Cute shoe laces for 10 euros from Lacets Decocad

Found this Eiffel Tower Dome Pendant Charm Cluster Brass Necklace Kit at one of my fave places to waste time, Etsy, and thought I’d share. Here’s the link: Eiffel Tower Necklace. It’s available for $7.50.

Generate your own set of questions and answers with Jean Pierre Foucault on Qui veut gagner des millions. This is a fun generator from Remixto.

Generate your own questions!

tags: france, french, who wants to be a millionaire?, generator

[via]

Apparently parents haven’t been too concerned about kids’ safety on the internet because I’m afraid some unpleasant things have been taking place in France, and Europe in general. I don’t know the specifics and we probably don’t really WANT to know what’s been going on, but the government is on to something and has produced some public service announcements called ““Où est Arthur ? La sécurité des enfants et des adolescents sur internet”” (Where is Arthur? Childrens’ and Teenagers’ Safety on the Internet). The spots have been translated in 12 European languages and will be airing on TV and radio during Christmas time.

This PSA, created by Le ministre du travail, des relations sociales, de la famille et de la solidarité, should be a frightening reminder to parents that there are lots and lots and LOTS of scary and CRAZY people out there that can easily get into contact with their kids. Beware, please! Click on the photo above or here to watch the video.

tags: france, french, internet safety, french psa

[Merci Martin!]

If you haven’t received your absentee ballot to vote for U.S. President, don’t worry, you can still fax in your vote. You still have to mail in your vote as well. To note: when you fax your vote, you obviously relinquish your rights to a secret ballot, which is no big deal, really. Go to this site and it’ll take you through the simple and necessary steps to get your ballot out.

I read in Le Monde that 93% surveyed in France would vote for Obama; which is also similar to worldwide polls. Will the whole world be in a collective emotional depression if McCain wins? Yes.

tags: france, expats, elections 2008, u.s. president

From iht:

France’s space agency, CNES put its entire UFO sightings archive on the web.

“The saucer-shaped object is said to have touched down in the south of France and then zoomed off. It left behind scorch marks and that haunting age-old question: Are we alone in this big universe of ours?

This is just one of the cases from France’s secret “X-Files” — some 100,000 documents on supposed UFOs and sightings of other unexplained phenomena that the French space agency is publishing on the Internet.

France is the first country to put its entire weird sightings archive online, said Jacques Patenet, who heads the space agency’s UFO cell — the Group for Study and Information on Nonidentified Aerospace Phenomena.

Their oldest recorded sighting dates from 1937, Patenet told The Associated Press in an interview Friday. The first batch of archives went up on the agency’s Web site this week, drawing a server-busting wave of traffic.

“The Web site exploded in two hours. We suspected that there was a certain amount of interest, but not to this extent,” Patenet said.

The archive includes police and expert reports, witness sketches (some are childlike doodlings), maps, photos and video and audio recordings. In all, the archive has some 1,650 cases on record and some 6,000 witness accounts.

The space agency, known by its French initials CNES, said it is making them public to draw the scientific community’s attention to unexplained cases and because their secrecy generated suspicions that officials were hiding something.

“There’s always this impression of plots, of secrets, of wanting to hide things,” Patenet said. “The great danger would be to…” (more…)

From slashdot:

“Google has begun to scan the streets of Paris as part of its Street View service, but the company may be hindered from publishing them unedited. The reason? French privacy laws. Google may be forced to blur faces or use low-resolution versions of the photographs. The Embassy of France in the U.S. has a page devoted to French privacy laws, that says the laws are needed to ‘avoid infringing the individual’s right to privacy and right to his or her picture (photograph or drawing), both of them rights of personality.”

The baguettes made by the boulangeries near my place are not that great, sadly. I know! I’m in France so… what the??! Anyway, I might try to make some myself. Luckily, Baker’s Banter (King Arthur Flour) recently posted a step-by-step, HOWTO make your own baguettes.

Baguettes Do Try this at Home

There are three new public service announcement videos just released by the Ministry of Employment that are pretty creepy, albeit effective. They’re aiming to encourage people to take care of health problems like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and other repetitive strain injuries related to work before they become debilitating.

All three start with an agonizingly LONG and PAINFUL, moan. Then you see why. EW!

