I always ask for “Tradition” (said the French way: tra dis ee oon or “tradi” or au levain nature (na toor).

The city of Paris organizes an annual competition to choose the best Parisian baguette.

For the eighteenth contest, Mr. Sébastien Mauvieux of Boulangerie Mauvieux has produced a baguette that measures between 55 and 65 cm and weighs between 250 and 300 grams.

Whether to be organic or not to be organic does not appear to be stipulated as a criteria.

The jury’s decision on the taste, smell, color and texture takes about four hours. Parisian bakers, 168 boulangers (bakers) considered “artisan” produced baguette for judging. Six professionals make up the Grand Prix Jury . Check out the photos of the jury at work and all of those baguettes competing for the Grand Prix! This video link from 2011 shows actual testing and tasting.

The prestigious compensation is two-fold. The winner supplies the Elysées Palace (France’s White House equivalent) with baguette for a year and the winner receives a purse of 4,000 euros.

Mr Mauvieux’s boulangerie is located at 159 rue Ordener in the eighteenth arrondissement. Last year’s winner, Mr. Pascal Barillon, is also located in the 18th. Will all this prestige drive up real estate values???

Love Story
Sébasiten Mauvieux and his wife have been running a bakery for eleven years. Another boulanger introduced them. They are at their present location on rue Ordener in the 18th for the past three years. He works six out of seven days a week from 3 a.m. until 8:30 p.m. Mr. Mauvieux told the mayor’s office that being a boulanger is a very physical job; a very tiring job. He admits to taking a little siesta between 3 and 6 p.m.

Previous winners:
2011 Pascal Barillon (Au Levain d’Antan), 6 rue des Abbesses, 75018
2010 Djibril Bodian (Le Grenier à Pain Abbesses), 38 rue des Abbesses, 75018
2009 Franck Tombarel (Le Grenier de Félix), 64 avenue Félix Faure, 75015
2008 Anis Bouabsa (Au Duc de la Chapelle), 32 rue Tristan Tzara, 75018 2007 Arnaud Delmontel, 57 rue Damrémont, 75018

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The transition is fast. Within ten days of the results, the new president is sworn in.

There seems to be no influence peddling (lobbyists) running the show.  During the election period, campaigning is done with speeches and television appearances, but handouts at the market are no where to be seen. There is no talk of spending millions on a campaign to get elected. In France, a party’s driving force is its ideology and the issues. Ideology and issues appear to influence the candidates and the voters. Laws instituted in 1988 and 1990 control French political party financial funding (use Google Translate) and its influence.

The Debate
On Wednesday, walking with my friend back to her hotel, we are in the Butte-aux-Cailles village in the thirteenth arrondissement. At a cozy bar, the side room’s interior includes dark benches, tables and chairs. The television is tuned into “who knows what”. We enter for an after-dinner drink.

Gradually, the room fills up. One of the guys, in his mid-20s perhaps, asks us ever-so politely in French if we will be bothered watching a show in French–the debate is on, he says. Another pulls out a stack of post-it notes. They are about to keep track of familiar candidate phrases and count them. The room is quiet except for the debate. When we get up to leave, one of the girls asks why we are leaving. “You can’t leave, the debate isn’t over.” This is an inspirational evening.

Voting Sunday Morning
We carry our shopping baskets (paniers) and vote on our way to the Lenoir/Bastille Sunday market. Others, push their children in a stroller or bring their roller board suitcase headed for a May vacation. As he is voting, my husband is asked to help count the votes in the first voting round in April.

During the second voting round in May, we are next in line to vote. A student, pulling his suitcase, picks up a piece of paper with the name “Nicolas Sarkozy”; leaving behind the paper marked “François Hollande”. The official says, “You have to take two!” The student takes two for Nicolas Sarkozy. “No”, she says, “One of each!” This must be his first time voting as well.

Once he makes it to the voting box, his only identification is his student photo ID. His vote is accepted. I wonder how and where he is going without either a passport or his French ID.

The whole procedure takes a matter of minutes; it is early, 9:30 a.m., and the stream of voters is steady.

