Sedulia

LATEST ARTICLES ( 315 )

• Happy Paris Hallowe'en! Euh....

  

  Halloween in Paris has come to have a slightly bitter taste for me. When I first moved here and my kids were small, the French had barely heard of Halloween... Read more

  Posted on 31 October 2011 CULTURE, EXPAT, TRAVEL

• Oldest Tree in Paris: an American

  

  The city of Paris has an online interactive map of the "remarkable trees" of Paris, including the Bois de Vincennes and the Bois de Boulogne. Read more

  Posted on 29 October 2011 CULTURE, EXPAT, TRAVEL

• Paris Clubs: Not Always Easy to Get in

  

  I have never been a club-goer and the closest thing I've ever seen to a nightclub I liked was the Cowboy Bar in Jackson, Wyoming. Read more

  Posted on 28 October 2011 CULTURE, EXPAT, TRAVEL

• The Palais Galliéra and the Papal Nuncio

  

  Yesterday was such a beautiful day. I was in the sixteenth and took this photo of the Palais Galliéra, a fashion museum that is currently closed. It usually doe... Read more

  Posted on 28 October 2011 CULTURE, EXPAT, TRAVEL

• The Plumber: "We're Not What We Were"

  "Where did you get our number?" said the plumber as he drank the coffee I offered. Two competent-looking men in their fifties had come surprisingly quickly the... Read more

  Posted on 27 October 2011 CULTURE, EXPAT, TRAVEL

• The Local Marché in October

  

  Today in the Bois de Boulogne It was a beautiful day in Paris today, and I went to the marché and bought flowers and as usual, way more other things than I had... Read more

  Posted on 27 October 2011 EXPAT, TRAVEL

• Interpol's Wine Business

  

  I had lunch with an acquaintance today who told me that Interpol has a great gift shop at its headquarters in Lyons. "What a fun idea! Maybe I'll stop by the... Read more

  Posted on 25 October 2011 CULTURE, EXPAT, TRAVEL

• The Jeunes De Banlieue and Me

  

  Jeunes de banlieue in the 1995 movie La Haine A bande de jeunes de banlieue (group of youths from the suburbs*) in track suits approached me on the sidewalk in ... Read more

  Posted on 24 October 2011 CULTURE, EXPAT, TRAVEL

• Restaurants: the Major Job Creator in France

  

  The last post reminded me that restaurants also provide pretty good jobs for a lot of young people, especially the ones who don't love school. Read more

  Posted on 22 October 2011 CULTURE, EXPAT, TRAVEL

• A Stroll Around the Block in Paris

  

  It's a beautiful day today, and my very pretty American visitor had stars in her eyes. After making her practice saying "Je ne parle pas français" and "Merci"... Read more

  Posted on 21 October 2011 EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION

• Façade of the Louvre: Huge Billboards

  

  The south façade of the Louvre Lately the royal palace of the Louvre itself has been overtaken by the wave of huge ads that are starting to mar some of Paris's... Read more

  Posted on 20 October 2011 CULTURE, EXPAT, TRAVEL

• Carla Bruni Gives Birth

  

  "Circulez! Y'a rien à voir! CIRCULEZ!" I had an errand on rue de la Pompe today. There was a big traffic jam and I couldn't figure out why till I got up to the... Read more

  Posted on 19 October 2011 EXPAT, TRAVEL

• Freedom of Speech Versus France

  

  In the U.S.A., we tend to think of the right to freedom of speech as absolute, deep in our bones, inscribed in our Constitution. Americans pay lip-service to th... Read more

  Posted on 17 October 2011 CULTURE, EXPAT, TRAVEL

• Baudelaire: I Did but See Her Passing by

  

  One of the many things I love about living here is the respect France has for its poets. This is the only country I have ever been to where an autoroute sign... Read more

  Posted on 14 October 2011 CULTURE, EXPAT

• Royal Memories at Place De La Concorde, Paris

  

  Marie-Antoinette and her husband King Louis XVI (which as a child I thought was pronounce Ex-Vee-Eye) were beheaded in Place de la Concorde, which was then... Read more

  Posted on 13 October 2011 CULTURE, EXPAT, TRAVEL

• Anomalies of French Life: the "Turkish" Toilet

  

  The French call these "toilettes à la turque" but I call them "French toilets." They are still horribly common in France, and I never saw anything of the kind... Read more

  Posted on 13 October 2011 CULTURE, EXPAT, TRAVEL

• Anomalies of American Life: People Who Don't Blame Wall Street

  

  From the new conservative Tumblr blog We are the 53% (referring to the 53% of Americans who pay income tax, as opposed to the We are the 99% movement of Wall... Read more

  Posted on 12 October 2011 CULTURE, EXPAT, TRAVEL

• When Yankee Doodle Learns to Parlez-vous Français

  

  My Cajun, French-mother-tongue grandfather was one of the youngest American soldiers of World War I. When he found out I was moving to France, he said, "What... Read more

  Posted on 11 October 2011 EXPAT, TRAVEL

• Paris: Dog Shit Poop Capital of the World

  

  Photo by Ggugg, flickr. The sign says "I like my neighborhood: I pick up." Someone has crossed out "my neighborhood" and written "shit. Read more

  Posted on 09 October 2011 CULTURE, EXPAT, TRAVEL

• Stéphane, a Guy I Know, is Studying to Be a Translator. I...

  

  Stéphane, a guy I know, is studying to be a translator. I asked him why, and he said, "I was bored with teaching math in high school, and there isn't anything... Read more

  Posted on 07 October 2011 CAREER, EXPAT