Port d'Envaux

We drove (through the snow) to the commune of Portd'Envaux from Angoulême yesterday and are staying with our good friends Marco, and his son, Titi. Marco is involved with bike tours in France (mostly for cyclists from Norway and Sweden) - see more here. If ever you, Dear Reader, want a bike or hiking tour in France (even if you are not Norse) plan to contact Erik (Marco's boss and owner of Merlot in Oslo) - the hiking trips, which are a new addition to their catalog, look very appealing - there is a hike around Mont Blanc and another on the "The Way of Saint James" (Santiago de Compostela).

Tomorrow we plan to drive back to Paris - which we hear is under quite a bit of snow - as you can see from the photo.

ANGOULÊME

We've traveled to Angoulême (me for the first time) to visit our dear friend "Dr. Phil". The area is a leading industrial pole between Nantes and Bordeaux, they have a good focus on TPEs via their economic development organization.

Abd el-Keller

At Le Baron Rouge at 2pm for oysters and wine with Frank & Brenda, Larry & Carole ... for a rollicking good time until early evening. We then decamped and had a fine dinner at Le Café Moderne (19 rue Keller - famed for their "couscous franco-algérien") - you can appreciate their nice bar in the photo above. To appreciate their food (I had tajine d’agneau aux pruneaux - as did Frank) you'll just have to go there!

Fried Day

Off to a photo expo by one of the Commedia regular, Danièle Mottet. It is entitled "Lieux Communs et Autres Clichés ... du côté de la Porte de Vanves" at Association Florimont (5 et 9, place Marcel-Paul 75014 Paris - M° Pernety) from 7pm onwards.

Later tonight, from 8pm onwards, we are over to La Commedia for some great music with our friends: Alain, Cécile and Eric. See you there? More info on facebook. Also a link here to a short video of their closing song.

Oh, and "Fried" Day is my lame reference to a loooong week of celebrating friendships (current and truncated).

Hamlet

This afternoon we went up to the town of Pantin to see our dear friend Geneviève in a new play put on by La Compagnie de la Yole entitled "Hamlet, Affirmation" - Shakespeare with some added modern-day texts interleaved.The play was put on in a fascinating space that used to be a "laverie" that is now called Le Théâtre des Loges.The play runs through this Sunday so, if you are in town, drop on by.

Nice Day 7 -> Italy

We drove over from Nice to the Italian town of Bordighera where we had a delicious lunch on the beach-front Lido restaurant with the sun shinning in on us.

After a stop at a local fruit tree nursery (to pick up 5 saplings for Pierrefeu) we returned to Nice and a late-night DVD (The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind).

Nice - Day 6 - Pierrefeu

OK, this was just a spectacular day as we all drove up from Nice via the town of Gilette, seen in the old-time photo (where the Armistice Day celebration was underway as we had our cafés) to arrive at Pierrefeu, where our friends have a wonderful home perched on the mountainside. However, they prefer the village remain a secret, so I shan't tell you, Dear Reader, anymore. Other than to say the views are magnificent and the lunch we had was one of the most convivial and delicious I've had in a long time.

Nice - Day 5 - Monaco

Late morning we wandered around the market in Vieux Nice, had a light lunch at the charming Bar de la Dégustation and then met Max, an artist friend who divides his time between Paris and Nice, who took us for a driving tour - we finally ended up at Monaco/Monte Carlo (and its casino) before returning along the coast.

Nice - Day 4 - La Gaude

I woke up feeling not too bad after yesterday's grueling marathon ... I can actually walk, even though I am a bit sore and stiff. We took the train from Nice in the late morning to Saint Laurent du Var where Lulu picked us up, at the Magique Pub (Le Goff's sister is the owner), to drive up to La Gaude. We had a nice lunch at the terrace of L'Auberge du Marronnier with him and Bernard (our bearded, deep-voiced singer friend).

From the bistro one can look up towards the church tower shown in the photo above (Lulu lives right next door - so he gets the hourly chimes).