In the first round of voting 86% of the population voted.

The Countdown
Voting consists of taking a piece of paper with a candidate’s name, putting it in an envelope, which goes in a box. When voting ends at 6 p.m., Paris time, officials count the papers. The results of the vote are announced two hours later.

About 6:30 p.m., Sunday, May 6, the Socialists are setting up in the Bastille (home of French and Paris unrest since forever) for the Hollande celebration party. The UMP (Union pour un movement popular) is preparing the Sarkozy reception at the Maison de la Mutualité in the fifth arrondissement.

Reporting live from their studios in the same Radio de France building, two of the main television channels have leaders from both political parties face to face. The countdown begins at thirty minutes before the results are announced. The countdown is announced at fifteen minutes. At five minutes, a clock in the corner of the television screen counts down.

The First Results
As of 10:30 p.m. the results show Hollande winning with 51.9% and Sarkozy 48.1%. No matter who were to win, there is a mess to fix. As with all countries recovering from the 2008 subprime Lehman Brothers chaos, the future requires time. Time is needed to regain some kind of balance. Nicolas Sarkozy wishes François Hollande “good luck” without sarcasm but with sincerity.  He accepts full responsibility for the loss. The celebrating voices in the Bastille have high expectations. Time will tell if Hollande costs the country money with his steps backward or if he will succeed.

Final Results
Hollande 51.6% (17.8 million votes)
Sarkozy 48.33% (16.7 million votes)
Abstentions 18.96% (8.6 million did not vote)
Empty votes 6% (2.1 million empty envelopes)
Percentage of participation 80.34% in the second round
Official election results from the Interior Minister’s Office
Inauguration of the new French President: May 15, 2012

The Voting Procedure
The various parties put forth a candidate. Before the first round of French elections, each voter receives, in the mail, an envelope with an A4 size poster of each candidate and the name of each candidate printed on paper (an off-white shade).

Entering the voting venue (an elementary school around the corner), the voter presents the election card (carte electorale) to one of the four officials. The voter receives a blue envelope with the words République Française printed on the front. On this table are single sheets of paper with the name of each candidate. Taking one of each, keeps the choice a secret (usually).

Voters enter a curtained booth and place one sheet of paper in the envelope. During the second round of voting, two weeks later, if the voter is indifferent to either candidate, the envelope is left empty.

The voter approaches the box and shows the electoral card and a piece of identification to an official. The official manning the clear plexiglass box reads out the name and the electoral card number. A sliding lever controls the opening, which the official slides closed once the blue envelope slides down into the box. The controlling official acknowledges your vote with the words, “A voté” (has voted).  The the electoral card is date stamped. Your name is found, you sign in the rectangle of the ruler and the vote is registered.

Opinion “Les Echos” newspaper in French
Why Nicolas Sarkozy lost the presidential election
Sarkozy-Hollande: Two different views of French society

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(If you miss the exhibit, links are below to visit her works virtually after April 29.) Petit Journal -ENGLISH – Bernice Abbott – Jeu de Paume Exhibition

Having just seen the photographs of the Abbott exhibit, I could not help but notice one of her portraits in a shop. While passing a shelf of photography books in a museum bookstore, on the book’s spine, the photograph of Eugène Atget (1857-1927) jumped out at me. This photo of Mr. Atget, who is considered the “photographer of Paris”, was one the portraits that Berenice Abbott had taken around 1926 in sepia tones. Although the discover of Mr. Atget is credited to Man Ray; Berenice Abbott established his legacy with her purchase of his plates and prints from his estate in 1928.

Berenice Abbott Portrait d'Eugène Atget 1927 © Berenice Abbott / Commerce Graphics, NYC

Berenice Abbott was in Paris with friends she had met in bohemian New York City in the early 1920s: Man Ray, Djuna Barnes, Marcel Duchamp, Sadakichi Hartmann. With six dollars spending money and a ship’s ticket, she followed the crowd that was escaping the American political scene. Politics and Calvin Coolidge’s administration was not a friendly haven for artists. They left and went abroad to learn to be artists and writers.

