Multicultural Paris On Video

Another shameless plug for my project known as The Paris Project I'd like to get more people and more languages involved. So please send us you videos no more than 10 seconds long. Anyone who participates will not only receive instant stardom but will also be invited to the Paris Project party sometime in 2008 (details to be confirmed) cetain to be the event of the century.

What have you got to loose?

France Smoking Ban January 2008

11am at the Corner Cafe
Originally uploaded by malias.

When the chimes strike midnight on New Year's Eve 2007 me and a lot of people like me living in France will have another reason to celebrate the arrival of 2008.

As we top up our champagne glasses with a spot more Pommard and link arms to blurt out a semi-coherent rendition of auld lang syne descending into a hogmany inspired inebriation. I'll glance across the room and watch gleefully as the smokers light up their final cigarettes.

Praise the Lord! (or rather praise the EU directive) the smoking ban will come into force in cafes, bars, nightclubs and restaurants on January 1st 2008. In every other public place the ban has been in effect since February 2007 but due to intense lobbying cafes were given an extra 11 months grace.

What I've found most surprising in Paris is that so many non-smokers I've spoken to oppose the new rule. Only yesterday one of them told me that they were against the ban because smoking was part of the culture of French cafes . Well I suppose lung cancer is part of the culture of French hospitals but it doesn't mean we shouldn't do anything about it.

It's bad enough in bars but smoky Parisian restaurants can be unbearable. The pleasure of enjoying a Turbot a L'Estragon baked to perfection in a swanky Paris brasserie is significantly reduced when a dozen lungs worth of Gitanes wafts over into your eyes and nostrils and Johnny Halliday bursts out over the speakers.

Actually Johnny Halliday won't be banned in France just yet but it's only a matter of time.

The Paris Project

Like This
Originally uploaded by malias.

Here is a new project that you might like to participate in. You will need to be in Paris and have access to a digital camera or a mobile phone with a video function. Go to you favourite place in Paris and film yourself saying 'Welcome to Paris' in your own language then film what's around you.

To see the film and for more information follow this link The Paris Project the video is also on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fF3MVYYdEtA try guessing the languages and the locations.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Paris Chinatown Arts et Metiers

You’ll find the oldest and the smallest Chinatown in Paris in the 3^rd arrondissement near to Metro Arts et Metiers. This neighbourhood is quite a contrast to the gaudy Chinatowns of Belleville and 13^th arrondissement. It’s made up of just 2 streets; rue Marie and rue Volta and is lined with Chinese restaurants, supermarkets and merchants. In the 1930s Chinese mostly from the Wen Zhou province arrived in Paris to make their fortunes. They formed a community around Arts & Metiers to set up leather workshops and handicraft shops

A further point of interest in this area is the half-timbered building a 3 rue Volta which is said to be the oldest house in Paris dating back to the end of the 13^th Century or beginning of the 14^th Century. It is now occupited by an Asian restaurant offering 'soupe pho'.

An English Pub in Paris

Finding a decent English Pub in Paris is sometimes as difficult as finding a working train driver.

Possibly the best, and the certainly the most authentic is the Bombardier. It serves real ale and decent grub and has a happy hour until 9pm. It also benefits from a splendid location right on the place de Pantheon.

This is also where we held a soirée for the language students for the English courses and French courses in Paris that we organise. On the whole it went well though when I tried to introduce them to our 'warm' English beer some of them found it rather peculiar.

It's an acquired taste.

France Strikes and the Special Regimes

The Strike Continues
Originally uploaded by malias.

France was hit by a fifth day of strike action today transport around France was at a minimum and in Paris the Metro was severely disrupted (except line 14 which runs driverless trains), even though a minority of train drivers support the strike.

Train drivers are complaining about the end of their special priveleges (régimes spéciaux) which allows them to retire as early as 50. These working practices were brought in during the age of steam when driving a train was physically demanding and often dangerous, but the days of shoveling coal into a blazing boiler are over. Many people argue that train drivers and other transport workers should be subject to the same rules as everybody else.

Amongst the public the strike is extremely unpopular a recent poll showed 71% are against it.

This is however of little comfort to people facing nightmare journeys to get to and from work and tourists who've had their holidays ruined.

First Eurostar to St Pancras from Paris

Arrival at St Pancras
Originally uploaded by malias.

