surviving a Parisian strike, November

For some reason I can't seem to get into a habit of posting at this blog. I continue to be impressed by other bloggers that make the time to post photos and words on a daily basis. This may have to be my resolution for the new year.
I'm writing this in December about the events of November. Still somewhat fresh in my mind are the events from the end of last month. The city's transit strike. This caused quite a challenge for Parisians and of course for tourists visiting the city. The strike fell in a time when Americans will travel, the week of Thanksgiving. The visitors that I had the chance to meet in that time had the great patience to deal with the events. They also were able to find the humor in being stuffed into a bus or metro. The most difficult part of any day was at it's end. There seemed to be greater obstacles than at any other time of day. A couple of nights I just walked home arriving sometime home after 8pm. There were actually some fun benefits to the strike. We never paid for a ride on the bus or metro. All of the turnstiles were open for free access. One afternoon arriving at the Museé d'Orsay we found there were no ticket being sold. The staff decided to leave work early to make their way home. The museum remained open but free of charge.
There was a threat just last week in December of a strike day. For some reason this did not have any affect on travel. A high percentage of the workers voted to stay on the job that day. They sound as if they will renew their strike efforts sometime in February 2008. Something to look forward to.
December has turned quite cold in Paris. This is the coldest I can remember a December being in Paris since living here. It's been cold enough each night, that in the morning you can find a small patch of ice to slip upon. The water in the fountains on the Place de la Concord had even turned to ice. The only nice part about the cold is that it has been dry and sunny each day in Paris for the past couple of weeks.
The city is especially beautiful at this time of the year. The city is lit up for the holidays. This year has been the year of conservation. The lights along the Champs-Elysées have been changed for the first time in many years. I wasn't sure if I liked what I saw at first, but they have grown on me. They are of a blue tint, and tiny unlike the old bigger bulbs of the past. There are also little tubes of chaser lights that add a bit of movement to the trees. People have been describing the new lights as "red, white, and blue." This is in reference to the head lights and tail lights being sandwiched between the light blue in the trees. I'm still partial to the old reverence to the famous boulevard as the street of ruby and diamonds. Now there are a lot of little sapphires in the trees.

Autumn feelings in Paris

Keeping up a blog is more difficult than I thought it might be. My intention was to try to post at least once a month. Somehow we slipped into and then past the month of October with little notice. The shock to me was how fast November came around. This could have been because the month of October had so many distractions. Most months in Paris there always seem to be lots of events, or special happenings. This October each week October brought something else to distract the Parisians. One of the main distractions this year was France playing host to World Cup Rugby. The first games of the events began in September. Through October the city seemed to find ways to entertain the added visitors. Many city events normally occur in the month of October, but these seemed to push harder to be more fun this year. An event like"Nuit Blanche"(White Night) is a free, all-night celebration of arts and culture. This year's sixth version of Nuit Blanche occurred on the same night as an important rugby match between France and New Zealand. People gathered in front of the Paris city hall to watch the game televised on a giant screen. The Parisians that were seemed ready to pity the French team since it was expected to be thrashed by the New Zealand team. It was quite a surprise that France came out the winners. This somehow overwhelmed the events of Nuit Blanche. Most of the people in the streets would be there to cheer for the rugby winners rather than the odd cultural performances all over town. Each weekend would see another big game until the final match. France didn't make the finals, but there were still great numbers celebrating throughout the city before and after all of the games.

Another fun event in October is the Harvest Festival in Montmartre. This is a yearly event that takes place at the top of the famous hill in Paris. There is a lot of eating and wine drinking that goes on along the streets around the church of Sacre-Coeur.

In 1933, three thousand seedling of Thomery and three seedling of Morgon were planted.
Then the Féte des Vèndanges de Montmartre was celebrated for the first time the following year. Each year I've tried to make my way up to see the festivities. This year I managed to visit twice over the weekend. There can usually be a number of important people or French celebrities invited. "Les Chevaliers du Taste-Vin"or the Knights of Wine Tasting are there from from different French provinces. They are in usually dressed up in their special regional outfits or uniforms. Everybody seems to come to celebrate. "Le Clos Montmartre" is officially the only real vineyard in Paris. This year's vintage of about 1500 bottles were dedicated to George Brassens. He is a well known French singer and composer of the past. He died in the early 1980s, but his memory lives on both in this years vintage and in Brassens feast and festival also celebrated in Montmartre. He would make his debut in this part of Paris at a well known club that is planning to reopen it's doors in 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Brassens
All profits from the sale of this wine goes to help local charities. I'm still not sure of the price oaf a bottle of Montmartre wine. It can't be inexpensive.

