You never know what you're going to come across wandering around Paris. On a frigid winter day, you might happen on a photo shoot -- in this case an attractive, fashionably-dressed couple trying to act as if they're not freezing. Just before they moved into position (after emerging from the makeup trailer) they were wrapped in blankets. It was fun to watch and, of course, now we know the answer to the question, "How many French people does it take to snap a photo?
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Allez, Lance!
Seeing Lance Armstrong (on television) mount the podium after his impressive third-place finish in the 2009 Tour de France reminded me of standing on the Champs-Élysées exactly four years ago watching him finish -- and win -- what would surely be his last appearance in this most grueling of athletic competitions. It was thrilling, well worth the day-long wait, to see all the riders hurtling around the turn near the Arc de Triomphe and to catch a glimpse of the man in the yellow jersey notching his seventh straight victory. It seemed a fitting way for the superstar and cancer survivor to head off into retirement. Now, of course, he's not only back but back with a vengeance. Here's a prediction for 2010: Armstrong (riding for Team RadioShack), Contador and Schleck back on the podium -- I'm not saying in what order. P.S. I thought the TV coverage on the Versus network this year was the best ever.
Bastille Day ouest
Bastille day is a huge day of celebration in Paris, of course, but it's also responsible for long nights of partying in cities around the world. Perhaps nowhere is it observed more enthusiastically than in San Francisco, where French flags and red-white-and-blue balloons spring up every July 14 in a two-block downtown area that includes Café Claude and Gitane in Claude Lane, Le Central and Café de la Presse on Bush Street and Café Bastille and Plouf in Belden Alley. People flock to the area to socialize, listen to French music and drink (mostly) French wine. It's become so popular that Belden Alley (left) now has a cover charge, but elsewhere you can just hang out (though if you want dinner, it's advisable to have a reservation). People definitely get into the spirit: one fellow showed up for dinner at Café de la Presse in a Louis Quatorze-style wig. It being San Francisco, hardly any one paid any attention to him.
In repose
It's the largest cemetery in Paris, a beautiful city within a city, with carefully laid-out streets, winding paths, gentle hills and shady trees. Although it's one of the most-visited cemeteries in the world, Père Lachaise still manages to retain an air of serenity. The list of well-known residents is long -- Delacroix, Balzac, Marcel Proust, Isadora Duncan, Colette, Rossini, Chopin (left and Gallery I), Moliere, Ingres, Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, Edith Piaf, Jim Morrison, Bellini, Corot and Modigliani, to name very few -- but as you wander the beautiful, impressive grounds of the cemetery you are struck not so much by its scale as by a sense of intimacy and feeling of tranquility. Established by Napoleon in the early 19th century, the cemetery is now the final resting place for more than 300,000 people, with the graves marked by everything from stirring memorials and elaborate tombs to simple headstones. The great mime Marcel Marceau was buried there in late 2007 -- I don't know if reservations are currently being taken, but it would be a fine place to spend eternity.
Home on the Seine
I've always been curious about the boats moored seemingly permanently on the various quais all along the Seine, so when the opportunity presented itself I struck up a conversation with the American owners of a houseboat tied up on the Quai de Conti just upriver from the Pont des Arts (It's one of the boats shown in Gallery III). It's an old flat-bottomed Dutch fishing boat, as are many of the boats in the neighborhood. The couple told me that when they bought it several years ago it was in terrible condition -- they were more interested in the location than in the boat itself (when you buy a houseboat, you more importantly buy the parking place). But they set about restoring it and it is now quite shiny and beautiful. They live there 12 months a year with their two children, and there's room on the quay for their small car and several bicycles. It's a lifestyle they clearly love; I suspect it would take some getting used to and present its share of challenges, but on a glorious, sunny Paris spring morning I was filled with envy.
Tower of song
It's hard to imagine a better concert than the one Leonard Cohen just gave at Oakland's Paramount Theatre. The 74-year-old artist/poet/singer/songwriter is doing a "World Tour" after not being on a stage in 15 years. He sang for more than three hours, supported by a small group of brilliant musicians and backup singers. It's almost impossible to pick highlights, but I'll go with '"Who By Fire," featuring Barcelona's Javier Mas on the guitar, "If it be Your Will" sung by backup singers the Webb sisters, and (here comes the French connection) the haunting "The Partisan" -- J'ai changé cent fois de nom, J'ai perdu femme et enfants, Mais j'ai tant d'amis; J'ai la France entière. (I've changed my name a hundred times, I've lost my wife and children, but I have so many friends; I have all of France.) It was a spellbinding evening, which no one (including the star) seemed to want to come to an end.
