The Bold Soul: A Writer's Life in Paris

A "Room" with a View

A lovely and unusual view of Notre Dame. The Hotel de Ville has a "Tomorrow's Garden" display set up in the courtyard, and it was just stunning. This terracotta "wall" had a window that gave passers-by a delightful look (not to mention the flowers, shrubs and grasses that look like they've been there for years instead of just weeks). More photos here. Read more →

All aboard the Hogwarts Express. Or not.

So, Tuesday afternoon, KylieMac and I took off to go to Gare du Nord where the Hogwarts Express was due into Paris on the first stop of the French movie promotion. Or so we thought. I mean, yes, we went, and yes, there was a train. But not the REAL Hogwarts Express (Disappointment #1). However, we got in line with everyone else to find out what was going on and hoping for the best. The line moved pretty well, which was good because the station was hot and stuffy. As we moved forward, we saw a couple of girls walking around handing out contest forms of some kind; the girls were wearing robes from Gryffendor and Slytherin, which was cute. We noticed there were very few younger children in line, but since it was around 12:30pm on a Tuesday they were mainly in school. As we got closer to the actual train, we saw that it was just your basic garden-variety French train with movie posters plastered over the windows, as in the photo above. I had been wondering how, if it was going to be the antique train from the movie, they would get it through the Chunnel and... Read more →

Nose? Meet the grindstone

The past few days I've been doing the nose-to-the-grindstone bit. Actually I've been doing that for the best part of a week solid including the entire weekend, because the Universe has graced me with lots of work... all of it apparently due at the same time. I'm not complaining about the amount or the nature of the work because it's good stuff AND the more of it I have, the more I am assured of having an even longer stay in Paris. Since I freelance and all my clients are actually outside of France, everything I do - including finding the work, otherwise known as the dreaded "M" word (marketing) - takes place remotely. Which means I basically get my work either by referral from past or existing clients or friends, or by people who Google what they're looking for, and find ME. Other than keeping my website up-to-date, I'm incredibly lazy about the marketing part of my business. But somehow I always seem to have work anyway. Today I'm giving myself permission to play hooky and spend the day hanging out with a friend. Actually, he's a former life coaching client with whom I worked for three years as... Read more →

Coming in 13th

A survey shows that Paris is now the 13th most expensive city in the world. It was 15th last year. Moscow has the dubious distinction of being #1 again this year, while London is #2 (no surprise there, especially when the dollar/pound rate is currently almost 2:1). London was #5 last year. But how did New York end up 15th, after Paris, when there have been all these recent news stories about how difficult it is to find any kind of affordable apartments in NYC? I know I couldn't afford to rent any kind of decent apartment in New York, but had no trouble finding a livable place in Paris, even with the lousy dollar/euro exchange rate and renting fully furnished. Go figure. The next American city to make the list after N.Y. was L.A. which came in way down at 42nd place (guess they weren't counting the cost of living in 90210), and San Francisco (another place with out-of-control real estate prices) was way down at #54. All 3 American cities fell lower in the rankings this year than last... I guess that's some good news. (In digging further, turns out it's the weakness of the U.S. dollar that... Read more →

It's about the journey, not the destination

The #1 question I have been asked, since first deciding to move to Paris (a decision that was made in my mind and heart over three years ago) and finally having done it last year, is: "Why?" I get that question a lot less these days now that I've been here a while, but sometimes when I encounter someone new (like a new client who calls my American number and then finds out I'm actually HERE), it surfaces again. My standard answer, a simple "Because I love it and I've always wanted to live there", for some reason doesn't ever seem to satisfy the askers, who generally respond with an: "Oh", and then a pause that speaks volumes, as in "Oh, well that's nice for you I guess, but honestly I don't see why on earth you'd want to do THAT! What a strange thing for you to want to do." And I know that answer doesn't even come close to cutting it for some of the people closest to me, who would much prefer it if I said: "Oh, I just want to go there for a little while and get it out of my system, and then I'll... Read more →

This could explain a lot

As seen in Lonely Planet's book, "Europe on a Shoestring" on the first page for Switzerland, while doing research for my summer travels: Drinking before a toast is unforgivable and will lead to seven years of bad sex... Interesting. Do you think this social faux pas could also lead to the curse of NO sex? I'm just asking because, well, I have this friend, see... not ME of course, but a friend... and she thinks she might have accidentally taken a tiny sip of champagne prior to a toast back, oh, around the millennium celebrations, and... Read more →

A Warm Glow

From the Salon Fermiers (Farm Expo) I went to in Vincennes a couple of months ago (yeah, I'm behind on posting some photos), the warm amber glow of many different types of "ac": cognacs, armagnacs, bas armagnacs, and more. Are the shapes of some of these bottles just beautiful? This booth had two very charming women working here, and they charmed me into buying some lovely peach concoction and a nice pineau. Looking at this picture kind of makes me want to go pour me a glass right now. But it's only 11:04 am. Katia and Kyliemac, this "ac"'s for you! But we'll have to wait until October for the next opportunity to taste-test ourselves into a hangover. Read more →

It's my party and I'll blog if I want to

The occasional derogatory comments and hate mails (fortunately, they're few and far between) I get from dissatisfied readers cause me to pose this question: Why do people bother reading blogs they so clearly hate? Or if "hate" is too strong a word (and I'm not sure that it is), then substitute "dislike" or "violently disagree with". I'm serious about this question. Why would someone visit a blog regularly, then take the time to write to the author about how they hate the blog, and THEN go back for more? They continue reading the blog and continue bashing the blogger about what a waste of time they think the blog is. Call me crazy, but I know when I read a blog and don't like the content or the writing, I just leave and go do something else. I've got better things to do than to try and police the blogosphere. Do people really have that much spare time in their lives? Is it a form of masochism, reading something you dislike, or that bores you, or that upsets you, and constantly doing it over and over again? Why are they not out there doing something more constructive and meaningful with... Read more →

Gets the message across, and then some

Oh, how I love the sometimes viral nature of blogging. You can read about something totally cool and then share it with tens of thousands of your closest friends. Like these completely sick and twisted e-cards: They seem to have the perfect blend of sarcasm and creativity. And for the single among us who are trying to find that ONE diamond among all those lumps of coal, they have little gems like: and this: and this: and this: And they're not all for dating and breakups. There are congratulations cards ("Congratulations on finding your true calling" with pictures of sumo wrestlers), get well cards ("If there's anything you need, ask someone who's not afraid of getting sick"), and of course birthday cards ("It's never too early to start a mid-life crisis"). Some of them aren't funny at all and a few really kind of cross a line to being offensive, but I didn't write them so please don't shoot the messenger. But the majority of them are a riot and they're free, and for the right person in the right situation, they're a nice change from Hallmark! Warning though... these are not PG-rated cards, some of them. So don't let... Read more →

Losing my head over Provence

I spotted this demure 'demoiselle in the lovely, postcard-perfect town of Lourmarin (where author Peter Mayle, of A Year in Provence fame, now lives... probably because he made the village of Menerbes so famous he had to move to get his privacy back). We sat in a café for a while, hopping for a Mayle sighting, but to no avail. However, Mayle does frequent the local cafés, so if you're in the neighborhood, you might just get lucky and spot him enjoying a pastis (check any of his book jackets for a photo). If you see him, get an autograph for ME because I just love his work! Read more →