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…”leave the field open to sects and charlatans.”

He said many cases were unexplained lights in the sky. “Only 20 to 30″ could be classified as “Objet Volant Non Identifie” — UFOs that appeared to be physical objects, leaving “marks on the ground, radar images,” he said.

Even Gen. Charles de Gaulle, France’s wartime hero who became its president, got the UFO bug.

“In 1954, there was a wave of sightings of phenomena in France, and it went up to the highest levels of state. Gen. De Gaulle himself assigned … an aide and told him, ‘Look into this for me, study it to see if something needs to be done,’” Patenet said.

That year there were hundreds of sightings over several months, but generally there are 50 to 100 reported each year.

Only 9 percent of France’s strange phenomena have been fully explained, the agency said. Experts found likely reasons for another 33 percent, and 30 percent could not be identified for lack of information.

Other cases were impossible to crack. The most baffling were labeled “Class D aerospace phenomena” — which the agency defines as “inexplicable despite precise testimonies and the (good) quality of material information gathered.” Some 28 percent of sightings fall into this category.

Patenet singled out the January 1981 case of the saucer-shaped object that a witness said he saw land in Trans-en-Provence, a village inland from the French Riviera.

Some 2.5 meters (8 feet) across, the zinc-colored object made a whistling noise as it landed. The witness later drew a picture: It resembled a wok with a lid and legs.

“The machine stayed a few seconds on the ground and then left very quickly but it left marks that were analyzed and allowed us to determine that the ground had been heated up, that the object must have weighed several hundred kilos (pounds), and that surrounding plants underwent biological changes,” Patenet said.

“So something really happened. It really defies analysis.”

The agency said everything in the archive would be published, except for psychological reports about witnesses as well as their names.

Most of the time, Patenet said, witnesses were sincere about what they saw. “Very few look for publicity, because they fear most of all that they will not be taken seriously.”

Still, there were frauds.

In 1979, in Cergy-Pontoise outside Paris, a man showed up at a police station claiming that his friend had been abducted by a UFO — a bright light that appeared on the road and swallowed up his car. Several days later, the man purportedly reappeared in a field, emerging out of a sphere of light.

Investigators went so far as to test the man’s blood for signs that he had recently experienced weightlessness — and they found none. The agency labeled it a hoax.

Some cases took years to unravel. In 1985, two farmers near the Atlantic coastal city of Royan saw a burning object drop into a field nearby.

Experts initially concluded that it was part of the propulsion device of a recently launched satellite. Eventually, they realized it was a piece of leftover German World War II ordnance that spontaneously exploded four decades after the war.

Among the unexplained cases, one of the most perplexing concerned a 1994 Air France flight. While flying over the Paris region, the airplane’s crew noticed a large brown-red disk hovering in the horizon and constantly changing shape. The case “has never been explained to this day, and leaves the door open to all possible hypotheses,” the agency wrote.

So, do we have neighbors out there, after all?

“I don’t have an answer to that,” Patenet said. “Even if there is such a planet, given the size of the universe, what is the probability that two civilizations … will meet or come across each other? I really don’t know. It’s very complicated. It’s incalculable.”

CNES
___

Associated Press writer Angela Doland in Paris contributed to this report.

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

————————————

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

[This is a sponsored post]

If you haven’t already planned your spring or summer vacation, you still have time to do so and it would also be a great time to plan any trips after the summer. Once you book your accommodations, whether it’s in a small hotel, luxury spa, eco resort, chateau or any number of places to temporarily call, “home,” you can then relax a little and roughly plan what you’d like to do and what you’d like to see. The latter planning is the easy part. The former, that is, finding perfect accommodations, is the hard part.