In Paris, she moved in the artistic and intellectual circles of the avant-garde and surrealists of all nationalities. She wanted to be an independent woman. Ms. Abbott was a dark room technician for Man Ray between 1923 and 1926. In 1926, she opened her own studio and captured many notables in portraits, including Jean Cocteau, Marcel Duchamp, James Joyce, Man Ray, Sylvia Beach, Gide, Foujita, Max Ernst, Marie Laurencin and Eugène Atget.

She went back to show Mr. Atget the portraits one day. But he had died the year before. From his estate, Ms. Abbott bought 1,400 negative plates and 7,900 prints. The French government bought 2,000 glass plates. She eventually sold her collection to the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. (More of Ms. Abbott’s photos on the MOMA site.)

Leaving her thriving Paris studio, she left for New York in 1929 and followed the “Changing New York” with its interspersed and remaining low storied buildings butted against the new skyscrapers. For this project between 1935 and 1939 she lugged around and used a view camera; she was not a whimsical snap shooter.

© Berenice Abbott / Commerce Graphics Ltd, Inc., Bouncing Ball Time Exposure

In the 1950s, Berenice Abbott worked with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) designing a method to illustrate the principles of mechanics and light for educational purposes. She invented a camera capable of capturing gravity, light waves, and magnetic fields. Her interest in science phenomena had already been tweaked in 1944 working for the magazine, Science Illustrated, where she was head of the photography department.

The exhibition includes a 55-minute video where she talks about her century and her plans to live to 102 to see in the new century; she made it to age 93. This is an exhibit, that one wishes would stay longer. With YouTube and the URL links within this story, it will.

Note: An Atget exposition opens April 29-July 29, 2012 at the Musée Carnavalet in Paris.

Berenice Abbott/Jeu de Paume YouTube video presentation with English subtitles. Some of the photos shown in the video are not in the exhibition.

Jeu de Paume - Concorde
1 Place de la Concorde 75008 Paris
access via the Tuileries Gardens, rue de Rivoli entrance
Open: Tuesday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Wednesday to Sunday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Closed Monday

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© Ai Weiwei Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn 1995

The Ai Weiwei exhibit “Interlacing” (“Entrelacs” in French) is upstairs at the Jeu de Paume until April 29. “Ai Weiwei is an architect, conceptual artist, sculptor, photographer, blogger, Twitterer, interview artist and political activist; a sensitive observer of current topics and social issues.” He is also a thorn in the side of the Chinese authorities.

Petit Journal – Ai Weiwei – Jeu de Paume in English. The video on the Jeu de Paume Website is in English. I hope it remains visible to explain this observant and observed individual.

Ai Weiwei left China for New York in 1983. The exhibition follows his career from 1983 through 2011.

His photographs show a dark side to life even if the colors are bright. One of the most troubling series of photographs to me is an example of construction and destruction. At the request of the Shanghai government, he designed and built an arts and cultural building. He was working in Beijing and under constant surveillance. Reluctantly, he supervised this two-year Shanghai project, occasionally visiting the site (while under surveillance). In August 2010 work finished on the building, and the government decided it was an illegal building. His photographs show the progress, the completion and the demolition. Without his recording of the event, no one would have believed it had existed. All trace disappeared; it was back to being a farmer’s field next to a pond.

This is the “first important exhibition in France devoted to the prolific, iconoclastic and provocative work of this major figure in the independent Chinese art scene…”. It follows a chronological order with New York Photographs, 1983-1993; Beijing Photographs, 1993-2002; Provisional Landscapes, 2002-2008, etc. Ai Weiwei keeps photographic records of everything. He has realized that if he doesn’t record the event with even his cell phone, the event may disappear without a trace, even if it is an earthquake or a moment in the elevator.