Good morning America
Few experiences will compare with standing on the National Mall (with a couple million close friends) as dawn broke over the U.S. Capitol on the day of Barack Obama's inauguration. The weather was cold but spirits were high, even with the swearing-in still more than four hours away. The wait was worth every minute. It was a moving ceremony and Obama's address was powerful and inspiring. The only thing the scene on the Mall remotely reminded me of was standing for six hours on the Champs-Elysees for the finish of the Tour de France a few years ago, but that's only because of how stiff my legs felt when I started moving again -- the events of this moment were clearly of a different order of magnitude. The mood all over Washington was upbeat, almost jubilant in the days leading up to the inauguration, and the festivities continued late into the night. And now (for the new Prez) the hard part starts.
A square that's square
Place des Vosges in the Marais (Gallery II) is the oldest square in Paris, and it's a true square, 140 meters by 140 meters. It was built by Henri IV between 1605 and 1612 and became a model for residential squares in Europe. One thing that was particularly new about it was that all of the houses were built to the same design, with red-brick and stone facades and steeply pitched slate roofs with dormers. The square has had many famous residents, including Victor Hugo. Today its arcades contain popular restaurants, cafés and galleries. The square is beautifully landscaped with linden trees and on any nice afternoon is filled with children playing and older folks strolling or relaxing on the benches. In a city full of lovely open spaces, Place des Vosges ranks with the best of them.
From Miro to Warhol
It's not the big blockbuster exhibition going on in Paris right now, but "From Miro to Warhol" at the Musée du Luxembourg is a winner. It features 75 paintings from the wide-ranging collection of Portugese billionaire José Barardo, including of course Miro and Warhol and also Arp, Lichtenstein, Mondrian and Pollock. Like most exhibits at this great little museum, it's of very high quality and quite manageable from a time standpoint. Rather than leaving me exhausted and overwhelmed, It left me wanting see more and reminded me of the collection of the Thyssen-Bornemisza family which I had just seen in Madrid. The exhibition runs through February 22, 2009. Don't miss it. And no, I'm not a paid agent of the Luxembourg Museum -- just a big fan.
21st-Century Madrid
Madrid is the third largest city in Europe (after London and Berlin) and seems determined to give Barcelona a run for its money as the liveliest city in Spain. It wasn't always this way, but go to Madrid today and you'll find non-stop activity, with the tapas bars around Plaza Santa Ana and other areas packed day and night -- and night in Madrid means until the sun comes up the next day. The centrally located museums are as great as any you'll see anywhere: the Reina Sofia home of Picasso's devastating Guernica; the vast and renowned Prado, with its almost overwhelming collection of masterpieces (Raphael, Titian, Goya, El Greco, Velazquez, etc.) and my favorite, the Thyssen-Bornemisza, a bright, visitor-friendly showplace housing the bulk of one family's amazing and eclectic collection. You'll also want to spend some time in El Retiro, the city's major park with a lake and a lovely, living memorial to the more than 200 Madrileños who were killed in the terrorist bombings at the central Atocha train station and two smaller stations in 2004. An attractive and fascinating city, and one I'm looking forward to revisiting.
Adventures in Burgundy
The Burgundy wine region, home to the best Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays (and Boeuf Bourgogne) you'll ever taste, is just a short trip from Paris. You can take a train to Dijon and then rent a car and drive down the fabled but unpretentious Cote d'Or to Beaune, where you'll want to stay for a few days. Beaune is convenient to the different vineyards and has its own charms, including good restaurants (eating and drinking are undertaken with great enthusiasm in Burgundy) and a bustling outdoor market on Saturdays. The must-see spot in town is the Hospices de Beaune, also known as Hotel Dieu, a former home for the indigent that's now a museum. It's a real treat, stunning inside and out (the interior can be seen, ever so briefly, in a scene in the enjoyable French film "Roman de Gare"). In the countryside, the wineries tend to be very small and not really geared up for visits by the public, but there are plenty of places where you can taste several wines and get a good education about the various terroirs and wine classifications. One surprising fact: the region produces much more white wine than red.
Bustling Bordeaux
Many people go to the Bordeaux region to visit the wine country or the nearby Dordogne, but the city of Bordeaux itself is well worth a visit. It's been significantly transformed in recent years -- a formerly dilapidated waterfront has been turned into a promenade, a sleek new new rail transit system has gone into operation (much of the central city has been closed to automobile traffic), and the major buildings have all been cleaned up to reveal large-scale architecture that in many ways resembles that of Paris. It's a bustling, youthful city with chic retail stores and busy cafes and restaurants (restaurant tip: La Tupina). I was there with two people who had been there as college students 15 years ago, and they couldn't believe the changes. As I say, well worth a visit, and work in a day trip to St.-Emilion or one of the other charming wine region villages while you're at it.
