The Foire de Paris Website is in French, the ideas presented speak in universal tongues. The Paris home show map  shows how to find three themes: Home, decorations and food; outdoors ideas and products and food from the tropics and other cultures.

Ideas and Food
How will the locals spend on average $800 during their visit to the Foire de Paris? If you can’t buy that refrigerator, you may come away with foie gras, regional cuisine, wine or kitchen utensils! Visit the 220 regional exhibiters in Pavilion 5.2  Visit fifty countries in Pavilion 4 and you may come away with a collapsable table!

If you think a Paris hotel room is small, imagine a Paris apartment: Small. The ads in decorating magazines are deceptive. The world seems to own a large home or apartment. In reality, kitchens and living areas of Paris apartments are small!

Find out at the home show, how to squeeze the necessities into small spaces: furniture, hidden drawers, hideaway beds, squeeze your stove top, oven and dishwasher into one appliance, and silence your appliances. Bachelors! Do you want a urinal in the house? You can probably find versions of shells, flowers, venus fly traps, lips, etc. in the Salle des bains section of Pavilion 7.3.

Inventions for the Future
Trivia response: In 1901 by the Police Commissioner, Louis Lépine began the competition: Le Concours Lépine. In 1910 the coffee grinder received the Lépine award. The steam iron was honored in 1921 and the food grinder? 1931.

Visit Pavilion 1 to see what the 500 exhibiters at the Paris Home Show have in store for the future. The invention themes are nature and ways of life (Nature & Art de Vivre); health and new technologies (Santé & Nouvelles Technologies); transportation and industry (Transport & Industrie) and universal inventions (Le Monde Invente!).

On an historical note, Lépine introduced the competition for inventors of small toy and hardware manufacturers. Otherwise, Lépine is known for introducing the white stick for directing traffic. He established the river-boat brigade, police bicycle units, and installed police and fire warning boxes. He originated the Musée de la Préfecture de Police, dealt with the 1910 Paris flood and the theft of Mona Lisa, captured and killed the anarchist, Jules Bonnot.

La Foire de Paris
Where: Porte de Versailles (15th arrondissment)
Transportation: Line 12 (Porte de Versailles), Tramway T3
Open: Daily until May 12; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Friday, May 10 until 11 p.m. – nighttime festivities beginning at 8 p.m.
How much: 12 euros (children under 12 free)

How to get in cheaply or free:

1. The television magazine “Télé 7 Jours” has a two-for-one offer one week before the show opening.
2. Visit the Foire de Paris Web site in advance and check out a reduced fare offer on the first day.
3. Visit one of the gastronomy exhibiters, buy something and sign their register to receive free invitations for the following year.

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Anyone who traveled to Paris a few years ago and stayed for a week or a month was able to buy a “Carte Orange” travel pass. Le passe Navigo is the electronic version of the old pass.

As of September 1, 2012, STIF has instituted a “dézonage” for monthly/annual Navigo pass holders. Between Friday midnight and Sunday midnights and holidays midnight to midnight, Navigo users can travel to the furthest zones without paying an extra tariff.

If you will be staying in Paris for a month or more or are returning often to Paris, apply for the le passe Navigo découverte.

When you plan to do more than four trips on public transportation during a 24-hour period (midnight to midnight), the Mobilis pass is the best quality-price ration purchase. More Mobilis help from Transilien: Definition and current rates  and tickets and fares of all transport tickets in Paris.

The “ T+ Ticket“ ( is available individually or as a ten-ticket carnet is still available and is good if you plan to make use of public transportation a couple of times a day (less than 3 1/2 trips). The carnet costs about 12 euros.

Another pass – the daily
Mobilis is the daily pass (available for one to five zones – central Paris is zone 1 and 2, Versaille is in zone 4).

All transportation and baguette prices rise around July 1 each year. Apparently, it is less painful. You leave on vacation knowing already that prices will go up, relax on vacation, come back and the price-increase theory is fact. Since the French are back from vacation and do not want to stress out yet, the price increases become a fact of life.

Navigo Découverte-Weekly/Semaine
The weekly Le Passe Navigo Découverte is available immediately and without formalities at the ticket window and some tabac and newsstands for five euros. The card shows your photo and name, includes a smart chip and comes in a card holder. Ten years is the limit for your card and may be recharged as often as you like.

Stop at a Photomaton or bring a photo with you.

Before using the card, write your first and last name in the provided space and stick on your photo. The card may not be used by others. There is no exchange nor reimbursement in case of theft, loss or general deterioration. Any remaining amount on your card cannot be replaced.

Replacement is only available on the monthly and annual cards. Only monthly and annual Navigos have unlimited zone privileges on the weekends in Ile-de-France.

Recharge your Navigo at the green and purple kiosks with a credit card. If your credit card has no smart chip (puce) then go to the ticket window for payment.  Recharge your Navigo at CIC and Crédit Mutuel kiosks, if you bank with them.