Stade olympique 2005-2008 Ai Weiwei Tirage C-print. © Ai Weiwei

One of Mr. Weiwei’s architectural talents is preserved as a stadium. He was part of a joint venture to design the Beijing National Stadium for the 2008 Olympics: Bird’s Nest, 2005-2008. This work and more including his blog quotes and photographs (much of which the Chinese police seized while he was in detention), cell phone photographs, perspectives and the 2008 earthquake investigation are on display.

In the “Study of Perspective 1995-2010″ are photographs of Ai Weiwei ”giving the finger” in front of national monuments and buildings. The recorded history of this gesture goes back 2,500 years. Listen to the history on National Public Radio’s (NPR’s) story: Flipping ‘The Bird’ Just Isn’t Obscene Anymore, Law Professor Argues.”

Jeu de Paume - Concorde
1 Place de la Concorde 75008 Paris
access via the Tuileries Gardens, rue de Rivoli entrance
Open: Tuesday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Wednesday to Sunday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Closed Monday

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Video of the exhibition and what is planned.

What You Will See At The Exhibit
The photos of Doisneau show fresh and hard working faces. They are fresh because the people voluntarily look into his camera. They knew him when he came to the market place to record action now and then. His first photos were in 1933.

These photos are taken (1933 – 1968/1971) Pierre Delbos, a photographer friend of Robert Doisneau said that what “surprised  him”was how people would see Doisneau and come up to him. He didn’t have to ask them to have a photo taken. He says that Doisneau had a “flair”a certain way of looking at the people; he really liked being around them.

In the past it seemed the market would last forever. The later photos show a consciousness. Everyone being photographed knows that Les Halles, the market in the center of Paris is dead. They know Doisneau has come to Les Halles to record a fleeting moment. They look voluntarily into Doisneau’s lens with a happiness that seems to contradict the predicted end.

“… The exhibit is an opportunity for those were not around to see Les Halles when it was one big hole in the ground or who missed seeing the “Baltard”- designed pavilions from 1866. It is a view into the life, color and character of the neighborhood between the 1930s and 1970s …”. View some of the photographs on Picasa Web.

Doisneau’s project
Plans began in the 1960s to move Les Halles. Lack of modernity, limited space compared to the needs of a growing capital city, hygiene and density threatened the market’s future near Saint-Eustache.  Robert Doisneau, worried and mad, decided to rise at 3 a.m., travel from Montrouge south of Paris once a week. He “plunged into the whirlwind of activity to see, to live and to photographer everything” before the end.

He says he wanted to photograph the workers at dawn when they unloaded the trucks; be around those who set up their stands and filled them with merchandise. Filming was difficult : it was dark, fatigue slowed his reflexes, yet there was so much to photograph. At the same time, he said it was intimidating. But he became attached to the work; he knew it was going to disappear. He wanted to “absolutely record the memory”.

Doisneau’s photographs of this time have become part of Paris history, its legacy, its heritage. His photographs provide an esthetic and sociological view. He even recorded the destruction in 1971 of every bit and piece of the “belly”. He even traveled to the new “belly”at Rungis to understand and to see what became of his merchant friends. Instead of Baltard’s pavilions of decorative metal, rivets and glass, they were now in a universe of concrete.

Ongoing Forum des Halles Timeline
Today instead of food, meat, fish and flowers, Les Halles is a vast underground shopping mall complex. Once again Forum des Halles, going through a make over.

The History of Les Halles began in 1135 when King Louis VII ordered a Parisian central market. The market expanded in 1785 to make room for the flowers, fruits and vegetable markets. Due to sanitary reasons the bones from the cemetery of the Innocents were sent to the catacombs under the Faubourg de la Tombe-Issoire near Denfert-Rochereau in the 14th arrondissement.

Sanitation was an issue again in the 1800 and led to a competition to re-look the market. In 1848, the architect, Victor Baltard won for his design of pavilions. Ten pavilions were constructed between 1852 and 1870; the last two were finished in 1936.

The first six pavilions were destroyed in 1971. These Baltard pavilion frames were sold as scrap metal. Two pavilions found benefactors. One of the pavilions was dismantled and reconstructed at Nogent-sur-Marne east of Paris. The top frame of a second pavilion is in a park in Yokohama, Japan.

