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I just got back from Berlin, and I have lots of stories to tell. But first, I want to say how much I like nerds. ( Seatmate on the Train )
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Jul. 6th, 2005 01:58 pmI just heard that the 2012 Olympics will be in London. Surprisingly, many of my friends and acquaintances in Paris really wanted to win this bid, so for them, I am sorry. I am so irredeemably anti-Olympics, that I have to say that I am glad the Paris, this city I love, will be spared.
Same-Sex Marriage in Canada
Jun. 29th, 2005 09:55 amThe Canadian House of Commons just passed a bill redefining marriage as the union of two persons rather than the union of one man and one woman. ( Here are my thoughts. )
French Newspaper coverage of Pride Parade
Jun. 27th, 2005 10:54 amIn case anyone is interested, here are some links to Paris newspapers. Naturally, the stories are all in French.
Here is Liberation's report on the Paris Pride Parade.
Here is Le Monde's.
And, Le Figaro's written before the parade.
Fete de la Musique
Jun. 25th, 2005 11:24 pmLast Tuesday was the Fête de la Musique in Paris. ( Here is the sad tale of my participation. )
Co-ordination
Jun. 25th, 2005 10:55 amOne thing I admire about France is the way that bars and restaurants always have the right glass for whatever product you buy. It's ridiculous, of course, but I admire it. This picture, for example, shows that I had a coke glass for my diet coke, and Bob had a Perrier glass for his Perrier. At the next table, there were a Vittel glass, a 1664 beer glass and a coffee cup.
By the way, you are reading that bill correctly: 7.10 euros for one coke and one Perrier. That would be, uh, $10.60 Canadian. Still, it was a hot day, and I don't regret it. (Especially since![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bobalone is the one who paid. He also paid 30 centimes extra to get mint syrop in his Perrier; that's why it's green.)
By the way, you are reading that bill correctly: 7.10 euros for one coke and one Perrier. That would be, uh, $10.60 Canadian. Still, it was a hot day, and I don't regret it. (Especially since
bobalone is the one who paid. He also paid 30 centimes extra to get mint syrop in his Perrier; that's why it's green.)
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Jun. 24th, 2005 04:27 pm
Hot off the Press: This is what I look like in the Parisian sun of today.
Just so you all know, today is hot and sunny in Paris. The temperature is 34º. And, just to make it perfect, for some reason, yet to be determined, my apartment (the whole building, in fact), has had no water since 11H22. (It is now 18H06). Do I want to have a cool refreshing shower? Why, yes, as a matter of fact, I do. Would I be satisfied if I could simply wash my hands and face? Well, I guess even that little boon would be a delightful addition to this glorious day.
On the other hand, my darling bobalone is coming home from his trip to Holland and Germany today. I'll meet him at the Gare de l'est at 21H23. He'll be here in Paris with me until July 2. Then I have my own little trips to Amsterdam and Berlin, before heading back to Toronto on July 31.
There is a garden in the centre of the Palais Royale in Paris, lovely in its own right, but made lovelier by the sculptures that are placed there for temporary exhibitions. The current installation is by the Spanish artist Manolo Valdès. Here are a few more pictures of the works.( Read more... )
Africa Remix
Jun. 8th, 2005 07:02 pmI haven't forgotten the subjects in my poll, and I'll get to the remaining ones soon, but I am now going to write about Africa Remix, the show I saw at the Pompidou Centre.( Read more... )
Weekend Update
Jun. 6th, 2005 10:52 pmThis is just a fast post to let those who are interested know what I have been up to lately.( Read more... )
Well, that was weird, but good. Right after I posted my comments about dining chez Guy, Bob and I schlepped over to The One Way for the Sunday night happy hour. We were hanging around, drinking beer and being buffeted by the throngs passing through, when we began to chat with a cute young man. Bob had already overheard him talking to someone else, so he knew the guy was a singer of some sort. Somehow, the conversation turned to the question of musical training, and the little bearded Brazilian hunk pushed his wire-rimmed glasses up his nose and said, "I have an excellent private teacher. In fact, he is amazing." Bob and I stole a glance at each other, each thinking, "Hmmm, what are the odds?" So Bob said, "Really? What is his name?" You guessed it: his teacher is none other than parisianbear. He spoke in extremely glowing terms about what a magnificent teacher Guy is.
I have always assumed that Guy would be a good teacher, because he is good at everything he does, and because he is my friend and I love him. But I had no real way of knowing whether my assumption had any basis in fact. So it was fascinating to meet one of his students who spontaneously spoke so enthusiastically about Guy's excellence. We "came out" as friends of Guy's, which made the young man -- his name is Marcio -- feel a little bit awkward, I think, but he got over it. In fact, when Bob and I left, several beers later, we exchanged email addresses and Marcio suggested that he would make dinner for us and Guy sometime soon.
Dinner Party Chez Guy
May. 29th, 2005 07:26 pmI have frequently had occasion to refer to my friend Guy in this blog, but I don't think that I have written anything substantial about him yet. A couple of weeks ago, though, he had us for dinner. I don't think that I can count the number of times that Guy has invited me for dinner, but the meals have always been delightful. Sometimes it has been just the two of us, sometimes with Bob and/or Jean-Pierre. Frequently, it has been a full-scale dinner party with six or eight or ten people gathered around the table. One New Year's Eve, a few years ago, there were twelve of us, I think. This was to be, as Guy put it, "just something simple." Anyway, I had such a nice time at Guy's last dinner party that I decided that I should write about it. On my woefully under-responded-to poll, it was the leading votegetter, so here is my account. ( International Dining at Its Best )
Brittany/Bretagne
May. 28th, 2005 10:03 amBob and I got back from Brittany last night. The always generousparisianbear lent us his car for a week and we travelled around, spending nights in Fougères, Dinan, Paimpol, Roscoff, Locronan, Ste-Anne-d'Auray and Chateaubourg. (I admit that I had never heard of any of those places before we began planning the trip, but each was worth visiting for one reason or another.) Instead of writing a lot about what we saw and did, I'm going to post a few of the 295 pictures I took. Ah, the decadence of the digital camera. ( Ten pictures )
On the Road
May. 20th, 2005 10:34 amBob and I are just off for a one week driving tour in Brittany, so I won't be able to post any of the entries offered in my poll until next weekend. Livejournal users, feel free to keep voting; non lj readers, I hope you have figured out that you cannot vote in the poll unless you open an lj account. You can do that for free at www.livejournal.com. Cheers.
When Virtual meets Material
May. 12th, 2005 10:31 pmMany of the people on my "friends list" are folks I actually know in real life, have known for years in some cases. But I have picked up a significant number of "friends" just through participating in Livejournal, and these are people that I only know by what they write in their journals, or by the comments that they make on mine. However, recently, two people have crossed from the category of Virtual to Material: in other words, I met face to face with isledemoi, and then a couple of weeks later, with satarnion.( Read more... )