Here’s what the PSA’s say:

Au travail il y a des petites douleurs qui deviennent insupportables.
At work, there are little aches that become unbearable.

Troubles Musculo-squelettiques.
Muscular Skeletal Pain

Parlons en pour les faire reculer.
Let’s talk about it to make it better.

Watch the videos here

It just occurred to me that the bed and breakfast where we stayed in Carcassonne (southwest France) recently, was not only the first B&B we’ve stayed in in France, but it was also a real one, in the sense that you really are staying in someone’s house. In this case, you’re chez Patricia and Andre Ledu.

We loved it.

“Aux Anges Gardiens” means “With The Guardian Angels,” and you’ll feel like your guardian angels were watching over you when you selected this b&b as your home away from home while taking your holidays in Carcassonne.

Patricia and André fled a hectic lifestyle in Paris to embark on a completely new adventure with their B&B. They bought and embraced an 18th century “fixer upper,” took it under their wings and completely restored it. The result of their hard and thoughtful work is a warm, welcoming sanctuary where you’ll feel comfortable and cozy. The house and your hosts will quickly put you at ease and you’ll readily be able to settle in and feel at home. Aux Anges Gardiens is another one of those rare places where you’ll not want to leave.

The rooms are spacious and luxurious, and all have their own private bathroom, so you won’t have to share facilities with other guests in the house. You might be able to tell by the names of the rooms that this place is ideal for couples.

For example, we stayed in the room called, “la Chambre Nuptiale / The Honeymoon Suite” but you have other choices. Oui oui. How about “la Chambre Cocoon / The Love Nest” or the “la Chambre de Maitre / The Master Suite”? Does it sound like a perfect romantic getaway?

It is.

If you’re into more chill kinds of vacations, you will LOVE the patio and pool area at Aux Anges Gardiens. Grab some much needed French rays (remember your sunblock) out there, and laze to your heart’s content during your stay. You’ll be one happy B&B-er.

Since it is a real and true B&B, and we’ve talked about the first B (bed), you’ll be glad to know that the 2nd B, breakfast, is pure YUM. French coffee, fresh bread and baguettes from a nearby bakery, homemade jams, baked cakes made in-house, fruit, yogurt, fruit juices. The REAL breakfast of champions à la française.

Much like Après La Sieste in Provence, Aux anges gardiens is another ideal location that you’ll be able to use as a convenient base but in the region of Langedoc-Roussillon. The medieval city of Carcassonne is just minutes away. Drive or grab the bikes at Patricia and Andre’s to get there or to the neighboring lake. Nearby cities include: Toulouse, Perpignan, Narbonne, Montpellier, and if you have a couple of hours, you’re not very far from Barcelona. Just cross the border and you’ll be speaking Catalan in no time. On a semi-sidenote, from Carcassonne you’ll find really cheap flights to Ireland on Ryanair. I mean, really, really cheap (based on an advanced purchase): about 20 euros roundtrip. REALLY.

Back to the guardian angels. If you’re in the area for business or travel, consider staying at this absolutely fabulous B&B. You will not regret it.

Aux Anges Gardiens, Bed and Breakfast in Carcassonne
Open all year, highspeed internet, 3 rooms, breakfast included
Contact: Patricia et André Ledu (English, French spoken)
2 rue du Barry – hameau de Villalbe – Carcassonne – France
Tél. +33 (0)4 68 47 14 03 – cell .+33 (0)6 64 90 70 13
Email : floledu@aliceadsl.fr
Website: Aux Anges Gardiens, B&B in Carcassonne (more photos, rates and availability)

A brand new website dedicated to Paris accommodations has recently launched and is looking for owners of hotels, apartments, gites, and chambres d’hotes (bed and breakfast) to be included on the site. If you know someone with a place to stay, please feel free to let them know about it.

Please register your Paris accommodation here.

Growing up in SoCal meant living a life where I rarely experienced gray weather days. Southern Californians don’t realize how LUCKY they are, in terms of getting lots of bright light. They take it for granted.