Nice - Day 3 - Marathon Day!

Here I am arriving at Cannes after running all along the coast from Nice (42 kilometers+) ... I look semi-alive here, but it was a tough marathon as I had bad cramps in my calves for more than half the run. Thank God for my friends (especially Lulu who ran with me a goodly distance).

Nice - Day 2

Another fine day in Nice with a trip to the open-air market down at Libération with Jean-Pierre. The air was as crisp as the apples you see in the photo at left. Jean-Pierre has his favorite vendors (especially for cheese and wine) - who are garrulous and also incredibly knowledgable about their products and providers.

On the menu: a light lunch, rest in the afternoon then a pasta, pasta, pasta dinner (not too late) to load up for tomorrow's running of the Nice-Cannes marathon.

By the way, I am bib number 11537. The gun goes off at 8am (yikes!) and I should be doing around 4h30m (or a tad more). You can follow me (in your mind) on the map of the route shown here. Will appreciate any and all postive energy you can send my way!

Nice 2009 - Day 1

Noonish and sitting at the sun-drenched dining room table at our friends' spacious home overlooking the bay of Nice (see the photo in yesterday's posting).

Later this afternoon we're going down into the old city (see photo above) to the Marathon Village to pick up my race bib (I'll give the number later). The weather is just spectacular and will hopefully hold for Sunday's run.

Nice 2009

We're taking the TGV down to Nice today (I've only been there once before - way back in 1976) for my running in Sunday's "Marathon des Alpes-Maritimes Nice-Cannes" (their website is here). During our week there we also plan to go to Aix-en-Provence and, perhaps, Pierrefeu. Gotta run pack now!

Jardin d'Arts

Our friend and neighbor, Eva, was one of a select group of artists on display in the gardens of the /th arrondissement town-hall.

Afterwards dinner at Mian Fan - our new "regular" restaurant for imaginative and delicious Asian Fusion.

Documentaries +

This afternoon I'm off to la Bourse de Commerce (photo on left) to attend the Read Digital event focused on e-books.

Then this early evening we'll meet at the Scam (La société civile des auteurs multimedia) to see "Gulliver a tout faux" - a series of documentaries.

Finally back to La Commedia to hear Dare-Dare (Alain Aithnard and Eric Joco) playing rock/pop tunes.

Danny le rouge ... le vert?

Paris 14ème :Grande Soirée Europe Ecologie Place Jacques Demy ( quartier de la mairie)

It's not quite everyday life here, but I needed to "park" this video somewhere.

"Immeubles en fête - la fête des voisins"

Twitter update

What do you mean that you are not following me on Twitter?!

Pauvre France

We're off to Dannemarie-les-Lys to see Odile's cousin in this "hoary chestnut" of a play.

"Un standard de la comédie de boulevard..." Dire que ce rôle est fait pour Bernard MENEZ n'est pas exagéré quand on connaît son jeu d'acteur.

Mais vous connaissez l'histoire : On sonne... C'est Victor le père de Michel qui débarque à l'improviste de Limoges pour lui annoncer que sa femme l'a quitté pour son propre frère! Mais une autre surprise l'attend : il ignore que son fils vit avec un homme. Victor va essayer par tous les moyens de lui faire entendre raison...

« Ciel et terre »

"The marriage of art and technology"

A surprising exposition by Eva Tourtoglou Bony, a sculptor with an international reputation, is opened to all in the Arts Center of la Laverie.

La Ferté-Bernard

A town of both art and tradition, the “Venice of the West” is the doorway to the Great West, located in the middle of the small valleys of la Perche.

V-E Day

A holiday today in France (May is the month we don't work ... much). It's also the full moon this evening... so a similar scene may be repeated tonight. Stay tuned for an update later.

Work flow

What's yours? (Click on the image to get a much larger view.)

Yves art show

Tonight we're off to our dear friend Yves' vernissage at Atelier 213 (at 213, rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine,
75011 Paris - M° Faidherbe-Chaligny). His show lasts until
May 10 ... so feel free to stop by.