With the Directory of Hotels, you won’t have to worry too much as you can easily search for the type of accommodations you love. If you’re the kind of person that prefers to stay away from the big chain hotels where your experience is impersonal and extremely drab, this directory can steer you toward an experience with more personality. Do you need to unwind during your next holiday at a secluded spa hotel? Would you rather be in a bed and breakfast so you can experience life with the locals? Or, would you like more of a romantic, cozy, chic hotel with a postcard perfect view of the Eiffel Tower? Whatever your preferences and needs, no matter how specific they may be, you’ll be able to find exactly what you’re looking for at the Directory of Hotels because they specialize in this kind of “Boutique Hotel” experience.

In addition to a unique, comprehensive list of international accommodations from which to search, the Directory of Hotels features articles, reviews, fun facts of places worldwide, travel, product and fashion tips, and travel videos. They even offer a newsletter and a travel blog. So, perhaps for your upcoming vacation you can consult the Directory of Hotels. That is, if you’d like to find the most fabulous hotel stay for your next trip.

Link: Boutique Hotels

Been wondering what to call certain breads in France? Want to know where they originated? Here are some of the French Breads by region. I’ll try to find a clearer version and post it later.

Want to see the cheese map? Cheese Map of France

[via Strangemaps]

We once saw David Lynch in-person and he’d mentioned that he likes to paint, then bite his paintings… Alrightee then. Anyway, I do love his films and his artwork sometimes reflects the same kind of vision he projects on films.

In case you can’t make it in-person to see the David Lynch exhibition at the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art in Paris, you can access parts of it online and see the virtual version. Click on English, then click on “What’s On” then click on David Lynch: The Air is on Fire, then Views of the Exhibition.

Otherwise, the exhibit is running until May 27, 2007.

Maybe I’ll go see if there are bite marks on the paintings…

David Lynch: The Air is on Fire (’til May 27, 2007)
Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art
261, Boulevard Raspail
75014 Paris, France
tel (+33) 1 42 18 56 50

Métro: lines 4 and 6, Raspail or Denfert-Rochereau station
Bus: 38, 68
RER: Denfert-Rochereau

Hours: Open every day, except Monday, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Open Tuesday evenings until 10 p.m.

Admission: 6.50 euros
Reduced price: 4.50 euros (students, under 25, Vermeil cardholders, Amis des Musées, unemployed)

[via twitchfilm]

From the LAist:

“Venerable French magazine Cahiers du cinema (yup, it’s still in existence) today launched its first English language edition, which will be available both in print and online for an annual fee. For $45, English-language readers will now be able to subscribe to a year’s worth of the magazine (11 regular issues + 1 special issue)…”

Read the full post

Tags: france, Cahiers+du+cinema, french, films, movies, critiques

[Disclosure: This is a sponsored post.]

Every now and again, I receive email from people asking me to suggest moving / removal companies to France or from France, and unfortunately, I haven’t been able to offer much help previously. That has changed recently after being contacted by Schumacher Cargo.

If you’re looking for a company to help you ship your belongings to or from France (from practically any destination in the world), you might want to consider using Schumacher Cargo. They’ve been in business for 30 years, have a long list of client testimonials and have a multitude of options to fit your specific needs. You can get a free quote on their website, too.

They’re a one-stop moving company so-to-speak, meaning: they do everything from moving household goods and furniture, to moving cars and container cargo by your choice of sea or air. You can have your goods go door-to-door, airport-to-airport or port-to-port, or any combination therein. Flexibility seems to be a standard service.

Lastly, it looks as if you don’t need to worry too much about where your cargo is at a given moment in time, because you can track it every step of the way via their online tracking service.

Important Information you might want to know from their site:

“Schumacher Cargo Logistics utilizes insured, secured and bonded facilities. We provide warehousing, packing, crating, trucking and loading services out of our own warehouses here in the USA. * Los Angeles * Houston * Chicago * Miami * New York. We also own and operate our own companies in the UK, The Netherlands, Denmark & Norway, all other worldwide destinations are covered by our affiliated organization member companies.”

For more information:

Schumacher Cargo
Website: Moving Service to France
Email: Contact Schumacher Cargo

[Photo courtesy of Chris Schauflinger]

If you wanted to take a historically deeper look into the City of Light, here’s somewhat of an eco-tour of Roman Paris that might be of interest to you. “Eco” only in the sense that you take the visit from the comfort of your computer since it is an online tour. No driving, no flying anywhere = no carbon (dioxide) footprint traces, just you discovering life in Paris during Roman times. And no tired feet!

