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PARIS, France

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Bianca
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« Reply #105 on: April 26, 2009, 09:53:36 am »




             






              At the cafe-garden of the Petit-Palais, with its palm and banana trees
              and mosaic floors, marble tables and metal chairs offer the ideal setting
              to watch the museum's stone walls change from buff to tawny yellow
              as the sun moves.



Photo:
Ed Alcock
for The New York Times









Even hospitals.



I doubt that most visitors to Notre-Dame Cathedral know that inside the nearby Hôtel-Dieu complex, which is still a working hospital, is a formal garden-courtyard with sculptured 30-year-old boxwoods. The hospital’s gardener replants much of the space every May — with fuchsias, sage, impatiens and Indian roses.

From the top of the flight of steps that cuts across the garden, you can find yourself all alone, looking out through the hospital’s windows to the tourist hordes outside. Every few months, the hospital’s interns choose a different costume for the male statue at the back — at the moment, he is Snow White.

(It was Mr. Bureau who told me that some of the most peaceful gardens belong to hospitals. Gardens help cure patients more quickly, he said).

The Square René Viviani on the Left Bank across from Notre-Dame is another spot that is easy to miss. But this tranquil square features what is said to be the oldest tree in Paris — a false acacia brought to France from Virginia in 1601, and now shored up with concrete posts. Sitting on a park bench in one corner yields one of the best views in Paris — Notre-Dame on the right and St.-Julien-le-Pauvre, a tiny church built in the same era on the left.

And then there are the gardens that are the back or front yards of museums. For instance, at the cafe-garden of the Petit-Palais— with its palm and banana trees and sculptures and mosaic floors lit from below — a half dozen marble tables and metal chairs offer the ideal setting to watch the museum’s stone walls change from buff to tawny yellow as the sun moves.

Inside the museum is a portrait of Alphand (whose park designs include the Bois de Boulogne, the Parc Monceau and the Parc Montsouris, as well as the Vallée Suisse) in a top hat, his pince-nez hanging from his black overcoat.

And then there are country settings like the garden of the Musée de la Vie Romantique, once the home of the 19th-century artist Ary Sheffer, at the end of a narrow path at 16, rue Chaptal in the Ninth Arrondissement. There, you can sit among the poppies, foxglove and roses and sip tea (a cafe opens in the summer) and pretend to be George Sand, who lived nearby, and whose personal effects have been assembled in a reconstructed drawing room inside (even a lock of her hair).
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« Reply #106 on: April 26, 2009, 09:55:37 am »




               






On spring and summer Sundays, the Jardin Tino Rossi, a sliver along the Seine, turns into an impromptu dance-a-thon. For more than two decades, an informal group of singers and dancers has been taking over amphitheaters, where they dance the musette until midnight.



Photo:
Ed Alcock
for The New York Times








On the other side of town, behind an alley at 100, bis, rue d’Assas in the Sixth Arrondissement, is the garden of the Zadkine Museum, which was once the home and atelier of the 20th-century Russian-born sculptor Ossip Zadkine. The sculpture-filled garden is much the same today as when he worked in wood and granite under its trees. “Come and see my pleasure house, and you’ll understand how much a man’s life can be changed by a pigeon house or by a tree,” he once wrote to a friend.

But gardens are not just museum pieces; they are active, integral parts of neighborhoods. For a bit of entertainment — even drama — on a sleepy weekend afternoon, I sometimes walk over to the Square Blomet in the 15th Arrondissement. It is the headquarters of the Union Bouliste, where games of boules are played with such verve that they continue under spotlights late at night.

The ivy covering the metal walls of the field is so old that the leaves have grown up to six inches wide. At the end of a long park-bench-lined corridor sits a little-known bronze sculpture by Joan Miró, who lived in poverty down the street in the atelier of a fellow Catalan sculptor.

On spring and summer Sundays, there is even more excitement at the Jardin Tino Rossi, a sliver along the Seine that turns into an impromptu dance-a-thon. For more than two decades, the informal group of singers and dancers that has been a fixture at the Rue Mouffetard outdoor Sunday market moves to Tino Rossi, along the Quai St.-Bernard, to party. After a wine-filled picnic, they take over one of the amphitheaters, and to the music of accordion, violin and saxophone, they sing and dance the musette until midnight. The star couple one recent Sunday was an older man, in a white shirt and shoes and Champagne-colored trousers, and his partner, a redhead in white ruffles and red sequined slippers.
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« Reply #107 on: April 26, 2009, 09:56:50 am »




               






The 17th-century Fountain of the Medicis is a peaceful oasis in the often bustling Luxembourg Gardens.

