The Grocer

It's another cold and rainy day in Paris. I just looked at the weather....tomorrow, there's a double-whammy ahead: rain PLUS lightning. Oh boy! Can't wait.

Meanwhile, I haven't yet mentioned the current bane of my existence: the late-night grocery store across the street. This shop has been there every year that I've rented this apartment, and the proprietor always stays open late and is always noisy, but this year seems worse than most.

Nowhere else in Paris is there a little shop like this that stays open till 2 or 3 a.m....but three stories below me, opposite my bedroom window, I have The Grocer. He stands outside with the lights blazing till the wee hours of the morning, talking and laughing loudly with his friends. They all apparently have nothing better to do but to stand outside in front of his shop until 2 or 3 in the morning, as well. NO ONE seems to shop there, and no one in Paris probably needs a nectarine in the middle of the night on a weeknight, anyway. (If you need one, let me know, and I'll give you his address.)

I don't understand why the neighbors here don't stop him, or why the guests in the hotel across the street don't complain about this guy. The only thing I can imagine is that maybe he's part of some militant group and everyone knows that if you complain, there'll be a great big hole in the ground where your building used to stand. Can people call the police around here and complain about noise? What number would I call? What would I say? Anyway, it's noon and his shop is open again....I think the only day he's actually closed is Monday. Yay....something to look forward to.

Cold Summer in Paris

I've just checked the temperature online tonight. It's 46 degrees. No wonder why I'm so cold! Paris is rainy and dreary and also rainy. Yesterday I got so soaked that it felt like my clothes were loaded with concrete. And I didn't bring enough warm clothes. I was expecting to be roasting.....not like this!

On Tuesday night, I met with Pierre Baillot of the Maïdo Project at a café in the Bastille. We did an interview using my iPod with the little Belkin recording gadget attached to it. And I think that part of the audio came out better than the voiceover I did at the apartment later. I don't have my usual recording equipment with me, so using my USB headset (for Skype) really sounds shrill.

Anyway, it was great to meet Pierre. A former jazz musician turned electronica/world fusion musician, he's the driving force behind the Maîdo Project. His tracks have been played at Hotel Costes and at Buddha Bar, but not made it onto any of their compilation albums yet. He gets airplay on some French radio stations and ...it looks like soon...perhaps KCRW in Los Angeles. But like so many great talents these days, you only get to hear this great music if you comb the internet.

I put together a special podcast/interview on my laptop, and now I'm struggling with the tools that I have with me to get the files online. I completely forgot to take a copy of my iTunes XML file with me and the code in it is complicated (and I don't want to overwrite the one that's online right now), and I also don't have a copy of my FTP software with all my shortcuts and site passwords saved in it.

Trying to make the audio in this podcast sound good when I used a headset for my voiceover that's actually meant for phone calls, and an iPod with a tiny microphone attached to it...that's a challenge. I've tried to massage the tracks in GarageBand right now. But I did put something together and I hope you can at least hear the MP3 version before I get home. Then I can maybe get the iTunes version (with images and links in it) online.

I really appreciate how gracious Pierre was and I'm so happy that I could do this special podcast, even if I'm a bit hamstrung by my lack of equipment. I'm pretty amazed that I have what I do, actually. And that's what the portable recording studio on a laptop is all about...I was just a bit disorganized.

What else did I do today? Not that much. I decided to eat a late lunch at Cafe des Anges on rue de la Roquette...I really like that place because they serve basic food all day, they're friendly -- like most Parisiens -- the people who work there act as invested in serving the customers as the proprietor would -- the salads are generous, and they always give me a full container of Amora mustard to go with it. And basically I use the salad as a delivery system for the mustard.

I think Amora mustard -- this basic supermarket staple -- is the best mustard in the world. It probably costs just a Euro for a good-sized container of it. But it's got this kick to it that's kind of like when you eat too much wasabi in a sushi restaurant. It really rocks! I wish someone would start importing this amazingly great mustard into the USA....forget Maille and all the others.

Then I went to my favorite epicerie in the 3eme, and sadly, like many other places that I like in Paris, it's closed in August until the 27th. I'm going to have a very busy last day here before I leave for Switzerland. What was I thinking? I won't be returning here in August again unless I live here someday.

