Paris et quelques villes allemandes ? Ce n’est qu’une fraction de ce qu’il y a à voir !

Je ne me fais pas de fausses idées : c’est une aventure modeste que je m’apprête à vivre. Des voyageurs plus expérimentés et mieux nantis tireraient certainement meilleur parti d’un séjour en Europe. Ils se déplaceraient plus, sauraient quels pays, quelles villes, quelles régions prioriser, reviendraient de leur voyage les yeux remplis d’images et d’impressions. Malheureusement, mes moyens m’obligent à faire des choix : en août 2013, je m’en tiendrai à Paris, Mayence, Berlin, Dresde et Munich.

Une aventure modeste n’est pas nécessairement banale. Cet été, je quitterai l’Amérique pour la première fois, et je serai la plupart du temps seul. Le voyage en solitaire permet, je crois, de vivre plus de sensations fortes: je ne pourrai compter que sur moi-même. Seul, je pourrai aussi me plonger dans mes réflexions et bien « digérer » mes journées. Voyager avec des gens qu’on connaît, c’est un peu comme traîner avec soi un bout de son pays; c’est rassurant, mais c’est un handicap lorsqu’on est à la recherche de nouvelles expériences. Je pars en voyage avec l’intention d’apprendre, de revenir chez moi marqué par mes découvertes, d’abandonner ce que je connais pendant quelques semaines pour me fondre dans une autre culture. Une centaine de photos, quelques vidéos et une petite tour Eiffel en plastique ne me suffisent pas!

Il faut maintenant que j’introduise un des thèmes centraux de ce blog: les langues. J’apprends l’allemand depuis un peu plus de quatre mois, depuis que j’ai décidé de passer mon été en Allemagne. Pouvoir converser avec les gens dans leur propre langue me permettra de plonger encore plus profondément dans la culture germanique (et parisienne) lors de mon court séjour.

Avec ce blog, je veux d’abord documenter mes progrès en allemand. Il me reste maintenant environ un mois et demi avant mon départ, et je pense qu’il serait intéressant de noter mes progrès et mes réflexions. J’écrirai aussi à propos des lectures que je ferai en islandais. 

Dès que j’arriverai en Europe, j’écrirai surtout à propos de mon voyage. Je raconterai mes aventures, je décrirai les villes que je visiterai et les gens que je rencontrerai et je donnerai aussi le compte-rendu de mon immersion linguistique.

Ce blog devrait donc intéresser ceux qui aiment les langues et les voyages et qui désirent connaître les réflexions d’un adolescent/jeune adulte qui quitte tout ce qu’il connaît pour la première fois, motivé par un grand appétit de découvertes.

À bientôt!

1. Bungee jump
2. Run a marathon
3. Travel to at least 50 countries
4. Fall in love
5. Skydive
6. Write a book
7. Leave my hand prints in wet cement
8. Have a food fight
9. Dance in the rain
10. Go on a road trip with friends (with no destination)
11. Kiss in the rain
12. Learn 2 other languages
13. Stay up all night to watch the sun rise
14. Have a huge water balloon fight
15. Bake something in the middle of the night with someone I love
16. Go on a midnight stroll in Paris
17. Get a matching tattoo with someone
18. Learn how to surf
19. Get a house where you can sit on the roof
20. Carve my name into a tree
21. Say yes to everything for a day
22. T.P a house
23. Buy a Polaroid Camera
24. Send a message in a bottle
25. Go to Coachella Music Festival
26. Go to a midnight movie premiere
27. Learn 10 new words. And actually use them
28.  Take a nap (or read) in a hammock
29.  Spend time volunteering in Africa
30. Save a life

P.S: these are just a few ideas that came to my mind! Let me know if you have any interesting/fun things on your bucket list!

So just a few days ago I returned from my 11 day trip to Paris, France! I went with my boyfriend and his brother and we had such a great time . There’ll be a much more in depth post and photo diary of our trip in the weeks to come and I’m super pumped for that! But today, today is about Chiara .

I met Chiara via Instagram .. just another reason to love that little social network . I knew she lived in Paris so when I had plans to visit, her and I talked about doing a photoshoot while I was there! She’s seriously the sweetest . So genuine and easy to talk to . (also super easy to photograph) . She showed us around Montmarte and the gardens of Luxembourg and we stopped every now and then to shoot along the way .