It's named after Marie de Medicis (Louis XIV's grandmother), and inspired by the city
of Florence.


Photo:
Ed Alcock
for The New York Times








For quiet magic, Paris insiders pass the time on the lawn and benches of the Square du Vert-Galant, a pointy-shaped spit of land that reminds me of the deck of a cruise ship. The westernmost tip of the Île de la Cité, it offers the Louvre on the right, the dome of the Institut de France on the left, the river on both sides and straight ahead.

The best way to access it is down two flights of stairs at the equestrian statue of Henri IV on the Pont Neuf. It was there, in the 1991 film “Les Amants du Pont Neuf” (released in the United States as “The Lovers on the Bridge”) that Juliette Binoche, as a homeless artist who is going blind, struggles to paint her companion’s portrait.

Even the city’s large, formal gardens proclaim hidden spaces. The vast Luxembourg Garden can overwhelm with too many joggers, sunbathers, musicians, newspaper readers, pony riders and tulip admirers. But find the 17th-century Fountain of the Medicis, named after Marie de Medicis (Louis XIV’s grandmother), an oasis of calm and shade inspired by the city of Florence and built on her instructions.

I am not much of a gardener, and the Jardin des Plantes in the Fifth Arrondissement, with its greenhouses and odd species and identifying labels, seemed too much like work. Until I met Mr. Bureau. He told me how his mother was a concierge in the neighborhood, and that he took his first baby steps in the vast garden. It was there, in fact, that he met his wife. She was a 17-year-old high school student, he a 21-year-old gardener fresh from military service. It was raining, and he offered her shelter in the gardener’s hut.

“Women always love gardeners,” he said. “We speak of roses and perfume. We can easily get their attention.”

He was readily persuaded to show off its secret corners, the gardens within the garden. After pointing out a Lebanese cedar planted in 1734, he took me up a spiraling stone walkway to a pergola of iron, copper, bronze, lead and even gold that is France’s oldest metal decorative construction.

Then we entered a concrete tunnel beneath the main garden that led to the Jardin Alpin, a craggy, flowering space that houses species from mountainous areas around the world. Deep inside is a valley with a stream and a leafy canopy that only the strongest beams of light can penetrate. "Here,” Mr. Bureau said, “is where lovers come to hide.”
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« Reply #108 on: April 26, 2009, 09:57:49 am »





               

                The Parc de la Turlure is next to Sacré-Coeur Basilica.


Photo:
Ed Alcock
for The New York Times








EARLY on a recent morning, I went walking around the 18th Arrondissement with François Jousse, City Hall’s main lighting engineer (and a self-appointed expert on Paris), to explore more of the city’s little-known gardens, ones I had never come across in the six years I have lived in Paris. There, as in other parts of the city, squares and parks were built in a wave of democratization in the 19th century.

Mr. Jousse showed me the Square Carpeaux, where working-class families bring their kids and where table tennis is played on permanent tables. A white statue of a woman whose arm was broken off looks over the space; a pergola sits in the center of the square.

“I love this place for what it represents: an old, authentic Paris neighborhood meeting place,” Mr. Jousse said. “I call it the anti-Luxembourg.”

We stopped by the Parc de la Turlure, a series of discreet spaces that form a sort of garden-apartment — a living room of grass, a corridor with a tilleul (linden) arcade, a “bedroom” that seems to belong to oiled women in bikinis and another for boules-playing. Abutting the Sacré-Coeur Basilica, the park has a small amphitheater that faces a wall of rushing water.

From there, we headed to the wilderness of the Jardin Sauvage St.-Vincent, a 16,000-square-foot space that since 1985 has been designated by the city as a “wild” garden, where insecticides and artificial watering are banned, and some of the most unexpected vegetation in Paris — artemisias, white nettles, wild blackberries — can be found. Unfortunately, it is open only six hours on Saturdays from April through October. Sometimes not even then. It was closed that day.
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« Reply #109 on: April 26, 2009, 09:59:34 am »




                                  









But that disappointment led to another discovery: a tree- and bird-filled garden at the Musée de Montmartre just around the block at 12, rue Cortot, where Renoir painted “The Garden in the Rue Cortot, Montmartre,” an 1876 work that now hangs in Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Museum of Art. The Montmartre museum itself is in what was once a 17th-century abbey. Its collection includes photographs, posters, paintings and manuscripts documenting Montmartre’s 2,000-year history.