I especially liked some new collage pieces he has done. That's a recent work (an auto-portrait) at left. You can visit his website here.

Luis strikes again ...

After the Nuit Blanche of October 4, 2008 when more than 700 people attended the installation of Vanity n°12, Visible Invisible (see a video here), the Théâtre de Verre is sponsoring a new audiovisual installation/expo conceived and directed by the visual artist Luis Pasina. Entitled Vanity n°13, Munificence, it will be shown in the City Hall of the 10th district of Paris from April 21st to May 15th.

We're invited to tonight's vernissage so I'll update this post after we return.

Rise again?

To those celebrating today ... Happy Easter!

We are at Odile's godmother's (Geneviève) place today at a party for Anna's (Geneviève's grand-daughter) baptism (took place yesterday). Many of her friends from Italy here and now all into a sort of hootenanny with a nice European mix of languages.

Ever onwards...

After a longish day of "clearing the decks" (joining Puerto Rico 2000 after reading the World Competitiveness Report, setting up PersonalBrain for a personal "wiki-like knowledge and project management" tool or, better said, to support being a "big thinker" and, finally, closure on some consultng and teaching interventions) ... I am ready for a good friday break.

Thanks to our buddy Alain, there is the perfect break tonight - close, cosy and cheap at La Commedia. The event is up on facebook - just click here, if you, dear Reader, want to come.

THIS blog is pre-posterous!

Thanks for visiting this, my "main" (before posterous) blog.

Now you can also take a look at my "sideline" blog - a place for random (or not so random) thoughts, ideas, articles and links of interest, etc:

It is at: http://josepietri.posterous.com/

I like it, in part, because of its dead-simple way to add posts ... you just email your post (text, images, videos) and posterous handles the rest. Way cool.

Señor elBulli

World-renowned chef Ferran Adrià was in Paris for a talk at the Centre Pompidou tonight (I got to meet him afterwards and share a quick handshake and question: "Has he been to Puerto Rico?" - the answer was a resounding "¡Sí, joder!"). There was a book-signing afterwards for the French edition of his book "A Day at elBulli".

He gave an interesting talk (in fractured French, but "cute") about his influences, approach and future. I'll add some posts with more info (videos, links) here soon as an update ... so come visit again.

Journée nationale du Fromage 2009

Today is the Annual (French) Cheese Day ... so go eat some cheese! Preferably, French and lait cru (unpasteurized or "raw" milk). Bon appétit !

Packing day

Not much time to visit Rome as we leave this evening. Packed up and then lunched with Tiéno (merci encore).

Mid-afternoon we were able to get out and around a bit - but never quite found that "special, popular, laid-back but lively, non-touristy" neighborhood! Maybe next time. We sort of stumbled upon Basilica de Santa Maria Maggiore and an interesting shop next to it called Casa del Rosario - their motto might be "if we can put the Pope's face on it, we WILL!" - medallions, rosaries, statues, etc. Far out!

Any ideas form you all, Dear Readers, will be added to my list of things to see and do next time in the Eternal City.

Today is Monday ...

Up, not too late today, but a bit stiff . We arranged to meet Gianni at the Piramide metro station then took a bus to Mercato di Testaccio, a fantastic covered market, which is a foodie's paradise.

We picked up some items (cheeses, local veggies, etc.) and then headed out to find a near-by bar I'd read about (nameless, I had only a numberless street name). The place had been described as an authentic Roman "old man bar" and, indeed, as we approached there were quite a few geezers out in front. Turns out the place is called "Sora Rosa" and we all truly enjoyed the couple of hours we ended up spending there. We started with red wine (sold at an amazing 1.50€ per half liter) which comes from the owner's own vineyards (see their website here). Then I noticed some old fellows drinking what looked like Coke and white wine. We tried out one half-liter (OK, we had TWO) of what turned out to be a refreshing mix of white wine with Chinotto Neri. Topped all this off with some excellent cheese there (and was tempted by the barkeep's sandwiches made on Rosetta bread).

