Get out of Town to Dieppe!

Time for a break from Paris? Try Dieppe! This city of 32,000 people is on the Normandy coast just north of Etretat and has similar white chalk cliffs, pebble beaches and emerald waters. The name Dieppe means deep valley referring to the break in the cliffs carved by the Arques river as it flows into the sea. There is lots of history in Dieppe. It was the site of an experimental landing to test German defenses that preceded D-Day. Unfortunately many Canadians were killed in the failed Operation Jubilee and the Allies learned that they were not going to be able to re-take an active port, thus they developed plans for the Herculean artificial ports of Arromanches-les-Bains in Normandy (another very interesting weekend trip). The city of Dieppe is still closely linked with Canada today. In 2010 a ton of galets from the Dieppe beach were taken to Windsor, Ontario as part of a monument in memory of the soldiers of the Essex Scottish Regiment who took part in the August 1942 Raid. …
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  • 17 décembre 2022
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Books for kids for the holidays or anytime

It's time to think about what to give for the end of the year holidays. We've collected a few ideas in the book department, because there's nothing we love more than books for kids. Come over to Bill & Rosa's Book Room 26 November at 16:00 and listen to author Camille Guénot read in French in a mysterious setting and get a signed copy of  OSCAR GOUPIL, A LONDON MYSTERY.  Free event, please sign up at brbookroom@gmail.com OSCAR GOUPIL, A LONDON MYSTERY Si vous aimez le confort douillet de votre quotidien, si vous exécrez le mystère et la magie, reposez ce livre  et passez votre chemin. Car ce qui vous attend entre ces pages n’est pas pour les âmes sensibles. Je vous le dis tout net : je suis un garçon ordinaire à qui des choses extraordinaires vont arriver. Mes parents m'avaient laissé une lettre : je passerais mes vacances de fin d'année chez ma grand-tante Léonie, à Londres. Pas vraiment un cadeau, vu sa réputation. Et le train partait dans une heure. "Délici…
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  • Avatar of Lisa
  • 23 novembre 2022
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Lumieres en Seine is back and that’s good news

Monsieur Fusac has some advice. Don't miss the fabulous wintergarden-cum-light trail called Lumieres en Seine opening November 18th and running to January next year on the edge of Paris at the Parc de St. Cloud, a few steps from metro Pont de Saint Cloud. Take my word for it : you will not be disappointed. Au contraire, delight awaits.  Just listen to what these historical figures are saying... " Enchanting ! Magical ! " --Buffalo Bill, scout and showman " Stunning like a bull elk! " --Rosa Bonheur French painter " Wonderful Photo Memories" --Phineas Barnum, circus founder " Charming pop-up chalets with sweet and savory treats " --Julia Childs, chef "A must-see attraction! " --Gustave Eiffel, engineer "Wouldn't trade it for all the crackers in Kalamazoo! " --Mr. Fusac, king of classifieds All the juicy details : https://www.lumieresenseine.com/en/ @lumieresenseine Seriously, this is a great show. Lumieres en Seine won over more than 130,000 visit…
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  • 16 novembre 2022
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Remembering World War I with Willa Cather

In honor of the armistice of the end of World War I and Veterans in many countries, we present a fictional piece describing an American soldier's experience in France in 1917 when he and his comrades come across a cheese shop in Rouen. This extract is from the World War I novel One of Ours by Willa Cather, an American writer. The novel won the 1923 Pulitzer Prize. It tells the story of the life of Claude Wheeler, a Nebraska native who joins the US Army and is sent to France during World War I, just like the step Grandfather I never knew. Extract: At noon that day Claude found himself in a street of little shops, hot and perspiring, utterly confused and turned about. Truck drivers and boys on bell less bicycles shouted at him indignantly, furiously. He got under the shade of a young plane tree and stood close to the trunk, as if it might protect him. His greatest care, at any rate, was off his hands. With the help of Victor Morse he had hired a taxi for forty francs, taken…
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  • 11 novembre 2022
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WOMEN WAR PHOTOGRAPHERS

WOMEN WAR PHOTGRAPHERS

Musée de la Liberation of Paris, 8 March-31 December, 2022 LEE MILLER (1907-1977) GERDA TARO (1910-1937) CATHERINE LEROY (1944-2006) CHRISTINE SPENGLER (B. 1945) FRANÇOISE DEMULDER (1947-2008) SUSAN MEISELAS (B. 1948) CAROLYN COLE (B. 1961) ANJA NIEDRINGHAUS (1965-2014)

War photography has a short but rapidly evolving history. Although cameras were developed in the mid-19th century, photographic news coverage was sparse: cameras were bulky and exposures long, emulsions finicky to process. By 1927 Kodak had invented roll film, as German and Russian companies developed easily portable 35mm cameras. WWI birthed organized journalism, and by WWII it had become a vital component of the news industry, complete with photos. By the late 1920s a few determined women had begun to infiltrate the formerly all-male ranks of war photographers, receiving accreditation by hungry press services an…

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  • 6 novembre 2022
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Recycle, Please don’t just throw everything in the garbage

Zero waste

There's a Zero Waste House in Paris, 3 rue Charles Nodier 75018, which proposes ateliers, information, products and ideas for moving your day to day towards zero waste. The association Zero Waste France which runs the House has all kinds of different campaigns to reduce waste most of them are initiatives to not use containers or distribute flyers in the first place. The association is also a great place to volunteer or make monetary a contribution.

But sometimes we have waste, we have to get rid of things no longer useful to us. So here's some ideas as to how to clean up and clean out by sending things you are done with to either proper disposal facilities or recycle and pass them on to others who just might find your garbage to be just what they need.

Please don’t just throw everything in the garbage - recycle

Some items need a few minutes reflection for proper waster disposal and to recycle. For example according to Ec…

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  • Avatar of Lisa
  • 1 novembre 2022
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What I didn’t know: adapting to France

What I didn't know: adapting to France Because autumn is when I arrived in Paris as a permanent resident, autumn is always an intoxicating swirl of sense-memories: The fragrance of the fall air, the luster of the September-October light, the sweetness of the season’s first fresh figs, the toots of the swelling traffic, the feel of that infamous feast that Paris will always be. Every year, any one of these (and often all at the same sacred moment) catapults me back to those initial days decades ago. With no more than just the right mix of shrinking daylight and encroaching gray, “back then...” immediately becomes “right now!” I came to France knowing the language, the literature, the history, even-per Charles de Gaulle’s legendary quote*-a respectable number of cheese names.  Here’s a very abbreviated list of what I did not know: People I did not know that you have to say Bonjour! before any type of interaction about anything whatsoever no matter how desperately urgent…
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  • 27 octobre 2022
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