Pearltrees - now embedded

 Here is a brand-new function for Pearltrees (the innovative tool that "lets you organize, discover and share the stuff you like on the web") which I have been using regularly for the last few months. 


I find it incredibly useful and empowering. If you click any "pearl" of my pearltree it will activate the browser mode in an overlay. Enjoy going through it and, if you like, consider using it yourself. Go to: http://www.pearltrees.com

Nouvelle exposition à L'usine

We ran into Clément (he goes by his last name) and Totoche at one of our favorite Portuguese restaurants (name on request) at lunch today - totally by chance. A bottle (or  two) or red wine later we decamped to La Commedia for café and now plan to meet at his vernissage tonight.

La Cité de la Réussite

Last week I received an invitation (via the Greater IBM network) to attend a breakfast session at the Sorbonne, where Alain Bénichou, chairman of IBM France, discussed IBM's vision of "Building a Smarter Planet". Even though early on a Sunday morning (and the same day as the Paris marathon - not that I'm running these days due to a herniated disc) I did indeed get up and over to the Sorbonne (a truly marvelous venue).


This event was part of La Cité de la Réussite, the largest forum for debate and intergenerational dialogues in France. The 2-day event, brings together high-level speakers from diverse professional backgrounds to focus on issues facing the city. Established in 1989, La Cité de la Réussite has been held annually at the Sorbonne ever since. La Cité is a center of public debate for all citizens and an international think tank where leading figures from academia, industry, the arts, sciences, politics, social sciences and religion gather to exchange ideas and confront different points of view.


Odile and I spent most of today there - in three different sessions (I'll add the details later in this same post). Suffice it to say that it was all quite invigorating.

Dante's smiles ...

''Les Sourires de Dante" is a little bistro, cozy and quiet (but not too!), on the Place Michel Audiard in the 14th arrondissement - not far from us. They serve "bio" wines and quite good "Italian-ish" dishes.  It has taken over the location that was "Le Godet d'Or" - run by our quirky friend, Jimmy La Watt (who chanced to stop by tonight). The new, and quite amiable, owner is Francis - well-versed in wine (and knows our chef friend Kevin - we all need to go to his place "Autour d'un Verre").


This was our first visit here (it'd been open a bit over a year and a half) and, although not warm enough to eat outside tonight, we look forward to returning.

Allez votez !

We're voting (in France) this afternoon. Et toi ?

More info on French elections here.

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UPDATE:

Spring awakenings - L'éveil du printemps

Wedekind is the first playwright to have made the discovery of sexuality a central theme. He speaks of the time when a child changes into an adult. Questions are concrete. Flowers have bloomed, fruits are not yet present. Spring does not spare the characters of this “children’s tragedy”: in the heart of the erotic opening, some of them meet death. In 1891, the questioning of Puritanism and of Prussian education caused a scandal. The play shows youth as it is and not how we would like it to be ... 

D'après J.-C

Herman Diephuis' dance piece, "D'après J.-C.", inspired by the religious paintings of the Renaissance representing the Virgin Mary and her son, revisits with grace and humor the illusory language of  bodies.

You get an idea in the photo here - where you see our friend Claire (and her partner, Julien ) in last night's performance - the duo has over 300 (!) poses. I especially enjoyed the hilarious multiplication of the loaves and fishes.

Thanks to GG from Switzerland (and Claire) for the tickets. Also a special mention to the first Dear Reader (you!) who can give me a link to the original painting from which this pose is taken (just add your answer in the comments. Merci.

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!