Paris, France One room, called “Party Time,” is devoted to the laissez-faire mentality of the neighborhood when it was not part of Paris proper. “Outside the walls of the city, wine is cheaper and women are less shy,” reads an information panel. From a window there, you can look down into a working vineyard no bigger than a basketball court, lovingly adorned with hostas, ferns, pansies and primrose. Purple phlox spill over a wall; wisteria drapes over a fence. (Its grapes, harvested every fall, are said to make the most expensive bad wine in the city.)

Mr. Jousse left his favorite for last: les Jardins du Ruisseau, which are not really gardens at all, at least not in the classic sense. They are a series of narrow spaces along a defunct railway track heading east out of Paris where residents have planted flowers, fruit trees, vegetables and herbs in pots.

You can look down into the space — and at its bold graffiti-painted walls. Except for special events or tours organized by City Hall, the metal door leading to a staircase down into the “gardens” is padlocked. But the 300 members of the garden association have keys.

So Mr. Jousse and I stopped by the Rez-de-Chaussée bistro at 65, rue Letort a few blocks away, and the owner, Thierry Cayla, gave us a key. Over lunch at the bistro, we joked that perhaps Mr. Cayla should turn the gardens into a tourist attraction by preparing picnic baskets for visitors.

But then, at 16.90 euros for a three-course meal, you would miss the chance for one of the best bistro bargains in Paris.
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« Reply #110 on: April 26, 2009, 10:01:24 am »





             





              Depiction of poet Alfred Demusset, next to the path to
              The Jardin De La Valle Suisse



Photo:
Ed Alcock
for The New York Times







WHERE TO FIND THE FLOWERS



The locations and summer hours for some of Paris’s hidden gardens:

Vallée Suisse is in the Garden of the Champs-Élysées, at the junction of the Cours de la Reine, Cours Albert 1er and Avenue Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eighth Arrondissement. Open daily 24 hours.

Jardin Tino Rossi, Quai St.-Bernard, Fifth Arrondissement; open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to dusk, and Saturday and Sunday, from 9 a.m. to dusk.

Jardin Catherine-Labouré, 29, rue de Babylone, Seventh Arrondissement; open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.

The Japanese garden at Unesco headquarters, 7, place Fontenoy, Seventh Arrondissement, is open by reservation only; call 33-1-45-68-03-59.

Clos Montmartre, 14-18 rue des Saules, 18th Arrondissement; open only during the grape harvest in September.

Garden of the Hôtel-Dieu, 1, place du Parvis Notre Dame, Fourth Arrondissement; 33-1-42-34-82-34; open daily 24 hours.

Square René Viviani, 2, rue du Fouarre, Fifth Arrondissement; Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Petit-Palais, Avenue Winston Churchill, Eighth Arrondissement; 33-1-53-43-40-00; the garden is open every day except Monday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Musée de la Vie Romantique, Hôtel Scheffer-Renan, 16, rue Chaptal, Ninth Arrondissement; 33-1-55-31-95-67; the garden is open every day except Monday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Musée Zadkine, 100 bis, rue d’Assas, Sixth Arrondissement; 33-1-55-42-77-20. The garden is open daily except Monday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

L’Union Bouliste du 15ème, 43, rue Blomet, 15th Arrondissement; 33-1-45-66-87-21; through Aug. 31, open Monday to Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Jardin des Plantes has several entrances: Rue Cuvier, Rue Buffon, Rue Geoffroy-St.-Hilaire or the Place Valhubert. Open daily from 7:30 a.m. to 7:45 p.m.; 33-1-40-79-56-01; www.mnhn.fr.

Square Carpeaux, 23, rue Carpeaux, 18th Arrondissement; open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Parc de la Turlure, Rue de La Bonne or Rue du Chevalier de la Barre, 18th Arrondissement; open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Jardin Sauvage St.-Vincent, Rue St. Vincent, 18th Arrondissement; 33-1-43-28-47-63; open only on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and from 1:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Les jardins du Ruisseau, next to 110, rue du Ruisseau, 18th Arrondissement; www.lesjardinsduruisseau.org, are not generally open to the public; if one of the members of the association is in, it may be open. You can make an appointment by sending an e-mail message to contact@lesjardinsduruisseau.org.
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« Reply #111 on: April 26, 2009, 10:04:00 am »





             


              The Luxemburg Gardens



Photo:
Ed Alcock
for The New York Times









                                                         THE COUNTRY LIFE IN THE CITY






From hidden courtyards to tucked-away garden cafes,

Paris offers hundreds of dining spots where

the verdant surroundings might make you forget you’re in a city.





