60secondparis Newest'est-Letter
InSeine Olympic Plans!, Paris Firsts, Extra/Ordinary Pics, Joys of Small Things, CoWorking Heaven, Goering & More
Breathing easier in Paris - Summer has summered & now fall is, in theory, ...falling ...it was 27C recently (80 in real degrees) with 700% humidity on the Lawrence of Arabia (LOA) scale. FYI: All Newsletter pics are mine…..mine!
In-House Stuff: Here’s a temp 60SPN layout — and, new acronym! This should be an easy task, but as I’m often about as prolific as a cadaver, its a work in progress. We’re shooting for twice a month going forward, with each newsletter a partial mix of these headings. The layout …so far:
News/Trends/Updates
What Makes Paris....Paris!
Cool Paris/French Firsts
Famous Faces & Forgotten Places
Life in Paris / Videos
Real Hidden Things, Oddities & Curiosities
Personal Note
This Issue:
News/Trends/Updates: The Paris Olympic Games:
GOLD in them thar Games! Though two years off, Paris is already reaping gold from the 2024 Paris Games. There’s no hard data to buttress my anecdotally oriented mind but you only need look around (wiping construction dust from your eyes) to see a city in the throes of a massive urban face-lift — Exhibit A: Place de la Concorde* is slated for massive renovation including new street lights, fountain repairs, etc. Otherwise there’s sprucing up of plazas, avenues, arenas, carrefours and the like....think major urban Botox injections. (*Created in the 18th century as a monument to King Louis XV, and bizarrely once used as a massive parking lot).
InSeine Paris Opening Ceremonies? Called the largest opening ceremonies ever, Paris plans to capitalize on its famed Seine with ceremonies on the river! (This absent that long overdue once-in-a-century biblical flood*, and no wicked tricks up Natures’ sleeve, such as ongoing massive heat-waves, etc.). Plans will see every competing nation outfitted with a camera-live-feed-equipped boat, with which to then navigate a 6K course, from the Austerlitz bridge to Trocadéro. Organizers are also planning air-conditioning in some venues, including Stade Pierre-Mauroy, the planned basketball prelims site. (A smart move given this past summer’s temps across Europe hitting 40+C in several countries, with many setting new highs)!
Oddly many athletes and visitors heading here may never see Paris at all. The shooting events are planned for Châteauroux, some 270K’s/170 miles south’ish of Paris. Sailing is slated for Marseille and, perhaps the furthest commute, surfing will be at Teahupo’o, Tahiti (as in 10,000 miles/16,000K’s from Paris). Boxing prelims were vectored from famed Roland Garros to a northern Paris arena. And hoops (a.k.a. Basketball) prelims are currently skeded for Lille some 130m/200K’s from Paris (as the corbeau flies). A confirmed hoops venue-sked is still a toss-up… Watch for the new ‘breaking’ event (competitive break-dancing). We’ve come a long way from what was probably the worst Olympic event ever: Live Pigeon Shooting! You DO NOT want to know the gory details. Not too far behind that was having the Paris 1924 Marathon pass a fume-belching energy plant. Health workers spent hours caring for the sick, confused (and, yes, vomiting) runners.
Paris 2024 Highlights: First games where any ordinary Jacques and Sophie et. al. can partake in public versions of the Marathon & Road Cycling events (following the same routes on the same day of events). FYI: The 1924 games lasted four months!
Want More? NBC TV launches the new Chasing Gold: Paris2024 a monthly show highlighting & priming folks on all things Olympics and airing til the 2024 games. Starts September 18! Click here for more info
*We’ve had a few floods of late, but nothing anywhere that of January 1910, when the Seine breached its banks, rose to 8.6 meters/28 feet flooding sewers and turning streets into canals and lakes… and Paris into a mini Venice.
What Makes Paris.....Paris? An Ode to Little Things…
There are 1,7 million answers to this query. For moi tis The Little Things or everyday Paris Totems. The sights, sounds, and imagery that comprise the tapestry of daily life. The urban artifacts we initially find different & appreciate while getting our Paris sea-legs but then slowly forget, letting the novel become routine and the thrill of new creep into the banality of ordinary. We have a responsibility to rediscover the seemingly humble stuff of daily life, the so many urban tiles that together create a hugely rich urban mosaic.
A Select List of My Ordinary Jewels….