If you ever leave, like I did, you soon discover that living in a place with LOTS of gray days – does something weird to you. The lack of real sunshine over an extended period of time makes me feel BLAH. I don’t get depressed and certainly not a full on seasonal affective disorder (SAD) like many people get, but I do feel lethargic and feel like I’m lacking in some nutrition! (probably vitamin D)

You don’t have to worry about that crappy feeling, I’ve found, if you have full spectrum lightbulbs installed in your home, and luckily they exist here in France. They’re called, Les ampoules à spectre complet, and they closely mimick the sun’s natural light. They’re safe, and energy-efficient and some are also ampoules ionisantes, which are full spectrum bulbs that also purify the air and even eliminate odors from rooms. (I have some of these and they really work.)

They take just a little while to get used to, but you’ll realize that your eyes don’t tire as quickly and you can actually see better. It’s a strange, but pleasant sensation, and you’ll never go back to traditional bulbs or halogen lights ever again. Your electricity bills will go way down and your plants will love the bulb, too.

These bulbs are excellent for artists, too, because with them, they will see a truer color on whatever they are working on.

A Note: Full spectrum energy saving bulbs are not to be confused with regular energy-saving bulbs out there that are not necessarily full-spectrum. Some of these latter bulbs (the cheap ones, usually) are not very safe (because the glass is not protected), and contain mercury (which is hazardous in the home especially if they break, and later become an environmental nightmare).

Last Note: You might find cheaper full-spectrum bulbs elsewhere but please make sure the glass has the necessary protective coating against harmful rays. The bulbs from Espace Ampoules are coated and tested to be safe.

If you’re interested and live in France, here’s where I order my bulbs online:

Espace Ampoules
Vignerux
71550 Cussy en Morvan
France
Telephone : 08.77.13.70.38

Website: Espace Ampoules (in English and French)

For about a week now, we’ve been back in the land of foie gras, confit de canard and truffles, at our favorite accommodations in Sarlat, which is in the southwest region of France called, Dordogne (in Perigord Noir) and – a couple of days ago, FINALLY, the sun was out!

Today is different, though, and there’s grisailles galore but since we’re here to work, the gray weather couldn’t be better.

It occurred to me that Au pre de l’arbre (independent fully equipped (self-catering) chalets in a forest) is a great place to escape to – from where ever you happen to be, and if absolutely necessary, (like us) take your work with you. On days like these you can be very productive.

Also worth noting is that it’s a great place to base yourself if you’re house hunting in the Dordogne area. Each of the rental houses here is fully equipped with high speed DSL and if you don’t want to bring your computer, you can use one provided by Au pre de l’arbre. They even have a list of real estate agents for you. That’s service if you ask me.

You don’t have to be workaholics like us, to stay here. Most of the people who come to Au pre de l’arbre are here to vacation: to explore the prehistoric drawings (Lascaux), to visit the wonderful villages (La Roque Gageac, Rocamadour, etc.) nearby, to participate in outdoor sports like rock climbing, horseback riding and canoeing – all within the unique backdrop of Dordogne’s signature stunning scenery. After a full day of travel, it’s a sigh of relief to come back to your comfortable chalet at Au pre de l’arbre. And then, take a swim in the gigantic pool that overlooks a forest.

The beautiful thing about Au pre de l’arbre is that it’s open all year ’round. We like to come outside of the busy season, but if you want to come during the summer, make sure to secure your reservations right about….NOW.

A note: You can stay for as short as a weekend or even longer term. And here’s a little secret: if you come during the low season, feel free to barter a bit with Marc to lower your rent. (I swear, he likes that!)

Au pre de l’arbre – Open all year
Website: Au pre de l’arbre (in English and French)

Nathalie et Marc Pinta-Tourret
Rue Lino Ventura, “Le Mas Cavaillé”
24200 Sarlat-la-Canéda
E-mail: sarlat@aupredelarbre.com
Phone / Fax : +33 5 53 59 33 33
Mobile: +33 6 73 79 12 87

Related to Dordgone: Sarlat, Terrasson, Plum Village, Beynac, Cassoulet, Big Door, Gourdon

tags: france, dordogne, dordogne holiday cottages, sarlat

Oftentimes people will refer to their region’s department by a number, which totally perplexes me since I just have no idea what they’re talking about. I just don’t know them. Also there are numbers on license plates that indicate where the driver is from, so if you know which number represents their corresponding department, you’ll know where they’re from, for what that’s worth. (For now, at least. I heard they will be getting rid of these numbers on plates, so you won’t know where that driver is from.) With all of France’s regions, departments, numbers, etc., and there are a LOT to know (for a relatively small country), it might or might not help you to learn some of them. So if you’d like to get to know France more intimately, play this game. Here, you’ll get quizzed on French prefectures, regions and departments (by name, by number), and rivers. It’s hard! But, it can be helpful when reading the news about France and when someone, say at a party, tells you about 21. You can happily respond, “You’re from Cote d’Or? LOVE that department.” Or something to that effect.

