Moved to New York for the summer, updates when I get out from under!

Meryl Streep's back

This sweet corner of Paris,
is tucked just behind the back of Notre Dame and is usually quiet, and always charming. Yet, this mega-Hollywood production transformed the square overnight to a day in the 40's. Literally overnight, they sawed off the cement pillars used to block cars from parking on sidewalks as Parisians are wont to do, and battened up storefronts to a quainter place and time. Particularly transformed was the stark minimalist restaurant that morphed into a quaint glove shop. They shot all morning and by evening, the square was back to being sleepy in 2008.

To see how charming it is in real-life-refer back to Anne Hathaway's kiss with Simon Baker in "The Devil Wears Prada". Very little was changed for that scene.

And now, yes you saw it here first, Meryl Streep's back in the role as Julia, as seen from inside Le Rouvray, THE Paris quilting destination for quilters worldwide.

Strike Watch Friday

And taxi drivers are joining the fisherman strike melee.

Strike Watch

Quimper, Arcachon, Cherbourg -fishermen still striking over the price of petrol and it is still spreading to other countries in EU such as Portugal, Spain, and Italy.

Also joined by some farmers and from Rennes to Caen, operation escargot...

Three rooftops

Les maisons troglodytiques (aka caves built into the cliffs), the neighbor's and Martin's roofs.

Strike Watch

French fisherman still on strike and apparently contagious as fishermen in Spain, Portugal, and Italy, are planning on closing ports tomorrow, as well.

Caen-Operation Escargot which made me laugh the first time I heard it but is a lot less funny when you are behind them trying to arrive at your destination. Will update who and why.

Strike Watch

Fisherman snafu-ed center Paris yesterday, around the 7th, even closing down the Varennes station, protesting the higher price of diesel, having moved on from the strike of last week over the price of cabillaud.

I'm staying close to home today as there are demonstrations at 18:00 although I have not yet heard exactly where.

The RATP, RER, SNCF, and many unions of Air France are striking since last night at 8:00 PM to Friday morning. This pretty much covers all modes of transportation except for taxis so depending on feet is best bet today, although I suppose subways and buses are functioning normally.

This on top of the fact that I still have no internet connection even though I ordered it over a month ago makes me wonder about a new categorization for third world, because it is about 10 times faster to get a line in India.