|
 |
|
|
|
|
Bonjour June 2005
Bonjour July 2005
Bonjour Sept. 2005
Bonjour Jan. 2006
April 2006
|
|
July 2005
Tourists no longer, we reached our official 12-week mark. The Leavys are now bona fide residents since receiving our carte de sejour, good through next June. Our daily routine includes two hours of intense French classes, walking to and from French class through the majestic Luxembourg Gardens, and class-related activities for a total of about five hours a day. Whew, life in Paris!
Paris seemed quieter following the attacks in London. All across Paris, from the Seine where bridges glowed with Olympic neon colors to the Eiffel Tower, there was disappointment when London was named the site of the 2012 Olympics. Then the awful bombings took place.
|
|
|
 |
|
Notre Dame decked out in Olympic colors
All photos this page (c) Jim Leavy 2005
|
Life goes on with “we are not afraid” signs showing up even in Paris. Under increased security, Bastille Day festivities took place all over Paris.
Bals des Pompiers happened on July 13, and Jim and I were there! Les Sapeurs-Pompiers are fire department personnel in Paris, and 14 fire stations host the annual Bastille eve benefit balls from 9 p.m. until 4 a.m. We danced until midnight at the ball in the 4th arrondissement, the beautiful Marais quartier. As the band performed “You Ain’t Nothing But a Hound Dog” in English with a French accent, we danced under the moon and stars in a packed courtyard at the fire station. Partiers included Jim and Beth Eckenrod of San Diego and Paris. We toasted the Bastille and life in Paris on July 12th from the deck of their live-aboard boat docked on the Seine at Pont de l’Arsenal, near Place de la Bastille.
Bastille Day morning found us walking about four miles to the Avenue des Champs Elysees, also known as "la plus belle avenue du monde," for the grand military parade. We walked past the Louvre on the banks of the Seine to reach the parade site—packed with people. Still, we managed to get a tight spot where we could lean over the barricades and see the horse guards and a glimpse of President Jacques Chirac. This is the year of Brazil in Paris, and activities were celebrated with a Brazilian theme. Jim and I followed up the grand parade with a people-watching parade and lunch at the trendy Café de l’Esplanade. Located right across from Napoleon’s Tomb in the 7th arrondissement (52 rue Fabert), the artichoke with parmesan salad and club sandwich were worth every bit of the pricey tab.
 |
|
Gay Pride Parade in Paris, June 26
|
We sat on the sidewalk terrace and watched wide-eyed as embassy limousines sped by. Men and women in military uniform, decorated older veterans and current forces, passed by. Some stopped to lift a glass. Across the narrow street on Les Invalides (in front of Napoleon’s Tomb), the French exhibited planes, tanks and displays of efforts they are involved in worldwide, including the deployment of French troops to Afghanistan.
The grand, grand, grand finale to Bastille Day was the fireworks display at La Tour Eiffel. We went with friends from our French class, spread our blanket on the grass and watched the show. The Eiffel Tower served as the centerpiece of the display, used as a launching pad for many of the beautiful ribbons of fire. Classical music and a great rendition of “The Girl from Ipanema” played from loudspeakers positioned all around the tower area. It was like being at a visual and musical concert and unlike fireworks we have attended in the U.S, the crowd of spectators was quiet except for applause. The show was simply spectacular!!
Click onto www.parlerparis.com for an inside look at Paris. New Orleans native and Paris resident Adrian Leeds produces the in-the-know website, consults on property ownership, and hosts seminars on living in France and buying property, writing, and photography. She heads up the twice-weekly Parler Paris conversation groups--45 minutes in French, 45 minutes in English. Jim and I have struggled through the groups and are improving! Adrian, a colorful “personnage” (highly-placed person) in Paris, also researches and produces the insider guide to dining in the city of light referenced in the current newsletter. I speak from firsthand knowledge when I say it is invaluable as residents and visitors progress from expensive tourist trap dining to exquisite value-packed French and international cuisine. I have a guide subscription for those lucky people visiting me. The rest of you need to purchase a guide—information is included on www.parlerparis.com. Adrian also hosts monthly Parler Paris afternoon socials. Click on that link on her site and you will see Jim and me at the July gathering. Adrian calls us “permanent residents.” After all, we did get our residence card, and we plan to stay through next June at least. Beyond that, we are taking this great life a day at a time.
 |
|
French chic in the medieval village of Provins. It's said French girls get it from their mothers.
|
Click on a www.parlerparis.com newsletter issue from the week of July 11 for Adrian’s article on Café real estate. Yes, you do pay more for beverages in Paris because you are paying for the location, view and a seat on the terrace (sometimes this is a sidewalk). A coffee can cost anywhere from 2.50 euros to 6 euros or more depending on where the café is located, and there are no free refills. The only place I have found for free refills is Breakfast in America, an American-style diner located in Paris. At French spots there are no refills on iced tea (caution: ice is a rare commodity), colas, or any of those types of drinks. Those who enjoy mixed drinks can expect to pay anywhere from 7 euros to 10 euros or more for a gin and tonic. Soft drinks are mostly imports. Remember, you are paying for the table and can sit there all day and all night if you desire. On the other hand, French wine is a good buy! Also, at many cafes and brasseries, beverages purchased standing up at the counter cost about half the price you pay for table service.