The site is filled with information on the history, architecture, antiquities and daily life of Lutetia (Roman Paris), traces of which are still visible.

Take the Tour of Paris, a Roman City

Tags: france, french, lutetia, paris, romans, paris+a+roman+city, online+tour

Ouverture Facile means “Easy Opening” and refers to the fact that this game starts out easy. But after that, there’s nothing easy about it. Though, it is fun and challenging. It’s a riddle game that doesn’t spell out the riddle in words but in ideas and pictures and you have to figure out what you must do to move on to consequent levels. You may get stuck somewhere at times but it might be helpful to step away and think about it a while, then return to it the next day or a few days later. This isn’t a mindless game (not dissing mindless games though!) Ouverture Facile will put your brain to work so at some level, you feel like you’re not really wasting time when you solve each level.

Tags: france, french, games, riddles, ouverture+facile, online+games

Sorry to remind you but Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, so instead of the usual box of chocolates, bouquet of roses and homemade dinner by candlelight, why not try something different this year? Ok, this doesn’t have to be for Valentine’s Day. I just thought I’d remind you about it. Oh, I’m not knocking the above gifts. I love all those things; this is more about offering different gifts.

The French company, Wonderbox, offers unforgettable experiences in a gift box. Buy an adventure or package and have it sent in a gift box to the recipient. Examples: The Turbo box, choose from several different adventures in speed. Race a Lamborghini, Ferrari or Do some loops in an airplane; The Adrenaline box: white-water rafting, bunging jumping etc.; Calmer activities in a box include wellness retreats, gastronomic evenings, hot air ballooning, champagne tasting and more.

I like the idea that you can buy someone a box of one free fall from an airplane in France (you have a long list of locations to choose from). Though none of the package experiences are really novel, they do seem fun in any case, plus the idea of having one place to find a whole variety of adventures is fairly convenient and nifty, I think. Lastly, the “unforgettable experience in a box” idea is a cool marketing twist that basically “repackages” what they are selling, both literally and figuratively.

The only thing I find missing is the transportation to and from, but perhaps that is in the works. Like, for example, there’s a box you can buy that is an evening out to have a bottle of champagne with friends at a palace or luxury location. Wouldn’t it be even more perfect to add the limousine ride that picks you up from home, then takes you to your destination and back home?

Wonderbox

Tags: france, french, wonderbox, gifts, unusual+gifts, valentines+day, skydiving, hotairballoning

[Disclosure: I was contacted to write a short review about HotelReservations.com, so while this is a sponsored post, the opinions expressed within it are still my own.]

HotelReservations is an American-based online hotel reservations portal, where you can book a variety of accommodations: hotels, motels, B&Bs and condos located in nearly all countries worldwide for your next trip. Their database is quite extensive so you have many places from which to choose. Secondary to hotel reservations, are vacation packages which may include hotel plus car rentals and flight reservations. The hotel system however, seems to be the focused activity here.

Upon launching the site, I wanted to determine out how user-friendly the online experience was, so I did several different searches and queries, based on some trips I have coming up. The first thing I noticed was that the…

user experience is self-explanatory and navigation is fairly easy for most internet users; the interface is clean and clearly understandable. There’s a link per hotel where you can open up a street map with the location of the hotel, which is very handy. What wasn’t too helpful, however, was that I didn’t have a choice about what language I wanted. Some pages were in English and some came up in French, which probably meant that the site detects which country my IP address is from and selects the language of that country. Though the site in French is not a grave problem for me, this might not be the case for someone wanting to book from France but needs the site to be in English. Different issues emerged as well when looking for Paris hotels. I could conveniently sort the entire list by quality, price, alphabetical order and by special offers for Paris but I wasn’t able to sort a smaller list of the hotels located within a certain arrondissement (district), which is a bit inconvenient.