You can consider this a little sneak peak of whats to come from the everything-beautiful Paris . & thank you, Chiara, for being the kindest and loveliest of hosts of your magnificent city . xo

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I was too late to buy tickets for the main courts, so we had tickets to the grounds and all the other courts where they hosted the less important games. On 5 June they played the quarter finals on the two main courts, and the legends trophy on the other courts.

Djokovic was playing on this court.

and we could hear the people cheering for Nadal on this court.

The big screens on the outside are for the unlucky ones that could only hear the excitement  : )  but…

we had so much fun watching the legends do their thing. I actually think they had more fun than us. They were entertaining the crowds, making jokes and showing their skills.

We saw Martina Navratilova playing in a game against Sanchez and Fernandez. My knowledge of tennis isn’t that good, but even I can remember these women.

The ‘joy’ and magic of clay courts…

feeling proud South African when we were watching this lady from South Africa…

Court no.1 and the ‘aerial-view’ camera.

South-Africa was there : ) Big green balls passed on to win some prizes from Perrier…

Goran Ivanisevic… the big entertainer of the day. : )

“maybe I should get my partner something to stand on when serving… to get the ball over the net” : )

Henri LeConte, Pat Cash… also having fun : )

The stars having enough fun to just do the work themselves
…and just to show that they can still play tennis… serving at 200km/h.

and then they decided that the referee gets a red card and should leave the court : ) and Bahrami came back with Yannick Noah. For a short while he played referee, exactly 30 years after he won the french open at Roland Garros.

…a fun day, spend at a special place, for a special birthday of a special person… : )

May kicks off the start of the silly season of endless holidays in France. It’s called the month of ‘les ponts’ (French for bridges), which alludes to the skillful way workers take time off in between May bank holidays and the weekends.

Off with the beret hats, hello dark sunglasses and spiffy sandals. Parisians are smiling (it’s official): spring is in full swing and their much beloved month of May est arrivé!

This dreamy month is truly blessed with bank holidays offering the winter and desk weary a chance to escape for an extended weekend away, or ‘le petit weekend’ as the French have so daintily named them.

Not much can stop Parisians in their vigorous pursuit of one; not even a recession, which France quietly slipped into in mid-May. This is because they are not considered a luxury, but a necessity, a series of rehearsals in preparation for the biggie—August’s month long summer vacation just around the corner.

May holds the dubious crown of the month of ‘les ponts’ (‘bridges’ in French). It alludes to the artful way French workers take days off between a given bank holiday and the preceding or following weekends, resulting in rather handsome ‘p’tit weekends’ without impacting too much on their annual holiday allowance.

There are four public holidays in May: La Fête du Travail, 1 May, Labour Day, workers’ day off, Armistice Day WWII, celebrating the end of World War II in Europe, 8 May, L’Ascension, 9 May and La Pentecôte, 20 May. The latter two are connected with France’s Catholic heritage.

Even by Malaysian standards—having witnessed the birth of Malaysia Day and Thaipusan during our posting there—that’s a pretty impressive number.

Better still, two fall midweek making rich pickings for the ‘pont’ aficionados who have the chance of engineering a five day ‘no-so-p’tit weekend’, and I suspect causing havoc on the work front.

This month street sellers dotted around the open air markets of Paris sell the delicately scented May flower called Lily of the Valley—it has a spring-rain fresh fragrance with a hint of jasmine and soft undertones of lime.

My husband bucked the trend and worked for all four. Sweet. If it hadn’t been for the birdsong and my children’s chatter among the gently bobbing boughs of our garden’s horse-chestnut trees, now heavily laden with their lantern-shaped blossoms, it would have been very lonesome on our ghostly street of houses, sealed with their imposing window shutters.

“It’s not quite as bad as August” my French doctor offered on a recent visit, when apparently Paris truly empties. “But don’t expect your children to be doing much work in May”. What I had taken to be a mischievous comment has proven correct: there’s more lethargy than learning in the lessons and the kids are becoming more fractious by the day.

To be fair, France’s President François Holland has been busy.

