^{Apricot Mille Feuilles with Pistachio cream}
We stayed a short distance from Canal Saint Martin last week in Paris and wandered into Les Enfants Perdus for lunch one day. It’s a relatively new bistro we’d recommend if you find yourself in the neighborhood in search of a satisfying meal in a charming setting. Friendly service, tasty dishes (see menu below) and yummy desserts.

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Les Enfants Perdus
9, Rue Récollets
75010 Paris, France
Telephone 01 40 35 54 51
Métro: Gare de l’Est, Line 4
Hours: Open daily for lunch (brunch on Sunday) and dinner.
Prices: A la carte: about €35 not including wine.There’s a prix fixe lunch menu available (two courses, coffee) for €15

We finally got a chance to try out the gelato place in Paris, Grom. Perfect timing last week because Paris was blazing hot, the way I love it.

Their philosophy embraces the use of quality ingredients and because of that the gelato is outstandingly yum! They also believe in eco-sustainability so their disposable materials including garbage bags and spoons are made of corn starch and vegetable oil based plastic, which are entirely biodegradable.

Two locations in Paris:

Grom
81, Rue de Seine
75006 Paris France
Telephone: 01 404 69 260
Hours: 12pm-12am, Every day

Gelateria Grom
111, Boulevard Beaumarchais
75003 Paris France
Hours: 12pm-7pm, Monday – Saturday

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The following clip might make some of you cringe, particularly those of you who bank in a large French city, and no matter what you do, can’t seem to contact your own banker. Ever. Since I’m not one of those people anymore (Our bank is in a small town where I have easy access to our banker. Yes, that IS possible.), this spot is sort of hilarious – but I’ve been there so know that I feel for you if this scenario is more of a reality in your life. The good news is that if you hang in there (the spot is sort of long), it offers a solution!!! NOTE: In French.

From AP:

Paris’ Picasso Museum is closing its doors for renovations, spiriting away its masterpieces under high security to government warehouses for more than two years while seeking to expand the much-visited but cramped site.

The museum will be free to all visitors Sunday, the last day before the work begins.

It will stop lending out Picasso artworks during the overhaul, which will begin with experts updating, computerizing and restoring the inventory, museum director Anne Baldassari said Saturday.

The museum, in a baroque mansion in Paris’ Marais district, opened in 1985, and it traces the Spanish-born artist’s prolific career. Picasso died in 1973.

Renovation of the 3,000-square-meter (32,000-square-foot) space will begin early next year. It is expected to last two years and cost euro20 million, the museum said in a statement.

“It needs modernizing,” Baldassari said, citing electrical problems and the need to make it more accessible to people with reduced mobility.

She also wants to boost attendance — currently at about half a million people a year — and attract more young people by expanding exhibition space and adding halls for student activities.

While the museum has about 5,000 pieces in stock, it only displays 250-300 at a time, she said. “We can’t continue like this,” she said.

To guard against theft of the museum’s riches during the renovation, the artworks will be packaged and shipped, under tight security, to storerooms managed by the national museum authority, Baldassari said. The entire process is very “locked-up and watched by police,” she said on France-Info radio, declining to give further details.

Picasso’s paintings, sculptures and sketches are among the world’s most coveted artworks and are often targeted by thieves.

The museum will continue to host education and cultural events related to the Picasso collection at other sites while the renovation is done.

They keep saying that the French are the most productive people in the world year after year. A new study conducted by the UBS has reaffirmed this finding that although the French work the least amount of hours per year in the world, they still manage to be the most productive.

People work an average of 1,902 hours per year in the surveyed cities but they work much longer in Asian and Middle Eastern cities, averaging 2,119 and 2,063 hours per year respectively. Overall, the most hours are worked in Cairo (2,373 hours per year), followed by Seoul (2,312 hours). People in Lyon and Paris, by contrast, spend the least amount of time at work according to the global comparison: 1,582 and 1,594 hours per year respectively.

Maybe we should all work LESS and see what happens – but don’t blame me if you get fired from your job.

Dating from the end of the 17th century and standing 450 square meters (4,843 square feet), a chapel in the small village, Massat (Midi-Pyrénées), is up for sale. Or should we say it’s up for auction on eBay.

Interested? The good news: it features old stained glass windows, a romanesque porch, fine wooden beams and several decorative statues. AND. It has serious potential! The bad news: it’s still a fixer upper, desperately needing significant renovations on the floors, roof and electrical wiring.