HotelReservations’ prices are very competitive, some are identical to what other portals offer. That is good, as I did not see much difference in price with discount portals. Probably the best thing about about this website and their prices is: if see a lower price elsewhere online for the same place and the same dates as your reservations at HotelReservations, they will reimburse you the difference or simply cancel your reservation without penalty so that you may go with the lower agent. (There are a few exceptions.)

Another powerful point about HotelReservations is that you actually have an option to speak with a real human being via telephone. Really! I know that sounds weird but do you realize how increasingly difficult it is to find companies with human customer support? They have a toll-free number for North America and Europe, and they have another world-wide number to call. I called the number and made reservations. I was very specific, perhaps a bit demanding about the price range and where I needed to stay because I require a long list of amenities and services, in addition to needing to be located near specific places. I also refuse to be near an elevator or stairwell, which is too noisy. The customer service person was really exceptional, very professional, pleasant and extremely efficient.

Overall, HotelReservations is a good reservations portal, having a large database of hotels around the world. Their advantage to similar sites is that they offer different types of accommodations, not simply hotels. On the other hand, as a site of this kind, I find that a rating system for actual reviews is loudly lacking. When there are user comments and critiques or praises about a particular hotel where I might be interested in staying, I would love to see the feedback of other people who’ve stayed there. It’s usually the clincher for me and many other travelers to read this valuable information in order to make the final decision to book a place or not. The addition of a user feedback area would not only add targeted content to the site, but also, add value in the form of information for their customers, which will bring them up to par in relation to the competitiveness of the online hotel reservations market.

If I were to give it a rating out of 5 stars, I’d rate it 4 stars. Their strength is in their competitive pricing strategies, their accessibility and superb customer service by telephone and their prodigious database of hotels. The website, though nicely designed and easy to use, has even further potential but needs to first address the language issue and sort-ability functions. Lastly, it could use a more personal touch with a rating system.

That said, I suspect that with time and a desire to improve their site and business, as well as the drive to become a true competitive player in the hotel reservations industry, HotelReservations.com has only a little ways to go to reach excellence.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

HotelReservations.com

Do you know where the Kingdom of Lesotho is? Then, I think you’ll get a better score on this game than I did. It tests your knowledge of world geography. You will see a name of a country on the screen and you must locate it on the map (use the zoom in or out if necessary but work fast) and click on it. You have a certain amount of time and if you guess incorrectly, it takes away more of your remaining time. Try it and see if you actually know your geography as well as you thought. I think I need to study my geography a bit more as well as my history (my score was 52. I don’t think that’s very good because I think that is out of 100, I’m not sure. That’s an F+ if we were in class!) The only thing I wished this game did was to flash the correct country on your wrong answers, so you can know where they are.

Do you know the world?
Play Now

Tags: world+map, flash+games, countries, geography, test, game+design

You’ll find stunning black and white photos from this photoblog “nyclondon” by Rob Gardiner. Despite the blog’s name there are photos from all over the world, but what particularly caught my eye, was this series of photographs called “Paris through a Pinhole” where Rob takes photos of Paris landmarks with a pinhole camera.

Paris through a Pinhole is in three parts:

Paris through a Pinhole Part 1

Paris through a Pinhole Part 2

Paris through a Pinhole Part 3

This new widget for Mac allows you to see the last five news items, the top six dowloaded software titles and the last five software downloads added to the French website LogicielMac.com. by Thomas Vignes

Note: in French

Download it now

I’m not sure how I stumbled upon this site but I am getting progressively into photoblogs and sites with just images. Maybe I am getting too lazy to read? I dunno. Anyway, here’s a good one from Damien Debin from Nantes. He shoots really beautiful photos. You can rate the photos on his site too.

Photo Addiction

Tags: travel, france, french, photos, photographs, nantes, photo+addition

I don’t think Lulu would mind very much that Lulu Lundi was pre-empted this week. Afterall, the theme is still a Boston Terrier in France.

