within a few weeks. it is, in other words, INFERIOR WINE made from some of the worst vineyards and crop yields of the year.

half of the beaujolais nouveau is exported. last year (2004) japan was the top importer of beaujolais nouveau over the u.s. (about 1 million cases – that’s roughly 50% of the beaujolais exported from france!) and that nearly killed them in airfreight costs alone.

by far the most popular producer of beaujolais nouveau is georges duboeuf, the king of beaujolais, made the king by his own pimped PR machine and the well-known flowery bottle labels. though, there are better beaujolais to be had.

mike steinberger from slate magazine says it best with some wise advice if you’re looking for a good beaujolais:

“Should you find yourself succumbing to the hype over the next few days, here’s a suggestion: Skip the Nouveau, bypass the Duboeuf (the king does not need your money), and instead look for a Cru Beaujolais. They generally run between $10 and $20, and the best are brought in by the following importers: Louis/Dressner, Alain Junguenet, and Kermit Lynch. Some wines to look for: Chateau Thivin (from the Côte de Brouilly appellation), Jacky Janodet (Moulin-à-Vent, the most esteemed appellation in Beaujolais), Marcel Lapierre (Morgon), Domaine Diochon (Moulin-à-Vent), Jean-Paul Thevenet(Morgon), and Michel Tete (Juliénas).

Not every good Beaujolais is necessarily a fancy growth, however. A personal favorite is Dupeuble, a wine of low pedigree that is made by a conscientious producer whose ambition is not to suck every bit of life out of his vineyard but to fashion a quality quaffer. That he does: The wine, which retails for around $10, is everything good Beaujolais should be—fruity, sprightly, utterly charming. If I owned a house and had a house wine, Dupeuble would be it.”

[via slate, tizwine, the japan times, wikipedia]

tags: beaujolais france wine deboeuf aoc

talking about the waiter reminiscent of a pepe le pew gone bad at angelina the other day made me think about pepe le pew, the romantic-wannabe skunk character from the vintage cartoon library of warner brothers, and it made me wonder about how pepe le pew came about and what was the inspiration of his character, and how he was portrayed in france. (i mean, the very essence and soul of his character weighed heavily on his “frenchness.”) so i did a little digging.

pepe le pew was based on charles boyer’s character, pepe le moko in the movie, algiers (1938) which was an american remake of the 1937 french movie, pepe le moko starring jean gabin, which, in turn, was an adaptation of the novel, pepe le moko by Henri La Barthe. whew!

where was i? actually, chuck jones, the creator of pepe le pew, based the character’s voice on monsieur boyer (some argue that it was maurice chevalier), his physical appearance is based on monsieur gabin and his personality is loosely based on the character in the movie, pepe le moko, as well as chuck jone’s colleague, ted pierce, a philandering hollywood writer.

for whatever reason, pepe le pew was born around 1945 premiering as an animated episode called, “Odor-able Kitty.” lots of other fun titles followed like, “Louvre come back to me,” “For Scent-imental Reasons,” (and many other punsterific titles that go over a kid’s head) – and cartoons with pepe were created all the way until 2003. what made pepe le pew a classic character was his singular personality, his amourous proclivities as a french skunk, and his excellent “frenchified” dialogue, “Do not come wiz me to ze Casbah – we shall make beautiful musicks togezzer right here!”

i’ve asked a few french people about pepe in france. ok, so they were no help since they grew up watching manga instead – but pepe le putois, as he was called in france, did SOUND familiar to them. apparently, pepe le putois was made to be ITALIAN, basically applying the same principles in the dialogue but with an italian twist: accent and some italian words sprinkled here and there. pepe le putois does have a bit of a following in france though much smaller than his anglophone counterpart.

————
some semi-related trivia: in the movie, pirates of the carribean: the curse of the black pearl, johnny depp said he used the inspiration of keith richards and pepe le pew, to play his character, jack sparrow.

here’s a quote from johnny depp, “…I sort of thought that pirates would be the rock and roll stars of the 18th century, you know? Then, when you think of rock and roll stars, the greatest rock and roll star of all time, the coolest rock and roll star of all time, in my opinion, is Keith Richards. Hands down….What I loved about Pepe Le Pew was this guy who was absolutely convinced that he’s a great ladies man. And he’s a skunk. Watching those cartoons, this guy falls in love, deeply falling in love with this cat. The cat clearly despises him, but Pepe Le Pew takes it as sort of a, ‘She’s just playing hard to get. She’s shy. Poor thing.’ I always loved a character like that, just blinders no matter what the actual reality is happening around him. This guy sees only what he wants to see. Pepe Le Pew was the kind of character who always was able to run between the rain drops. He’d just always make it through.”

[via: Filmforce, wikipedia]

tags: pepe le pew cartoons france pepe le moko jean gabin algiers

after a sip of orangina, i realized it wasn’t the orangina it used to be. the orangina that i LIKED. i wondered what happened to that excellent mix of real orange juice mixed with a sort of 7-up. instead, i tasted something like sprite (which, to me tastes like it should be some sort of toilet cleaner) and orange-flavored sweet tarts. (not that there’s anything wrong with sweet tarts UNLESS it has tartrazine in it.)

i don’t think i was off base too much because the largest soft drink company in the world, atlanta-based coca cola (they own sprite!), bought orangina in 1999 from france’s pernod ricard for $758 million.

the acquisition was an obvious move to SQUASH their number 2 competitor, pepsi, like a bug – because pepsi depended on orangina’s distribution network in france. it sucks to be number 2.

the french government actually tried to stop the american company’s acquisition of orangina, but was unsuccessful. as a result the french government has since made changes in order to be able to stop other countries from acquiring french businesses in key sectors.

if you had to translate “bling bling” into french, the closest word i can think of is: cannes. mainly known for the famous cannes international film festival that takes place every year in may, cannes has a little more going on than diamond-studded sunglasses sporting juliette binoche sipping a kir royale poolside overlooking the mediterranean.

cannes has a beautiful palm tree lined boardwalk, sandy beaches, gobs of stores to burn a humungous hole in your wallet (the designer boutiques are along the famous “croisette” (boulevard de la croisette)) and clubbing ’til it’s time for breakfast. if you’re into nightlife, be sure to dress to kill.

here lulu is at the port in cannes. you can take a ferry from there to explore the lerins islands just 15 minutes away, or visit other riviera towns and even some coastal towns in italy.

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*”Lulu Lundi” is dedicated to a cute Boston Terrier named Lulu living in France and posted every Lundi (Monday)
This post is also dishing up a huge helping of Weekend Dog Blogging #9 hosted this week by Dispensing Happiness (thanks, Stephanie)

tags: cannes film festival france travel dogs dog blogging