For instance, it lists 181 places in Paris where you can get an espresso for just €1, handy to know. You may also want to know that Paris has no less than 470, 000 trees in public places and that every single tree has been measured and recorded in the appropriate database. The app also notes that Paris has just one ‘ Stop’ sign, which is outside the premises of a construction company in the 16th. Traffic management in Paris is based on the principle of giving way to traffic coming from the right.
You may be interested to know that the shortest street in Paris, out of 6, 100, is the rue des Degrés in the 2nd. It’s a mere 5. 75 metres long.
Paris also has 1,748 bakeries and 1, 124 bars. There are also 9, 057 bars, restaurants and cafés with open terraces. Another vital piece of information about the city is that it has precisely 31 street based condom vending machines, ideal if the views of Sam Davies, a freelance journalist based in Paris are correct. He believes that Paris is the best city in the world for sex and says that in many instances, relationships begin with sex and then move on to dating, rather than the other way round. All of which makes Paris a bad city for mere dating.
Other mundane developments in Paris could also be useful for travellers. The RER line from the city centre to Roissy is being upgraded, not before time, many people will say. The initial work will begin this summer. For many travellers, the biggest obstacle to using the RER into Paris from the airport is the high risk of baggage being stolen en route. Another train related story comes from SNCF, which
says that all its trains will have Internet access by the end of next year, not just TGVs, where the installation of wifi has already begun. It’ s all costing a lot of money, €9. 6 million over the next three years, but it’ll be extremely useful for rail travellers.
Passengers on a TGV train the other day from Paris to Brest could have done with some wifi to help them while away the hours. The train left Paris at 7am and got as far as north- west France by 9. 15am, at which point the power supply collapsed. The train was left stuck in the middle of the countryside with 500 very bored and irritable passengers on board. Inexplicably, even though Rennes is near where the train broke down, it took until late in the afternoon until a train arrived from there to start towing the stranded train. I know exactly what this kind of situation is like; once, we were travelling from La Rochelle on the west coast to Paris, a journey that should have taken four hours. Halfway through the journey, the train broke down, doubling the journey time and making for a very unpleasant experience. Rail travellers using the Channel Tunnel will be all too familiar with this syndrome.
A rather bizarre accident happened the other day at the RER station serving the Stade de France in north- west Paris. An inebriated young man realised he was on the wrong platform for the train he wanted to get, so he decided to take a short cut across the roof of a train. The train was run on 25, 000 volts of electricity, which the young man came in contact with, ending his life.
Meanwhile, Julie Gayet, the actress who is the current squeeze of President Hollande, has come in for some criticism because when she travels round these days, she is getting presidential style security, even recently when she had to travel to Normandy to take part in some filming. The criticism seems rather unfounded; given the present security concerns in France, it should just be treated as an absolute necessity.
Another bizarre happening on the outskirts of Paris the other day saw the police stopping a car, which was then searched. Inside the tyres were found €1 million euro in carefully stashed notes. How and why they got there, no- one is saying, but the people arrested are thought to have had links to criminal fraud or drug smuggling.
A curious story came up about Jack Lang, once a very dynamic cultural minister. Among his present tasks, he is president of the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris. Some time ago, he was entertaining a delegation there and treated some 74 delegates to dinner at a cost of €41, 000, then inexplicably, forgot to settle l’ addition. The outstanding amount has now been paid but it seems strange that such a large bill for dining could just be forgotten about.
Someone else who has a large bill to pay is Bricorama, the chain of DIY stores. It has just been fined €500, 000 for failing to comply with a 2012 court order that banned it from opening on Sundays. The whole question of restricted retail opening hours in France is very much in the spotlight and current plans are that tourist hotspots in France, including of course, Paris, shops will be allowed to open on weekdays until midnight and all day on Sundays, which seems a very useful and sensible course of action.
The usual cascade of bad news has been filling the newspapers and online media. One striking story revealed that road deaths in France this January were well up on January of 2014, from 235 to 263. No- one is quite sure why there has been such a deterioration in road safety in France or whether the raft of new measures now being put in place will help relieve the situation and cut casualties. While there’ s been so much talk about road safety, flu grips the nation. Last week alone, close on 500, 000 new cases were reported across the country and everyone knows that across the world, the vaccine prepared for this year’ s flu season has turned out to be near useless, because it doesn’t tackle the strain of flu that’ s most common at the moment.
And just to round off all this bad news, experts are predicting that the high tide on March 21 will be the ‘ Tide of the Century’ , rising many metres above normal levels. It’ s going to affect the northern and western coasts of France, places like Mont St Michel, and already, residents along the coastline of Brittany are being warned to take precautions.
