Paris at a Certain Age

Faubourg Marigny

Faubourg Marigny is perhaps the coolest neighborhood in New Orleans. Locals say it has the same vibe that the French Quarter had 30 years ago, before it was tarted up with tourist traps. There are hip coffee shops, good restaurants, galleries, bookstores and of course, music! Music is ubiquitous on Frenchmen Street:

 

- jazz bands in clubs

 

- buskers on the sidewalks

 

and in the streets.

This area was spared severe Katrina damage. It has iconic New Orleans homes with lacy ironwork balconies but is better known for its many, many 'shotgun' cottages. These are narrow one story houses with rooms laid out in a line with one room opening directly in front of another. If a shotgun was fired from the front room, the blast would pass unimpeded directly through to the back room. 'Double shotguns' are two houses sharing a common wall. These modest dwellings have been gentrified in Marigny and restored in classic New Orleans style, full of color and creativity with a Caribbean feel. 

 

Take a little tour with me around Faubourg Marigny:

Finding France in New Orleans

It's fascinating to be in a U.S. city that oozes French at every turn. From the ubiquitous fleur-de-lis:

to street signs:

and other signage:

 

Paris has its balconies:

as does New Orleans:

Paris has statues of Jeanne d'Arc:

as does New Orleans:

Paris has wonderful doors:

as does New Orleans:

 

And to complete the picture, New Orleans also has fashionable dogs:

but with a jazzy twist!

 

 

 

 

My Holy Grail Travel Appliance

As a fanatic sewer and quilter, I hate being without a sewing machine when I travel. My hands get antsy and withdrawal symptoms set in like a smartphone addict without their cell phone. Ever since my first laptop, I've wondered why there are no laptop style sewing machines.

Quilters travel for classes, quilt group get-togethers and retreats, not just for vacations. Serious sewers don't like lugging their heavy machines around or risking the delicate electronics. There is a large fan base of Singer Featherweight sewing machine aficionados.These are lightweight (if you consider 11 pounds lightweight) machines made up to 1964 and have a retro charm. 

Others buy modern brands of lightweight machines, but these are in the same weight range which rules out taking them on international flights where they strictly monitor baggage weight. On my recent flights, they weighed all carry-on luggage, including purses, and totaled the combined weight.

But there is hope for the future! Have you seen the Flat Mode sewing machine which won a design competition?

It uses a bluetooth foot pedal, folds flat and can be carried in one hand. It won first prize from the Manufacturers Association of Israel in 2004. The Flat Mode machine was designed by Itay Potash, but I can't find any sign that it is yet being manufactured en masse.

What is your "Holy Grail" travel appliance?

 

 

Paris to Paducah, part deux

Most of the quilts featured in the main hall at the AQS Quilt Show were relatively traditional with exquisite and meticulous workmanship.

The auxiliary halls held more modern, creative and artsy quilts, like this one by the incomparable Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry.

Notice how the quilting adds to the design and color selection. 

However, the real standout for me was the one that won the Moda Award for Best Wall Quilt:

This is Judith Phelps with her quilt, The Value of Gears. It's densely thread-painted with white thread on black fabric on one side and black thread on white fabric on the other side and ombre sashing. 

The center block has real gears incorporated in it.

This quilt has an amazing backstory. Judith is a member of the Cover to Cover Book Club Quilters. For fourteen years, members have been choosing a book to read and then creating a quilt inspired by the book. "Gears" was inspired by the book "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" by Brian Selznick, which was in turn inspired by the pioneering French filmmaker, Georges Méliès, and his fascination with mechanical figures called Automata. An Automaton carries out a sequence of operations and was a precursor to today's robots. Martin Scorsese's film "Hugo" was based on the same book.

Méliès lived in the 10th arrondissement and you can still see the building with its "M" on the lintel.

Paris in Paducah

I was thrilled to find this little bit of Paris while visiting the mammoth AQS (American Quilter's Society) Quilt Show in Paducah, Kentucky.

Culture shock had been killing me in Kentucky. Paducah is a small town (pop = 25,000) in western Kentucky that swells each spring when over 40,000 quilters arrive for this show.

 

It is also the site of the National Quilt Museum and has become known as "Quilt City". 

Quilt shops are everywhere and I was even able to buy fabric in a coffeshop! The show is a major driver of the area's economy and the entire town caters to quilters.