Play a game or two at Geographix

Fun game. You’ll be prompted to find and click on countries, world capitals, cities, famous landmarks – and it’ll tell you how far you were from the actual place. I think my good friend’s 3 year old is better at this game than I am. Oops. Well. I know where France is! And L.A. Sort of.

Play Now

Related: More games:

Cities Game
How Well Do You Know the World Map?
Ouverture Facile
Jeu chiant
L’expresso empoisonné
Run n Roll
Recyle
The Museum
Parallel Parking Game
Ladybugs
Boulangerie the Game
Solitaire

Paris-based developers (2or3things) has just launched a new service (in beta version) called Bloggino. It’s basically the equivalent of the American Tumblr, where you can “microblog” and publish your text, video, and photos via your mobile phone or by chat services like Yahoo, Jabber, ICQ, MSN, GTalk, etc.

Bloggino

One of my favorite food blogs from L.A. (Freda and Joan) visited Paris and blogged about their excellent foodie adventures.

Check it out

We lived in Nice when we first moved to France, so I got a kick out of this postcard from 1910 of the Promenade des Anglais with a view of Mont Boron. It doesn’t look like that anymore. I love looking at old photos and postcards of places I’ve been in France; sometimes there’s no change in a hundred years! Here’s a website with lots of postcards from all over the country:

Gallery of Postcards

A Sponsored Post:

Oftentimes when traveling, you want a different sort of hotel experience, one that is far from the typical, run-of–the-mill hotel chain . Perhaps you’re planning a very important trip, or you need privacy, or simply, your traveling style requires much more comfort, luxury and perfection. Face it, life’s too short to do that Average Joe kind of thing all of the time. You’re special, damn it, and you deserve the best.

Luxury Accommodations in France are not always very easy to come by, especially for the discerning traveler, but with the listings at Kiwi Collection, your choices are all in one place, making your luxury planning effortless. Travelers simply search the site using customized criteria based on their lifestyle, time of year, destination, interests and more. The results will be a listing of the places that suit them best. For example, if you’re looking for a Chateau experience in the Loire Valley or in Dordogne in the summer, you’ll find it here. Even if you’re looking for a luxury lodge during the Ski season in the Alps, no problem.

Depending on your needs, you’ll soon be staying at your interim home away from home, whether it’s a quaint inn hidden from the crowds, a trend-setting boutique hotel steeped in the latest designer decor, a high-end ranch or exclusive luxury resort.

Link: Kiwi Collection

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Sullr is a free online tool to obtain information from telephone lines in reverse mode. Enter a phone number on the site then the name and address of that person will appear. 5 countries available on the site: Argentina, Belgium, France, Italy and the USA. Results for mobile numbers not yet available.

Sullr

Why not. Find romance in on a bottle of French wine. Soif de Coeur (A Thirst for Romance) offers wine with a possibility of finding your soulmate. Just buy a bottle of Soif de Coeur, gluggedy glug glug, peel off the bottle label and find a code and instructions on how to begin your soulmate search on their website. Just imagine, buy a 3 euro ($4) bottle of red, white or rosé wine, and who knows…maybe you’ll get a date!

I don’t think you necessarily need to buy any wine to participate in their online dating service, but I’m not sure. Maybe you do and the $4 you spend on a bottle is actually the dating service fee. Bargain! I really want to make fun of this; it’s so asking for it, but I’m trying to reduce the amount of invective I produce, so let’s just hope this is a good thing.

Soif de Coeur

Over the years I’ve been (rightly) accused of being a bathroom freak. Maybe it’s just “freak.” Anyway. I don’t disagree with any of my accusers as I’ve learned to embrace this characteristic rather than overcome it. Hey, I’m not ashamed of wanting clean public bathrooms, which is too often and sadly a rare phenomenon in France.