Tottered on back to the apartment to have lunch (including the excellently well prepared - and presented -"barba di frate"- grazie Odile) with a couple of cold Moretti beers and some afumacato cheese with a wonderfully rustic loaf of bread. Then a short nap and out again towards the Trastevere.

Odile had spied out the Libreria del Cinema (where I bought a fun book entitled "Film Posters - Science Fiction") - the bookstore has an adjoining caffé where we waited for Francesca and Tiéno (each getting off from their respective jobs) while imbibing fine wine and listening to oldies, such as Fred Buscaglione (a childhood favorite of Gianni's).

Afterwards we headed out to a vegetarian restaurant nearby called Jaya Sai Ma (whose name in Sanskrit means "Victory of the Great Mother") run by followers of Guru Sai Baba.

Maratona di Roma 2009

Feel free to cheer (really or virtually) for me - I am wearing bib number: 9296 ... and THANKS to many of you who have already dropped me messages via e-mail, facebook, SMS, etc. - I really appreciate it!

NOTES: As a participant in the City of Rome Marathon, one gets to drink in the city’s historic atmosphere right from the beginning. The start line is placed in front of the 2,000 year old Coliseum, and from there the course is a veritable festival of magnificent sights. Among other things, runners go past Saint Peter’s, the Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, the Spanish Steps and through a lot of picturesque, narrow streets in the old part of the city. No PB aspirations (I'll break 4 hours next time) – one needs time to appreciate all the breathtaking landmarks and to conquer the cobblestones, that cover about half the route. The course, they say, is surprisingly flat for a city built on seven hills, but the sometimes uneven cobblestone streets, which in the narrowest places can feel quite crowded, may add a few extra minutes to finish times.

UPDATE: And, indeed, the cobblestones did add an interesting dimension (and 5 minutes to my last marathon time) ... I crossed the finish line at 4h44m49s after having staved off calf cramps (for the last 10km). A video of my shuffling arrival is here - about half-way through the segment, watch for me to "shake out" my hands. A close-up version is here. And, to see me in finer form, take a look here (towards the end of the video) filmed at 21.1km, the half-way point, where you'll see me with enough energy to run backwards (!) showing off the flag of Puerto Rico.

Dinner time saw us back at the "White Chicken" (see Friday March 20 blog post).

Walkabout

We met Gianni and Francesa at the Policlinico subway station then took the tram to the Coppedè neighborhood. According to one guide book: "If Gaudí and the Grimm Brothers had gone into town-planning together, suburbia would probably look like this." Totally wacky!

Afterwards we walked about (perhaps a bit too much for me pre-marathon): Piazza di Spagna, Piazza del Popolo (for a SUNNY sidewalk café lunch at Canova), then finally back to cafe Cinque in Trastevere for tea and coffee (OK, we ended up with beer). Finally dinner (again) at the excellent La Villetta for a final carbo-load!

Marathon Village

This morning we're heading down to the EUR neighborhood. EUR was designed for the 1942 World's fair which never took place. Fascist inspired buildings include the Palazzo della Civita del Lavoro and the Palazzo dei congressi. We'll meet François, Odile's cousin, at the Palazzo dei congressi and then visit the Marathon Village to pick up our race packets.

UPDATE: François' wife Brigitte, and their friends from Aix, Didier & Margueritte; joined us for the race packet pickup - including cool ASICS backpack and black 15th Rome Marathon t-shirt plus tons of promtional stuff (including a frisbee). Metro-ed back up to near the Coliseum for a constitutional walk prior to lunch at the Caffe Aventino (just down from the Circo Massimo).

UPDATE2: We returned "home" to drop off the 4 kilos (!) of promotional materials I picked up at the Marathin Village and then headed out again - just us two - to the Trastevere (which we'd zapped last night). Few tourists out due to fairly cold and windy weather - we stopped at a few places for warm-up bracers, such as: La Casetta di Trastevere, Bar Le Cinque. Even got pious and stopped in at the Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere (see photo below).