Lily of the Valley.

He should be commended for staying on task, not on holiday, and passing the same-sex marriage ‘Bill 344’ this month, joining 13 other enlightened countries who have done the same.

Pulling off such a feat in this deeply traditional and predominantly catholic country was both courageous and astonishing. There’s been mass rightwing street protests over the past months, and in very macabre turn of events, a well-known French historian shot himself at the altar of the Notre Dame Cathedral in a desperate bid to summon up opposition to same-sex marriage in France.

There’s been some whinging in the press recently about these heavyweight bank holidays: should they be scrapped given France’s economic woes?

According to a recent study by the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies ‘Insee’, getting rid of bank holidays would allow France to save more money. The study showed that the reduction of total work days in 2013 (two fewer than in 2012) claimed a 0.1 per cent loss in yearly Gross Domestic Product.

Perhaps it’s not such a bad idea, particularly given France’s return to the dark doldrums of recession for the third time in four years. The Portuguese government has just cancelled four national bank holidays for the next five years, claiming the country cannot afford to take time off while it wrestles with its austerity programme.

France currently ranks fifth on the scale of European countries in terms of the number of annual bank holidays along with Spain, the United Kingdom and Sweden. But given President Hollande’s hemorrhaging approval ratings—currently the lowest of any modern French leader with more than two-thirds of the population giving Hollande the thumbs down—he’ll be in no rush to rock those p’tit weekends, so interwoven into the fabric of the French way of life.

And as I listen to my friend’s alluring accounts of their adventures west in ‘La Bretagne’ (Brittany), one of the top destinations for les pont month—the sailing, the invigorating salt air on breezy coastal walks or grazing on dejeuners of a crisp vin blanc and fresh Moules (mussels)—I say: “Vive le p’tit weekend!”

When writing names of cities, one might wonder if he/she needs to include a state after it.

The rule is simple: The more familiar the city’s name, the less likely it needs a state or country.

U.S. cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Miami and Dallas don’t require a state because it’s understood that enough people know these cities are  in New York, California, Illinois, Georgia, California, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Florida and Texas, respectively.

Similarly, cities such as London, Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Moscow, Jerusalem, Cairo, Shanghai and Tokyo need no countries because enough people know these are in England, France, Germany, Spain, Russia, Israel, Egypt, China and Japan, respectively.

The problems arise when you have cities that few have heard, such as Lubbock or Palmdale or Davenport. Do enough people know these are in Texas, California and Iowa, respectively? Probably not.

What about Birmingham, Athens or St. Petersburg? Are they in Alabama, Georgia and Florida, or are they in England, Greece and Russia? You need a city or country with cities such as these.

There’s no shame in needing/not needing a qualifying city/state. It just means you’re smaller but no less special.

Until next time! Use the right words!

leebarnathan.com

Petit Palais

Theadora’s came in under the wire and was most complete. Here’s what she had to say:

It took me awhile to find my stylish thinking cap! Gorgeous shot, Paul. I love the sky, the dramatic clouds. Thanks for shining the spotlight on one of my favorite museums in the city.
Here is my guess: The Petit Palais? The beauty was built for the 1900 Universal Exhibition, located next to the Grand Palais, on avenue Winston Churchill. It became a museum in 1902.)
Fingers are crossed!
Theadora

Right you are, and thanks for the props!

Congrats on your Chupa Chups badge, everyone!

Moving on to new challenges…

Where is this building?

Where Is It In Paris

Correct answers in the Comments section below win a coveted prize.

__________________________________________

I am now taking requests at Paris by Cell Phone! Is there something Parisian you would love to see on your computer screen? Send me your request at Paris.Paul.Prescott@gmail.com and I’ll hook you up!

Or, if you have taken a picture of Paris on your cell phone and would like to show it off to the world, why not do it here? It doesn’t have to be super artistic–there are enough photo sites of Paris as it is–just taken with a mobile phone and that’s all!

Please send a copy of your photograph to Paris.Paul.Prescott@gmail.com and I’ll let you know when it’ll be posted.

Thanks so much for your help!