The month of November begins with what has turned out to be one of my favorite holidays in France. The natives celebrate All Saint's Day which is called Toussaint in France. This day always falls on November 1. There's no "trick or treating" the night before as the French do not really celebrate Halloween. It has just never caught on here no matter how much they tried to promote this. Similar to the origins of Halloween the celebration of Toussaint may have started back with the Celts. It almost sounds as if it was a sort of Celtic New Year's Day. For most of the French the first of November is the day to care for the family cemetery plot. The evolved catholic traditions of November the first are designed to allow for omissions of those Saints that have pasted on. There are lots of Saints that pass whom we forget about. So many do not have a day of their own so this is the day to remember the Saints that missed out on their own day in the year. Toussaint has also now taken on the function to remember all of those close and not so close to us, that have passed on. Basically a day to remember the dead. So, the tradition in all of France is to visit the cemetery. On this day, families and visitors in Paris will make their way to a place like cemetery Pere Lachaise, or the other famous cemeteries in the city. Families will tend their ancestor's plots. Many will lay flowers on the graves of their favorite, famous who have long pasted on. All of the cemeteries of Paris are beautiful places to visit on any day, but on the first day in November it becomes especially nice to see the traditional mum flowers covering the tombs. Many candles are also lit and placed around the monuments. Even though it was a mostly cloudy day this year, the autumn colors added to the experience. It has become a tradition that I look forward to each year. As in past years, I was at Pere Lachaise to pay my respects to a few of my favorite tenants.

It's already the middle of November as I post this. Transit strikes are hitting the city of Paris along with some very winter like weather. Today I was lucky to make my way around the city by bus, but by seven in the evening my luck had run out. Living near the metro line #14 is a fortunate thing. This is the newest metro line in Paris. It's an automated line with no drivers. The run steady during any strike day. No one is yet sure what the rest of the month will bring. There is lots of positive press that the strikes will possibly end soon, but things don't appear to be close to negotiations let alone a settlement between the transit workers and the government. Hoping for the best in December as the holidays arrive.

Never a dull day in Paris.

RENRËE

The French kids, as well as their parents returned to school and work earlier this week. This event is refered to as la rentrée. Loosely translated this is the re-entry, or the return. This is the same idea as "back to school" in the states. It has always been a big event since I've lived in France. There is always a great deal of excitement. Of course the energy in the city of Paris completely changes. Anyone that has visited Paris during the month of August will certainly find it busy at the major sites and attractions throughout the town. Still, daily life in Paris feels somewhat quiet. There are no real lines at the grocery stores, and some mornings this summer I had the bus to myself for a number of stops. The traffic around town dies out, and the normally packed parking spots around the neighborhood sit empty. Even the building that I live seems empty which makes it nearly silent. This silence is especially noticeable during the summer weekends.

Rentrée, rentrée, ren- traaee you start to see and hear it everywhere. Commercials on television and radio focus mainly on all things for "la rentrée". Of course as the first days of school begin people, parents, students, and teachers are interviewed on TV about what they feel and think about "la rentrée". The statistics about students, teachers along with any educational changes were the subject of the evening news, talk shows and articles all week long.

Watching the kids have to go back to school always makes me a little sad though. Most French kids look very excited to be coming back after a fun summer to get down to work, and see their friends again. Someone has posted a wonderful photo set of "la rentrée" from a neighborhood just outside of Paris. http://www.flickr.com/photos/joyoflife/sets/72157601859579259/detail/

I hope that this link will work so you can see these great images of a first day of school.

This past weekend was, and this week is the time to avoid shopping for anything that might have to do with school supplies. There can be a wild frenzy to purchase the required school supplies requested by the teacher for classes. It looks as if that list can be quite complicated. Getting what is needed for class looks as if it can really fry some Parisian mothers. There were a few that seemed quite frazzled this week. One woman in line at the grocery store realised that she had forgotten her purse and money once she got to the check out. Everyone in line had great sympathy and understanding for her as she ran out with the intention of returning to retrieve and pay for her dinner supplies.