The village’s mayor, Léon-Pierre Galy-Gasparrou, decided to sell it because the municipality can’t afford to pay for the repairs. Besides, there isn’t a permanent priest and there are two larger churches in the community.

Buy it now!

UPDATE: This listing was removed just after I published this blog post.

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Some people come to Paris to take photos of the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame and The Arc de Triomphe, but I come here to take photos of game references. I’m strange that way. I love this “Leave us alone!” from the game, Bubble Bobble. If you’re wondering (I know you are!), this one’s at the corner of rue du Temple and rue Rambuteau.

Space Invaders bonus seen in Paris, Canal Saint Martin yesterday. Game is not over.

From the guardian:

“So Alton Towers has banned embarrassingly titchy swimming trunks at its water park. But spare a thought for France, where the opposite is true: local authorities regularly force men to ditch their Bermudas and parade in skin-tight budgie-smugglers for the greater public good.

One Paris-based Irish journalist recalls how he attempted some early-morning back-stroke in a pair of standard Marks & Spencer navy swim shorts that came “about halfway down my thighs”. As he lowered himself into the shallow end, the pool attendant screamed that…”

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From the telegraph:

“…The places under threat include some of the area’s most popular resorts. Bays popular with Britons from Mont-Saint-Michel along the Atlantic coast all the way to La Baule, a top summer beach destination, are now struggling to dispose of thousands of tons of Ulva lactuca – more commonly known as sea lettuce.

Doctors have warned that the algae pose a health risk as they produce hydrogen sulphide when they rot. That can become trapped under a seaweed crust and be as deadly as cyanide if released suddenly.

Two weeks ago, a horse rider lost consciousness after breathing in the toxic fumes on the beach in Saint-Michel-en-Grève, where 16,000 tonnes of the algae have already been collected this year. His horse was killed.

Pierre Philippe, of the Lannion hospital in Brittany, which also treated a council worker who fell into a coma while clearing beaches, said there were “almost certainly other unreported cases”. The seaweed has been multiplying abnormally fast due to the use of huge amount of nitrates used in intensive pig and poultry farming. The nitrates seep into the region’s rivers and end in the sea. Scientists said global warming could also be a factor.

The worst affected area is Saint-Brieuc on the Côtes-d’Armor coast of Brittany. Besides Saint-Michel-en-Grève, around ten beaches have…”

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Don’t try this at home.

Although I don’t know when they were ever in, the timeless designed Palladium Boots are apparently back! In 1947 the legendary Pampa boot was born, and the functionality, comfort and durability were so outstanding that the French Foreign Legion adopted it for their use. The Foreign Legion put the boot to the test in the harsh desert conditions of North Africa, and throughout the rugged terrain of the Atlas Mountains.

Palladium Boots $50 – $70

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From the latimes:

I’d seen pictures of this oddly unsettling Barbie Foosball (a.k.a. table soccer) table floating around the Internet for months, but figured theChloé Ruchon designed “Barbie-Foot” — the game is called “babyfoot” in France — was just a one-off piece of art created for the doll’s 50th birthday.

Then, just this morning, I received an e-mail informing me that: 1) said table is part of the current window installation at Colette in Paris, and 2) a supply of just nine of these limited-edition Barbie torture devices, manufactured by Bonzini, a French company that’s been making such contraptions since 1936, and are available through the store (though, as of this posting, I couldn’t find an online link to purchase the table).

The real kicker isn’t anywhere on the table, though — it’s the price tag. The perfect accessory for your Barbie Dream House will set you back a cool 10,000 euros. At current exchange rates that works out to just over $654 per player.

Take that, G.I. Joe.

– Adam Tschorn

You’ve seen the bright, double-decker, in-your-face Paris tour bus navigating the windy streets and massive roundabouts of Paris scooting around wide-eyed tourists desperate to take in every single one of the most famous Paris landmarks, all in the shortest amount of time. They’re hard to miss. While some tourists would rather set their hair on fire than get on one of these, there are others who swear by their virtues. It’s not really something I’d ever thought I’d be taking a ride on, but when we had a visitor from Japan, she could only stay in Paris for 2 days. What to do? If she didn’t HAVE to see all of the landmarks, we surely wouldn’t have done it but she did, and so we thought this was the most likely way to pull it off.