Paris Paul

Follow @ParisPaulP

Please feel free to check out my Paris Inspired fiction here

Ambre Premier opens initially, bizarrely “perfume-y”… yes yes, what a shit description – it was unexpected lets just say that. A bizarre sweet/sour/bitterness of chocolate, orange and patchouli muddle around each other for a while trying to get comfortable on the skin, as a sharper metallic note bites through the middle.
The amber has a “breathy” vanilla quality to it, which paired with the chocolate-patchouli/gourmand thing going on, and the very synthetic smelling orange – turns my stomach just a little.
There’s a little clean rose in the middle, a white musk, and a cloying vanilla – but the dominating accord is surprisingly a metallic meets gourmand patchouli… with a disjointed amber underneath. Drying down to a sweet, hideous white musk.

La Liturgie des Heures opens not too dissimilar to April Aromatics’ Calling All Angels, with its dry woods and incense, only this is a touch more peppery, and more “sticky”. Along with the overload of bitter resins and incense – bits of harsh greenery cut through it: pine and cypress mainly… a mix of sticky, sweet forest floor, and more herbal coniferous greens.
It pretty much stays this way throughout it’s life. It’s totally not my kind of perfume and not how I like to smell (also very bored of the overload of foresty/incense fragrances)… but still, this is a solid enough example for people who like that kind of thing Not bad!

L’Arbre de la Connaissance  starts with a loud, fig overload. It’s tangy, almost sherbert-y, neither predictably lactonic, or green? Maybe a bit of both – it’s both sharp, sweet, fizzy and bright – I get touches of grapefruit and bitter lemon peel too.
The fig gives off hints of coconut, green sappy milk (suntan lotion and salty green) - and gradually gets greener as more herbaceous notes and camphor joins in.
It’s a little too much on my skin – but I’d definitely recommend it for someone after a loud, hyper-fresh fragrance. I surprisingly like it, despite it smelling mega-synthetic, it reminds me of a fig that Comme Des Garcons would come out with – even with a touch of high-pitched metallic oil thrown in for good measure! It dries down to a woody/patch, but stays true to the start for longer than expected.

L’Enfant Terrible opens near enough a straight rip-off of Parfum D’Empire’s Aziyade. I love Aziyade so I can’t help but quite like this too as much as I hate to admit it (ok read the name I want to love it!!!). It starts with fizzy spiced fruit, not too dissimilar to Dr.Pepper soda! Dates, cumin, nutmeg, cinnamon, a pinch of pimento berry, plum… all blended into this hot, fruit-pie-like scent.
There’s syrupy oranges, culinary herbal notes… ok it sounds ridiculously complicated but it’s totally not (if you’ve smelt things like Aziyade, Arabie etc. you’ll totally get this). The soda-vibe stays true for a while – the fruit settling a little bit as the heated spices dominate (this is where things get a little different), drying down to a dry cedar/sandalwood combo and musk. Nice enough, but it has been done, and better.

Private Label opens with a harsh, nail-varnish leather. A raw, earthy, smoky vetiver comes in quickly and together – the combination is pretty foul. It smells black and rubbery (yes, dildo was the first word that came into my head then too), with squeaky vinyl (stop!!!), and underneath, a resinous amber (lots of labdanum), a bit of incense and other bitter greens that just make it worse and worse.
Ok, so Private Label is not for me. It’s an upfront, foul-smelling masculine fragrance that smells simplistic yet sloppy, and on my skin at least – it has no personality whatsoever. It feels like I’m wearing a “first draft”. But anyway – it finishes how it starts but quieter, and thankfully becomes relatively translucent quickly into wear. Ew!

Psychedelique has a sharp, high-pitched citrus opening that within seconds falls into a patchouli soliflore. The patchouli is similar to the patchouli in the rest of the line’s base… quite a weird one. It’s not quite gourmand, a touch metallic, fresher than expected with an unusual green-quality – camphorous and a little “sweaty”.
It’s given a cooler, more herbal feel by a dose of geranium – but gradually is warmed by the stinky amber of Amber Premier When this comes in my heart sinks a touch because all hope is lost and I know I can no longer attempt to enjoy this hybrid patchouli. I’m not a big fan from the beginning, but it’s interesting. But as that breathy (sulphur-like), sticky vanilla/amber creeps its way into the mix, pushing the geranium out the way, it becomes thicker, sweeter and turns a little bit “off”. I’ll stick with Borneo 1834!

