Paris and I ~ 'Fuckin' Good Blog Post'

iPhone Photo Chronicles ~ Fuckin' Good Blog Post! ~

Fuckin' Good Blog Post, originally uploaded by Paris Set Me Free.

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We're in the 'Les Halles' shopping mall, central Paris' biggest, and this was the current promotion which greeted thousands of shoppers, commuters and cinema goers as they went about their business yesterday afternoon: 'Fuckin' Good DJ Radio'. Honestly, that's the name of it, and it's serious stuff, with a fancy web site and big name DJs and everything.

It's a great example of the best and the worst of English language and culture (you decide which this is) not so subtly infiltrating foreign sub-consciences.

Gone are the days when English teachers working abroad could trustingly ask for any English words the class knows in the knowledge that the best to hope for would be a few dogs and cats and the odd apple. These days any bunch of French school kids could easily smash out a resounding chorus of Lily Allen's ultra-catchy 'Fuck You' with no problem at all. The delicious irony being, of course, that the original was banned from the radio in her native country, which only helped it be an even bigger hit I guess.

The trickiest issue of all, though, is trying to convince French kids that it's really NOT OK to interjaculate with a casual 'fuck you' in polite English company such as when you're staying with your terribly middle class host family in the UK and the mother offers you some more of her best boiled potatoes and beef, which you consider execrable at best.

Oh well, such are the wonders of cross-cultural misunderstandings And if you didn't consider my ramblings today worth reading... well, no prizes for guessing what my response would be ;-)

J è  GRAB MY 20 AMAZING PARIS CURIOSITIES FREE NOW!  ç J

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© 2011 Sab Will / Paris Set Me Free - Contact me directly for photo tours, interviews, exhibitions, etc.

Paris and I ~ 'Not Quite So 'Fearless'

iPhone Photo Chronicles ~ Not Quite So 'Fearless' ~

Not Quite So 'Fearless', originally uploaded by Paris Set Me Free.

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This here is a door. Not just any door mind, but an old door. And not just any old door either. The oldest! This is the oldest 'civil' door in Paris, dating from the 13th century or so.

That's old. The qualifier 'civil' was given me by The Door Keeper Himself, and I suppose it means 'not royal' and it certainly isn't in one of the palaces or other regal Parisian residences, although it is found in a curious medieval location which was once inhabited by someone who effectively ruled France for a while, and which bears his equally curious name.

Not only that, but look closely; you can see that it's 'blindée', or 'armoured', in that it's got solid iron bars running through it. When this overlord didn't want to be disturbed, or killed for that matter, you'd have a hard time doing so!

Any ideas where it is, Paris peculiarity-seeking pals? I'll give you a clue: it straddled one of the first encircling city walls, and can today be visited as one of the city's finest examples of the middle -ages in Paris. Answers on a parchment...

(P.S. OK, I'll give it to you, as I've just realised my title won't make any sense otherwise! It's in the 'Tour Jean Sans Peur' - the 'Fearless John Tower, in the 2nd arrondissement - howzat for a cool name!)

J è  GRAB MY 20 AMAZING PARIS CURIOSITIES FREE NOW!  ç J

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© 2011 Sab Will / Paris Set Me Free - Contact me directly for photo tours, interviews, exhibitions, etc.

Paris and I ~ 'Rushing Headlong Into The Past'

iPhone Photo Chronicles ~ Keep On Walking ~

Rushing Headlong Into The Past, originally uploaded by Paris Set Me Free.

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For those of you too young to mourn or celebrate the disappearance of the famous Les Halles market, immortalised by Emile Zola in 'Le Ventre de Paris' (the gut/belly/stomach of Paris), you've got another chance to be part of destructive 1st arrondissement histoire.

I went looking for a strange and rather secret little park area to other day to see if I could finally get a good shot of some arboreal elephants (I'll tell you about them one day) and this is what I found.

A building site, a disaster area, a scene of utter carnage and deconstruction: it's time to mess around with Les Halles again folks.

Many years in the contemplation, the plans were finally agreed a couple of years ago, with completion pencilled in for 2012 I believe.

It's true that over the years certain parts of the complex became less than salubrious, but I thought it was ok. The powers that were didn't though and we're now watching the emergence of a new, hopefully improved Les Halles, with the aim being to regenerate the area which had become a bit run down, it's true.

The first sign of progress is a fancy new children's playground which has already sprouted up, and I'll have to have a scout round the back to see what's going on; the last time I passed by there I discovered a sort of old benches and uprooted lampposts graveyard, which was rather bitter-sweet, as I'm very fond of Parisian street furniture, and for all I know my leafy proboscidean pals have joined them.

Out with the once-new and in with the future-old... you can always be part of something, I guess, if you just look around a bit.

J è  GRAB MY 20 AMAZING PARIS CURIOSITIES FREE NOW!  ç J

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© 2011 Sab Will / Paris Set Me Free - Contact me directly for photo tours, interviews, exhibitions, etc.

Paris and I ~ 'Sky, My Tower!'

iPhone Photo Chronicles ~ Sky, My Tower! ~

Sky, My Tower!, originally uploaded by Paris Set Me Free.

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This hasn't been photoshopped or autocropped or slylychopped. Sure, it's been Sabbified but what I'm trying to say is, it wasn't me what stole that missing right-hand church tower, I swear!

Right in the heart of Paris, one of the city's most instantly recognisable religious landmarks... is blatantly imperfect. Immaculate in it's conception, possibly, but the realisation is sadly lacking...

It's hardly surprising though, given the continual revolutions and restorations of the period; perhaps the greatest miracle is that anything got completed at all.