Children
If you are traveling with a child under 4, the child travels free. Between 4 and 10, the child can purchase the 50% off tickets (demi-tarif).

The T+ Ticket
TheT+ Ticket works on the metro lines, RER lines (RATP and SNCF) within Paris (zone 1), Ile-de-France bus lines (RATP and OPTILE). They are invalid for the Orlybus and Roissybus, tramway lines (RATP and SNCF), and the Montmartre funicular.

The following connections/transfers are possible with the Ticket t+: metro to metro, metro to RER and RER to RER within Paris (without leaving the station), bus to bus (including between the RATP and OPTILE networks), bus to tram and tram to tram for 90 minutes between the first and last validation.

This post has been altered from its original edition. Visit my page Paris Public Transportation for a list of sources about tickets, maps, definitions and passes.

© revised 2013 Colleensparis.com
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Travel in All Zones Without Extra Charge on Weekends/Holidays

This new service is for the metro, bus, tramway, weekend night buses (Noctilien), RER and regional Transilien trains. The press release, available in French, about the dézonage of the Navigo Pass explains the new system for reduced fares within the Île-de-France area. This service is valid from Friday midnight to Sunday midnight and holidays, midnight to midnight.

On a Saturday, we used our Navigo (annual pass) to travel between downtown Paris and Val d’Europe for La Vallée Shopping Outlet Mall. The pass worked going and worked returning. Our annual pass is for Zones 1 and 2. Val d’Europe and Disneyland Paris are in Zone 5. The medieval town of Provins with its josting, ramparts and legends of knights is located at the edge of Zone 5.

During weekdays, your pass will work for your purchased zones and a nominal charge is added for the extra zones. This is a savings from the previous system when you had to buy a separate ticket for the entire journey, apart from your Navigo.

The cost of the new weekend/holiday privilege is 26 million euros annually. Average increases in various public transportation costs will increase. The annual Navigo cost goes up by two percent. The tourist favorite, Mobilis pass, Ticket jeune week-end increases by seven percent. The Paris Visite card increases five percent. The project will be completely in place by the end of 2012.

Buy your Navigo monthly pass at any Metro, RER and tramway stations and at certain bus terminals. The ticket window has the words: “Information” and “Guichet” and have your photo taken. For monthly and annual passes visit one of the commercial ticket windows.

Replacement is only available on the monthly and annual cards, not the weekly cards. Only monthly and annual Navigos have unlimited zone privileges on the weekends in Ile-de-France.

Recharge your Navigo at the green and purple kiosks with a credit card. If your credit card has no smart chip (puce) then go to the ticket window for payment.  Recharge your Navigo at CIC and Crédit Mutuel kiosks, if you bank with them.

Are you under 26, traveling between 5:30 a.m. and 2:30 a.m. the next morning on a Saturday or on a Sunday? Buy the Ticket Jeunes Week-end (Student Pass) for zones 1 through 5. This magnetic ticket is not valid for the airports. Tariffs available on their Web page.

Applying for the Forfait Navigo Annuel (Annual Navigo Pass)
Three ways to sign up 
1. On line – follow the link “Directement en ligne”
2. At certain metro ticket windows with either credit card, check (two IDs over 80 euros) or cash.

• The cost of opening a file for your card is under 10 euros
• If you lose the card, it can be replaced
• Pay for your annual pass in one payment or schedule monthly deductions from your bank
• Bring a copy of your Relevé d’Identité Bancaire (RIB).
• A photo is taken at the window

3. By mail

• Pick up an application at any metro window
• Send with a photo and check or RIB
• From your start date, the earliest to apply is 60 days; the latest to apply for a particular date is 15 days.
• The pass is sent to your home address.

FAQ about the Navigo (in French) - brochure with rates

Weekly Navigo Pass

Commercial ticket centers in Paris are called “Le Club RATP”.  Buy tickets and obtain help not available at the metro ticket windows. Look for the “Le Club RATP” Charles de Gaulle-Etoile, Denfert-Rocherau, Gare de Lyon, Gare de Nord, Les Halles, Nation (look for the words: Salle d’échanges; Niveau = level.

Updated April 19, 2013

“Spectators at the funeral of General Lukacs, Valencia, June 16, 1937″, by Gerda Taro © International Center of Photography. “Exiled Republicans marching along the beach from one internment camp to another, Le Barcarès, France, March 1939″, by Robert Capa ©International Center of Photography / Magnum

An acquaintance mentioned to me the name of an exhibit she had seen and liked: “La Valise mexicaine, Capa, Taro, Chim-Les négatifs retrouvés de la guerre civile espagnole“ . The mysterious name drew me to the exhibit housed in the Paris Jewish museum. “The Mexican Suitcase, rediscovered spanish Civil War negatives“ is on display until June 30, 2013 at the Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme.