I have to admit that it’s kind of excellent for those specific situations and we had the best time riding it (ride on the upper deck!) and being able to get out at any number of stops (then get back on) There are many buses so you’ll only need to wait about 10 minutes at each stop during the summer to catch another bus, 20 minutes during the winter. The entire tour, if you stay on the bus the whole time, takes approximately two hours and 15 minutes. That’s quick, particularly if you think that during that time you could’ve been waiting in line just to get on the Eiffel Tower. I exaggerate but you get what I mean.

You have the possibility of stopping at nine different places: 1. Trocadéro, 2. Champ de Mars, 3. Louvre, 4. Notre-Dame, 5. Orsay, 6. Opéra, 7. Champs Elysées-Etoile, 8. Grand Palais and 9. Eiffel Tower. The earliest buses start between 9:30am and 10:30am with the last buses stopping between 6:25pm and 10:16pm. See the hours and stops here. Note: Weekend and week day hours differ slightly, so do check the hours carefully.

Audio guides are available in several languages and you can download the tour’s mp3 from the website here in advance if you want to hear the guide from your own mp3 player.

You can spread your trip over two days (it’s an unlimited 2 day pass), so for the price of 24 € (Adult fare) and 12 € (kids 4 to 12 fare), you might just be able to see a lot of stuff in a little amount of time. Buy your tickets online to receive an additional 10% off.

Paris Bus Tour (Les cars rouges)

I didn’t even know Strasbourg HAD a 10-day  international film festival. Of course, this is only their second year but it’s definitely worth a mention. (Thanks, Sophie)

The Strasbourg International Film Festival is an alternative, cutting-edge discovery film festival showcasing independent film from around the world mainly focusing on the works of new and emerging filmmakers, held annually. Presenting 50 feature films and over 150 short films, the Strasbourg International Film Festival works to empower and assist independent filmmakers while bringing audiences a uniquely rich and cultural filmic experience they might not otherwise have the opportunity to experience and embrace.

Here’s the press release for the event:

Strasbourg, France – The Strasbourg International Film Festival presents feature films selected to screen in the following categories – Drama, Post Modern Drama, Culturally-Inclined Drama, Dramedy, Romantic Comedy, Psychological Thriller, SciFi-Fantasy-Horror, Experimental, Animation and Documentary . The 2009 Strasbourg International FIlm Festival runs August 28 through Sept 6 in Strasbourg, France and Kehl, Germany.

For the 2009 Strasbourg International FIlm Festival 50 feature-length films were selected including 11 World Premieres, 13 International Premieres, 11 European Premieres, 3 Mainland European Premieres, 8 French Premieres, and 3 Strasbourg Premieres representing 37 countries with 31 first-time filmmakers.

The films screening in DRAMA are:

Baghdad, Texas / USA (Director: David H. Hickey) 90 mins. – 2009 – While a Middle Eastern dictator is fleeing his occupied country his plane crashes on the Mexican Border. He is inadvertently carried into Texas by illegal immigrants. Struck by a truck driven by three cowboys, he is taken back to their exotic game ranch where they slowly discover his identity. International premiere

Bathory / Austria/Slovakia, Czech Republic, UK, Hungary, USA (Director: Juraj Jakubisko) 138 mins. – 2008 – Bathory is based on the legends surrounding the life and deeds of Countess Elizabeth Bathory known as the greatest murderess in the history of mankind. Contrary to popular belief, Elizabeth Bathory was a modern Renaissance woman who ultimately fell victim to mens aspirations for power and wealth. French Premiere

Bergfest (Without You I’m Nothing) / Germany (Directed by Florian Eichinger, 1st Feature) 89 mins. – 2008 – A weekend in the Bavarian Alps. 25-year-old HANNES meets his father after 8 years of separation in a little mountain hut. By the influence of their very different girl friends ANN and LAVINIA, the stage-director-father and his actor-son cautiously try to make a new start. A bold venture, leading all of them to an abyss of unforeseen cruelty.  French Premiere (more…)

From cheapflights:

“Want a seat on the inaugural flight of the new A380? Get your bidding arm ready.

Open booking for the Air France A380 flight is available on AirFrance.com.”

From wired:

“1693: Champagne is said to have been invented on this day by Dom Pierre Pérignon, a French monk. It almost certainly isn’t true.

Because Dom Pérignon lived at the Benedictine abbey in Hautvillers at the time of his “invention,” the village in France’s Champagne region, not far from Èpernay, is generally regarded as the birthplace of the bubbly.

But like many historical claims, the night they invented champagne appears more …”

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Related: The Making of French Champagne, Radioactive French Champagne

Comment trouver une bonne nounou / How to find a good nanny. Click on the image to watch the video.