Early evening saw us rushing over to Termini train station to meet our friends: Gianni coming in from Milan and Francesca coming in from Florence. We all walked over to a nearby place for dinner: La Gallina Bianca (where I continued my carbo-loading with an excellent spaghetti alla carbonara). Tomorrow some walking about (but not too much - as to remain fresh for Sunday's big run).

My first Eternal City

We've arrived safely at Tieno's (thanks for putting us up) in Rome - near Piramide (see photo on left). My first time ever here in this beautiful city and already I am feeling soooo Italian - 5 kilos lighter, slim and sauve, with a touch of furious gesticulation thrown in, for good measure.

Odile and I eager to go out walking in the neighborhood so, dear Reader, catch you later; any suggestions for things to do, places to see, bars to go drinking at ... just add your comments here or facebook/twitter/e-mail me!

UPDATE: (Planned) This evening we're heading "across the Tiber" (Trastevere) for dinner with Tiéno.

UPDATE2 : Actually we ended up not far from the apartment at La Villetta for a wonderful Roman dinner, a top ten place!

Amour, Raspail, Vavin ...

Flo tipped us off to Jacques Bullot's book-signing at L'Arbe à Lettres (14 rue Boulard) at 7pm tonight.

His new whodunnit, this time, takes place in the depths of the Parisian subway, and, in particular, in certain stations of the Montparnasse district. Grim… and erotic Métro!

See you there, dear Readers?

Neuilly Night

Off to dinner tonight at Sophie's home in Neuilly-sur-Seine.

Book recommendation

I can't recommend enough Lev's book (see video below) - I was lucky enough to meet him in Paris some years ago - and hope you'll buy yourself a copy (it comes out TODAY). I'm heading out myself to score me one.

Change and Innovation

For the next few days I am in Drogheda (Droichead Átha in Irish, meaning "Bridge of the Ford"),an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, 56 km (35 mi) north of Dublin.

I'll be doing the keynote speech for Enterprise Week 2009 run by the Louth County Enterprise Board.

Past glories

It's been a while, but we've gone back to a fine resto, les Caves Solignac, thanks to our friends Jean-Marie and Sylvie. Excellent value, très français and delicious "cuisine du marché"in a sort of 30's atmosphere.

"Cabaret Latin" au Dansoir

NO time to translate ... we went to see this piece tonight and I cen tell you it was VERY enjoyable (including seeing our friend Juanca dance besides sing and play guitar). I recommend it ... so GO, you have a few days left.

See more info here at the entry "Cabaret Latin au Dansoir"

12th Annual "Carnaval de Paris"

This afternoon, Pimprenelle, the cow - queen of "la Promenade du Bœuf Gras", kicks off the traditional procession of the Carnaval de Paris. Rendez-vous at 3pm rue Le Vau, behind the square Séverine in the 20th arrondissement.

UPDATE: Got my 30km training run sandwiched in between lunch and a later afternoon foray to City Hall (the endpoint) of the Carnaval procession ... got to see Pimprenelle, herself, and scads of batucada groups drumming up a frenzy. Bravo to Macaq, the organization that puts on this fine, fun event.

Drinks at Le Pick Clops afterwards and then dinner at a new place, Le Chant des Voyelles, with Odile and Denis.

Dreaming of warmer climes

Odile heard from our dear friend Gianni, in Milan, and tried to convince him to take a break and come visit us (a hint to you, dear Reader - you know who you are). Of course when you have a place in Brazil, as he does, perhaps "sunny Paris" (which it certainly it has not been) is not the first place you'd go in late February!

If YOU are looking for place to stay in Brazil then consider Gianni's place (this is shamless huckstering since I've never been there - but I trust him with my life) - take a look at: http://www.casadaareia.com/

24 heures de la vie d'une femme

We're off to the Théâtre Le Petit Montparnasse tonight to see this play by Stefan Zweig.