I hope this post was helpful as a brief summary… some interesting stuff, but don’t consider me a fan :’) there are better example of each perfume out there already.

All fragrances 100ml $180 Jovoy Paris – Luckyscent

Slumming in Paris Part One, Arthur & Gricinda

“Paris is Personal” – Original Paris Poetry by Felipe Adan Lerma

Original Paris Poetry by Felipe Adan Lerma

Pictured Left : “Slumming in Paris, Part One”, novella, available on Amazon Books.

Romantic prequel, before the arrival of the kids (Part Two, release date late summer ’13).  A fun read.

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“the intent of this blog is to incrementally build a body of thought that works toward integrating various topics, yoga, fitness, and the arts – it’s a process…”

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Author pages for all titles (fiction, poetry, and images) for each major online outlet also on the top right of each page:

Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, Google Books, iTunes, Kobo, Smashwords.

Fitness ** Arts ** eBooks

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Paris is Personal

Original Paris Poetry by Felipe Adan Lerma

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Categories : Family Poems  *  Love Poems  *  Occasions Poetry

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Statue, Georges Danton
Featured on previous Paris PhotoPoem post.

Above is an image from one of my Paris Photo posts, which offers some window views from inside the cafe.

Below the poem is another.  There are views and views from windows in Paris.

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Paris is Personal

Seated
in a cafe of hundreds
and unable to hear
anyone’s whispers
and public kisses
receiving
passing smiles,
we know
despite the monuments
dated in centuries
outside the our curtained window,
everything we would do
that day, that night,
in the quiet of our room,
by the bustle of the metro,
on the walks of the Champs-Elysees,
under the Eiffel Tower,
everything we could do,
would always be
personal.

© 2013 felipe adan lerma

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Notre Dame View from Inside Comme Chai Toi

With Sheila at Comme Chai Toi in Paris. Oh, this was part of our view!

Image above featured in Day 3, Part 2 of 2, of my Paris Photo series.

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dVersePoets OpenLinkNight, # 101, Hosted by Tony Maude (who hails from Britain)

I’ve linked my new poem to a great site for poets, dVersePoets.

Tony is new to “the pub,” as dVersePoets is often referred to, and has interesting projects he’s begun in England.  He’s hosted a few other prompts at dVerse, and I’ve finally managed to get a poem into one.

OpenLinkNight is a big deal, with usually over a hundred poets participating.

Hope you get a chance to visit some and see what’s what.

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I’d only written one other Paris poem before this, and, working on my Paris Photo series, I just couldn’t resist joining my poetry to my imagery, both of which of course, join my fiction work.

When working in three different art forms, it’s nice when one over-riding subject or theme can be used.

Happy first day of summer later this week everyone.

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namaste´- con dios – god be with you

*

Adan

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Related articles

• Aging Gracefully into 62, Part 1 – Back to Fitness (felipeadanlerma.com)
• Love is Blind(ing) … Original Love & Family Poetry by Felipe Adan Lerma (felipeadanlerma.com)
• Paris in 5 1/2 Weeks : Photos # 10 – Horloge du Musee d’Orsay (Day 11, 1 of 2) (felipeadanlerma.com)
• Captioned Photos # 3 – National Physical Fitness and Sports Month! (felipeadanlerma.com)

Hermès play #1

Why don’t you try it and send me your exploit?

The best “knotter” will be rewarded! So knot your carré and post your picture, or send it to me on dailylittlething@gmail.com.

Are you ready for the challenge? Hurry up, you only have one week!

Good luck

It’s so amazing to finally be here. Granted, I’m staying at a budget hotel just outside the city, but I feel so happy to finally be in a country where everyone speaks this gorgeous language. It’s a bit surreal, speaking to people in French. At first, I was a bit afraid and would preface everything with “Parlez-vous anglais ?” but now I’m getting into the groove and I’m more willing to speak in French. Considering that I arrived just over 12 hours ago, I think I’m doing pretty well.

