It snowed in Paris today!

This makes me feel all Christmassy inside :D (and cold outside!) Thank God I finally managed to find my gloves this week-end :?

Anyhow, sorry no pics as the snow did not stay but melted as soon as it touched the ground… Yes, that’s how it snows in Paris… ;)

The other day I was walking through a park, grumbling about the weather we’ve been having: quite “fresh” (understand cold) and rather moist (understand wet)… When suddenly, lo and behold! This:

Of course, the photo does not do the rainbow justice. It was a really beautiful double rainbow… I hadn’t seen any in a long time and it brought a smile to my face :D I hope it will help everyone go through this unpleasant bout of weather! ;)

Le temp est idéal pour découvrir les parcs de la capitale!

Le week-end dernier, j’ai visité le parc des Buttes-Chaumont, dans le 19ème arrondissement. Il offre une superbe vue sur le sacré-coeur, mais la vue se mérite : la pente est rude!

And it’s about time ;) After other cities such as Los Angeles, Orange County or Dublin, Paris is finally getting out its own set of commandments. Feel free to comment!

Thou shall:
- consider eating on the unique lawn of the Luxembourg garden as a picnic
- cross roads whatever colour the light is and whether a car is arriving or not
- distinguish between “Châtelet” and “Les Halles” when arranging to meet friends
- answer “Paris” instead of “France” when asked what country you come from
- consider that once you cross the “périph” you’re outside of Paris
- count metro stations to mesure time and distance instead of minutes or meters
- memorise which part of the metro you should use in order to find the exit right in front of you when you get off
- not even hear the sound made by a “Carte Imagin’R” when it is swiped
- avoid dog shit without having to even look at the ground
- abandon the city to tourists and heat in August

Those of you who watches Travel Channel would have undoubtedly know a few household programme names in travelling (and food) adventures, such as Globe Trekker (I like it best when presented by Megan McCormick or Justine Shapiro, not so much on Ian Wright) and Anthony Bourdain : No Reservations. I’ve just been pointed to another show, hosted by Samantha Brown, called Passport to Great Weekends.

This evening, at 10pm EST (give or take 4am local time in Paris on Friday 26th Sept), Samantha will be featuring Paris! It will also be replayed at 2am EST tomorrow (8am local time, Friday 26th Sept).

This is her map and travel guides for the city.

What do you think of the list of locations and addresses? It gives a feel of Paris at leisure (Paris Roller, Velib), recommends a couple of places to eat (I must admit I am not familiar with the restaurants highlighted) but hey, my favourite bookshop is listed so I’m delighted with that.

Then again, nobody should be surprised really, to see unfamiliar addresses. Afterall, Paris is such a diversed city, with plenty to see and to do, that even Parisians would have plenty to uncover at all time. To know Paris inside out would be quite a feat.

I wish I can catch the show. Hey, if you are, let me know how you like it! :-D

While I wasn’t completely “born and bred” in the city, this place is my home town and I just happen to love it :D The things is, I’ve noticed, lots of people hate it. Some people seem to walk by trying not to think about it and just be “meh” but it seems to me they’re just trying to avoid acknowledging that they live in a city they don’t like?

Overall, people seem to have strong feelings about this city, unlike any others I’d like to say. It’s a lot smaller than London or New York City for example, but it is France’s biggest city. There are large amounts of traffic, pollution and pigeons (and other not-so-pleasant things), but also many local boulangeries, fascinating monuments and museums (and many many other highlights)…

I got thinking because we have a new co-worker in the office. He’s not French and is discovering France and Paris for the first time. And the other day, he got himself a 30-minute walk between “Paris is such a great city” me and “I can’t wait till my contract is over and I can leave this god-forsaken place” French co-worker…

I wonder how he’ll come around: like it? not like it? Hehe…

Anyhow, it seems to me that people who grew up in Paris tend to love the city, while people who have come here from the rest of the country (either to study or work or whatever reason) often tend to hate it… Of course, these remarks are not absolutes but: is there really a trend? I’m curious…

How about foreigners who come to live in the city? I’ve noticed a good many like it here. I should process data to see whether they came from smaller cities or larger cities…

Have any of you noticed any trend among the people you know? Or maybe in other large cities that bring love and hate in such close quarters?

Anyhow, we’re still working on the city’s 10 commandments. By now, a number of the other metblog cities have done so. If you have any input you’d like to give, feel free to comment!

Let us now follow as the events unfold in the beautiful city of Paris…

Reminders:

• in August the city was abandoned by its inhabitants and left for tourists to populate (see Paris in August)

• at the very end of August/early September, people started coming back and signs of activity started showing up, in particular relocating (see Moving) and a few posts for this metblog (who dutifully follows the local trends? ;) )

And now, let us see what happened next:

September is Paris, and overall in France, is a month dedicated to “la rentrée” (going back to school). Kids go back to school, young adults start out in uni and lots of people come back from hols and consider it’s their “rentrée” to go back to work… Moreover, the whole process of “la rentrée” takes a lot of organising and people are quite busy all over the country.

Some people approach this wholeheartedly (happy to get rid of the kids?) while others complain and drag their feet (urg, homework!).

But all in all, the process of “la rentrée” takes place, petit à petit, and some resolutions work out while others fail dramatically.

Soon enough, things will settle down: students will study (oops, that’s me), teachers will teach (oops, me again), people with other jobs will work (what? not me again!) and another year will whoosh us by…

See you next year? ;)

I think a point has just been made: this is the third post of August and we’re the 25th…

If you scroll down over the post below, you’ll notice I mentioned people on hols? Well, just to make a point, I did go on hols ;) and unfortunately, this blog was a tad not updated…

All my apologies and do not worry: interesting updates as soon as I get over jetlag :D

Here are just a few quick words to give you an idea of the city at this time of the year:

• It’s hot
• It’s muggy
• Offices are empty
• Cars are rare, boulevards are crossed without checking*
• Shops are closed
• Restaurants are closed
• Grocery stores are not as well supplied
• Markets are half the usual size (if not smaller)

You get the picture I believe… People are away on hols! At times, the city feels almost asleep… The sun and heat are certainly not helping :P But well, soon, it’ll be my turn to leave. Mouahahahahahaha…

* Well, why yes, usually I DO look before crossing…At least for boulevards ;)

That’s a question I was asked by american friends of friend visiting some weeks ago. Before that I never really thought about it. Indeed Paris has a lot of restaurant and you can eat french as well as indian, thaï, lebanese, breton, italian, scandinavian and so on.

So how can one make a decision ?

It can depend on prices, place you are, things you want to eat… but even once you know what you want to eat and for what price, you want it to be good. And believe me, there are restaurant in Paris you don’t want to try…

The better way is of course to have friend experimenting and reporting to you. Like a guy I know who is from Corea and told me where to eat the best bimbimbap next to work. Or a co-worker who invite you to his favourite restaurant..

I also make my own experimentations, trying the new pizzeria that opened next to home (good but not the best I know), or testing restaurant from comments I read on the web or magazines.

So if you’re looking for a restaurant, and don’t know where to go, you can check this site (my prefered one) or this one or this one. You can also find other ideas in blogs like the ones Lil suggested last week.

And what about you? How do you choose ? What are your favourite restaurants?