Crim'expo

Whodunnit? ---Leave it to science!
The museum director has been found murdered – and you have to identify the killer. To complete your investigation you'll need to visit each department of the forensic science lab, from forensic medicine and fingerprints to odontology, DNA, microfibre analysis, entomology and ballistics. After this fascinating experience, you'll watch CSI: Crime Scene Investigation with twice as much interest!

Tonight at la Villette we're attending the vernissage of this expo (for which we did some of the translation from French to English/Spanish) - it runs until 2010, so if you're a fan of CSI, NCIS, Bones, Crossing Jordon, RSI (France) or any one of those German sci-pol series then get on over to the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie.

Where is this statue?

Some of you have asked (OK, it was only me) where the statue, that appear on our 2009 New Year's Well Wishes Card (NYWWC - I *guess* that what one calls it), is located in Paris. On the left-hand side of this text you have another photo of the work.

It took me a while and some CSI photo work, but I've located the placement, if not the name, of the statue.

So, here's the challenge to YOU ... tell me the name given to this work (extra points for who sculpted it)! Just add it as a comment. First correct answer wins ... what? My gratitude. Hmm, not enough? Well, let's say I'll stand the winner to a drink in a bistro near this park.

And, to warm up just try to tell me where it is located ... if you "give the cat your tongue" then click here.

Switzerland - France training run

Below is the map of the route I ran today. I guess I could call it a bi-national, inter-faith run, as I ran from the synagogue (rue de la ...) in Porrentruy, Switzerland to the church in Vieux-Ferrette, France. About 2h40m ... and a daunting hill climb about two kilometers before the border. But a truly nice run, with the sun coming out in the latter half, and snow everywhere. Odile caught up with me (by car, easier) about 5 km from the end - and had lovingly thought to bring me a croissant. Quick energy!

The photo just above is the city center of Porrentruy this morning - click on the image to see it larger.

The towns on this run were: Porrentruy, Alle, Miécourt, Liebsdorf, Durlinsdorf, Moernach, Koestlach and, finally, Vieux-Ferrette.

View Larger Map

Café-théâtre par la Compagnie Labile

We've come to Porrentury, in the Swiss Jura, to see Odile's cousin, Françoise. She's acting in a theater piece entitled "Elles & Eux". You can hear an interview and excerpts here (en français, bien sûr).

UPDATE: We all had a wonderful time - the actors were all top-notch, the direction (Danièle) was impeccable for timing and rhythm, the tech crew did very well. And the texts! Laugh-out-loud funny (touching, incisive, even biting at times).
Afterwards about a dozen of us met for dinner at the Buffet de la Gare, where Danièle's cousin, Didier, is the head chef.

Bonne Année ! (under the wire)

According to tradition in France, one can send one's wishes for a happy new year right up until the last day of January. What a break for us procrastinators!

So here, from both Odile and myself, we send (finally) all our BEST WISHES to you, faithful Readers and dear Friends.

May 2009 be full of love, peace and fun for you and yours.

新年好

Happy (Chinese)New Year!

I missed this year's parade in Chinatown, but will hope to make it up tomorrow. Best wishes to all.

Truffles are a kind of manna...

It's my party! Well, in any case we're celebrating (with a little c) my birthday today by having a really nice meal "en tête à tête", just me and my Odilta ... and when I say really nice I mean really nice because we're having truffles (like those beauties on the left).

Thanks to our friends Jean-Philippe and Virginie who gave us this marvelous gift of truffles. Stay tuned for what we did with them (and send me your recipes).

UPDATE: Finally the truffles are still unused as we ended up going out for lunch at La Commedia and then dinner at Le Godet d'Or (also called the Godet d'Art - but which we refer to as "Jimmy La Watt" - the name of the highly original owner).

UPDATE2: I want to thank Levni Yilmaz for posting an entry on facebook , and for allowing me to embed his work here on my blog. It is called "Youth & Aging" from his continuing Tales Of Mere Existence. That it showed up on my birthday is just more of a kick! Enjoy...