WHERE TO EAT



La Maison de l’Amérique Latine (217, boulevard St.-Germain, Seventh Arrondissement; 33-1-49-54-75-10; www.mal217.org) serves classic French cuisine in an elegant “jardin à la Française,” tucked behind two 18th-century mansions. Thirty tables under white parasols overlook two acres of manicured lawn. Expect to spend about 55 euros for dinner without wine, about $87 at $1.58 to the euro.

Les Jardins de Bagatelle (Route de Sèvres, 16th Arrondissement; 33-1-40-67-16-49) offers country dining at the edge of the city. Dinner, which might include melon soup, scallops with leek, and lemon tort, averages around 60 euros, with wine.

Le Chalet des Îles (Lac inférieur du Bois de Boulogne, 16th Arrondissement ; 33-1-42-88-04-69; www.lechaletdesiles.net): picture dinner in an island garden, in the middle of a huge park — only a few miles from the center of Paris. This rustic pink-and-green Second Empire chalet with outdoor terraces is surrounded by a lake and reachable by a minute-long boat ride. For about 50 euros, you can dine on lemon-marinated veal carpaccio with vegetables and mozzarella.

Le Saut du Loup (107, rue de Rivoli, First Arrondissement; 33-1-42-25-49-55; www.lesautduloup.com), inside the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, has an outdoor terrace overlooking the Louvre. Lunch might include gazpacho, steak with polenta and ice cream for around 40 euros.

La Muscade (36, rue de Montpensier, First Arrondissement; 33-1-42-97-51-36; www.muscade-palais-royal.com) has 30 or so tables scattered near the garden of the Palais Royal, with a lovely views of the garden’s row of lime trees. A sandwich costs about 10 euros.

Café Lenôtre (10, avenue des Champs-Élysées; Eighth Arrondissement ; 33-1-42-65-85-10; www.lenotre.fr) offers chic snacking in an elegant green setting. A club sandwich with a salad goes for 14.50 euros.





WHERE TO STAY



At the deluxe Hospes Lancaster (7, rue de Berri, Eighth Arrondissement ; 33-1-40-76-40-76; www.hotel-lancaster.fr), not far from the Arc de Triomphe, ask for a room overlooking the courtyard garden. The garden is small, but with its cork oaks and jasmine-embalmed Japanese purity, this is an exquisite refuge. A standard room costs 490 euros.

Hôtel des Grandes Écoles (75, rue du Cardinal Lemoine, Fifth Arrondissement; 33-1-43 26-79-23; www.hotel-grandes-ecoles.com) is in the Latin Quarter. It comprises three houses surrounding a beautiful flower garden. Doubles are 113 to 138 euros.

— Maia De La Baume




ELAINE SCIOLINO

is a correspondent for the
Paris bureau of The Times.
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« Reply #112 on: April 26, 2009, 10:15:12 am »





             






               Intimate, lightly trafficked and often quirky, the small gardens of Paris
               can be ideal places to relax and to read.

               The trick is to find them.

                A couple in the secluded Jardin Alpin part of the Jardin des Plantes.



Photo:
Ed Alcock
for The New York Times





               
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« Reply #113 on: April 26, 2009, 10:18:09 am »




             






Claude Bureau at the Jardin des Plantes, where he was chief gardener for more than two decades.

At this vast garden, he took his first baby steps and met his wife.



"Women always love gardeners,"
said Bureau.
"We speak of roses and perfume.
We can easily get their attention."



Photo:
Ed Alcock
for The New York Times
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« Reply #114 on: April 26, 2009, 11:02:22 am »




             






              Inside the nearby Hôtel-Dieu complex, which is still a working hospital,
              is a formal garden-courtyard with sculptured 30-year-old boxwoods.

              The hospital's gardener replants much of the space every May with
              fuchsias, sage, impatiens and Indian roses.



Photo:
Ed Alcock
for The New York Times


           
http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/travel/29gardens.html
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« Reply #115 on: May 04, 2009, 09:05:42 am »








                                           Sarkozy's Big Plans for a Greater Paris






Time.com
Bruce Crumley
Paris –
Mon May 4, 2009

The frightful Battle of Paris that many observers expected has been averted - at least for now. In unveiling mammoth plans to modernize and reorganize France's capital and its surrounding suburbs, French President Nicolas Sarkozy set a flexible, all-inclusive tone. That was in stark contrast to his earlier comments (and habitual leadership style), which suggested that the creation of Greater Paris would be done his way or not at all.