The RER and line 4 of the Metro were inaugurated in 1977. The shopping center opened in 1979; the parks was completed in 1986. The hole in the ground is once again partially visible. Work on the new forum will continue through 2016. One of the features will be construction of La Canopée (The Canopy) opening onto the park.

Hôtel de Ville (French page with videos)
February 8 to April 28, 2012 (Free)
Open daily except Sunday and public holidays: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Last entry: 6:30 p.m.
29, rue de Rivoli 75004 Paris
Metro: Hôtel de Ville

Exhibition Catalog
In English and in French
 Robert Doisneau : Paris les halles market 30 euros at the exhibition or in Paris bookstores
By Vladimir Vasak Flammarion catalog exhibit

Other Robert Doisneau photo books available at the exhibition:
Paperback R Doisneau Paris 20€
Robert Doisneau 1912-1994 (Icons) 8 euros at the exhibit
by Jean-Claude Gautrand, Edition Taschen in French, English and German

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Play time for Coumba

Associating a zoo with Paris strikes a different chord from looking at historic buildings. However, le Jardin des Plantes is historical with its own zoo called La Ménagerie . Founded in 1794, this zoo is considered to be the oldest in the world along with de Schönbrunn in Vienna. Among its 2,000 inhabitants, the ménagerie celebrated 168 births in 2010. One of the newborns in the singerie (monkey house), Coumba, became a bit of a celebrity in 2011 with an accident.

The inexperienced mother mangabey became too rough with her baby and broke its arm. Wearing a cast is a hard way to start off life for a newborn. Coumba, the female Mangabey was born in February 2011 and by the age of one and a half months was wearing an arm cast. Coumba’s arm repaired quickly as you will see in the Paris Mayor’s video . The video shows Coumba with her doudouthat she cannot do without, at the age of 15 days, 1 month, 1 1/2 months in her cast, two months, 3 1/2 months and 5 months, with her mother, Chensie, visitors and her care giver.

After hours of play, it is almost nap time for Coumba

Other zoo babies born in 2011 are Kaïlin and Gaya, clouded leopards (panthères longibandes),  Pablo, a Przewalski’s horse, Gansu, the yack, an ara macao, rock squirrel, a markhor (a goat with long twisted horns) and more. The birth of the clouded leopards is the first in France.

Searching for a translation for the word mangabey lead to more information than I imagined. The sooty mangabeys are associated with the HIV virus.

The ménagerie (map)
Having close to 2,000 animals caged in close proximity is dangerous for the spread of disease. During the 1980s, the Jardin des Plantes zoo realized that caged animals might suffer from this captivity. They began adapting the environment to the animals’ needs and well-being. Instead of having large animals such as elephants, lions and bears, the ménagerie adapts its space for the smaller species (panthers, pandas, foxes, birds, etc.). Those most threatened with extinction take priority in order to preserve their genetic variety.

During your visit, you encounter 240 mammals (orangutans, snow panthers, pandas, etc.; 390 birds, 210 tortoises, crocodiles, lizards and snakes; 140 amphibians, 900 insects, crustaceans and spiders. They live in small round thatched roof cabins designed in 1802, by the architect Molinos. Maria Antoinette’s farm at Versailles is the inspiration.

The large bird house, unique in the world, was constructed in 1888. The other quarters for the zoo are the Vivarium built in 1926, the monkey house (Singerie) built in 1936 and the cat house (Fauverie); all three in Art Deco style.

Contrary to Jardin des Plantes’ Natural History Museum (La Galerie de l’Evolution) that is dedicated to extinct species, La Ménagerie is dedicated to preserving the living. Threatened species can reproduce and be reintroduced into the wild. Despite being in captivity and based on the registered birth rates, the research done to replicate the natural environment of each of the animals for movement, vegetation, habitat in general has paid off.

Jardin des Plantes’ Facebook page has more photos or visit the Paris Mayor’s page with more photos and videos .