This is the absolutely most adorable (next to Lulu) Boston Terrier, Bosco. He is sooooo cute!! I love the dot on his head. Unlike Lulu, Bosco was born in France and now lives in Southwest France with his dad, Greg.

You can find Bosco on the site called, Orr d’oeuvres, which is an interesting personal blog by a retired US diplomat living in France. Read about life in France, thoughts, experiences, food and adventures with the community of Lauzerte.

It’s always fun to see what other expats are doing in France…

Visit Bosco and Greg here: Orr d’oeuvres

Tags: travel, france, southwest, boston, terriers, bosco, expats

If you’re a student, you can find flights to a number of destinations for mega cheap if you book with Student Universe. I just looked at this site and right now; you can find a roundtrip flight from New York to London for $205. LA to Paris is only $499. So cheap! How can you pass that up??!

From Student Universe:

StudentUniverse is the online travel service that enables students to travel for less. By negotiating with the major airlines on their behalf, StudentUniverse provides students with exclusive, significantly discounted airfares. From destination guides to a proprietary booking engine, StudentUniverse is the leading online resource that allows students to research and purchase reduced-cost travel products online. Founded as a student travel agency in 1992, StudentUniverse launched its online presence in January 2000.

Check out: Student Universe

[via travelpost]

Tags: travel, france, cheap+tickets, students, discounts, airlines, roundtrip, europe

Today will mark the day in history where French government votes on the issue of Apple’s evil DRM, the digital restriction management attached to each song, which controls the use and access of digital media content on mp3 players and computers. Will they allow Apple to keep this controlling element on downloaded songs? Hope not, but me thinks, oui – We’ll see what happens later on today…

Luckily, there are some alternatives. Enter: Starzik. Despite its weird tagline, “Get hit easy!” this French digital media service is pretty cool. Available only in France for now, Starzik offers songs without any digital rights management attached to them. By negotiating specific contracts with independent digital music distributor, The Orchard, Starzik will be able to offer more than 600,000 tracks of DRM-free music from three major labels and thousands of indie labels. The number of available tracks should grow in time too. Most of the tracks will be offered in different formats: mp3, WMA, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC and AAC. Music categories include: ambiant/diverse, chanson francaise, movie/tv soundtracks, classical, dance/house/techno/electric, children’s music, jazz/blues, Celtic and music from Brittany, world music, pop/rock, rap/hip hop/r&b. There are also training mp3′s available for body building and diet/fitness.

Songs/tracks are 1 euro and albums are 9 euros but you can find many free downloads on the site as well. Some of the music is really old and there are a lot of unknown artists – but just like with all things, if you dig and explore you could be led to some hidden gems.

Visit Starzik

Related: Apple Computer Stores and DRM in France and National Assembly’s Midnight Meeting to Propose Laws on Digital Rights

[via Macworld UK]

Tags: france, drm, itunes, french, music, downloads, starzik, apple

Are you a discreet, techy traveler? Do guided group tours make you cringe? Do you like to seeing things at your own pace? Are you too shy to ask for directions when in a city like Paris where you do not speak the same language? Are you too lazy or embarrassed to learn some French when you’re traveling in Paris? Are you independent and want to figure out where everything is on your own? Have you found those double-decker city tour buses silly? Do you not want to get lost? (because you do not like asking for directions or want to be caught with a big, flopping in wind, touristy map?) Should I quit asking so many questions? Yes.

The digi-guide is probably the best alternative to using a traditional map or taking a tour while in Paris. You’re given a GPS plus a PDA packed with information (photos, spoken and written commentary). Languages available: French, English and Spanish (Italian will be available next week and German will be offered by the end of July) You have 40 “tours” to choose from in three different categories:

“Les Best of” includes 4 tours: 1) Best of Paris – follows a path that takes you to the main landmarks of Paris; 2) Best of Seine – will be a relatively smooth trip along the Seine; 3) Best of Shopping – will empty your purse at the best shopping places on the Rive Droite (right bank); 4) Best of Shopping does the same as 3 but on the Rive Gauche (left bank).