The Haircut

Today I decided to get my haircut. I'd already scoped out the shop in the Bastille where I decided to go. The people there seemed really nice. They don't speak English -- really, most people here don't unless they work in the tourist industry -- so I decided to make a little photo display of what I want in a haircut and what I don't want, based on photos from my laptop. So I put together a quick little iMovie of what I wanted with this haircut -- with French titling -- put it on my video iPod, and off I went to get my hair cut.

I gave instructions in French as best as I could. The movie with photos was just for a backup, to prevent misunderstandings. How many people do you know make a movie and put it on their iPod to show their hairdresser? Anyway, the haircut was amazing. She did everything I asked her to do...and she worked on my hair like it was a work of art, then styled it afterwards with products. It's really short, but I'm in a very-short-hair phase. It was amazing, and the whole experience cost me only 30 euros....less than what it costs at home.

It rained like cats and dogs today. I went shopping for books at Gibert Jeune -- getting soaked head to toe in the process -- and then stopped by the supermarket. I just love the yogurt sections in the French supermarkets. It's not just a section...it's normally a whole aisle: every possible flavor and texture, for breakfast, for dessert, for whatever. For people like me who eat yogurt every day for breakfast, this is heaven.

Tonight I'm meeting a musician whose group I've included in a podcast last year. I'm hoping that my little recording device on my iPod will enable me to get an interview from him that I can use in a special edition broadcast. Wish me luck!

Diary of a Gadget Freak

Today I decided to go back to Marche d'Aligres....I wanted to buy some really fresh tomatoes to make a pasta sauce....but this was only an excuse. I really wanted to try out the Belkin plug-in recording device on my iPod. Why? I wanted to record the sound of the vegetable merchants, hawking their wares. Would it work?

I plugged the device into the port at the bottom of my video iPod. The first thing I noticed was that it pulled out of the slot all too easily...it didn't snap into place. I had to be careful. I didn't read the instructions because I edit technical instructions for a living and I cannot stand to read them in my spare time. So off I went.

The key, for me, is to be surreptitious. This is true for recording audio in a crowd as well as it is for taking photos. I simply don't want to be obvious...I want the device to be small, and I don't want to stand around and fumble with it. I want to casually flick it on and either record pictures or sound without anyone noticing.

So I flicked on the recorder and held it in place on my iPod in one hand while I walked up and down the vegetable stalls at the market. The results: not bad.

Hear a sample here . I had more difficulties later in the day, when I hopped onto the metro with the iPod in my pocket. I recorded the metro as it pulled into the station, but the device got disconnected in my pocket and I lost the rest, including the woman who got on the metro and began a dramatic pitch for money. (For some reason, the beggars in the metro must be out-of-work actors, they're so dramatic! Always a speech.)

I also decided to go shopping today at Galleries Lafayette. The double-whammy of my current age and body weight was guaranteed to make me feel like a troll there, but it didn't stop me from shopping, conversing with helpful, friendly saleswomen in French, and ultimately, buying things.

Then I went to my favorite pharmacy, located in the Bastille: I'm fascinated by this place because it's both high-end healthcare products AND herbal remedies ..with a medical face on them. It's a wonderful place to buy lavender oil or many other oils and herbs....and it's practically across the street from Place des Vosges. Check out their window displays.

Tonight I came home and made pasta sauce with the amazingly great tomatoes that I bought at the market this morning. Also seen in the photo: the gluten-free Italian pasta that I bought at Naturalia. It was perfect, by the way...apparently the highest instances of gluten intolerance are in Italy...and even the ordinary supermarket products here alert you as to whether or not there's wheat in them. So while you probably associate France with baguettes and pastries, the first thing you see when you walk into a health food store is a giant section full of gluten-free food, and it's really good.

Finally, a note about bad user interfaces. I've been totally baffled, year after year, by the invention of the senseless 2-centime piece in Europe. Isn't it enough to have a 1-centime piece and a 5-centime piece to contend with? But no....as you'll see in the photo, there are three nearly identical coins with a fraction of a difference in value, which one must carry around and deal with when you pay for things at the cashier. And they WILL ask you for exact change, so good luck fishing through your pockets for 1, 2, and 5 centimes. Here are the coins....can you tell the difference between the 1 centime piece and the 2 centime? Me neither!