Le Jardin des Plantes  (Use Google Translate)
Le Muséum (The museum complex, including the zoo) – available in English
57 rue Cuvier Paris 5th
Other entrances: rue Buffon, rue Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire, place Valhubert
Open every day 9 a.m to 6 p.m.
Admission to the zoo (La Ménagerie): 9 euros/7 euros children (free for children under 4 and the disabled) – Partial access for the disabled
Metro, RER: Line 5 (Austerlitz), Line 7 (Censier Daubenton), Line 10 (Jussieu or Austerlitz or RER C
Bus: LInes 24, 57, 61, 63, 67, 89 and 91
Batobus: Jardin des Plantes
Practical information

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Grab your knitting needles, embroidery threads, patchwork and hoops. The Paris Needlework Fair (l’Aiguille en Fête) takes place in February (February 9 and 12, 2012). The fair is not restricted to age or gender. The men are knitting alongside the women and there is even a sporting event: Speed Knitting!

The annual Paris needlework fair began in 2004, and continues to grow and attract talent from around the world.

Susan O’Connor is flying in from Australia giving special classes in English. Her classes (January 31, February 1, 2 and 3) are being held at the famous Au Ver à Soie.  The cornflower pinball and scissor sheath class is being held on Wednesday February 1 and the stumpwork class is on Friday, February 3. More details below. Contact Nathalie @ auverasoie.com  Susan is the Editor of the Australian Smocking and Embroidery magazine published quarterly by Country Bumpkin.

Judging from the other needle and craft shows coming up, it appears that Paris is the kick-off for the festivals. Some examples of shows that follow the Paris show are the International Craft & Hobby Fair in Kent, England; the Creative Sewing and Needlework Festival in Ontario, Canada and the Craft & Quilt Fair in Tasmania. I had no idea!

Be sure to use Google Translate  to read the French pages of  l’Aiguille en Fête in rough English. Two of the exhibition “Expositions” pages (“When the big schools put on a show…” and “Men Only”) contain interesting information and photos.

Fashion Schools
Some of the larger fashion schools and designers of textiles are exhibiting from France, Russia, Austria, Sweden, England, Japan, Holland, Belgium and Germany. One of the schools representing England, the Royal School of Needlework, sewed the lace flowers on Kate Middleton’s bridal skirt and bustier. The sewers were required to wash their hands every thirty minutes to avoid “tarnishing” the white fabric. Read more about the schools participating (use Google Translate) in the needlework fair.

For those of you enchanted by the art of creating with needles, this ninth edition of the international fair of leisure textiles, is gathering together 250 exhibitors from around the world. The 2012 edition expects over 38,000 visitors interested in sewing, knitting, patchwork, crochet, embroidery, lace.

Some exhibits to look for from around the world: Furoshiki and the Amigurumis from Japan or from Italy, the Punto Antico, an Italian embroidery technique. The fair Web site provides the list and location of all exhibitors from A to Z.

Men Are At The Event, Too
James Hunting, Richard McVetis, Nigel Hurlstone and Gavin Fry are four English embroiderers in the spotlight … Four styles, four approaches to embroidery and demonstrate. Embroidery is not just for women.

Knitting isn’t just for women either. Men are participating in the speed knitting competition. The winner last year, however, was a woman.

Speed Knitting
Speed knitting has been THE sporting event at l’Aiguille en Fête since 2006. In this sport of needles in 2011, 200 knitters participated during four days of competition. Colette Cauchy was the speed champion in 2011, knitting 235 stitches in three minutes!

Step Up To The Bar
Go to Bar à Couture© to make your shopping bag. It is simple, free, fast and fun.

In twenty minutes, you discover the newest sewing machines and make yourself a shopping bag to use during the show. The Bar à Couture© is a concept created by the Aiguille en Fête in 2011.

