Parler Paris Nouvellettre®
Your taste of life in Paris and France
ParlerParis.com
Monday, May 10, 2010 • Paris, France
Dear Parler Paris Reader, Until "Le Saint-Tropez" and "La Brigitte" are ready for occupancy (the first renters arrive next Monday morning), my crew and I are barely doing much of anything else. If you haven't followed the story, then you can catch up by visiting parlerparis/viager/, the story of the "viager" or rentals/saint-tropez.html, where it is advertised for short term rental.
By next weekend, almost every minute detail will have been completed, photos will have been taken, I will have tested out the appliances and discovered anything missing. Next week you will have the final chapter ten of the five-year-long story that took this special apartment from just a fantasy to reality.
I've become a regular shopper at stores like Leroy Merlin, Darty, Ikea and the BHV and have come to know their floor plans and merchandise quite intimately. Next Monday, when there is nothing left to buy or do, they will wonder where I am. Unfortunately, it won't be me lounging on the terrace in the Spring sun as that's reserved for the first renters, but I'll be happily at home feeling a real sense of accomplishment...even if perhaps jealous of their good fortune!
While 'buried' in the tasks of property renovation while maintaining a normal (normally hectic) work load, there has still been time to get together with friends over a glass of wine or a meal. Twice this past week I've landed at one of the city's noisiest canteens, "L'As du Fallafel," where orthodox Jewish families bring their broods of babies, young people gather to fill their bellies at a bargain price and people from all over the planet come to taste test their fallafel and shawarma to determine if they are really the best in the world. They are. (L'As du Fallafel, 34, rue des Rosiers, Métro: St. Paul, Tel: +33 (0)1-48-87-63-60 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +33 (0)1-48-87-63-60 end_of_the_skype_highlighting. Closed Saturday.)
I watched the now booming eating establishment start out as an Israeli market with a window serving fallafel and shawarma, to when they took out the market and added a few tables, to when they took over the space next door and the waiters were running back and forth because they weren't connected on the inside, to when they connected the two sides with an interior opening, to when they expanded both to the back, to now when you still can't get a table without a wait, day or night.
I don't need to tell you more about it than this, as Isaac and Daisy Peretz' "Rosiers Alimentation" has been written about in every known guide book, in the New York Times and every important newspaper, by every blogger and lord knows who else. It could be one of Paris' most well-known eating establishments, in spite of the plastic plates and forks you're served to catch the dripping tahini from the bulging pita bread sandwiches.
While waiting outside for a table to come available (they turn the tables quickly), one of the sons who is normally manning the door to place people at tables was busily throwing dice and moving pieces on a backgammon board. Was this Paris or Tel Aviv?
It was reminiscent of the Egyptian men playing "sheshbesh" (the Turkish equivalent) on tables outside a café at one of the riverside towns where our Nile felucca stopped last November. It was all I could do to keep from jumping in to play the winner of the last round. It was the first I'd seen of the game in an open arena in Paris. Up until 1837, gambling was allowed in cafés in Paris, but certainly no more, although I doubt they were placing any bets. (Shame -- that's the fun part!)
Backgammon is the game that represents life itself. The object is to move all your pieces to 'home' and then off the board before your opponent does. That makes you the winner. You roll your dice and move your pieces according to the roll. The roll is pure luck. You cannot predict the outcome of the dice. Then, it's up to you how you move the pieces to set yourself up for the next roll. Your opponent does the same. How he plays could change your strategy. If you leave yourself in vulnerable situations, your opponent may knock your pieces off the board so you'll have to start over, putting you behind in the race.
The bottom line is that it's 50% luck and 50% intelligence -- because if you set up your pieces cleverly, more of your rolls will satisfy the goals. So, isn't this just like life?
I thought about my life in Paris and how the roll of the dice brought me to the city. That was the start of the lucky part. How I've moved the 'pieces' around the 'board' to create a happy and prosperous life here has been the fascinating strategic part.
We all have it in us to play the gammon well, especially if the lucky part is called "Paris."
A la prochaine...
Adrian Leeds
Editor, Parler Paris
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P.S. Don't miss Après Midi tomorrow from 3 to 5 p.m.! It's the second Tuesday of the month when Parler Paris and French Property Insider readers gather at La Pierre du Marais for a drink and a "schmooze" -- it's an opportunity to meet and chat with other like-minded people and a great way to make friends! Costs nothing except whatever you drink. For more information, visit Parler Paris Après Midi parlerparis/apresmidi.html
P.P.S. Reminder: Cara Black will be telling you all about how to commit a murder at her upcoming book signing tomorrow evening at 7 p.m. at the Red Wheelbarrow Bookstore, 22, rue Saint-Paul, 4th (Métro Saint-Paul).
P.P.P.S. Get ready for La Nuit des Musées, Saturday, May 15th:
"For one night each year, over 1,000 museums throughout France take part in this event which allows visitors access to museums free of charge from sunset to approximately 1 a.m. in the morning. The event aims to allow wider access to the many treasures housed within the country's great collections. Many venues put on special programs to welcome new visitors. From Brittany to the Alps, from Calais to the Pyrenees, visitors across the nation have the opportunity to explore some of the country's finest museums free of charge." Visit http://nuitdesmusees.culture.fr/index.php?l=FRA for more information
