French Velorution

It is counterintuitive that Paris, the host city of the Tour de France finish line, was ever not a bicycling capital, but until it got a bike-share program — and an expanded network of bike lanes — cycling was not a mainstream mode of transportation there. Now it’s de rigueur, thanks to the Vélib’ system’s more than 20,000 bikes at 1,800 stations. The Vélib’ app, available on iTunes, tells you where to find the nearest station and the number of bikes there. And at a little more than $2 a day, the price is hard to beat. (Bring your American Express card, though; Vélib’ machines are not compatible with Visas and MasterCards that do not have a European chip.)

For a slightly less bulky ride, the day trips at Fat Tire Bike Tours (011-33-1-56-58-10-54) come with a city cruiser. A charming, 1980s-inspired store in the 18th Arrondissement, Vélo Vintage (011-33-6-13-13-42-27) refurbishes yesteryear’s beauties plucked from the French countryside. And there is no shortage of high-end shops: the museumlike biCyCle Store Paris (011-33-9-51-61-68-29) stocks everything from California cruisers to lowriders; Cyclope (011-33-1-43-55-47-34) is for the fixie-obsessed; and Bicloune (011-33-1-42-77-58-06) is packed with bikes of all shapes.

If you have only one day to do Paris by bike, make it a Sunday, when a city program called Paris Respire (“Paris Breathes”) closes some of the loveliest areas to cars, including Montmartre, the Marais and some roads along the Seine. For spectacle, time your trip to coincide with a Béret Baguette ride, in which Parisians put a very French twist on London’s Tweed Run: bérets, Breton stripes, vintage Peugeots and a picnic of baguettes, brie and wine in the Bois de Vincennes.

Wake in Progress: Illustration Exhibition at Shakespeare and Company

In honour of Bloomsday, Shakespeare and Company bookstore will be displaying a selection of pieces from Wake in Progress, Stephen Crowe’s ongoing project to illustrate every page of Finnegans Wake, from June 16th to the 30th, 2011. Joyce’s final work is a giddy, disorienting dream that dramatises the internal conflicts of a sleeper's unconscious through a wild, satirical mash-up of history, myth and tall tale-telling. Stephen pays homage to the book's playful miscellany by plundering the history of the visual arts, from Medieval illuminations to cartoon strips.

Stephen’s project has been mentioned by literary web magazines 3:AM and The Millions, design blog Coudal.com, and Belgian news weekly Knack. Language blog Languagehat.com wrote of the project: “I hope that his gorgeous illustrations will serve as an entry point for some readers into that endless (literally), maddening, all-encompassing, and joy(ce)ous text.” Stephen’s work has been called “ambitious” (James Joyce Quarterly), “mad” (Scamp.ie), and “one of the most incredible and beautiful things I have ever seen!” (Behemot.si).

The project can be followed at wakeinprogress.blogspot.com. For more information, contact the artist at info@invisibledot.net, or the venue at:

Shakespeare and Company,
37 rue de la Bûcherie,
Paris 75005
Tel : 00 33 (0) 1 43 25 40 93
news@shakespeareandcompany.com

Monthly book club at Le Carmen cafe and bar in Pigalle

Every month, in the Pigalle neighborhood in Paris, beyond the red-light district and Moulin Rouge, you’ll find a congregation of the literary sort.

“The Book Club” is a party that occurs on the last Wednesday of every month at newly refurbished Le Carmen cafe and bar. The event has one simple rule: bring a book, and make sure to swap it by the end of the night. Forget keys or clothes, this is a more modern way to meet people, the event founder Rosa Rankin-Gee believes. “Books don’t spill,” she said. “They are pocketable, holdable, durable, lovely and say so much about the person who brought them.”

The venue (22, rue de Douai; 33-1-45-26-50-00; www.Le-carmen.fr) is a 19th-century private mansion once inhabited by Georges Bizet, where he supposedly wrote the opera of the same name. The space, with its ornate moldings and plush velvet seats, recreates the ambience of “the literary salons of yesteryear, but brings them up to date,” said Ms. Rankin-Gee. “And democratizes them, in a sense, because just by turning up with a book, every single person contributes.” The atmosphere is rounded out by a selection of retro cocktails and live piano music.

The Book Club goes hand in hand with an upcoming arts journal called A Tale of Three Cities, to be released soon.

“Our aim is to join up the dots between London, Paris and Berlin by showcasing the cities’ new writing, photography and art in a printed magazine,” Ms. Rankin-Gee said. “The Book Club embodies that idea of sharing and exchanging stories, and our esteem for paper and print.”

[from New York Times In Transit blog]

Paris by Bus

After a visit to the American Library, I stand on Avenue Joseph Bouvard and wait for the 69 bus.  My heart leaps as the lights illume the Eiffel Tower just in front of me.  I am still in love with Paris. 

That thrill continues as we slip down rue St. Dominique (it’s often a tight squeeze here) toward  Invalides and Napoleon’s Tomb.  We pass Place Bourgogne before I press the button to get off at St. Germain and change for a 68 or 94 or 83 which will get me home.  Had I continued, I’d pass through the Louvre and by Chatelet, around the column at Bastille, out to the Pere LaChaise cemetery and Gambetta.

My favorite line is the 63, which runs from Gare de Lyon out to Port de la Muette, where the Bois de Boulogne is.  We take this line, with Harika, to go for an off-leash run.  On  the bus she must remain in her sack.  She kind of likes that, sitting in the seat with me.  Blair is taking pictures out the window.

My newest project has been to create a guide to monuments and attractions on the city bus lines of Paris.  The 63 passes some beauties, including Trocadero and the Tour Eiffel, the Musee Guimet, and the Statue of Liberty Flame.  On the other end, the Garden of Plants and Flowers,  the Arab Institute with its camera lens windows and  St. Sulpice await.  

But today we’re headed to Porte de la Muette, the very end, in front of the Musee Marmottan, full of wonderful Monet paintings.  A statue of Fontaine, the fable-writer, graces the park, but not really visible from the bus.  Day in and day out, the fox compliments the crow with the camembert in his beak. 

We cross the road and  Harika chases phantom rabbits as we walk across the plain to the woods.  Patches of ice dot the lake we walk around; terns and gulls, coots and moor hens flit from the ice to the water.   Just past the island, Harika spots a cottontail, dead, beside a crow, on the ice.  Our dog  jumps from the path, slipping and sliding as she hits the ice.  I stop myself before going after her:  this ice will never support me.  Blair and I hold our breath, willing her not to fall in the frigid water; I shout, “get back here, right NOW!”  She comes to her senses and arrives at our feet, dry.

We finish our walk before we head back to Avenue Henri Martin (historian and mayor) and rue Octave Feuillet (writer) to catch the 63 home.  We hop out by the Deux Magots and take the 95 to our house. 

My next trajet will be the route 95, which runs from Montparnasse to Montmartre, crossing the Seine and passing the Moulin Rouge.  I assemble pictures and stories and will bring them to the Paris Office of Tourism.

The Impressionists were in love with Paris, too, and Van Gogh, Monet, Whistler and Grant Wood painted images of the city.  In May, June, September and October, I will be leading a group of painters through Paris in a painting workshop:  visiting historic views, painting them (or not) and enjoying Paris “a la impressionism” .  Please join me, and suggest my tour to your friends.  Even if you are not a painter, we’ll look at paintings and drink wine in cafes, which is a lot of fun.

Laurie (painting and text) and Blair Pessemier

Trees at the Bois de Boulogne     LFP    Acrylic on canvas   8 x 20 inches