Another woman to know in Paris is Shari Leslie Segall, founder of Foreign Affairs Ltd., public relations, events, media relations and writing. She is a great writer and publishes under the name Dale Gershwin. Her book France Really!!!, breaks taboos in an un-sugarcoated look at French and France, “the country Anglo-Saxons love to hate.” Jim and I met Shari on a city bus in 2002. She gave us directions and we ran into her the next morning jogging (she’s a big time jogger here). She told me back then she had moved here from Philadelphia many years ago and did public communications for American and French companies. I wondered if we would see her again, and voila, she spoke at one of the Wednesday night networking soirees hosted by Patricia Laplante-Collins (parisnetwork@hotmail.com). Shari will contribute a column to this website soon. In the meantime, you can enjoy her great biting humor by ordering her book by email at mosaicpress@on.aibn.com. To engage Shari for a business venture, e-mail her at foreignaffairs@wanadoo.fr.
Visit the Secrets of Paris newsletter, written by long-time personnage Heather Stimmler-Hall at www.secretsofparis.com, for an entertaining and informative look at Paris. Heather authored Paris & Ille-de-France, available at bookstores in the U.S. (I bought a copy before we moved over.) Heather’s latest newsletter serendipitously features some of my favorite eateries, and a link about the much-discussed and often-maligned French work ethic (Do you live to work or work to live?)
 |
|
Bloom's Day at Shakespeare & Co. in Paris.
Sylvia Beach Whitman is on the left. Her father George Whitman is on the right.
|
Bloom’s Day, the anniversary of the publication of James Joyce’s Ulysses by Sylvia Beach, founder of the original Shakespeare Books in Paris, took place on June 16. Shakespeare & Company (www.shakespeareco.org) put up a tent outside bordering the Seine and we were there as Noel Riley Fitch read from her book Sylvia Beach and the Lost Generation.
Richard Florida’s latest book Flight of the Creative Class stands in the window at the Village Voice bookshop here. Florida, formerly of Carnegie-Mellon and now George Mason University, wrote The Rise of the Creative Class, where he called for communities to welcome technology and talent, as well as embrace tolerance. St. Petersburg-based Sextant Marketing’s Michelle Bauer, former executive director of the Tampa Bay Technology Forum, and Peter Kageyama, 2005 president of Creative Tampa Bay, helped bring Florida to the Tampa Bay area in 2003, and are part of Richard Florida’s international focus. Contact Michelle and Peter at www.sextantmarketing.com.
Independence Day also found me at the Paris Writers Workshop sponsored by WICE (www.wice-paris.org) a cultural and educational organization in Paris for the international English-speaking community (that includes the French that speak English). Judy Reeves, author of “The Writer’s Retreat Kit,” reminded us that the initial goal of writing is not writing to publish; its purpose is to abandon the familiar for the unfamiliar, and through our travels to bring people and places to life on the page.
 |
|
Medieval Festival in Provins
|
And ouch! On July 5, Katharine Weber, author of the novel The Little Women, a modern-day look at Little Women, cautioned us against tapping into revenge when we model fictional characters or events on real people or real happenings. She advised that we examine our strategies before finishing our writing. Weber did cite what she called a major revenge novel, Nora Ephron’s Heartburn, based on her marriage to Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame. Weber said this was revenge writing and the book didn’t help Ephron cleanse her soul. My editorial opinion is that Ephron laughed all the way to the bank and to Hollywood fame with the movies “Heartburn,” “When Harry Met Sally,” and other writing/movie projects.
Jim and I both attended a third workshop. Hollywood screenwriter James Bonnet focused on Carl Jung as he talked about the struggle between good and evil in great stories, the dark side, the nature of evil, and lamented that “story” is missing today in so many Hollywood screenplays.
Thanks to those of you who commented on my impromptu cameo on the WMNF Women’s Show in Tampa following Bloom’s Day. Look for my story on Sarlat in France’s southwest in an upcoming St. Petersburg Times travel section in print or online at www.sptimes.com.
In the next newsletter, more on the muggles and wizards Harry Potter launch in Paris, great views over Paris, and tips for living like you are in Paris in St. Petersburg, Fla., or anywhere! A premiere tip-check out Ola’s Olives at www.olasolives.com. Ola Seifert and Bill Adams of St. Petersburg make their own tapenade and other luscious olive products. They sell at the Saturday Morning Market in downtown St. Petersburg but Ola’s Olives are available year-round.
 |
|
Normandy countryside during 18-mile Father's Day hike
|
Lance Armstrong and the rest of the Tour de France pack arrive in Paris on July 24 and we’ll be there. Paris Plage opens this week, a beach on the Seine with 2,000 tons of sand, umbrellas, deck chairs, and cool fruit drinks. On July 28 we leave for ten days in Venice, Florence and Rome on a Rick Steves’ Europe Through The Back Door tour, www.ricksteves.com. Jim and I went on the South of France tour in 2003, and last month ran into our tour guide Patrick Vidal at Hotel Londres Eiffel in the Rue Cler neighborhood. Jim was outside and heard me yelling “Patrick, Patrick,” inside the tiny lobby of our favorite Paris hotel (small rooms have Eiffel Tower views).
Till next time, Adrian Leeds and Shari both tell me they wake up every morning in Paris and think they are 'the luckiest women in the world to be living here.'
Moi Aussi (and the same goes for Jim),
Pamela
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