British clubs and schools – use Google Translate to read about their exhibits

Au Ver à Soie Visit the British flag at the bottom of the page or in English: Silk Thread
Visit Country Bumpkin for details on Susan O’Connor’s classes, including kit costs, level and class requirements. (Flyer)

Dates of Susan’s classes (9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Au Ver à Soie:
January 31: Smocking for beginners
February 1: Cornflower, Scissor Sheath and Pinball
February 2: Cot or Knee Blanket – The Softest Touch
February 3: Stumpwork – Loves me, loves me not
Please contact Au ver à Soie or email Sally Bradshaw: sallyb@countrybumpkin.com.au
Book online at http://www.trybooking.com/bbFi
If you have any questions regarding class requirements, please email: susan@countrybumpkin.com.au
Susan will be in Eton and Windsor (choose “Events” on their Web site) between February 16 and 18, 2012

l’Aiguille en Fête Practical Information
When: Thursday, February 9 to Sunday, February 12, 2012
Thursday, and Friday 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Saturday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Where: Grande Halle de La Villette
Metro: Porte de Pantin (Line 5)
Admission: 12 euros; unlimited pass and groups for the event: 25 euros

Read about Ultramod the old mercerie shop (buttons, ribbons, hat makings – new and vintage)

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Lots going on in Paris for those traveling with girls aged eleven and eight. Exhibitions include the Babar in the toy gallery (until September 2, 2012) at the Musee des arts decoratifs. Toys for boys at he Musée de la Poupée, a fun little museum with a wonderful display of dolls through the ages. The doll museum currently have two exhibits on until March 11, 2012: the toys for boys and the other a joint exhibit with Choco-Story(also until March 11, 2012), the chocolate museum:

“‘Exquisite Ephemera’ is a temporary exhibit in two parts presented simultaneously at the Musée de la Poupée-Paris and at Choco-Story, the chocolate museum, showing a selection of the best Victorian scraps from the ODIN collection.

These two complementary exhibits show images representing children playing with dolls for the Musée de la Poupée and chocolate trading cards representing children from 1875 to 1915 for the chocolate museum Choco-Story….” Read more on the Musée de la Poupée-Paris Web site .

A combined ticket for the visit of the 2 exhibits at the Musée de la Poupée-Paris and at the  Musée du chocolat / Choco-Story is available.

This ticket can be bought in both museums, available for a visit of each exhibit from October 5, 2011 to March 11, 2012. Single price giving access to both exhibit is 14 euros.

For the Holiday Season
The annual Jours de Fêtes at the Grand Palais and Babar celebrating his 80th birthday at the Musée des arts décoratifs. Read about Christmas lights and the Ferris Wheel at Concorde (until February 19, 2012) and the Grand Palais carnival under the big top (under the glass nave)

Puppets and Marionettes in Paris

More Things To Do With Children In Paris

Musée de la Poupée-Paris,
Hours: OpenTuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., (Closed Monday and Holidays)
The museum will be closed on December 25, January 1, April 8, May 1, 8, 17.
Impasse Berthaud (near 22 rue Beaubourg), Paris 3rd
Metro: Rambuteau
Bus: 29 – 38 – 47
Wheel chair access

Musée gourmand du chocolat/Choco-Story – Read about the museum on an earlier post, “Chocolate Museum in Paris“.
Hours: Open every day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Last entry is 5 p.m. he museum is closed on December 25 and January 1.
A visit lasts between one and one and a half hours.
28 Boulevard Bonne Nouvelle, Paris 10th
Metro: Bonne Nouvelle or Strasbourg Saint-Denis

Jours de Fêtes
Grand Palais
December 18 – January 1
Hours: 11 a.m. to midnight; last entry at 11 p.m.
December 24 and 31: open until 8 p.m.; last entry at 7 p.m.
Admission: 5 euros; each ride is 2 to 4 euros. Check at the box office, there may be a single 15 euros ticket, good for all rides

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Modernization can mean a return to what was. For example, the Parc Butte Chaumont will be restored to its 1867 landscape between 2013 and 2017. In the case of the Ritz Hotel, what was is faded. The hotel did not earn the label “Palace” so it is closing down the summer of 2012 and upgrading. The city, hotels and transportation are trying to become more accessible to those with limited mobility.