Rooms are booked by August for the week of the show and we were lucky to find a B&B about a half hour away. A B&B with large portraits of Jesus everywhere, an explosion of doilies and doughnuts for breakfast. All the food was fried, including fried pickles and fried pie. 

I struck up a conversation with an Australian woman who was shocked that her tour bus stopped every block in town because the women wouldn't walk more than one block. Massive obesity was everywhere and I've never seen so many women in wheelchairs or using rollator walkers.

No wonder the south is called the Stroke Belt!

But once I started searching for Paris and France, I was able to find remarkable examples. Stay tuned.

 

Choosing a Paris Neighborhood

My friend Sally is planning a trip to Paris and wondering which neighborhood she should choose for her accommodations. I thought this clever video circulating on Paris blogs right now would give her a sense of the many options available. Bottom line: no matter where you stay, if you're in Paris, YOU'RE IN PARIS!!!!

Havas Worlwide Paris / Carte de Vœux (Best Wishes) 2013 - Flying V - Wizz Design (QUAD) from QUAD on Vimeo.

 

 

X S Baggage

I'm one of those people with excess baggage, both metaphorical and literal. And as a book lover, I need to use every ounce of the fifty pounds allotted for each bag because those foreign language books are heavy. France hasn't yet embraced the ebook revolution. Plus, when you are gone for two months that span two weather seasons, you need more clothes than for a typical short jaunt.

I've read articles about the unreliability of airport baggage scales, so I rely upon a travel baggage scale. My old analog scale died after long and heavy service (or maybe it committed suicide from all the excess weight it handled). I bought a new electronic scale and packed it and the receipt and instruction book in the front pocket of my suitcase, congratulating myself on my foresight. Before arriving at the airport I weighed each bag multiple times, always registering just under 50 pounds each.

 

When I arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport for check-in, each bag showed between 5 and 8 pounds overweight. No problem I thought. 

"Ah bon, madame. J'ai pesé les valises avec cette nouvelle balance numérique chez moi and ça marche bien. Voici, je vais vous montrer."

 

Those of you who have spent time in France can commence laughing at my predicament. You will have guessed how little my scale mattered to the check-in personnel. And the other weigh-in counters were occupied with others going through the same drama. To make matter worse, she then weighed my carry-on luggage and announced that was too heavy as well. Since when did they start weighing carry-on luggage?

 

I started verbal tap dancing as fast as I could, in both English and French, without effect. I asked about the fees for overweight luggage. She quoted a price that was $100 above what the website lists. And for each bag. A total of $500! Her supervisor arrived and announced I would have to remove heavy items from my check-in luggage and put them in my carryy-on luggage, which didn't make any sense since that was already overweight too. And it was all going into the same plane, meaning no net difference. 

 

I was digging through suitcases and shifting things back and forth like a quick change scam artist. Finally I asked her if the plane was fully booked. And it wasn't, so I used the 'E' word: exceptionnellement. Just this once. It must have given her a face saving way to let me on with my excess weight because she waved me through.

To show how desperate I was, I had considered telling her I had lost 20 pounds since I had arrived in France and couldn't she subtract that from my baggage weight? Little did she know I was also wearing two shirts and two sweaters under my coat whose pockets were full of heavy books.  When I boarded, I looked like an Ellis Island immigrant without the shawl and babushka.

 

Of course I checked the electronic scale after arriving home and ça marche bien. It was the airport scales. I reviewed articles on airport scales and studies show results all over the place. Some airport scales register overweight, some underweight, etc. Apparently in the US, the states are in charge of validating the scales. I couldn't find out who regulates the airport scales in France. Not that it matters when you are confronted by someone full blown fonctionnaire mode. In retrospect, besides packing lighter, I wished I had carried a printout of airline baggage policy and overweight fees. What is your experience with airport scales? Have you had your carry-on luggage weighed as well as your check-in luggage? 

 

riding 2 wheels in Paris

You see all types of motorcycles, bikes, scooters and small, city-friendly vehicles here.

Some are very unusual, like the one below.

 

 

When you get closer, you see a baby seat, protected from the rain, and discover it's a cross between a bicycle and a stroller.

And I start thinking about what a wuss I am for not trying out a vélib bike. People of all ages ride them, even in high heels.

 

 

But then I walked by this accident and know I don't have the balance or courage to ride in Paris traffic. That's a flattened motorcycle under the truck wheel.