39Vaugirard

We’ll miss it again this year, but sounds like great fun!

Come and hunt Paris treasures. The treasure hunt is free and open to all. You can enrol here or in front of the town hall of the 3rd, 6th, 9th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 18th, 19th and 20thdistricts and Saint ouen on July 3rd. The surreal adventure organized by Paris City Hall will be a unique way to discover the city, its secrets and its inhabitants.

[From Les Trésors de Paris 2010 - Paris treasure hunt]

Great. Just when I had stopped worrying about being fed horse meat.

PARIS: The traders sell an array of bush meat: monkey carcasses, smoked anteater, even preserved porcupine.

But it isn’t a jungle market in Africa – it’s the heart of Paris, where a new study has found more than five tonnes of bush meat slips through the city’s main airport each week.

Researchers suspect similar amounts are arriving in other European cities in an illegal trade raising concerns about diseases ranging from monkeypox to Ebola, and is another twist in the struggle to integrate a growing African immigrant population.

[From Monkey on menus in France]

I don’t think this is happening anywhere in the 6th though.

I always thought the death of the Concorde was vastly unfair. Though I know post 9/11 and a cratering air travel market didn’t help, the Concorde flew without incident for 30 years before tarmac debris brought the first one down.

The Concorde to me, as to many others, was more than just a very fast plane. It was a combination of fantasy, luxury, and tech triumph. It also was an aging symbol of American barriers to free trade. The SST was banned from inter-continental flights across the US based on concerns for sonic booms (though promises were made not to fly at supersonic speeds).

I was lucky enough to fly on the Concorde over a Christmas holiday and the flight was everything I imagined. It was a rarefied world where only top shelf champagne and caviar were served. The cramped seats were mostly filled with time-obsessed executives who needed to buy the extra hours at whatever cost. I was lucky to be on vacation, on home leave from an international assignment, and happy to soak up all the luxurious attention.

I hope that despite the claim that they only want to see the Concorde roll on it’s own power on the Le Bourget tarmac, that someone has a plan to get the bird back in the air. It’s nice to think that technological marvels of the space age could still come back, and in finding the past, we could sew the seeds to a more hopeful future.

LE BOURGET, France — A French aeronautics association Saturday examined the engines of a Concorde passenger jet at an air museum outside Paris to determine if they could be used again.

“The objective is not to get it (Concorde) to fly again but to get the engines working again, hoping one day to see it taxi on the tarmac for the pleasure of visitors to the museum,” said Frederic Pinlet, head of Olympus 593, named after the Rolls Royce/Snecma engines used on the aircraft.

[From AFP: French air enthusiasts hope to restart Concorde engines]

The auction rooms at the Hôtel Drouot in Paris date to 1852. They’ve been modernized since then, but the general atmosphere probably hasn’t changed much. On any day of the week, a throng of characters straight out of a Maupassant novel can be found bidding for dusty treasures straight out of the proverbial Old Curiosity Shop. Annually, about 800,000 lots pass through the 16 rooms, over the course of more than 3,000 auctions.

On a typical day, half the rooms are set up for viewing, and half are given over to sales. Regular offerings include jewelry, contemporary and classical paintings, antiquities and furniture of every description.

Located in the warren of narrow streets and covered passageways north of the Grands Boulevards and south of Montmartre, the Hôtel Drouot is a hub of lively galleries, restaurants and bistros, where dealers and collectors wheel and deal over glasses of wine.

The schedule of sales can be viewed online (drouot.com) or in La Gazette Drouot, a weekly magazine. One event to note: on June 9, selected works from the estate of Jacques Prévert, the French songwriter, screenwriter, author and poet, will be on auction.

Hôtel Drouot (6, rue Drouot; Ninth Arrondissement; 33-1-48-00-20-20) is open Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Do It Yourself Culture… by Michael Kimmelman

An interesting rumination on defending the language, in defense of values..

Pardon My French by Michael Kimmelman of NY Times.

April Fool’s day is said to have French origins. In 1564, France reformed the calendar, changing the beginning of the year from the end of March to January 1st. For those who resisted the new calendar and adhered to the old traditions, paper fish were playfully attached to their backs and they were fondly dubbed ‘poisson d’avril.’ or April fish. To this day, poisson d’avril is the French name for April Fool’s Day, and the tradition of hoaxes and tricks is alive and well.

From the New York Times…

Newly launched, The Paris Supper Club promises to replace both outdated guidebooks and raves from nostalgic friends when it comes to searching out some of the best and truest places to eat in the French capital.

The club is a project of former Gourmet European correspondent Alexander Lobrano, author of a book and blog called “Hungry for Paris” (hungryforparis.com), and Wendy Lyn, a “culinary concierge” whose blog, “The Paris Kitchen” (thepariskitchen.com), vows to have you eating and drinking like a local, not a tourist.

These all-inclusive, prix-fixe dinners are limited to eight guests, with Lyn and Lobrano acting as hosts. As Lyn puts it on her Web site, it’s about “sharing a meal and a conversation — where guests can ask us everything from the best restaurants, cafes, shops, markets, bakeries to living in Paris.”

Average cost is 100 euros (about $135) per person and includes a starter, main course, dessert and wine. Guests also will be sent a list of the duo’s six favorite bistros and restaurants before their visit. theparissupperclub@gmail.com

I remember a Sunday afternoon meal at this wonderful bistro with my darling husband and my kids a year ago. Most incredible vegetables and wonderful service. No wonder Michael R. Bloomberg, the thrice re-elected mayor of NY also prefers it….

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/nyregion/19paris.html