What am I talking about? I hate public toilets. Especially in France. So much so that it’s made me avoid most of them, which is quite possibly bad for my health. I don’t care. Most public toilets are even gorier than my worst nightmares. So, when I saw this website that rates toilets worldwide, I nearly peed in my pants. Ok, maybe I DID – a little.

The Bathroom Diaries scours the globe to rate the world’s toilets. You can now find out which bathrooms to avoid like the plague (quite possibly BECAUSE of the plague) and which ones are useable. Yay! Their database is pretty extensive and they claim to be the world’s largest database of restroom locations. I believe them. Call it blind faith.

To see restroom locations in France and in Paris by arrondissements (districts) and elsewhere, visit The Bathroom Diaries.

On a related note, this gadget is an extra “finger” to do your dirty work.

Oftentimes you come to the logical realization that life is stranger than fiction, even stranger than the fiction from your most oddball, esoteric films.This farm is so strange that I have to believe it really exists – though, my first thought was that it’s a hoax.

Le Petit Singly is a farm that specializes in making cheese from women’s breast milk. Are you imagining the milking process? Admittedly, that imagery makes me come to the conclusion that it’s an absolutely bizarre and crazy world of cheesemaking in little ole Singly, France. But, no. I think the “donors” bring their milk to the farm, or something like that.

The cheese is produced exactly like it would be for cow’s milk and apparently tastes like it has hints of hazelnut. I still have my doubts about its existence, though. The farm says the cheese is rich in vitamins and nutrients but I don’t think these survive after being ultra-pasteurized. Also, they have an “AB” label, which is the official label for organic products. Does that mean that the women all grazed on organic?

Anyway, you can order breast milk cheese online from le Petit Singly, if you’re interested. Will this be the next trend in the foodie world? You know, something on the menu at Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry (or Per Se), El Bulli or your un-run-of-the-mill experimental haute cuisine. I can hear the waiter now, “Your next course, course 5 out of 13 courses, is a palette cleanser consisting of deep fried fois gras marbles coated in a crispy fig and pine nut crumble. The fois gras marbles are fried in extra virgin Argan oil that was infused with 6 very rare and different herbs found only around the area surrounding Mount Kilamanjaro. The fois gras marbles sit proudly on their foundation of 5 paper-thin slices of exclusive fromage duh Fwahnce (“cheese” is too ordinary) made from FRENCH mother’s milk. (“breast milk” sounds too scary and thus, not very posh.) In between each slice of fromage is a succulent layer of organic creme fraiche, Beluga caviar, French capers and candied pecans – and the whole ensemble is lightly splashed with aged, vintage balsamic vinegar. Oh, and by the way, you must eat this dish wearing these 3D glasses to experience the full visual and culinary effect combined. Bon Appetit.”

Le Petit Singly, Breast Milk Cheese
Website in French: Le Petit Singly
Email: petitsingly@lycos.fr

[via the stranger]

Will you be traveling to Paris but don’t want to be bothered with taking the requisite souvenir “money shot” photos of our lovely City of Light? Ne t’en fais pas. Don’t worry about it and let an up and coming artist do the dirty work for you. Buy this $85 disposible camera already loaded with 27 photos of Paris. (Each photo costs about $3) You just need to develop them. Who are these up and coming artists? I don’t know. What are the photos of? When were they taken? Not very many details are revealed on the web site, but that is the beauty of this project. Every camera is uniquely different. Will you have that feeling of childlike anticipation upon opening the envelope with your just developed treasures of Paris? Nevermind that you may not have gone to some of the places on the photos. I think the idea is perfectly novel. (I might not even mention that disposible cameras are not ideal for the environment.)

From Up To You Toronto

As many have mentioned before, the “Les Plus Beaux Villages de France” (The Most Beautiful Villages in France) should be on the To-Visit List. However, off the beaten track, apparently, and not to be missed are also Les Plus beaux Panneaux de France. These are the most beautiful signs and village names in France according to a kooky blog called Le Voyage de Jénorme. Some very funny signs, indeed.

Les Plus beaux Panneaux de France