Les Parcours de jour covers 2 areas in which the first will take you through the center of Paris: the 2 islands, le Marais, Bastille, Latin Quarter, Saint-Germain, Left Bank, Paris 1900, Paris Luxe, Around the Louvre, Chatelet les Halles. Part deux takes you farther out from the center and to the les touristy venues: Auteil-Passy, Montparnasse, Alesia – Montsouris, Butte au Cailles, Saint Marcel, Paris Moderne, Promenade plantee, Pere Lachaise, Paris Multiethnic, Paris Populaire, Canal St. Martin, Grands Boulevard, Montmartre, Batignolles, Monceau-Etoile.

Les Parcours de nuit offers a list to liven up your evenings: Bastille, Belleville, Grands Boulevards, Etienne Marcel, Saint-German, Butte au Cailles. For all of the tours you’ll have a selection of restaurants, bars and clubs.

How does it work? (Click here to see the demo)

1. Reserve a digi-guide. Use the online form to begin. The digi-guide can be delivered to you in Paris. Cool!
2. Pick and/or customize your own tour.
3. Start at a designated Metro, set your GPS then forget about it by putting it in your pocket or purse.
4. Follow the pink line on the PDA and you’ll be well on your way to taking a tour of Paris, made by people who live in Paris.

Prices
1-Day Digi-Guide Pack is 30 euros ($38), while the 2-Day Digi-Guide Pack is 50 euros ($63). Additional days cost 15 euros ($19).

For more information: Visit their website: Digi-guide or Contact the Digiguide Team

A Note: I’d sent them an email to ask some questions and they responded within minutes…on a Sunday!! Needless to say, their customer service will probably be excellent. [via gizmodo]

Tags: france, travel, french, paris, gps, digiguide, independent+tours, hate+maps, technology

A photographer friend of mine once sent me a photo of a cactus from a dessert in the southwest (U.S.) that was perfectly in the shape of a heart, and he didn’t digitally manipulate it as he didn’t know how to use Photoshop let alone even knew what Photoshop was so it was simply a beautiful photo of this heart-shaped cactus. Since then, I notice heart shapes in nature.

How could I not post about this stunning heart photograph? This aerial photo taken above New Caledonia, an overseas French Territory in the Pacific (Southwest) Islands, is by photographer, Yann Arthus Bertrand. It’s a semi-aquatic swamp forest (called a Mangrove) that has naturally created a heart! He’s taken aerial photos from all over the world and has posted them on his website, where he offers them as desktop wallpaper, which is nice since most people will never get that same perspective and will have to live vicariously through his aerials.

He’s also taken beautiful photos of farmers with their animals in France. They are amazing. You can see that cows, particularly the white Charolais breed found mostly in my neck of the woods in Burgundy, are HUGE!

Visit his website: Yann Arthus Bertrand

Nevermind that many of us eat these very cute and cuddly animals, Pigs in France is a new website specifically for smallholders who raise pigs in France. (Though, I’m going to come to the site to see the adorable piggy pix. Look! The one on the right looks like he’s smiling.)

Dedicated to keeping rare and endangered breeds of pigs from extinction as well as advocating proper methods of raising pigs in a natural, comfortable environment, Pigs in France features news and articles related to pigs, including information and news on regulations for pig keepers in France, pig feed and more. Smallholders (owners of 50 acres of land or less for agribusiness) with pigs can also submit questions to be answered online in their Q&A section or participate in the forum.

Pigs in France

Oftentimes it takes someone else’s hard work and vision to see something artistic in something like manhole covers. As an ex-Paris resident, I’ve seen a lot of the city’s manhole covers because, well, you HAVE to look down at the ground more intensely and more often (compared to other cities) to watch that you don’t step in…anything unpleasant, if you know what I mean. I do remember seeing some cool covers, then got quickly distracted by the task at hand.

