29 May 2007

The Ritz and Celebrity Sightings

For those of you who get excited at star-gawking, forget Cannes and try sitting inobtrusively in the lobby of the Ritz Place Vendome, seemingly the hotel of choice for the entertainment world. Although I'm not sure how long the Ritz security will allow it, that is, if you get past them. I had a friend staying there once that security tried to throw out as he paraded through in sweatpants, until the concierge vouched for him.

During a 10 minute stroll from the breakfast room to front desk this morning, I heard Courtney Love
in a very smokey voice weaving tales of her late evening (or early morning, depending on your vantage point). There was Ralf Fiennes with rocker Patti Smith, Graydon Carter greeting various and sundry, and Helena Bonham-Carter with director/husband Tim Burton.

Later, we spoke with James Spader and his sculptress/fiance Lesley at l'Ami Louis
. We were content overfed diners, one and all, and it made for a very relaxed conversation. He seemed quite pleasant, not at all like the twisted lawyer he has developed to entertain his audience on Boston Legal. He certainly works hard, TV definitely doesn't sound as glamorous as it looks from the outside.

Today I had to leave Roland Garros early - I just couldn't bear to see Andy Roddick lose. Happy to see that Nadal came through, just sorry I missed the opportunity to watch him in action. And that is probably all I shall have to report for celebrity sightings for a very long time.

25 May 2007

Paris Architecture-hidden surprises

This morning, I happened to walk past a doorway, one which I have passed many times, a doorway that resembles any building entrance in Paris. I caught a glimpse that made me backtrack. I gazed into an enchanting be-gardened charming row of mews-homes lining both sides of a pathway of blossoming trees and plants laid out in hodge-podge English garden fashion, worlds away from the usual orderly French parterres. This pathway ends at the entrance to the Dubuffet Foundation, which I had never before noticed.

I had a similar experience last night. I was invited to an art opening, and was given an address in the Marais. I was certain I had the address wrong from my jet-lagged friend, for all I saw were huge forbiddingly shut oak doors. None of the usual art scene was spilling into the street either. As I walked towards this address with a puzzled look, a hip doorman dressed in the sartorially requisite black suit of the art and entertainment world silently opened the door. This imposing doorway was hiding a stately courtyard of one of the many aristocratic hôtels particuliers of Paris, where a sedate vernissage was indeed in progress. Sedate, because although there were the requisite stars, princesses, collectors, artists, curators, and even a french rapper, it was all quite contained and quiet, all the moreso considering the many Americans milling around. Let's face it, our contrasting conceptions of space make the average American alot louder than your average Frenchman.

This takes me back to my very first trip to Paris, where my second goal had been to find les
Arènes de Lutèce, right after the visit to Notre Dame. I have always been fascinated by ruins, the older the better. The arena is not easy to find, as the entrance is an unprepossessing doorway. A hallway leads you into just another bourgeois apartment building. Not so! You walk into an open-air ampitheater where characteristic Frenchmen 'boule', children cavort, and picnikers and bookworms enoy the twittering birds and calm from the impatient French drivers blowing horns on Rue Monge. This totally unexpected panorama only increases the delight of the find.

Morale of the story: In Paris, you can not tell a book by its cover,
it seems.

24 May 2007

Service with a snarl

It's only taken 9 days to get my Internet connection up and running. Want to know how it can take so long?
Here's how:

1. Do it in the month of May, when every other week-end seems to be a holiday, so that a 48-hour action period stretches into a 4 or 5 day wait.

2. Be obliged to wait for the '48' hour period to expire before calling in to say that indeed, the line is still not working.

3. Wait another 48 hours for the engineer to make a housecall-I make an appointment with Jean-Paul for 15:00. He calls me at 14:00, during a business lunch, wondering where I am. I rush home, not wanting to wait another 48 hours or have to call and listen to France Telecom repeat every 10 seconds that an operator will be with me in less than 2 minutes (this goes on for 5-10 minutes until they disconnect you). He then has the nerve to tell me I am lucky that he didn't have an appointment after me (insinuating that he would not have waited).

4. Be sure you have a Mac, the mystery machine.

5. Spend 3 days once the line is up trying to reach the Mac expert at France Telcom - get either busy signal or message to send an sms to which they will never respond.

Plea to France Telecom-instead of having an operator repeat "
an operator will be with you in less than 2 minutes" with irritating background musack, why not give the solutions for known issues instead? Or better yet, publish the problem and its quick fix on line? After all, isn't that what technology is for?

So much for Paris quiet

It was quiet, almost mystically so this morning when I started off to the pool at 6:30 AM. The sun seemed to be mystically rising in the north.
I languidly mused that Paris felt pretty quiet for 8:AM. Quiet and low-key.

But now I can hear the strikers manifesting two streets over, around Montparnasse. Nurses have called a 'manif' and probably for cause, as much as I am reluctant to say it. I am sure they are underpaid, underappreciated, and generally maligned.

Also, I've been here 13 days and I believe it's the first strike since back. Unbelievable!

15 May 2007

Paris in the month of May

I am still planning on writing about why I still don't speak Malayalam, but I am back in Paris, so it feels a little less urgent.

The cultural differences are so fresh:

1. The food that I was so looking forward to eating - the cornucopia of mouth - watering cheeses, copious amounts of fresh mache with avocado, croissants, my favorite Thai restaurant.....is tasting a little bland - I add salt (this is a novelty), and unconsciously look for the chili pepper!

2. I am reminded and sincerely stunned by the amount of smoking -esp by women -that goes on here. I think it looks unbelievably tacky (alright, I'll try not to be so judgemental) and realize I have spent 3 months without once being bothered by anyone smoking. What's worse is seeing women light up in the streets as if it's their last cigarette before the executioner-sucking in the nicotine in like a vacuum cleaner inhales dirt. As I write this in a hotel lobby, an elderly woman chain-smokes (when she is not hacking) and carrying on a conversation in a raspily irritating growl. So appealing.

3. And lastly, I am struck by how quiet and empty Paris is. This is partially due to the month- May is notoriously bad for accomplishing anything. There are so many holidays-at least 3 week-ends that many 'font le pont', in other words, they carry one week-end into the next, especially this year when they are all falling on a Thursday. But even as its most crowded, it will never feel as crowded as Cochin, never!