Mouth-watering

As seen yesterday in the Berko cupcake shop nestled between the Marais and Beaubourg...

Cupcakes clearly inspire me...so check out what I have to say about this place here on Spotted By Locals - Paris!

Berko
23 rue Rambuteau
75004 Paris

PS 22 Chorus

As many of you know I am a self-proclaimed choir nerd. After singing in ensembles for over ten years, I will forever have a soft spot for a good choir.

One of the coolest things I've seen in a long time is this NYC public school choir that covers songs beautifully from across the years. Although I've been following them since they've busted onto the YouTube scene, this song, Forever Young by Alphaville brought tears to my eyes - so beautiful and one of my favorite songs anyway.

Enjoy - and check out their YouTube page to listen to their cover of Journey's Don't Stop Believin', another favorite!

Love and hate

I've been realizing more and more how much my relationship with my beloved adopted hometown can be likened to an on-again/off-again romantic relationship.

I've started to put this idea to words and hope to share something more concrete with you all in the very near future but in the meantime, isn't it uncanny how this city and living here invokes a feeling of a romantic relationship? Do any of you have similar feelings about your real or adopted hometowns?

I'm very curious....

....by the way, I NEED these shoes!!!!


Photo credit, designwallah

Asterix in the 13e

While walking around the 13e arrondissement last weekend, I noticed a huge number of cartoonish thought bubbles all over the place...after a brief consultation with my resident France expert, it turns out these are famous quotes from the legendary French cartoon Asterix.

What a cool way to liven up an otherwise business-like area! This one says "It is fresh, my fish! It's FRESH!"

Follow me on Twitter!

As a self-confessed social media nerd, I've been using Twitter for personal purposes for well over a year now - and I love it!

A couple of months ago, I decided to start a more general Twitter account for all to see based on Paris, the things I see daily, and travel writing in general. I'm proud to announce my Twitter account to all of you - EverythingParis !!! This is THE place to go for up to the minute updates on what I'm doing, what I'm seeing, and what's going on in my Paris. With well over 300 followers in just under three months, I am excited to be making the world of travel and interest in Paris even smaller by being a part of this community.

I look forward to seeing you there - please add me as follower and feel free to contact me directly this way...

Love it!

Fête de la Musique - Sounds of Summer - June 21st

I've been lucky enough to be a part of Spotted By Locals - Paris for the better half of 2009. Spotted By Locals, as I've mentioned before, is an awesome website where European city residents share some of their favorite tips and ideas of things to do in their area. Check out my most recent article either here or on the main page. Enjoy!

Fête de la Musique - Sounds of Summer - June 21st

Posted using ShareThis

Photo by agramainio

Spotted in the 15e Arrondissement

While walking around and exploring this afternoon/evening, I came across a sign that made me laugh out loud...posted right in front of a public pool was this sign, explaining that bathing suits are required. I didn't realize at first that it meant no boardshorts or baggy swim trunks allowed - basically speedos only. I had a good chuckle for a minute wondering if people really needed to be told that they had to wear bathing suits to the pool!

But the real question is....why no swim trunks???? Anyone?

She's baaaaaaack!!!

No, no need to adjust your screens and monitors....I'm really posting again. Yup, almost two months later! My hand is WAY better, stitches are out, physical therapy is ongoing, and gone are all the heinous painkillers and scary nerve drugs! Best part of all - I feel like the surgery really worked! Although I'm not at all at 100%, I finally feel comfortable to fall back into my routine of typing and computer use. Believe me - it's been a LOOOONG few months!

Here's an "after" photo to go along with the "before" from the last post....the photo quality isn't amazing, but you get the idea. In honor of May Day and long weekends in sunny Paris, I'm back with a vengeance! Thanks for all of your well-wishes along the way, and it's good to be back!



P.S. I know that I have a HUGE backlog of emails/correspondence to catch up on, so do apologize in advance if you've been waiting to hear from me!

Out of commission....

I'll be taking a bit of a break but will be back soon!!!

-K

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?

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.

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.

Picture post

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

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 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....

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

How can you not love this photo???


Thanks to Brent and MariLyn for it's use!

Fun signs!

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

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.

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.

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!