This website shows a large collection of manhole covers from all over France, and some of those only live on this particular website because the originals have been replaced. Consider it an online Manhole Cover Museum. There are some very cool designs, so take a look and see. You gotta love the sense of humor coming from the designer that created the cover that looks like a face (pictured above).

Take a look at the 172 Manhole covers here: Manhole Covers in France

It’s never too late to plan for a vacation, even this summer’s vacation to…France! Yahoo’s “Farechase” has just gone from beta to full public release – which means it’s ready for you. This travel service searches several (seemingly ALL) travel brokers to find you the best deal in airfares possible. So when you buy your plane tickets, it won’t make you cry.

I did a search for flights from Paris to Los Angeles and was pretty impressed by the features that come with this little service. The prices are broken down into the times of departure because that makes a whole world of a difference in price, apparently. It also lists all of the nearest airports for each city, which is a really nice option. Yahoo also incorporates the use of their mapping system, called Yahoo Local (still in beta), and it’s neat because with it, you can look for hotels that are close to where you’d like to be based. Need to chase that fare?

Yahoo Farechase

Tags: travel, services, yahoo, farechase, hotels, mapping+service, airfares

This is one of my favorite art blogs; it’s a fun place to visit when you can and it is bound to put a big smile on your face or put you in a good mood (if necessary ).

Del4yo is a Bay Area-based French artist, and you can find her beautiful and playful art work on her website, Non dairy Dairy. Be sure to take a whimsical walk with her in Sausalito.

This is Mitchu, the cutest chair hugging Parisian cat I’ve ever seen. He has loved this white chair ever since he was a kitten, according to the post at the cutest blog ever, Cute Overload. If you need a daily “Awwwww” and warm fuzzy feeling to start the day, I definitely recommend visiting Cute Overload for all things cute. I especially love the hedgehog photos and of course, puppies of Boston Terriers and Pugs. It is almost too much to handle. Cute Overload

Tags: france, french, paris, cats, cute

We hadn’t heard from one of our friends who lives in the north of France, so I called him. He’s doing an internship at a small company in Valenciennes.

Me: “Where are you doing your stage?

Him: “I pee for you.”

Silence.

Me: “Wait a minute. What?”

Him: “I pee for you.”

Me: “You work at I Pee for You?”

Him: “Yup.”

Me: “Oh. I get it. Like a fetish place?”

Him: “What? What are you talking about?”

Me: “I PEE for you!”

Him: “No. Not I PEE for you. IP4U!!”

Me: “OH.”

So it’s a game company for mobile phones, not a fetish company. Someone didn’t try very hard when they named that one.

i’m sure this made the rounds but i just found it and had to post it. it’s from a blog, Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité (in french only). it’s a mock UMP campaign poster for the evil nicolas sarkozy (see paris riots and unmasking issues of the paris riots).

translation of poster: help me. i’m an asshole. i’m short and a cuckold but i want to be president in 2007. (thanks for the correction, nana!)

i like it but personally, if it were me making the poster, i’d go much ruder than that…

well. it looks like Ségolène Royal is gaining popularity with 53% thumbs up in the french polls. given the other choices, she just HAS to at least be the lesser of the other evils. let’s hope!

we all know how sad and uncomfortable we feel when we see homeless people wearing their live’s hardships on haggard faces; it is nevertheless necessary for the truth to be exposed, no matter how much it hurts, no matter how distressing it is. this is a real problem in france and is worsening exponentially. it’s something that shouldn’t be ignored, and so, with cell phone camera in hand, a new paris-based photoblogger is making a statement about it focusing on the real culprit: the french social model. He says, “these pictures are of the actual france…” Some quotes on the site include:

«The French social model is neither inefficient nor outdated. It has a great ambition which can be expressed simply: permanently to level up. We must keep it. In a way it’s our national genius. It’s a necessity.»
— Jacques Chirac

«If you take the important things in life in society — health policy, the fight against poverty — you see that we are nevertheless in a far better position than the British.»
— Jacques Chirac