Yesterday (14th November 2007) I took the very first Eurostar from Gare du Nord to the new St Pancras station. The journey to London now takes only 2 hours 15 minutes. In fact it is now quicker to get to Paris from London than it is to Liverpool or York.

The only problem was a transport strike on the French side so of the channel. I left my house an hour earlier than I would do normally, anticipating a long walk to Gare du Nord. As it happened I managed to get a Metro within 2 minutes (bloody French unions you can't even rely on them to have a proper strike these days)

So I had to kill an hour in Gare du Nord before entering the Eurostar terminal which is not easy.

The Eurostar train was full of journalists and train spotters. Half the seats were empty (I suspect that some people were not as lucky as me in overcoming the transport strike).

On arriving at St Pancras we were treated to large crowds and music from the London Philharmonic Orchestra. As I left the terminal I was give a Sun newspaper "Welcome to England" pack which contained: tea bags, Mr Kipling's mince pies and Walker's crisps. It made me want to get on the next train back to Paris.

The highlight of the journey though was St Pancras station itself. Spectacular and beautiful after it's £800 million refurbishment.

It was truly magnificent, which is more than I can say for the mince pies.

90th Anniversary of the Russian Revolution

Joseph Stalin
Originally uploaded by malias.

Strolling by the River Seine in Paris the other day I came across a bookseller selling posters of Joseph Stalin, Lenin and others from Soviet Russia.

If someone was selling a poster of Adolf Hitler he'd probably be lynched by the nearest lampost but somehow it is acceptable to sell images of Stalin a mass murderer of at least 20 million of his own people during the purges of the 1930s. Lenin was no pussycat either but he murdered a mere 3 million people.

Two excellent books on the subject are Robert Conquest's The Great Terror and Martin Amis's Koba The Dread.

Meanwhile this week sees the 90th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. There will be, no doubt, a fair few die hard communists in Paris and elsewhere celebrating the fact.

As for me I subscribe to Jon Luc Godard's assertion ""Je suis Marxiste, tendance Groucho,"

Strikes in France

velib girls
Originally uploaded by malias.

The two things that can impede your life in France more than anything else are the bureaucracy and the strikes. I’ve already grumbled at some length about bureaucracy. As for strikes October has been a prime month.

Earlier this month France was paralysed by a strike caused by 8 transport unions over changes to pension rules. Most of the SNCF network was down and in Paris the Metro ground to a virtual standstill. It was practically impossible to get anywhere even the Velibs were all taken. Most people had to either stay at home or trudge long distances on foot.

At the moment some workers in the public sector can retire as early as 50 which the government believes is economically unsustainable. Air France flight staff have also been on strike this week causing chaos at the airports. More transport strikes are planned for November.

The bicycle industry seems to be the one growth sector in France.

Nuit Blanche Paris 2007

Demonstrator
Originally uploaded by malias.

Today is nuit blanche an all night free art festival which runs through the heart on of Paris. With art installations inside buildings and outside on the street.

This year's nuit blanche follows the Metro line 14 from Batignoles in the north of Paris through the centre of town to the new station at Les Olympiades in the south.

There'll be buckets full of art to enjoy from both emerging and established artists. For more details see the website

http://www.paris.fr/portail/nb2007/Portal.lut?page_id=7948

Free wifi in Paris

Wifi In the Park
Originally uploaded by malias.

The Marie de Paris has installed free wifi in all the gardens, publc squares, libraries, municipal buildings and even museums.

The initiative covers Paris and the ile de France. In total 260 different locations have been provided with free wifi hotspots.

Given that many cafes already offer free wifi I think we can finally say that Paris is a (free) wifi city.

I travel to London a lot and most of the hotspots there you have to pay for. So for once Paris is a step ahead of London.

For more details of the free wifi hotspots in Paris (in french) follow this link Paris free wifi hotspots

Rugby World Cup Paris

Rugby at Hotel de Ville
Originally uploaded by malias.

Just in case you've been on the moon or something the Rugby world cup is taking place in France at the moment. There has been a great atmosphere in Paris during the tournament fans have been boisterous but always good natured. Compare this to the football world cup where the vast majority of fans are well behaved but there is always a small element of violent, nationalistic thugs that try and spoil it for everyone else (I witnessed this first hand in Stuttgart last year when some English 'fans' were causing trouble).

If you are in Paris and you don't have a ticket for a game then you can catch the matches on giant screens such as the one at Hotel de Ville.

Even if, like me, you are not a rugby fan it's still watch a game at a bar or at one of these venues.