But even as he called on various governing authorities, private and public organizations, and ruling conservatives and leftists alike to unite in what he called an "ambitious and difficult" undertaking, Sarkozy left two major questions unanswered, both of which promise to provoke clashes in the future: who will foot the bill, and who will rule over the huge new metropolis? (See pictures of Paris expanding.)


"Our successors will reflect upon the question of governance," Sarkozy told a crowd of dignitaries on April 29, when he presented proposals by 10 of the world's leading architects to create Greater Paris - a gigantic goal he said would fail if warring over its control undermined it from the outset. "Greater Paris is a project that does not belong to any one party, or any one camp. It affects everyone and belongs to everyone."


For now, the political friends and foes who'd already begun jostling for position to define, direct and take over the Paris of the future seem unified in excitement before the formidable project. They'll need to retain that team spirit for the long haul. At stake is the heady objective of turning Paris into a spectacular, environmentally friendly, sustainable city that then merges with its suburbs and beyond to transform the entire region into a giant, integrated economic engine. (See pictures of the French celebrating Bastille Day.)


"Greater Paris is about the capital playing a role in the European and the world economy [and becoming] a sustainable city for the post-Kyoto era," Sarkozy said in a 60-minute speech launching the project. "What I'm proposing is certainly ambitious and difficult. It's about preparing for the future."


If the urbanization proposals Sarkozy unveiled are any indication, that future is going to be really, really big. They call for the demolition of what's been dubbed the "invisible wall" between Paris and its surrounding suburbs - including those that contain the blighted housing projects whose residents ignited the nation-wide rioting of 2005. Under the plan, construction and business development will broaden economic and cultural activity from its current focus on the 1,130 sq. ft. (105 sq m) intra-muros Paris and its population of two million, and extend that to the 12 million-strong inhabitants of the surrounding Ile-de-France region (as a comparison, Greater London has a population of 8.5 million). In so doing, Greater Paris, it is hoped, would further boost the Ile-de-France's 30% share of French GDP with the creation of economic and research clusters producing synergies and new jobs.


As an initial step, Sarkozy has already announced a $47 million project to significantly enhance the Paris region's aging public transport system, which is swamped by 10 million riders every day. In addition to extending existing lines and modernizing rolling stock, the plan calls for the creation of a 90-mile (145-km) automated rail system circling Paris. By connecting the clusters of suburban business centers like La DÉfense to the residential areas surrounding Paris, the new elevated MÉtro will allow suburban commuters a direct route to work, instead of their current over-crowded daily slog through Paris. (See pictures of Sarkozy in the U.K.)
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« Reply #116 on: May 04, 2009, 09:08:11 am »








At the same time, one section of the railway will bisect the circular line through the city, providing more direct routes to both Paris airports at either end. That ramped up transport system will also prove vital to meeting another major Paris challenge: keeping its title as the world's leading tourist destination by luring visitors to stay in and around the capital.


But that's not all. Proposals by architects such as Briton Richard Rogers, Italian Paola Vigano, and Frenchmen Jean Nouvel and Christian de Portzamparc involve building futuristic skyscrapers with huge hanging gardens; creating vast city-center parks, green spaces, and even a new forest with a million carbon-battling trees near Charles de Gaulle airport; and renovating disused banks of the Seine. The river, meanwhile, is to be developed into a major transport link for goods to and from the Channel port of Le Havre - which, thanks to a new high-speed train track, will itself become a virtual suburb of Paris just a one-hour ride away.


These proposals will not only constitute the biggest alteration of Paris since Baron Georges-Eugene Haussmann reconfigured the capital around its broad boulevards nearly 150 years ago, they will also seek to create a vast, socially and economically self-perpetuating metropolis from what is now a patchwork of municipalities and regions. Despite the enormity of that goal, Sarkozy wants to move fast. He's calling for financing offers from an array of public and private actors to be tabled in July. And in October, he will introduce legislation to strip down construction, zoning, and other laws that have traditionally slowed development in the city. Sarkozy also said he wants construction on the transport system to begin by 2012 - just in time for his re-election campaign - and wants much of the work of the Greater Paris plan completed within a decade. (Read: "What's Wrong With a Museum of French History?")


