That’s what I’m calling it. A slump. Just a string of unfortunate results. Accidents, even. I don’t actually look like that. A little down period on the mugshot front. It began the other day. 2005, I think it was.

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I may have remarked upon this before: How casual most people in this country are about getting rid of their trash … anywhere they please. Where do you dispose of wrappers, bags, papers, in the UAE? Out your window. Or at your feet. You just drop it and forget about it. This hit home for […]

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Time for a list. We all love lists. Especially if they have a level of, oh, difficulty involved. Ten ways in which a reasonable person would prefer being in Abu Dhabi of the United Arab Emirates over The City of Light, Gay Paree … blah blah blah. Let’s count them down. Here we go.

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One of the simplest charms of Paris is the baguette. The ubiquitous pain Francaise. (Don’t you dare call it a bread stick!) And it is one of the little things I will miss most. As always. Ah, the baguette! How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

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I thought the quote was: “When a man is tired of Paris he is tired of life.” But upon closer inspection it appears that the line (attributed to Samuel Johnson) was … “When a man is tired of London he is tired of life …” However, it still could apply to Paris because the quote […]

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OK, it wasn’t actually opera. Which is how we planned it. Opera requires lots of patience and an appreciation for le danse I will never develop. We were more interested in seeing the inside of the Paris Opera house than seeing an opera staged at the building now sometimes known as the Palais Garnier. (Though […]

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This must seem a bit over the top by now. Well, it does for me, too, and I have the benefit of knowing how it happened. Three visits to Paris in 13 months and change. To recap:

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It’s an exchange from the 1974 movie “Blazing Saddles.” Always makes me smile. Sheriff Bart: “Can’t you see it’s the last act of a desperate man?” Townsman: “I don’t care if it’s the first act of Henry the Fifth.” So, in our last social act in Paris, here early on the morning of Aug. 21 […]

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This was the day. The one in your imagination. Or your memory. On your movie screens. When Paris is sunny and beautiful and lively and almost dream-like in it scrumptious goodness and magnetic appeal and all those recreational options, options, options! For two weeks here, it was mostly cloudy. Even rainy. Which suited a couple […]

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I was struck by this last year, and I am again: Paris has to be the world’s biggest city that cares almost not at all about team sports. For that matter, nearly the whole of France has escaped the maladie that is sports fandom. Which may actually be healthy, as well as unique. But it […]

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