Located a block or so northwest of église Madeleine, the chapelle expiatoire sits at the location of the Madeleine cemetery, which was arguably the prime dumping ground for the victims of the Terror. Now at the center of a small park, Square Louis XVI, that was constructed around it during the Haussmanian re-adjustment of Paris, …
This morning I found myself going through various files on my Surface in anticipation of upgrading it to Windows 10. I wrote a draft of this post on the fifth of August 2014; with the exception of the Paris Plages story (and the lack of a mention of overcrowding on the metro; the RER A is currently …
What were, to this point, true chip-and-PIN (PIN-priority EMV-equipped) credit cards were replaced yesterday with the farcical, ridiculous, chip-and-signature style cards that are apparently going to be the interim card standard in the States. Thus while Europe has been on chip-and-PIN for the past 15 years and is working on phasing out swiping (and only …
Yesterday felt like a sort of karmic retribution, albeit for some unknown transgression; having started off with forgetting my phone (and though I wound up retrieving it, I subsequently forgot its slipcase), it progressed through needlessly standing in line at the Centre de réception des étrangeres for an hour as I waited to retrieve my …
As neither of us were feeling particularly spectacular this past Saturday, we decided to eschew our original museum-oriented plans in favor of visiting the canal Saint-Martin area. The Purrito had been asking me if I wanted to go in the months previous; I admit, however, to having little interest until I learned (thanks, Stéfane le …
After more than a year in Paris (though our official expatriation anniversary is coming up on Tuesday), I have a certificate that says that I know fuck-all about the French language. (EU language competency levels are located here, for those not in the know) I’d have a celebratory beer (or even better, champagne), but I …
The Purrito and her crew went to Giverny yesterday. Seeing as it was a holiday, Victoire 1945, under normal circumtances, this would be free license for me to camp out on the kitchen table and play video games all day, something that, in retrospect, I should have done. Instead, I decided to (try to) be …
It’s spring, which means that for the fuzzy members of our cartel, it’s time for their yearly vaccinations. We are fortunate to have a very kind, English-speaking vet just down the street, and it was from him that the cats received their checkups. As we suspected, Vorenus is nuts while Aurora is, and this is …
The Purrito and I are heading off to the Alliance française to begin phase 2 of our formal French education. While we’re still irritated at the system glitches that prevented us from being in the same course, I think that we’re both hoping that attending the evening classes at the same building, at the same …
The American shop up the street (they import junk food and sell it to students attending the American University of Paris and French folk looking for gag gifts for their colleagues [all I’m going to say is that it involved a box of macaroni and cheese, and that I wish I understood more French, because …
Fezzik In Paris 