Recent days have seen the deaths of some notable French people. Roger Hannin, a well- known actor, died at the age of 89. Five years ago, many newspapers erroneously reported his death. Not only was he a well respected veteran actor, but he also happened to be the brother- in- law of former President Mitterand. Then the French actor based in California for many years, Louis Jourdan, died, aged 93. He was regarded as Hollywood’ s favourite French actor, inevitably typecast, but remembered for his roles in such films as Gigi (1958) . He had retired to Los Angeles and it was there, in 2010, that he was awarded the Legion d’ Honneur.
Another death was a reminder of the constant corruption scandals that beset French politics and business. Pierre- Philippe Pasqua, who has died at the age of 67 after a long illness, was the son of Charles Pasqua, who was the hardline interior minister from1 986 to 1988, under President Chirac. Charles Pasqua was born in Grasse in 1927; his family background was Corsican. From 1952 until 1971, he worked for the drinks company, Ricard, most noted for its pastis; he started off there as a salesman. Ricard is of course now part of the Pernod Ricard group, which also happens to own a large chunk of the Irish whiskey industry. Pasqua senior was very involved in various corrruption scandals but he is still alive. His son on the other hand, avoided politics completely and went into business. But like father, like son, he too got involved in some huge corruption scandals.
After all that gloomy news, a little levity! Last weekend saw the start of the annual herring festival in Dunkirk, which dates back to at least 1676. In this year’s festival, many people dressed up in gaudy costumes, or else simply wore the traditional yellow fishermens’ oilskins. About 40, 000 turned out for the start of the festival last Sunday, helped by brilliant weather- unlike that in Provence - and crowds gathered outside the town hall. From the balcony, 450 kgs of herring were thrown into the crowd, all shouting to be given the herring they deserved!
The fast approaching spring is being billed as the best time to visit this part of France. Normandy looks particularly beautiful in the spring, and all kinds of festivals are coming up, like Europe’ s largest festival of magic, being staged in Seine Maritime from April 11 to 26.
The spring is also an ideal time to visit the Loire valley, which has more than 100 castles built between the 15th and 17th centuries. It’s much less crowded then than during the summer and in spring the daytime temperature can get up to around 20 degrees C.
It’ s all a stark contrast with the weather at the moment in the north- east of the US, where vast amounts of snow are piled up, several metres deep in some places. Cities like Boston haven’t seen this kind of snow for years.
Another international story caught my eye the other day, from Costa Rica in central America. There, an animal refuge has used modern technology to save a toucan, that bird with the big bill once made famous in the Guinness ads. It seems that vandals had broken off its bill, which meant it couldn’t feed. So the rescue centre made a brand new bill, using 3D printing technology. The new bill looks the part and more importantly, means that the toucan can feed normally.
Also on the international front, are we going to see Greece leave the eurozone and carry out the biggest default in history? If the EU and Greece can’ t reach agreement in the next few days, this scenario is quite likely. In this situation, Greece, which has struck up cordial relations with Russia and could well turn to Russia for finance. Many senior people in the EU obviously see Greece as a minor irritant. It is all reminiscent of Lehmann Brothers bank in the US. Back in 2008, it was considered too unimportant to rescue, so it was allowed to fail. This collapse turned out to be the trigger for the economic recession in much of the West, so it’s quite possible that Greece could be the trigger for a replica performance.
Here in Ireland, while the economy improves, the homeless situation becomes worse by the day, as rents rise inexorably. Needless to remark, the government seems wholly immune to this particular problem. The uncaring indifference to the human tragedies it causes seems astonishing. The Irish Labour Party, the junior partner in the coalition government, also seems unconcerned by this great social problem. It’s all like a small scale reflection of the EU’ s attitude towards the Greek crisis.
Another local comment here in Ireland was newsworthy. The leading company specialising in media scheduling said the other day that radio had become very predictable, with a distinct lack of innovation. It’ s also worth noting that with television, the most popular shows today are exactly the same ones that were popular 10 or even 15 years ago.
But at least, a gaffe on television lightened the day for many people. On a television show the other night, the former Irish rugby star Ronan O ’Gara was asked to compare the nerves involved in kicking a penalty point with the steel required to raise five children. O’Gara, his wife Jessica and their five children live in Paris. Without thinking, O’ Gara replied: “I wouldn’t be nervous about getting up on Jessica, but I’ d be nervous kicking a ball”. The astonishment and guffaws at this statement went nationwide.