It is nice to see the season begin so that all the fun events to get into gear for the Parisians and anyone else that maybe in town to enjoy them. My favorite event that happens every September and falling on it's third weekend is the Jour du Patrimoine - Heritage days. This is a weekend where many of the amazing government buildings (many past palaces) open their doors to the public for inspection for the pleasure of seeing some spectacular things. Places like the Senate, or the Paris City Hall are not open to you at any time you want to visit. On this one weekend in September everyone get to see the beauty that is maintained basically by their taxes. You also get a bit of an education on how the government works. This all with a strong sense of history. I've developed some favorite spots to visit if I can each year. Paris "Hotel de Ville" is a favorite of mine for some reason. This is the main grand city hall building. The Senate is also a favorite. There are some works of art in these buildings that are so wonderful to visit more than once to me. Each year the list of participants are printed in a handy newspaper that can be picked up at the Minister of Culture's lobby before the event weekend. This way you can plan your schedule and strategy of what you might want to visit. This is a popular event. So, there will always be lines to wait in at the most popular buildings. There has always been a very long line to visit the President's house, so I have yet to make it in to see this building. I hope that I will be able to offer a report of my experinces of this event here this year.

Oh, this year there is the added event of France hosting Rugby World Cup. These events get started tomorrow I think. This week they hung a giant rugby ball in the center of the Eiffel Tower. It looks a bit like it has a pill stuck in it's throut. This evening the lights of the tower were turned on by the city mayor (great mayor by-the-way). The bottom section of lights are green and of course there is a specail light focused on that giant ball. It looked quite nice when the tower did it's specail sparkel with it's now green legs. Along with the new lighting I noticed they have put up the ferris wheel at the Place de la Concord. This is normally only set up for the holidays between Christmas and New Years. An added attraction for the parties around town for the rugby fans.

Hope everyone had a pleasant Labor Day at the start of this week.

Ten years in Paris

This month will be my tenth year living in the city of Paris. To somehow celebrate this event I thought of starting this blog today. Ten years ago this month I was fortunate enough to have moved to Paris. This was after living a short time in the city of Lyon.
The odd event of Princess Diana's death would mark my arrival. The birth of my neighbor's youngest daughter would happily occur over the same time while unpacking.
It is a bit of a surprise to me that I'm still in Paris. This was not necessarily something that I thought of as permanent, at least not as much as it has turned out to be.
I'm living in the center of the city. It's a neighborhood that has changed quite a bit since my move. The city of Paris is broken into twenty districts that are called arrondissements (always a difficult word to pronounce). I live in the second arrondissement located just behind the Palais Royal, and about two blocks away from the Bourse. This is the name for the building that houses the French stock market. Throughout the history of this neighborhood it has always been a place centered on business and information. Along with being a major center for money it was also where most of the newspapers had their main offices. The French Associated Press offices are still around the corner from where I live. The old national library is located just across from my apartment building .
When I first moved to this neighborhood it was a silent part of town once the work day ended. Since it was always where people worked, it never felt like a neighborhood where people really lived. For a block or two around the building there has always been Japanese restaurants. Noodles and sushi didn't seem as popular to the Parisians ten years ago as they seem these days. This once dead quiet neighborhood comes alive with the Parisians looking for the more trendy cuisine located in my part of town. It's not really a "Chinatown", but a high concentration of nicer Japanese styled eateries. There are still a good number of take out Chinese/Japanese for the office workers in the neighborhood. These take second place to the nicer spots that continue to pop up in the four blocks around Place Louvois.
One of my favorite spots in Paris is the Palais Royal and the gardens there. Some visitors seem not to discover this garden almost hidden in the center of Paris. Now more people are discovering it for the new shops that have opened there in recent years. The shopping galleries there have seen the arrival of American designer Mark Jacobs and a number of more upscale shops. When I moved here there were mostly still only selling old stamps and historic medallions. This change has only made pleasant improvements to this already beautiful place.

I'm hoping to stay in Paris for another ten years or more if at all possible to see other improvements that time might bring to my adopted city. We'll see if I can maintain this blog over the coming months.

The photo at the top of this post is an old one of the square in front of my building. This is the Place Louvois.