Events and Trade Shows
Paris Dates Ile-de-France
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Always Something New at Foire de Paris
For me the Paris Home Show (Foire de Paris until May 8) is like no other. There is always something new to discover. ... This year I discovered something new: My desired desk style fell out of style, the water filter people did not show up, I experience old-fashioned French blasé customer service looking for the chair cream (ahhh! the good ole days!) and the food truck did not have places to sit. Instead, the new discoveries were going with someone instead of alone, learning about the powers of stones, spending more time in the Tropics and World, Madagascar and Asia......
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Paris Art Déco with Walk My Steps
The design style of Art Déco is a hobby for some Paris visitors. This modern style was a focus for a Chicago couple one Saturday afternoon on a tour with Walk My Steps. Our guide, Andrea, introduced us to one neighborhood of Paris in the sixteenth arrondissement that traces the eclectic, ....
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Walk and Roll Event-100 Trains for Ataxia
May 8 is the Paris date for the 100 Trains for Ataxia. This global event, an "accessible walk”, is taking place along the Promenade Plantée (Coulée verte René-Dumont). Iain McGeachin, organizer and participant, wrote to me about the event, one of a series of 17 similar walks taking place in major European cities. Due to Ian's own physical limitations with Ataxia, ....
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A Satisfying Taste of Paris
Taste festivals came to Paris for the second time between February 11 and 14, 2016. I was at Taste of Paris under the nave of the Grand Palais today. Here is what you will find if you have tickets: Food experiments for purchase, some free tastings and a fun atmosphere. If you go early when they open at 11 am until about 12:30, there is a line outside that moves quickly and not long lines inside. If you arrive about 2:30 pm there is no line outside, but long lines inside for each food booth. We bought the basic entry ticket and purchased....
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Needlework Fair (Aiguille en Fête) February
It’s that time again for speed knitting, home spun yarn, lace, all sorts of needle craft, buttons, ribbons, patchwork, fabric, needles, hooks, threads, and sewing machines at Aiguille en Fête, February 4-7, 2016. This is the annual needlework trade show with studios, workshops and lots of color! Porte de Versailles, Paris and 250 exhibitors from around the world (list in the Aiguille en Fête catalog page). Special exhibition 2016 is Tréors Mayas (Mayan Treasures), a tradition of needlework for three thousand years. The trade show has an agenda of special needlework events and exhibitions. For you speed knitters, the 2015 results are documented. Catherine Bouënard has held the winning tricot…
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Paris Canal Saint Martin is “unemployed”
Every fifteen years, Paris undertakes the cleaning of Canal Saint-Martin. In river vocabulary, “Chomage” is the process of completely emptying and cleaning a canal. The last “chomage (unemployment)” was fourteen years ago. Was I in Paris or flying across the Atlantic? Not wanting to rely on memory, I grabbed the camera. The sky was blue as I headed from the Bastille where the canal disappears under the promenade along Boulevard Richard Lenoir to République where it once again resurfaces. The Saint Martin Canal is one of Napoleon the first’s projects to provide drinking water to Paris. Construction began in 1805 and it opened in 1825. As I exited the metro…
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Paris Attack’s Discreet Memorial
On my way to Canal Saint Martin, I exited the metro République by the north exit on the Esplanade André Tollet. I was met by one of the new plaques to the memory of the January and November victims in Paris, Montrouge and Saint-Denis. The Mayor, Anne Hidalgo, unveiled the Paris attacks memorial plaque January 10, 2016. A small grouping of memorials, candles and flowers decorate this small plot discreetly placed away from the plaza center. The notes, candles, notices of opinion or even a plea for information for a lost sixteen-year old boy cover the main République monument below the bronze statue of Marianne, which symbolizes the French Republic.
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Paris Scenes – A Rainy November Night
A week after the Paris attacks I went out to see if anyone else was out. Along the Champs-Elysées the cars were moving along as usual, the Ferris wheel was turning. They switched on the lights along the avenue a day later than planned. Not many wandered the the Village de Noël Christmas market lanes and sidewalks. Walking toward the Seine, Dior along the Avenue Montaigne had the most spectacular decoration among illuminated trees. Catching the bus from Alma-Marceau to Trocadéro, the Eiffel Tower ...
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Vigée Le Brun Retrospective at Grand Palais
“Only in painting have I found happiness” ... Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun. This is the first French retrospective for this portraitist. One hundred fifty-nine works are on view until January 11, 2016 at the Grand Palais. You will be mesmerized by the moist, glinting eyes that look at you. One of the best times to visit avoiding lines and crowds is Friday around 5:30 pm. In her portraits, I see an artist who painted impressionism, fashion, motherly tenderness and narrative art. Although not the first to paint teeth showing or expressive eyes, Madame Le Brun did have an expressive talent for naturalness. For her education....