Spanish steps, Roman music
I'm obviously partial to Paris, but Rome still works its magic -- even when it's steamy and swarming with tourists in July. The light and the colors never disappoint. Nor does the music, whether it's an opera extravaganza at the Baths of Caracalla or performances by singers as diverse as Bjork, Sinead O'Connor, Leonard Cohen or Paul Simon, each of whom passed through the eternal city in July this year. Best of all was a night spent sitting at the Spanish steps listening to favorite opera arias and duets. It was spellbinding. You gotta to hand it to those Italians and their love for music -- nobody else comes close.
Dalmatian summer
Summer is a great time for sailing in Europe, and one of the best places to sail of all is Croatia's Dalmatian Coast. If you like to sail, Croatia offers good winds, warm water, beautiful islands, delightful people and excellent food. You don't have to sail, of course -- you can take ferries between all of the islands. Some harbors, like the one at Hvar (left), are full of fancy yachts and swarms of people of all nationalities drawn to the beautiful setting and the all-night parties. The big mainland seaport cities like Split and Dubrovnik are lively and sophisticated, too. But there are plenty of places where you can find nothing but solitude and sunshine. Highly recommended.
Sex and the City (of light)
For a small, narrow thoroughfare, rue Servandoni (Gallery III) gets more than its share of attention on film. Tom Hanks can be seen walking nervously down the alley in the movie version of “The Da Vinci Code,” and Sarah Jessica Parker takes a stroll on its blue-grey cobblestones in the last episode of the TV series “Sex and the City” -- the episode in which Carrie moves to Paris but is pursued by her friends and ultimately rescued by Mr. Big. The alley has a literary history, too. There’s a small, lovely hotel at one end facing the Luxembourg Gardens where William Faulkner lived and wrote in the 1920’s.
From Révolution to Concorde
Place de la Concorde, site of the obelisk of Luxor (Gallery II, Gallery III) has a colorful history, to put it mildly. It was originally called Place Louis XV, but during the French Revolution it was renamed Place de la Révolution and the statue of the king was torn down and replaced with the infamous guillotine. Thousands of people -- including Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Danton and Robespierre -- were put to death there during the reign of terror in the 1790's. After things calmed down there were a few more name changes and ultimately the square became Place de la Concorde to symbolize the new peace. The 3,300-year-old obelisk, which used to guard the entrance to the Luxor temple in Egypt, was given to France by the Viceroy of Egypt and put in place (where the guillotine had been) in 1836. It's 75 feet high, made of granite and weighs 250 tons; needless to say, it took several years to transport it from Egypt to Paris and then place it where it still stands today, between the Tuileries gardens and the beginning of the Champs-Elysées.
Pink Martini
It was great to hear Pink Martini perform recently in the Napa Valley. This large group (or small orchestra, depending on your point of view) from Portland, Oregon is huge in Europe and is touring there this summer. Their 1997 classic, Sympathique, still resonates with its refrain which translates, “I don’t want to work, I don’t want to eat, I only want to forget, and then I smoke.” They often perform backed by a symphony orchestra, and seeing them live is as much fun as you can have at a concert. Check their website for the summer tour schedule.
2 Days in Paris
A very funny movie is now out on DVD. “2 Days in Paris” was written and directed by Julie Delpy, who also stars along with her real-life parents and real-life ex-boyfriend. It’s definitely a vanity project, but great fun. It’s not the romantic story its title implies, and it’s a far cry from Delpy’s “Before Sunrise” and “Before Sunset” endeavors. The film contains a brief homage to Marlon Brando on the Bir-Hakeim Bridge (Gallery II) in “Last Tango.” Adam Goldberg gives a great performance (and utters some hilarious lines) as Delpy’s perpetually befuddled boyfriend, and her parents do a great job, too. Worth seeing.
Paris noir
If you love black-and-white photographs you probably love mystery novels set in Paris (with black-and-white cover photographs). The popular novels by Cara Black (“Murder in the Bastille,” “Murder on Ile-Saint-Louis,” etc.) are fun to read and definitely transport the imagination to the Paris of today. For the Paris of another time, no one does it better than Alan Furst in his series of mystery and espionage novels set in Europe during World War II. Furst captures the ambiguous and dangerous nature of everyday life in Paris during those dark days. Most of his novels can be read independently, but two (“The World at Night” and “Red Gold”) share a protagonist and should be read in sequence. “Foreign Correspondent” is terrific. (Update June 5, 2008: He’s just published a new novel, “The Spies of Warsaw.”)
Le défi smart
There’s no limit to the number of ways to interpret Paris in photographs -- it just takes imagination. I know someone who recently became intrigued by Smart cars -- the inexpensive, economical two-seaters which have taken the city by storm. So, after lunch at a restaurant at Place de l’Alma one day, he decided to see how many of the diminutive vehicles he could photograph in one hour. The result: 107 Smart cars. It’s absolutely brilliant -- see for yourself at cestmontruc.com.