Whatever the case, this monumental edifice is splendid from it's usual perspective, but catch it end-on and it risks being somewhat embarrassed! Do you know which church we're looking at here? I'll tell you in the comments... if you feel like asking :-)

J è  GRAB MY 20 AMAZING PARIS CURIOSITIES FREE NOW!  ç J

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© 2011 Sab Will / Paris Set Me Free - Contact me directly for photo tours, interviews, exhibitions, etc.

Paris and I ~ 'Here Is The News'

iPhone Photo Chronicles ~ Here Is The News ~

Here Is The News, originally uploaded by Paris Set Me Free.

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I ate my first McDonalds in over a month today. In an unrelated incident FBI 'Most Wanted' person, Oussama Bin Laden, was reported killed by American commandos yesterday.

A McDonald's '1955' Maxi Best Of Menu currently costs €7.95 in central Paris. In an unrelated incident, the newlyweds Prince William and Kate will be spending their honeymoon, and €4,500 per night, at a luxury residence in the Seychelles, according to Britain's Daily Mail.

Recent 'McDo' marketing initiatives include the 'McCafé' - their real-café-in-a-McDonalds concept, and a very annoying woman (I think it must be in the job description) with a fancy little hand-held device and a pointy thing who tries to harass you into giving your order whilst queuing, before you've even had a chance to decide, and above all before you reach the counter, where there seem to be a wide range of approaches for identifying what you ordered, getting you to pay for it and finally, theoretically, actually getting your hotly anticipated cold burger, 'freedom' fries and boisson into some sort of united state, along with napkins, straws, sauces and receipt on a tray near you within the following ten minutes or so. In an unrelated incident, highly trained professionals were able to drop into a heavily defended 'freedom' fighter compound, on the other side of their world, kill a particular individual and a couple of hangers-on, and fly out again, with only the loss of the odd $20m helicopter to bemoan.

And that's the end of the news. Tomorrow will be sunny with occasional storms. Or the other way round, I haven't decided yet.

J è  GRAB MY 20 AMAZING PARIS CURIOSITIES FREE NOW!  ç J

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© 2011 Sab Will / Paris Set Me Free - Contact me directly for photo tours, interviews, exhibitions, etc.

Paris and I ~ 'Keep On Walking'

iPhone Photo Chronicles ~ Keep On Walking ~

Keep On Walking, originally uploaded by Paris Set Me Free.

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I might have mentioned before that those who look straight ahead as they walk risk missing some of the more interesting of the Paris sights.

I don't mean things like the Eiffel Tour, although it does crop up in the most unexpected of vistas. I mean some of the decidedly non-touristy things to be glimpsed through ajar doors and over spiky gateways. Or here, where this gaping grimy garage entrance is about as inviting as the gates of hell themselves.

On second thoughts, maybe it would be best to keep looking firmly ahead...

J è  GRAB MY 20 AMAZING PARIS CURIOSITIES FREE NOW!  ç J

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© 2011 Sab Will / Paris Set Me Free - Contact me directly for photo tours, interviews, exhibitions, etc.

Paris and I ~ 'One Is Somewhat Amused'

iPhone Photo Chronicles ~ One Is Somewhat Amused ~

One Is Somewhat Amused, originally uploaded by Paris Set Me Free.

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One honestly couldn't feel more - how should one put it - 'divorced' from the whole royal wedding palaver.

A bunch of meritless, anachronistic toffs spend a heap of tax payers' money (sorry, has that been sorted out now?) on silly clothes for a ridiculous ceremony that more than two-thirds of 'The Clan' annul a few years later just like the rest of us, and the whole country throws a Kate an' William wobbly. I mean (I'm mean), Balmoral bonkers. Street parties and serious shit. They've declared a public holiday, for goodness sake...

"Mister and Kisses", slimes The Sun, as "Wills and Kate smooch twice on balcony"

The diligently arse-licking Daily Mail: "The moment the world held its breath as
William struggled to get the ring on Kate's finger".

And the sober Times: "Royal newlyweds take surprise Mall drive" (in their modest little vintage Aston Martin..)

As you can tell I'm not a royalist, and yet I don't for a moment deny or will ill upon these throwbacks to another dictatorial age. It's a bit like when France won the football world cup made in France. Everyone was delirious with joy. Dancing grannies and suchlike.

Was it because some little guy had got his little ball in some little net? (I ask myself this question every time Lionel Messi scores for Barça and two-thirds of 'My Family' goes absolutely nuts) Of course not. It's much bigger than that. It's about a feeling of belonging. Does it matter that such and such a team has 'won' or such and such a couple has 'become one'? Not for the obvious reasons. But on another level it obviously does matter, and very much.

I'm often accused of being a heartless cynic, while I cry 'rationalism'! But, despite all the nonsense, I can see and feel, truly feel the importance of that kiss on the balcony, however engineered and manufactured. A whole nation seemed to think it was something that should, and had to happen. And it did. A perfunctory peck was performed. The photo that will remain, just like his mother's. A nation truly did see themselves reduced to blubber and terribly human in that touching, if terribly public moment. And you can't take that away from them.

We all want to believe in fairy tales after all, otherwise why would Disney still be an on-going concern?

One had to admit that one had tears in one's eyes as one typed that second-last paragraph - what can this mean? It must be Sun-sickness, or maybe just a sign of the Times... Well, that's enough from your Daily Male, until the next billet, one wishes you well. And maybe, just maybe, one isn't feeling quite as cynical as before (although I doubt it, you know me.. there's that inane waving, for a start...)

J è  GRAB MY 20 AMAZING PARIS CURIOSITIES FREE NOW!  ç J

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© 2011 Sab Will / Paris Set Me Free - Contact me directly for photo tours, interviews, exhibitions, etc.