Film star Dustin Hoffman fought back tears as he accepted his honorary commander title from the French government last Thursday in recognition of his contributions to the film industry.
The 71-year-old became emotional after receiving a green medallion from France’s Culture Minister Christine Albanel in a glamorous Parisian ceremony – making him a foreign commander of the country’s National Order of Arts and Letters.
Read more about Dustin Hoffman here at ContactMusic.Com
I live in France, am paid mainly in British pounds and so now rely on squirrel traps for Sunday lunch. But, despite this new and frisky relationship with the food chain, I shall not be leaving. The landscape – sea, mountains, rivers, forests and lakes – assembles the best of Europe in one country. That costs nothing. Nor does the politeness and general decorum.
As the French poet Pierre de Ronsard said some 450 years ago: “Live now, believe me. Wait not till tomorrow. Gather the roses of life today.”
Here are 50 reasons to gather them in France this year. They are biased, non-exhaustive and exclude the blindingly obvious.
Read more on 50 reasons to visit France here.
Paris Apartments
It’s carnival time in Paris again and this year’s event starts on February 22nd. As always the star of the show is Pimprenelle who is actually a cow and this year’s theme is a cosmic one.
Read More Here at: Paris Carnival 2009
France will start to tax distributors of nonrecyclable plastic plates and cutlery as part of its larger effort to push consumers to buy more eco-friendly products.
The French environment minister, Jean-Louis Borloo, confirmed on Monday that the government will be implementing the tax.
The “taxe pique nique” will be about 0.9 euros ($1.26), but it does not yet specify what amount of cutlery the tax will be applied to, and the list of product categories that will qualify is subject to further revision. Borloo says that the tax will apply to nonrecyclable cardboard—but not plastic—tableware, and will be applied to distributors and importers. The Independent also reported that the move will affect plastic and paper disposable cups.
Read more here about France’s picnic tax – FindingDulcinea.Com
Poor Rachida Dati. A year and a half ago this daughter of a Moroccan builder and his Algerian wife was the icon of a righteous new ethnic and gender balance at the top of French government. No wonder President Sarkozy made her Minister of Justice.
Now she is out on her ear, dispatched to run for that particular political limbo known as the European Parliament.
In between, she has had more image makeovers than even Trinny and Susannah could handle. Immigrant star or Maghreban make-weight; political dynamo or ministerial incompetent; cover-girl vixen or spurned suitor; feminist icon or heartless anti-mother, her name is used as evidence both for the prosecution and defence in all the arguments that matter in modern France.
Read more about Rachida Dati here at The Telegraph
Mes amis, Paris is known for a lot of things. It’s the City of Lights. It’s the City of Love. Alas, it’s still a major European city sans an Apple Store. Heck, Geneva got an Apple Store before Paris. I mean, as much as I love the Swiss, the Canton de Genève doesn’t really hold a candle to the Île-de-France.
Last we heard, construction was underway for a store at the Carrousel du Louvre. But its opening date has been about as elusive as a Budweiser in a Parisian cafe.
Read more about the secon apple store at macworld
Much like waiters, nude models in the Paris art schools used to make 25 percent of their salaries in tips. But these tip jars were recently removed from classrooms when the government cited a law prohibiting cash pay in state buildings. One art teacher said that previously, however, the jars weren’t bothering anyone. The school’s decision to remove the cups may be linked the to the suffering economy.
The Deputy of Cultural Affairs told Bloomberg that while it was necessary to follow the law, a pay increase to compensate the models’ loss might be possible. The strikers are seeking more nonetheless. They want an official rise in status as well, and hope to be able to join a union; two French unions support their campaign for benefits and sick pay.
Read the rest of this interresting post here at Finding Dulcinea
French actor GERARD DEPARDIEU ensures his holiday turkey is delicious by caressing and talking to the bird before cooking it.
The Cyrano De Bergerac star – who happens to own La Fontaine Gaillon restaurant in Paris, France – is adamant the key to preparing the perfect fowl is to relax the creature.
He told Decanter magazine, “Before killing something, I always talk to it. An animal that’s been caressed before it’s killed dies peacefully, and its muscles do not contract with adrenalin.
“If an animal is slaughtered in a stress-free way, it tastes better.”
A fascination with the macabre draws tourists like moths to a flame in Dublin for Bram Stoker’s Dracula Experience; to the London Dungeon for its assorted horrors; and to St Petersburg’s Kunstkammar for Peter the Great’s grisly collection of anatomical specimens.
Even Paris, the City of Light, has a fascination with the dark side, as its most famous cemetery, Pere Lachaise, is firmly on the dead famous tourist trail.
But there’s a macabre underbelly to Paris that is rarely exposed. These are the ossuaries, or catacombs, a maze of subterranean tunnels 20m below the streets of the Left Bank’s Place Denfert-Rochereau in the 14th arrondissement.
Read more of this exciting post here: News.Com.Au
Anne Ladonne, a Parisian mother of three, stared out of the Eurostar window at the Kent countryside, planning her London shopping list. “White sliced bread from Marks and Spencers – our equivalent, pain de mie, is not as soft. Crackers for cheese for Christmas, all-butter shortbread, and jars of Marks and Spencer’s pasta sauce.”
Ladonne, a media communications director, once saw London shopping as a chance to get “exotic” items she couldn’t find in Paris. But the pound plummeting against the euro has brought a new bargain potential, helped by Britain’s craze for discounting. “Primark pyjamas,” she mused excitedly.
Could London, once maligned for its inhumanly high prices, be undergoing an image change as a cheap shopping destination? Yesterday the pound fell to €1.12, compared with €1.50 in January 2007. British expats paid in pounds who once lived a charmed, cheaper life in France are squeezed and depressed, whereas canny French shoppers able to afford a London trip are sizing up the benefits. On Kensington High Street, the shopping haunt of many wealthy French expats, Jean-Luc Vuhal, a restaurant manager, pondered his plight.
Read the rest here: The Guardian
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