Preparing your vacation, you might want to know what’s what between now and 2020. Some of what is being changed follows. Read about openings, closings and renovations concerning leisure, culture, urbanism, gastronomy  and accommodations or take a gander at the teaser list:

• Reopening of the Musée Picasso after renovation and extension (May 2013),
• Reopening of the Musée Galliera after renovation (2013),
• Creation of a Théâtre de la Marionnette (Puppet theatre), rue Mouffetard in the 5th arrondissement (2013),
• brasserie and a luxury suite on the rooftop of the Moulin Rouge
• Extension and modernization of the Roland-Garros tennis stadium,
• End of work at Gare Saint Lazare (train station), with 10,000 m2 of shops on three levels (March 2012),
• Creation of green spaces and pedestrian areas along a 2.3 km stretch on the Left Bank and Right Bank of the Seine (July 2012),
• Parc des Buttes-Chaumont and restoring of it to its original state of 1867 (2013-2017),
• TGV train station at Orly airport (2020)
• Launch of the Louvre online reservation system (beginning 2012),
• Opening of an Angelina restaurant/tea room in the Hôtel de Sully (beginning 2012), Conversion by Japanese architects Sejima and Nishizawo of the former La Samaritaine department store into a luxury hotel, Le Cheval Blanc, with 80 rooms and suites overlooking the Seine, a conference centre and shops (2011-2014),
• Closure of The Ritz for full renovation, including the restaurant L’Espadon and the cooking school Ritz- Escoffier (summer 2012-Christmas 2014)
• heart of the Thoiry zoological garden, with 25 rooms fully accessible to persons with disabilities (end 2013)

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Start planning your holiday sightseeing with Lots of Christmas in Paris,  the Ferris wheel, merry-go-rounds, decorated streets and the festival/carnival at the Grand Palais. The list is long for holiday fun in Paris with holiday concerts and church services , nativity scenes, Christmas markets, holiday concerts and Christmas decorations with a Paris theme.

One hundred and seventy-five chalets are set up along the Champs-Elysées, which is expecting 14 million visitors until January 3, 2012. The lights along the  Champs-Elysées  (statistics) turn on November 22, 2011. The Ferris Wheel will turn at Place de La Concorde until February 19, 2012.

Santa’s Secretary
In France, the idea of writing to Santa was created by the PTT Minister (Postes, télégraphes et telephones) (now La Poste (Translation to help you), Jacques Marette in 1962. Santa’s secretary answering the letters was really Mr. Marette’s sister, Françoise Dolto, a pediatrician and psychoanalyst.

The French equivalent of Santa Clause first wore a white costume, which matched his beard and the snow. He gradually adapted his suit to match other countries.

The idea of Santa Clause in a red suit came to France and was first featured in a department store poster. In 1925, the department store, Bazar de l’Hôtel de Ville (BHV) puts the red-suited Santa figure in an airplane.

Ice Skating at the Hôtel de Ville
Two rinks skating rinks are open at Hôtel de Ville between December 16 to March 4. One rink is for grown ups and the other is reserved for those under six.
Licensed rink monitors will keep an eye on the different skating levels (beginners, old-hands, groups) to help with technical tips and keep the peace.

Patinoire de l’Hôtel de Ville.
Place de l’Hôtel de Ville, Paris 4th
Metro: Hôtel de Ville (Lines 1 and 11)

Open: Monday to Friday noon to 10 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Free lessons (in French) for beginners, demonstrations, hockey, etc. Saturday and Sunday morning 10 a.m. to noon
Weekday mornings are reserved for various groups and centers in the city of Paris, including handicapped

Access to the skating rink is free for those with their own skates.
Others may rent skates for five euros. The available sizes (European) are 25 to 49. Two-blade skates (size 27 and smaller) are available for children.
A photo ID is required to rent the skates.
For safety reasons, you must wear gloves.

More Ice Skating Information

© 2011 Colleensparis.com
Your HOTEL and APARTMENT RESERVATION is a contribution to maintenance costs of my Web site. Using GOOGLE helps, too. THANKS!