«We have a French social model and we want to keep it. And the point is that we cannot accept to leave people out of the society. Exclusion, we cannot accept that. It is not in the French culture. »
— Jacques Chirac

«A No vote would result in globalisation without any constraints. Europe would then become the big market that the Anglo-Saxons dream about, a Europe under US influence, a Europe under Chinese influence.»
— Dominique de Villepin

[see more photos at the french social model (in english and french)]

space invader in paris! and it’s big! via one of my favorite sites the wooster collective, a celebration of street art.

the podcast shaking up france’s politics

2005 Foot-in-Mouth Awards

small town receives $1.6 million

the french go postal with the sims

france’s nuclear waste heads to russia

i think i have games on the mind lately.

vacheland is an online sim game where you can be the king of cows if you can figure out how to raise them correctly. consider it like “the sims” except with cows and without the scent of a farm.

this game comes from the same person who brought you the wildly popular, kochonland, ludovic sarrazin, a french developer based near la rochelle.

we just got back from visiting a chocolate (and baked goods and pastry) shop in luzy (in burgundy). nope, these are not “tater tots” though they did immediately catch my eye upon entering and i actually thought they were potatoes. there’s a big sign that says, “pommes de terre nouvelles” (new potatoes). we had to ask about them.

artisan chocolatier: “no, they’re NOT potatoes; did you forget you were in a chocolatier?”

us: “heehee.”

they look so real and savory, the thought of them being chocolate and sweet didn’t immediately sound too appealing but…we, of course, had to get a bag anyway, as well as an apricot tarte, chausson aux pommes (apple pastry) and a chocolate macaron, which is a hamburger-shaped pastry made with airy light “cookies” sandwiching a chocolate ganache filling.

omg they did not disappoint. none of them. not in the slightest. and now, they’re gone.

it was refreshing to see an independent artisan chocolate maker/baker use real ingredients, no filler, no vegetable oil, no additives. we will definitely be back there, since this kind of quality chocolate is getting harder and harder to find.

despite the fact that it’s completely unknown, luzy is worth a visit especially to this chocolatier/patisserie. sample one or more of the many excellent things at “D. Verneuil, Artisan Chocolatier.” luzy is a small village so it should be easy to find. if chocolate is not your thing, try a pastry or get real french bread, made with care and the finest ingredients available.

if you find yourself bored one day and feel like working your way deep down into the depths of insanity, play BOULANGERIE, the flash game made by some sadistic game developer studying Freud part-time while spending his free hours in the damp basement of his parents’ house creating games based on his last attended university psychology class. (ok, i made that up. i have no idea who wrote this or what that person is like)

back to the game. you’re a cute roly-poly french baker with a big nose, trying to balance your baguette in your hand while attempting to catch croissants on top of it. this is tricky and takes a little getting used to so until then, you may be screaming bloody murder about the game and all those around you might think you are a true hater of french bread and pastries.

there’s a swedish site (by photographer jonas carlson) featuring breathtaking 360 degree panoramic views of some galleries inside the louvre in paris.

navigate around the rooms by clicking on the screen and dragging your mouse (or pen) around and you might get happily dizzy!

it’s the next best thing to being there in person. in fact, i’m sure some people would say it’s BETTER than the real thing; at least you don’t have to wait in line, and your feet won’t get tired.

make sure to look at the ceilings too!

click here: panoramas in the louvre

today is supposed to be blog day or was it a few days ago? or tomorrow? i’m not sure but anyway, in appreciation of it, here’s a list of recommended sites related to france (not yet listed on whytraveltofrance.com):

photographs

ahah…Le jardin de marandon – photographs that capture the moment
images – raw imagery of paris
versapics – just photographs, no text photoblog
grand magasin – candid photos

mac and gadgets

mac bidouille – as a mac fanatic, i cannot leave out this excellent french site on all things mac (hardware)

tags: blog day 2005

Click here to access the site

Here’s a neat site of Parisian bloggers: (most blogs are in French):

Les blogs parisiens par station de métro

Parisian blogs by metro station.