I thought it would be a good idea to take a quick nap earlier and then go into the city and spend the day there. However, my phone’s alarm thought it would be better to let me sleep and I can’t say that I was all to upset, seeing as I got literally not a bit of sleep on the plane, even after having taken Benadryl. I slept until 17h00 (5pm) and now I feel better, but still tired. I plan on going to bed in about an hour or two and getting up at 8h00. Jet lag, get thee behind me!

This is the first time I’ve traveled alone and the first time I’ve been to Europe, and I have to say that it was all very easy to navigate! I met a lovely girl on my flight named Laura on my flight who is a fellow Ohioan. We talked a lot and swapped travel stories and tips. We stayed with each other through customs, which went without a hitch, and then I waited with her for her husband. I got to know the second terminal quite well, which really relieved me, as I’m planning to meet my professor, Maryse Fauvel, and my classmates there tomorrow.

But let me tell you about my favorite part of the trip so far. A year or so ago, we had to plan a fake trip to Paris for my French class. We had to come up with a budget, find places to eat, and an itinerary. I remember finding a restaurant called “Hippopotamus,” which I decided would be the perfect place, as it was cheap and seemed to have a pretty good selection. Granted, I have heard it said that the French scoff at the mere thought of Hippopotamus, but when I saw it providentially situated next to our hotel, I knew– Hippopotamus and I were destined for a beautiful future. I ordered “Carpaccio et son chèvre chaud” (“Carpaccio with warm goat cheese”) and, although it was a small portion, it was far better than anything I have had in an American restaurant for its price. This is probably helped by the fact that the presentation was, well… stunning in comparison to anything that Applebee’s has to offer.

In addition to Hippopotamus, we had des orages, thunderstorms, which welcomed us to the City of Love. And when I say a thunderstorm I mean a thunderstorm… much worse than the nor’easters that hit Virginia once in a while. Heck, this thing was worse than Hurricane Irene.

I loved it.

France, I love you.

And Paris, the real Paris (the one that’s not next to the airport), I’ll see you tomorrow.

À demain !

-petitpreston

NZK

  

Top 10 things to do …

in PARIS

Get 15% Off The Paris Express Sightseeing Tour with a Paris Pass

The Paris Pass is a packed with over 60 top museums, monuments and attractions which you can visit for free.

But with all that choice what are the best things to do and places to see?

Here is our suggestion of the top 10 things to do in Paris with a Paris Pass.

1. The Palaces of Versailles is one of the largest and most opulent castles in the world. This stunning historic castle with its beautiful architecture and gardens, and deep history is a must visit sight on a sightseeing trip to Paris.

2. Take a relaxing trip down the River Seine onboard the Bateaux Parisiens River Cruise. A river cruise is a great way to see many of Paris’ famous landmarks and sights.

3. The Arc De Triomphe is one of the most iconic monuments in Paris and must for any visitor to Paris.

4. The Louvre Museum is home to some of the finest art work in the world. Home to thousands of classic and modern masterpieces, the Louvre Museum is the jewel in the crown of French culture.

5. A very popular attraction in Paris is the Cathedral of Notre Dame, with a Paris Pass you can take a visit to the top of the Towers of Notre Dame for free.

6. Fancy trying some French wine? Then take a trip to O Chateau Wine Tasting where you can sample some exquisite wines from the vineyards of France.

7. The Orsay Museum exhibits work by Delacroix, Manet, Guaguin, Cézanne, Monet, Renoir, Sisley, van Gogh and many more great artists.

8. Discover Paris from the 56th observation floor of the Montparnasse Tower which offers visitors a stunning view of the city in all directions.

9. Palais Garnier has been home to Opera de Paris since the 1600’s and is also home to a small gallery which hosts exhibitions as well as a permanent exhibition of the sets of operas from its history.

10. Grevin Wax Museum features over 300 wax figures of the world’s most famous people dramatically posed in amazing scenes.

View our full list of Paris tourist attractions you can visit for free or check our Family Fun in Paris page with a Paris Pass.

Click on the Pass for more information

]]> http://paris1972-versailles2003.com/2013/06/19/some-news-from-france-cviii/ Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:13:18 +0000 pedmar10 http://paris1972-versailles2003.com/2013/06/19/some-news-from-france-cviii/