Cafe Conversation - Au Pere Tranquille

Here we have a video of Au Pere Tranquille 75011 Paris. We held our first Cafe Conversation French group here on the first floor. It's a great location especially on the first floor however I must admit it was a little bit nosier than anticipated so perhaps not a perfect location to study.

Cafe Lou Pascalou 75020 Menilmontant Paris

Here is a short video I took at my local cafe the Lou Pascalou (14 rue des Panoyaux 75020 Paris, Metro Menilmontant 9am - 1am daily). It's trendy and yet doesn't compromise it's old fashioned French style. Prices are reasonable and there is a large terrace outside.

The young man sharing a beer with me is another exiled Brit called James

Cheers!

Paris to introduce Chevalib city horse rental programme!

The Tower and the Horse by moonsoleil

While the G20 discusses climate change at their London summit. The mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë has stolen their thunder by announcing a new horse rental programme that is hoped will eventually replace cars in the French capital.

From 1st April 2010 Paris will introduce Chevalib which is similar to the Velib bicycle rental programme except that it will run with horses! You will be able to rent a horse for as little as one Euro for half an hour at one of the many planned horse stations situated throughout Paris. Once you’ve finished with the animal you can hand it back it at another terminal.

This scheme will work on several levels. Firstly, it will reduce reliance on the motor car thus cutting pollution and climate emissions, secondly the manure produced by the animal will be sent to farms and applied to crops in place of artificial fertilizer and thirdly once the animal has gone beyond its use for carrying people it can be killed and eaten!

Because of the harshness of the urban terrain a more sturdy type of horse is being imported from the Isles of San Seriffe.

This is an amazing new scheme let’s hope that other cities around the world join soon. It may not be suitable to every place in the world but as they say, it’s horses for courses.

Au Pere tranquille Paris (new French language course)

La Pere tranquille
Originally uploaded by LetThemTalk

This is Au Pere Tranquille, 16, Rue Pierre Lescot
75001 Paris. The location chosen for the new French course. "cafe conversation", which will start next Sunday 29th March. More details here.

Paris cafe conversation French language group

I thought this was a good location for the French course. It was from the end of the 19th century a nightclub and cabaret venue it became a bistrot and cafe after the war. It's a large elegant place with a terrace and a first floor which, hopefully, will be a suitbale venue to study French.

Video here

Au pere tranquille Paris, video

Promenade Plantée Paris

This is the Promenade plantée an elevated park built on a disused railway track in the 12th arrondissement of Paris. At ground level the spaces between the arches that held the railway line have been converted into shops and workshops and is known as the Viaduct des Arts.

A railway line carried passengers along this route from 1859 until the 1970s until it was replaced by new suburban routes. For some time afterwards there was a debate as to whether to tear down the viaduct or to put it to some use. Fortunately, the walkway proposal won the debate and the promenade plantée was opened in 1994.
It’s and enjoyable walk along a 4.5 kilometre route stretching from Bastille, just behind the opera to the Bois de Vincences.

Its makes for an interesting stroll both in the park on top of the arches or on the street below. At street level you can explore the arches which hold a number of workshops, and shops related to arts, crafts and textiles as well as some cafes and restaurants. To join the promenade plantée clim the stairways next to the archways at various points along the route along Avenue Daumesnil which runs parallel. From up above you can either enjoy the tree lined route or peer down at life on the streets below.

French Conversation Course Paris

A new French conversation class is starting this month in Paris from Sunday 29th March onwards. It's entitled "Cafe Conversation" and, as the name suggests will take place in a Paris cafe. It will be a weekly affair every sunday between 3pm and 5pm. It will be informal and will be lead by a native French group leader rather than a teacher. So it's not a formal French course.

The plan is to change the cafe from week to week so that not only can the participants improve their French but they also get to know some interesting Paris cafes.
All levels of French are welcome and you're welcome to come if you live in Paris or you just here for the weekend. However, places are limited so if you're interested it's advisable to book early.

For more information please click here Cafe Conversation French Paris

The Worst of Paris

This is a photo of Charlles de Gualle airport AKA Roissy AKA Dante's 10th circle of hell.

Your experience of it can vary depending on which terminal you're in but if you're unlucky you'll be faced with navigating through a huge ugly concrete mess of a structure with endless passegways and a maze of escalators seemingly leading nowhere.

If you're arriving in Paris for the first time it can be a shock. Not only do you have to put up with the worst major airport in the world but no doubt you'll end up on the train that leads you to Gare du Nord through some of the worst neighbourhoods of Paris. It's not quite the city of light that you imagine.

This weekend I had to fly out of Paris from Charles de Gualle airport. I got past the passport and security checks and had half an hour before I had to board my flight. Unfortunately, in my haste, I had forgotten to pack some essential toileteries. I wandered into the shops in the airport shopping mall and found, much to my annoyance, that you are able to buy indispensable items such as Beluga Caviar and metre long bars of Toblerone but you cannot buy a toothbrush!

Rue de Lappe Paris 75011

This is rue de Lappe. A cobbled street in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, in the Bastille neighbourhood and best known for its nightlife.