However, with cash-strapped municipal and regional governments in the dark about how much Sarkozy intends to contribute to the effort, most are expected to come in with pretty stingy contribution proposals - something likely to provoke a return of Sarkozy's authoritarian tone. The sparks that fly over money will be nothing, though, compared to the battle those same local leaders will likely put up when they realize they're bound to lose most of their power to a Greater Paris so enormous it will doubtless be administered by a new super-entity - possibly an organ of the state.


See pictures of Paris expanding.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090504/wl_time/08599189529000
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« Reply #117 on: May 04, 2009, 10:16:32 am »




             









                                                Sleeping and eating - the French do it best
           





Sophie Hardach
– Mon May 4, 2009
PARIS
(Reuters)

– True to their reputation as leisure-loving gourmets, the French spend more time sleeping and eating than anyone else among the world's wealthy nations, according to a study published Monday.

The average French person sleeps almost nine hours every night, more than an hour longer than the average Japanese and Korean, who sleep the least in a survey of 18 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Despite their siesta habit, Spaniards rank only third in the poll after Americans, who sleep more than 8.5 hours.

And while more and more French people grab a bite at fast-food chains these days or wolf down a sandwich at their desk, they still spend more than two hours a day eating.

That means their meals are twice as long as those of the average Mexican, who dedicates just over an hour a day to food, the OECD's "Society at a Glance" report on work, health and leisure in Asia, Europe and North and South America found.

The Japanese, scrimping on sleep and burdened with long commutes and working hours, still manage to spend close to two hours a day eating and drinking, placing them third behind New Zealanders.

The Japanese like to spend what remains of their scarce free time watching television or listening to the radio. This takes up 47 percent of leisure time in Japan.

Turks, on the other hand, spend more than a third of their leisure time entertaining friends.

The survey showed that the split between work and leisure time within certain countries is striking.

"Italian men have nearly 80 minutes a day of leisure more than women. Much of the additional work of Italian women is apparently spent cleaning the house," the OECD said in a statement.

The OECD has 30 members. The survey covers only the countries for which appropriate figures were available.



(Editing by Robert Woodward)
« Last Edit: May 04, 2009, 10:28:27 am by Bianca » Report Spam   Logged

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« Reply #118 on: June 29, 2009, 09:48:14 am »









                                                   Capturing the beat of 1950s Paris 







 
Journalists, cameramen and fashion designers relax in the Beat Hotel in 1960



BBC News
June 25, 2009

Writers and artists have been gathering in Paris to celebrate the 50th anniversary of William Burroughs's book Naked Lunch. The book was written in the Beat Hotel - a hangout for photographers, models and writers - and Christine Finn recently visited to try to find remnants of beat culture.

The members of this international literary crowd have been trying to lose themselves here in Paris. Literally.

They are doing what the French call "deriving". It means throwing out the map, going with the flow, taking to the streets in a form of cartographic anarchy that can lead anywhere, or nowhere. Left, right, left ,right, right, left, left, left.

The syncopated rhythm of this random traversing is entirely appropriate. The group are all fans of the Beat culture, the movement that celebrated jazz and doing things differently.

Naked Lunch was initially banned in the US.

The people who have come here to mark the Burroughs anniversary and to remember Beat culture, are attending
a host of events and exhibitions.

But for many of them, the highlight is the pilgrimage to a thin street on the Left Bank, to that beat-up refuge of creativity, the Beat Hotel itself.

A portrait of the author on show at an exhibition called Naked Lunch at 50 shows William Burroughs staring out of the frame, behind him a series of metal baskets.

It seems the author compiled this particular book by randomly placing pages of his writing in whatever basket he fancied - top, middle, top, bottom, middle, middle.
« Last Edit: June 29, 2009, 09:50:32 am by Bianca » Report Spam   Logged

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« Reply #119 on: June 29, 2009, 09:52:04 am »










Free to 'derive'



The man who took that Burroughs portrait was the last resident of the Beat Hotel.




 
Harold Chapman remained a resident in the Beat Hotel until it closed



He is the British photographer, Harold Chapman, who is 82 and still taking pictures, albeit now digital ones.

He is also a friend of mine and in recent weeks I have been mining his memories.

Harold captured thousands of images of the Beats.

From the poets Allen Ginsberg and Geoffrey Corso to now-forgotten names. He spoke their language.

In the 1950s, he had hitch-hiked to Paris from suburban England wanting to do his own thing, he found Rue Git le Coeur.

A night job taking Polaroid shots of street crowds left him free by day to "derive", snatching the unexpected on the streets.

He likes the description of "a burglar with a camera."
« Last Edit: June 29, 2009, 09:54:32 am by Bianca » Report Spam   Logged

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