Here is a cool breeze today, and I am home this morning telling myself well what? So went up to the vexin français natural park near me and just drove around visiting places for a next post. the weather is cool indeed and the sun is hot ,go figure these times. Rain is announced for the weekend oh well times change so fast. At these times always come prepare with a rainjacket.
A test for Paris, from June 1st to August 31th the police in the Champs-Elysées area will have electric tricycles to ride on !!! They chose the California USA base T3 i Motion equipment. Some other cities like Nice already use Sedways. The T3 i Motion can turn 360° angles and with speed of up to 40 km/h.(25 mph) ,they are 1,38 m long (4.55 ft)and have a 50 kms autonomy with recharge electric in a few hours.
Some irregularities found in the giving of the lighting contract for the city of Paris, so the prefet of IDF is filing suit to have it removed and bring back to bidding. Yes, the places you see lit at night such as Arc de Triomphe, Louvre, Panthéon, etc (not includes the Eiffel tower) as well as ten of thousands of lamp posts and red lights in the city ,the contract was for 800M€ given to Bouygues and Vinci, for Ten years was attacked by the prefet of ile de France region Daniel Canepa. It seems to me its political more than anything else.
Due to the increase in highway death the region of Ile de France where Paris/Versailles are will enforce the highway safety including the idea of eliminating the warning panels on over speed on the roads now shown. Any excess of speed of more than 50 km/h over the legal limit will be qualify as a crime,which means the driver could face prison terms and not just a fine. Alcohol while driving the level stays at 0,8 g (with between 0,5g and 0,79g, it is a fine or taking of points),however anything over that will be penalised with 8 points!! (we have max of 12 or no more license). The telephone cellular/mobile will have the sanctions increase as well by given you a fourth class penalty which means 4 points and min of 90€ fine. This is just dandy before the summer vacation big time in France, again another political motivation deal as elections are next year.
Coming on summer indeed, so here comes the tartes au fraises or strawberry pies abound. The recent survey by Le Figaro shows the best in Paris to be Gérard Mulot, 76 rue de Seine 6éme. Jacques Genin, 133 rue de Turenne 3éme, Dalloyau, 101 Faubourg Saint-Honoré 8éme, Ladurée, 16 Rue Royale 8éme, and my favorite Carette at 25 pl des Vosges 3éme came in 8th place.
My other passion is eating out ,see my blogroll at the bottom of my blog for Cityvox, I write reviews in French there; the 2011 ranking of the best restos in Paris by the locals came out as such,the list is 273 strong with a rating of 3,5 or more from max of 5 stars. So just glad to know some of my favorites are in the top 10 such as Chez Chartier, Le Chalets des Iles, Le Vin qui Danse, etc. Some other of my favorites towns and my marks wre there are at Lille where Chez Max is on top, Nantes ,La Cigale 2nd, Strasbourg, Le Tire Bouchon,3rd, Lyon, Brasserie Georges 1836 , 1st. Restaurant d’Olivier ,9th. Bordeaux, Au Bouchon des Chartrons, 6th, La Belle Epoque, 10th, see them all here http://www.cityvox.fr/bienvenue_france/LancementSelection
Come and enjoy a nice meal in the beautiful gardens of the Maison de l’Amérique latine in Paris, nothing latin american in the meals ,all is French ::) Plus see over 10 sculptures in bronze by the Mexican artist Juan Soriano (1920-2006) in the Cour Ovale until July 13 from tuesdays to saturdays at 14h. metro sulferino rue de bac, 217 blvd Saint Germain; webpage for the Maison at http://www.mal217.org/
The event Paris,quartier d’ êté will come back this year to its usual place at the Palais Royal in the cour des Invalides. There it will host dance, music,cinema from July 14 to August 9th,especially dont missed the free nights on July 14 The Manganiyar, a great spectacle of Indian music and dance,and the August 9th the show of the movie under the stars, of Duellistes, of Ridley Scott, and Hôtel des Invalides of Georges Franju. webpage http://www.quartierdete.com/
The IN place for the best of Spanish products is Bellota Bellota at 18, rue Jean-Nicot, tél. +33 01 53 59 96 96 , this is celler and grocery store with the best hams iberians, oils, and canned goods. You can snack on site midday and evenings if a bit pricey. webpage http://www.bellota-bellota.com/
The new movie by Woody Allen is out, Midnght at Paris, (Minuit à Paris) is a rave, all is looking forward to see it , another American dream for Paris, and this one is just as good as the other ones, Paris Je t’aime !!! This is what Mr Allen said at the Le Figaro newspaper which I am translating here, “I felled in love with Paris in 1964, I was writing one day for the play of the movie what’s New Pussycat. I was staying at the Hôtel George V. This adventure lasted 8 months! At the end I was thinking of staying permanently. I would have been able to purchase a small apartment on the attic types, and lived at the heart of Paris city of Lights. I was young, single,and love this city. I spent my times on the Champs-Élysées, to read wholly the books at library Shakespeare & Company,or just walked in the streets of the Quartier latin. However, all my friends were at New York. Alors, and I stop thinking about this dream. I regret a bit today having done that decision”. A bit more on the interview, He stayed for the movie a the Hotel Bristol, and ” One more time, it was marvelous, like all New Yorkers we like to walk a lot , and I love to walk on parc Monceau, go on by the quais or edge of the Seine river, take coffee at the Saint Germain area, and cross the bridges over the Seine, like the sumptous pont Alexandre-III” In the last film there are scenes at Maxim’s and the Moulin Rouge, lower end of rue Mouffetard, and high on the montagne Sainte-Geneviève. And as he told in mid voice, ” Paris, its New York, but a bit more beautiful !”.
Cheers, yes Paris is eternal, a movable feast but so is France ::)
Paris1972-Versailles2003 