When I first moved to Paris it is here that I rented a small attic room of a building built in 1750. I’m a sucker for history, so when I was looking for an apartment and the landlord told me that the courtyard in front of the building, the Cours st Louis, played an important role in the French Revolution for it was here in July 1789 that the Sans Culottes, the radical Parisian working class movement, congregated before marching on to tear down the Bastille an overthrow the king and state, I didn’t need any more convincing. I loved the fact that from the very apartment where I was going to live France and indeed the world was changed forever. Despite its historical significance, a year later I had to move out for a reason far more prosaic – it was infested with mice!

During the 19th Century rue de Lappe became a centre for skilled artisans particularly for ironmongery. Later in the 19th Century and in the 20th Century rue de Lappe started picking up a reputation as a centre of Paris nightlife. By the 1930s 17 dance halls were installed in the street one of which the Balajo (9 rue de Lappe, 75011 Paris) still exists. The Balajo played host to many legendary entertainers of the day such as Edith Piaf and Django Reinhardt.

Today rue de Lappe is still a lively place with a great number of bars, cafes and restaurants. One of my favourites is the Bistrot le Sans culottes (27 rue de Lappe 75011 Paris). It’s a 1920s café with a rare pewter bar. There is also a hotel on the establishment. For more lively places try Some Girls (43, rue de Lappe, Paris 75011) or Bar a Nenette (26 bis Rue de Lappe. 75011 Paris). A good restaurant is Chez Paul at the end of the street on the corner with rue de Charonne.

Le Marché des Enfants Rouges Paris

This is the Marché des Enfants Rouge (The Market of the Red Children) whose colourful name comes from an orphanage which once resided nearby and whose children wore red uniforms. The market stretches back to 1615 which makes it the oldest surviving market in Paris.

It is a pocket sized gem of market situated on rue de Bretagne in the 4rd arrondissement of Paris and you’re more likely to come here to partake of an al fresco lunch at one of the many cafes that lie within its gates than you are to do your weekly shopping. I’d highly recommend the Japanese cafe which serves some of the best Japanese food I’ve had in Paris. There is also good Traiteur Marocain: serving couscous tajines and pastilles, a Caribbean café, a pizzeria and Italian deli and café and a French wine bar and restaurant which is the only place to have indoor seating; plus you can get soca, roti and huitres and a lot more besides to fill your picnic basket.

It’s a splendid place but was once almost demolished in the 1990s to make way for a car park but was saved after a campaign by local residents.

While you are there be sure to check the photography shop specialising in portrait photography and where you can delve through a vast array of old photos and postcards on sale. Watch video here Fabien Breuvart Photographie

Marché des Enfants Rouges: 39, rue de Bretagne, 75003 Paris. Métro: République, Filles de Calvaire or Temple.

The market is closed on Monday.

LetThemTalk Paris Blog

Speaking Englisch
Originally uploaded by malias.

Here is a shameless plug for The Other Blog that I write. In fact it's principally a blog of links to articles and videos of stuff I use while teaching English here in Paris. There is also a bit of English Grammar thrown in for good measure for those who need it. Nevertheless, here is the link. I hope you find it enlightening. LetThemTalk Paris blog

Cafe du Croissant Paris

If you find yourself in the second Arrondissement in Paris near to Metro Bourse you might like to take a detour to the Cafe du Croissant (146, Rue Montmartre, Paris 75002). It was here that on the 31st of July 1914 just before the outbreak of war that the French Socialist party leader Jean Jaures was assasinated.

Jean Jaures was a pacifist and had been desperate to prevent the outbreak of what would be the first world war. He'd encouraged General strikes by workers in Germany and France aimed at forcing their governments to negotiate a settlement. Alas his efforts were in vain. He was assasinated by Raoul Villain a French nationalist who was controversially acquitted for the murder after the war.

A journalist of The Manchester Guardian was present at the cafe at the time of the assasination he reported on 1st August 1914:


"At about half-past nine, when we were just finishing dinner, two pistol shots suddenly resounded in the restaurant. .....we saw that M. Jaures had fallen sideways on the bench on which he was sitting, and the screams of the women who were present told us of the murder.....M. Jaures was shot in the head, and the murderer must have held the pistol close to his victim. A surgeon was hastily summoned, but he could do nothing, and M. Jaures died quietly without regaining consciousness a few minutes after the crime. Meanwhile the murderer had been seized and handed over to the police, who had to protect him from the crowd which had quickly collected in the street. At that hour in the evening the Rue Moatmastte [sic] is filled with newsvendors waiting for the late editions of the evening papers."

If you do stop by at the Le Croissant hopefully your stay will be less dramatic than poor old Mr. Jaures.

Time For Britain to Join the Euro

Nelson
Originally uploaded by malias.

With the pound plummeting on the foreign exchange markets it seems that now is the perfect moment for the UK to join the Euro. Currently the pound and the Euro are worth practically the same. Couldn’t we just hand in all our grimy, pennies, shillings and pounds and get the exact same number of shiny new Euros in return?

I know it’s unlikely as it would be disagreeable to too many British people but I for one am in favour. All that hassle and expense at the bureau de change every time I hop over to blighty for a cup of rosie lea and a packet of twiglets. It’s enough to turn your beer cold!

I’m in London at the moment and with the collapse of the pound the UK is a cheap destination for visitors. The shops in central London are full of Europeans in search of a bargain. If you wish to practise, your French, Spanish or German no need to soil your boots on the other side of the channel any more just take the tube to Oxford Circus.