Joys of the Little Jam Pot
Paris Jam Jars - These bantam-class jars that often accompany a Tartine* or Croissant are the iconic French symbol, recognizable to millions, tourist, local and thief alike (many are often surreptitiously slipped into bags). These petites pots are tiny French ambassadors …unassumingly yet effectively spreading that quintessentially, inexpressible French charmessence (my word, does it work?) across the landscape! Oh, and on your croissant!
*Tartine: Slice of bread/baguette with butter and/or, usually, jams).
These squat forms are in evidence across Paris, from the tony 16th to funky 10th ….anywhere! Part of this was penned at a charming café steps from the Seine on rue de Bièvre (HINT: Ask nicely and the owner may show you his impressive private kitchen museum downstairs....).
We’re enamored of jam jars given their allure, attraction and especially the promise of something ambrosial just below the lid. For many jam jars are an addiction —and not just for my elite, jet-hopping relative who finessed Air France into coughing up the name of its confiture* supplier (Hint: Think… Alsace), and who’s bursting jam-armourmentarum can feed every person, goose, moose and duck in Canada for decades).
Side: *Confiture = Jam / Jelly = Gelée
Paris's Cane & Rattan Cafe & Bistro chairs (& a few tables).
And…These Tables!
Le Primeur* - The Ail’s** Have it?
We have haricot vert (green beans), and epinard (spinach) and …you get the idea...and while hand-written signs are an artform in themselves, I was thrilled once when allowed in the back of le primeur to photo the fruit & veggie name magnets spangling a huge fridge…(attracted by their aesthetic and the idea of having the French names in my camera).
*Le Primeur: Fruit & Veggie place…. **AIL - Garlic (sorta’ pronounced like AYE as in' ‘Aye Aye Captain’!)
SIDEBAR: You know you’re approaching true local status when you help save a flailing visitor. The scene: One night at le Primeur. A young guy is gesticulating to the owner, Monsieur, air-drawing a Christian cross before saying “Oh..you know…DRACULA..like the movie, a V-A-M-P-I-R-E…”. Obviously Monsieur was not a movie buff and cocked his eyebrows in the high-noon position, totally confused. I looked at the young thing, did some fast movie math and asked, “You mean garlic?” “Yes!” he blurted! yes, Oui, Garlic. “Ail” I say to monsieur.
“Ail” said Monsieur.
Ail-ya-ya…
It Can Drive You Nuts!
Paris traffic signs. While this one (below) does make sense*, you could have an accident slowing to decipher it. ( I had to add this as I’m currently in the French hell called Getting Your French driver's license --stay tuned)! (*Or, does it?).
STARING AT STAIRS…Flights of Fancy…
In Paris it is impossible not to come across a classic and majestically crafted staircase so perfectly sculptured, so ideally designed and built you'd think it was crafted exclusively for that one location. (A staircase in the 16th is so stunning, I sense it was built before any other area structure, just to set a standard below which no other architecture could fall). Often while screaming around Paris I’ll turn a corner, or slip down a street and spy an enthralling staircase that could easily be the lead in a HBO feature on mesmerizing architecture. (Script in development).
Enchanting Paris Streets
Too many to show, so a few select ones….
(NB: Sadly, Substack can’t/won’t post photos side by side, ergo it looks like a camp Arts & Crafts pub.)
Cool Paris/French Firsts
Not too far back, Paris was a pioneering, effervescent font of ideas and innovations. Many of its achievements are legend, but other smaller, if just as significant, ones live below the historical radar. So, what kind of off-the-beaten path Newsletter would this be if I didn't offer two examples for you?
Light Years Before Hubble: A Telescope (& Mirror) Too Far.
The Optics: It’s 1900 & the world is streaming, it is fervently hoped, to Paris …and for good reason, for the 5th time in the 19th century Paris is staging a World Exhibition ...while also hosting the 2nd modern Olympics games (the first outside of Greece...and first time women participated)! As part of a sweeping array of modern tech attractions the centerpiece is The Great Paris Exhibition Telescope….the then largest refracting (dioptric) telescope the planet’s ever seen. (An objective lens of 1.25 m. / 49.2 inches in diameter). Sadly, like the exhibition itself (under-attended, overpriced & a deadly money sink for investors)* …the telescope was probably the planets least utile, ...couldn’t even be sold afterwards and was disassembled. (In truth, it was designed to ‘wow’ attendees, not crafted as a bona fide scientific instrument). The firm that made it went kaput, and the telescope ‘mirror’ mothballed in the Paris Obsevatoire where it lives in a hallway in semi-darkness. Or did last I went snooping for it! I found the lens and, after sucking back a whale-sized breath (praying there were no fire alarms etc.) flipped a bunch of wall switches for enough light to see it. Worth the risk! It is yet impressive and just being up-close in front is a reason to marvel: you can almost feel the heady unbridled optimism coursing within …the awe it must have inspired... of a future that seemed chock-full of wonders.
