Thursday, February 26, 2009

More Parisian street art - Latin Quarter


I took a walk today in my neighborhood to run a few errands and was once again reminded of why I love walking in Paris - the random art that pops up all over street corners, buildings and really everywhere else is one of my favorite things to discover.

Today was no exception - here are a few of my favorites!

I especially love the Ghandi one.

Do you have any street art to recommend that I may have missed?

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

La Maire D'Eu

Say it quickly and you'll see why I've got the giggles. Apparently, there's a little town on the border of Normandie and Picardie that's called simply "Eu."


Photo taken from the article linked below. (Charles Bremner)

Why is this funny? Well - first of all "eu" is the sound that's made in French when people are at a loss for words...kind of like "um" or "uh" in English. Could you imagine answering the question "where are you from?" with "Ummmm?"

I recently spotted this article which details the town's struggle not only to change their name because of its sound, but also because it can't be found in Google searches by tourists. Think about it - googling "Eu" will probably give you a whole host of hits regarding the European Union, conjugations of the French verb "avoir" and a whole handful of other things OTHER than this French town.

Although the name change is opposed by some residents, the Mayor is pushing to adapt the name to attract increased tourist activity - something that has been difficult in this internet age with a town name that's so hard to distinguish.

It's definitely a story I want to follow to see whether or not La Maire d'Eu succeeds in her quest.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

MIss Tic Street Art - Perfect Timing!

As my faithful readers know, I am a huge fan of the street art that I stumble upon accidentally every day here in Paris.

Here's another example of the lovely Miss Tic whose works seem to spring out at me exactly when I need them to. I posted one of her pieces a few months ago, which I also fell upon completely by accident.



While walking through the 13e arrondissement this afternoon, I was feeling a bit down, a bit overwhelmed by a handful of events that are happening in my life, and listening to especially nostalgic music on my iPod. I literally stopped in my tracks when I discovered this Miss Tic piece which translates to "It's life - this will pass." The most poignant part of all was the fact that someone, perhaps feeling the way that I feel lately, stopped to write "When?" underneath the piece. It's something I had been wondering myself and I was, for that moment, happy to feel as though I was not alone and that I wasn't the only person who passed this treasure and thought the same thing.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Picture post


Just a quick picture today...because I'd rather be picnicking :)

Monday, February 16, 2009

Little discoveries...

I love it when I turn a corner and stumble on a gorgeous site. It never gets old! Here's a view of the square (and La Fontaine Louvois) with the gorgeous fountain that I stumbled upon today on my way back from lunch. Beautiful!

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Sunday Sounds

First of all, here's a video of a song I used to listen to YEARS ago, long before I came to France. It's awfully silly and can be somewhat annoying at times, BUT I'm so proud because now I know ALL of the words. I used to just hum along and sing to the chorus because I didn't understand the whole thing. As most of the lyrics are slang or really familiar words, it took living here for me to understand it. I had a big smile on my face last week when it came back up on shuffle on my iPod after years of not hearing it. Enjoy - and see which words you can pick out! :)



Now for some serious music - I heard this one last week for the first time and thought it was so pretty. Here we go....

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

How can you not love this photo???


Thanks to Brent and MariLyn for it's use!

Friday, February 13, 2009

Fun signs!


Would you shop here? I'd have trouble as a marketer promoting this place in English-speaking areas...

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Cool website!


Wordle - www.wordle.net is a really cool site that lets you create an image using the text on any website. I created this image with the text found on the front page of my blog. I think it's a really neat way to see the things I talk about the most and is a great representation of my blog content.

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Paris Street Art - 6ème arrondissement


Check out this little gem that I spotted just off of rue de Buci in the 6ème...see which celebrities you can identify! I personally am most drawn to the bald Britney Spears in the bottom left corner.

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

What a difference a day makes....

I can never get a handle on Paris weather - it fluctuates SO quickly!

Case in point...check out the view from my window yesterday - beautiful snow, roofs all white, and dark, gray sky....

And, here's today! Note the sunshine gleaming off the windows and beautiful blue sky!