The good, the bad, and the ugly

Despite the dreary weather today, I had something to look forward to: buying a carte orange ticket for the week. There's nothing more liberating than knowing that I can hop onto a metro at any time with my pass.

And I did hop on: first to Republique, where I disembarked and walked along Canal St. Martin. Unfortunately, some of my favorite shops and cafes were closed for the August holidays, but luckily, Artazart....a really cool design bookstore...was open.

After perusing the books in Artazart, I crossed the canal on a quai not far from Hotel du Nord, and saw some very unsavory characters harrassing pedestrians as well as people in cars. It looks like they're some of the few survivors of last winter's tent encampment of "sans domiciles," and particularly unpleasant, aggressive ones at that. I love that area and I felt sorry for the local residents -- the ones who don't live in tents -- when I saw what was happening there.

I had a craving for Vietnamese food, so I walked up to Belleville for lunch....an amazing and mystifiying quartier for me, where Asians, Jews, Arabs, and artists seem to live in apparent harmony.

Then I headed to a shopping area in search of a warm coat, because the weather is in the 50s here and I wasn't prepared for it. I didn't find what I was looking for....there's a new coat style here that's vaguely remiscent of 1962 (think Parker Posey in "The House of Yes"), but got distracted by the incredibly gorgeous bathroom displays.

In Europe, it's completely normal to have beautiful bathroom fixtures (or any kind of home design), whereas the USA still seems to be in the grip of hideous, bulky, neocolonial furniture design. It's no wonder IKEA became so popular in the USA...but IKEA is only one of many European shops. There are many more inexpensive options that look as stylish, or better. I'm including a couple of photos of affordable, good-looking bathroom fixtures that are normal here, but called "European Design" in the USA (which is synonymous for "not ugly").

I don't understand what the deal is with American furniture design....why purposely design something that's ugly and then waste materials and labor on it?

And finally....I'm including a photo of the really cool bike-rental system that just started this year in Paris. Last year they were ripping up the streets and sidewalks to build useful and safe bike lanes...this year, there's a bike-rental system where you can rent a bike for about a euro an hour and return your rented bike to a kiosk in nearly any neighborhood. The bikes look really cool, they're brand new, they have bright headlights, and you see people riding them everywhere....hello, American entrepreneurs...take note...

another pleasant valley sunday

I overslept today. Really overslept: till 11:30. But I still had time to get to Marche d'Aligres before it closed. So I ran down there to mingle with the crowd. I snuck a quick photo with my iPhone, which presumably is safely in Airplane Mode to protect me from outrageous roaming and data charges.

Paris is peaceful right now. A lot of Parisiens are on holiday. The people on the streets appear to be from out of town, but the crowds are smaller. After I went to the market, I cruised down rue de la Roquette...again, the most peaceful I have ever seen it to be...and to the used bookseller whom I know is open on Sundays. Inside his shop, he has stacks and stacks of bandes dessinées, for those who have the patience to wade through them. I have a thing for historical bandes dessinées, or those with social importance. So I look for these graphic stories amongst the stacks of action/adventure, sci-fi, etc. I found one today for 4 euros about a post World War II political figure in Europe.

Later, I walked to the Bastille and then through le Marais. I walked to the street that I hope to live on someday (but I'll settle for one of the streets near it)....and took a couple of photos. Then I came home and made myself a relatively healthy dinner, supplemented with wine.

speaking in other tongues

I'm back in Paris, jetlagged. My French is still awful, but I do pretty well with giving cabbies directions to "my" apartment. Luckily for me, French is usually a second language for them, too.

After a lunch of roquette and fromage de buffala with my friend Geneviève, I headed for Monoprix and other shops to stock up on the stuff I need in the apartment and that I miss when I'm not here, because it's either not available in the USA, or not the same, or so outrageously expensive that I can't justify buying it...like the raw sheep's milk cheese and the pimentes stuffed with goat cheese...and the coconut yogurt.

Then had to pop on the metro and off to the BHV to look at the fall clothes, while I was still ambulatory. I didn't last long...I'm too tired.

It's good to be back.