*The financial consequences from the 1900 event were to put an end to Paris’ Exhibition fever for some time…
The actual Gargantuan telescope: More freight train than….
World's First Talking Clock - “At the tone the time will be….14 hours and 22 minutes EXACTLY...”
Hard to imagine now, but not a century ago people truly wanted to know the exact time. But, the one Observatoire phone line dedicated to this need was constantly overwhelmed (it also happened to be the Director's direct line)! What then for Paris Observatory director Ernest Esclangon (1876-1954) to do? Well, build the first automatic talking clock!
The French firm Brillé was tasked with engineering the automatic 'talking clock' job and on February 14th, 1933 (Valentine's Day!) the world's very first talking clock began telling time at the Paris Observatory. The voice was Marcel Laporte, known as Radiolo (and a speaker at the Poste Parisien). On the first day alone some 140K people called in (of which 20K got through). And the number? ODEON 8400. (…don't bother, its a non working number)!
Life in Paris- First of a new series on unique Co-working Spots. This is a cut down version, Click here for the Full Feature!
There is but one Nuage….
Nuage is steps from La Sorbonne, la Seine, Panthéon, Place St. Michel and other A-level addresses. Once a part of College of Beauvais we are hemorrhaging history here, one easily felt flowing through gracefully arched windows or when trodding its thick-planked wooden floors. There is an airy comfy vibe, as if you're at a weekend urban chalet.
Upstairs boasts a 'silent area', a 4-person table, plus rooms which seem half Shire, half attic crawlspace. Example 1 …..
Example 2: Note the slippers….
Downstairs are myriad work spots plus a (booking required) full-tech conference room. Basics aside there’s an endless river of superbe coffee options, hyper-cool staff, ample munchies & fresh fruit.
NEXT 60SPN: If you need a productive co-working spot for your next visit, send a note as I've sampled many! Next week: Cité internationale universitaire de Paris: A hidden sprawling urban camps oasis with dozens of international houses, a morgue-quiet & low-cost library and…okay, next week… meanwhile, have a peek at its library, below!
Newsletter Platform Options? I’m hunting for a good, writer-friendly newsletter hosting site! I like Substack but its lack of basic editing, and zero live-help is a nightmare. Anything beyond a grade 4 Arts & Crafts look is hopeless. As the kid at the vegetable store said….AIL!
Real Hidden Things, Oddities & Curiosities
Strange Bedfellows in le Marais? (Assuming its really his) -
Göering's Rifle at Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature (Museum of Hunting and Nature) - A while back, walking among the impressive galleries and compelling displays devoted to hunting and nature one item, a simple rifle, stood out. Not so much the rifle as a past owner, none other than hunter, WWI pilot and later commander of Germany's Luftwaffe, president of the Reichstag, Gestapo head, prime minister of Prussia, 'chief liquidator of sequestered estates', etc., and the Führer's chosen successor, Hermann Göering. Yeah, him.
Paris history is deep, complex, murky and …odd. What struck was that, but 250m's away, was the Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme (Museum of Art and History of Judaism). Always found the proximity curious. An item some would associate with a dark era and far darker individual seems the antithesis of the other museum's goals. Okay, maybe just me.
The card: “Fusil à percussion, Europe, XXe siecle. Ayant appartenu a Goering”. (Percussion rifle, Europe, 20th century. Having belonged to Goering).
The Judaism museum is a must see visit, possessing a fantastic collection within, plus you can tour the Anne Frank garden just behind.
THANKS/FEEDBACK (La Retour) A huge merci mille fois to Bernard, Alexis and Bobbi et al who kindly signed aboard! As should you! It means metric tonnes to me and I hope you find the content enjoyable, stirring and maybe shareable! Again this is a work/passion in progress and will improve in time. FYI: 60SPN It will always be free as 1) I’m the worst marketer EVER, and 2) being so in love with my city means wanting to write about it and share all its fascinating history…..openly and always!
Am always up for feedback, content ideas, suggestions….boxes of free donuts, etc. Happy to try and answer any Paris related questions….
Thx for reading! A bientôt - D