Rue Rude

Everyone loves Paris

 

 Except me....  and I'm the one going back there to live. The grass is always greener, n'est-ce pas? L'herbe est toujours plus verte sur l'autre côté. 

D'ailleurs, just sitting and walking on the grass is one of the things I miss when I'm in Paris. The famous Tuileries Gardens are made of.... mud. The Bois de Boulogne is full of used condoms and dog shit. And in most parks, you can't sit on the grass.

Pelouse interdit means "don't sit on the grass." It literally means, "Lawn forbidden." Edna Saint Vincent Millay, a now unfashionable American poet (she rhymes), once famously replied to a scolding gendarme, "Mais Monsieur-- nous ne pelousons pas!"

Do you have a menhir?

 You have a villa, a chariot, slaves, but...  do you have a menhir?

    --Billboard at Parc Astérix near Paris

Sorry, no clock today

Sorry, no clock today. Have another drink    

--Sign above the door in a Paris cafe 

Paris CDG Airport the worst in the world?

Paris CDG is not the worst airport in the world. I'm sure there are airports in poor parts of the world that are worse, and for airports in "first-world" countries, Newark and Heathrow are right up there in contention. But Paris CDG certainly isn't a pleasant airport, especially if you have to spend a few hours there. 

The website Sleeping in Airports has compiled the votes of its readers and Paris CDG came out as the worst in the world. Erwan Benezet of Le Parisien did an article about this and I laughed at some of the comments, most of which confirmed the vote. En manque d'inspiration today (feeling uninspired), I decided to translate this particular commenter's remarks, here.

Paris CDG is usually called Roissy by Parisians, after the village it displaced. 

August in Paris: free parking!

It always surprises me when my American friends choose August to go to Paris. August in Europe is for vacations, and Europeans have long ones, in civilized fashion. Paris empties out. Small grocery stores close, restaurants close, whole parts of town close down, and the city is hot and full of tourists in shorts and fannypacks. Even the meter maids are mostly on holiday, and parking is free.

Helicopter rescue at the Opéra in the center of Paris

Breaking news: A man was sitting with his wife at a café near the Opéra today when some unknown thugs broke a glass and slit his throat. An ambulance medic happened to be sitting next to him and probably saved his life. This was the nearest place the rescue helicopter could be set down. The photo is from a passing Twitter user, CravingStef. As usual Le Parisien was the first to report.