From Right Here

Photos from walking around in Paris.

These photos were taken at the Jardins des Plantes in Paris - the Botanical Gardens of Paris, if you will. This garden is completely free, had many blooming flowers even in October, and has several nice exhibits for kids and people like me who are nil with biology. One exhbit chronicals the millions of years of history of the earth while you’re walking - you just have to see to believe it!

had to get me some boots for paris - can’t do the sneakers here!

Many, Many street photos - including this little cafe - where I accidentally ordered LIVER…oh la.. (it said BOEUF!)

This is what people do, alll dayyy - hang in cafe’s - rain or shine.

These photos were taken at one of my favorite spots in Paris - The Jardins du Luxembourg. They were originally built to please Queen Marie de Medici, Henri IV’s widow - I guess she was feeling homesick. So this reminded her of Florence. It’s now the home of the Senate, and is a central place to play tennis, chess, or just walk around. It contains over a 100 statues of some of the women of France.

For the link to more, go to my Picasso site: http://picasaweb.google.com/chodger/ParisOctober#

Photos from my first week in Paris - just wandering around alllll daaayyy loonnnggg.

These are photos of a “greve” a strike in Paris. These happen quite often and people often return to work the same day or next. They are held more to show opposition - usually complaining about a salary. This was for Hospital Workers.

‘Grise’ refers to the economic crisis in the US. They talk constantly about it, as they do everywhere. So far, there have been several small French Banks that have been hurt, but the worst of the damage is yet to come. Funny enough, aside from your house mortgage, many French people I’ve met here owe nothing on credit cards or loans. It’s not part of the culture and students rarely graduate with a hefty monthly payment because school is “gratuite!”

Musee D’Orsay - The Museum of Post-Renaissance, Impressionist and Post-Impressionists (1848-1914). It’s got all the good stuff, so make sure you stop there.

(highly DON”T recommend the food - awful, tiny cafeteria, and 2 over-priced restaurants).

For more, click on the link to my picasso photo gallery -

http://picasaweb.google.com/chodger/ParisOctober#

I’ve just spent a week in Paris - it’s beautiful but bittersweet, because Paris is the beginning of the end of my past 5 months in France. After this, it’s back to NYC, back to strolling the streets looking for a job, back to the grind, back to real life.

Paris is beautiful. As far as size and diversity, it has nothing on NYC or London or Tokyo. But every road, every street is “pretty” - creamy apartment buildings, long stretching boulevards, jardins and parks at every corner. I suppose it helps your city if you’ve had people like Catherine Medici and Napolean dispensing all the people’s taxes on whatever monument they dreamed up. But even the streets that are not dated from centuries ago are “cute”. When it has just rained, all the black streets are glissening and young ladies with dripping wet bangs sweeping across their foreheads are chatting in cafes like the night will never end.

Unfortunately - my time on the computer is hindered - not by my situation (my aunt is lovelingly taking me in, feeding me and being generally super-generous), but rather because I head out every day and meet up with friends and ‘balader’ and walk around (and spend the rest of the time planning a trip to Italy).

I promise a gigantuan load of photos…very, very soon.

For now, Good LUCK to all the Americans, and to everyone else - Bonne Journee.

Here’s an exerpt from my latest piece for my friend Clarence’s Food Blog! Click here for the full article -

http://you-food.net/

Ahhh…Bread and Cheese. The very basics of French Cuisine. If you head to your local Whole Foods and attempt to pick out a French cheese, it can seem pretty daunting, it seems like there are a million varieties and they all have names that sound funny. Likewise, it is nearly impossible to find a decent crusty bread, both in the US AND even in France. Either it’s uber-chewy on the outside and goopy in the middle or it lasts for less than one day and unlike me, you can’t bring yourself to eat an entire baguette in 4 hours….

www.cheriefm.fr

Oh CherieFM, Cherie FM…

Only you can play Phil Collins and George Micheal and Carla Bruni and James Blunt and Daniel Pewter and all those spanish guys that sing from the top of their lungs and you can TELL are sexy just from hearing it…only you, Cherie FM can make it all seem like it’s supposed to go together.

CherieFM - Love Songs from France. You may not be adored by all those techno-kids over here, but you got me-(but if you could stop playing that ONE Colbie Callait song over and over and over, I’d appreciate it).