During the course of the exhibit, I found out that four photojournalists and friends could support themselves as photographers in Paris, a female was a pioneering war photographer, and that when you have a chance to flee a dangerous situation, you leave valuable things behind. Hard-core evidence of four and a half years in the span of history and the Spanish Civil War disappeared in 1939.

Negatives in the boxes
The valuable things are called “the suitcase”. “The suitcase” is three small boxes containing nearly 45,000 negatives of images shot by Robert Capa (Endre Ernö Friedmann, born in Hungary), Gerda Taro (Gerta Pohorylle, born in Stuttgart), Chim (David Seymour/Dawid Szymin, born in Warsaw).  A side mystery to the war photographs is why a couple of Fred Stein’s (born in Dresden) photos of Taro and Capa were found in the “suitcase” as well as four rolls from Capa’s trip to Belgium. The collection of negatives would not resurface until 1995. Through persistent persuasion, they finally came into the possession of the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York in 2007.

Capa joined many other French and European artists and intellectuals in 1939, leaving Paris and the negatives. He received a visa from the Chilean consul and a commission from Life magazine and took the ship to New York. The negatives stayed with Csiki Weisz in Paris and were then passed from hand to hand for safekeeping.

Negatives to back up the story
The exhibit features the photojournalists in the throes of the daily lives of their subjects. The photos in the displayed magazines are sound bites or snippets verifying the descriptions and stories written in the articles.  The ICP writes that the negatives ”provide insight into how a photographer covered a story in its original sequence. This is the largest cache of negatives of such historic value by such major photographers to have ever been found, nearly seventy years after they disappeared.”

The magazines–Regards, Vu, Life, Schweizer Illustrierte Zeitung, Volks-Illustriete, employed Capa, Taro and Chim to document the Spanish Civil War: A war which began with a military coup (Nationalists) after a democratic election (Republicans) in 1936.

One of three boxes of negatives by Capa, Taro and Chim known as the Mexican suitcase ©Collection ICP

The collection offers an opportunity to bring those snippets to life in 32 chapters. Each chapter focuses on one of the three photographer’s vision of a particular moment in the Spanish Civil War. The exhibit features contact sheets, images of the photographers during “down” time, their notebooks and photo scrapbooks, the Valencian crowds waiting at the fence to enter the morgue after the air raid, the soldiers eating and fighting, daily life of villagers before, during and after raids, the refugees on their way to the French border and their internment — the details behind the sound bites.

The rolls of film in one of the three boxes of “the suitcase” are like round pegs in square holes. Drawn on the lid are squares with a number, a location or a description. Each square matches a roll of film in the box. Bataille de Brunete takes up squares 74, 75 and 76. Those three words leave no hint that Capa will lose his former lover, Taro, during this battle.

The negative journeys
They negatives were in the possession of a Mexican filmmaker who had inherited them from an aunt who was friends with a General who was Mexican ambassador (1941-1942) during the Vichy reign in France. In 2007, the filmmaker, Benjamin Tarver, gave the negatives to curator and filmmaker, Trisha Ziff. She persuaded Tarver to give the “Mexican Suitcase” to the International Center for Photography in New York.

I visited the exhibit on a Wednesday around 11 a.m. in virtual tranquility. Taking my time to study the French magazines on display, trying to find the published photos on the contact sheets made the visit more intense. The doorman provides you with a square, plastic magnifying sheet. The exhibit was very crowded by the time I left.

More Reading and Information
The trailer for the film “The Mexican Suitcase” provides a general idea of the exhibit.
The Story of the “Mexican Suitcase” 
Frequently Asked Questions about the Mexican Suitcase

Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme
Hôtel de Saint-Aignan
71, rue du Temple 75003
Phone: (33) 1 53 01 86 60
Email: write to us info@mahj.org

Metro: Line 11 (Rambuteau), Line 1 and 11 (Hôtel de Ville)
Buses: 29, 38, 47, 75
RER: Châtelet-Les Halles
300 metres from the Pompidou Centre

Open: Mondays to Fridays 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sundays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Last ticket sales 5.15 p.m.
Late opening Wednesdays until 9 pm (exhibitions only)
Last ticket sales 8.15 pm
Closed Saturday
Closed May 1

© 2013 Colleensparis.com
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Hair plays and has played a subtle and important role throughout history. Louis XIV was losing his hair at the age of seventeen. He needed hair. Kings since Samson wore long hair as a crown of power. What did he do? He ordered a wig and began an entire industry. In Egypt a shaved head identified someone as a high priest to the pharaoh. After the Second World War, a shaved head identified the person as a collaborator; a naked head was a sign of shame. Did you know that the most important part of the shrunken head is the hair? Why? Because it doesn’t die. Hair is a link between the living and the Great Beyond. Then there is the color of hair and the souvenirs of hair.

Hair can set the tone for your day. When I think of hair, I picture it with a personality of its own or locks on the floor at the hair dressers. For some tribes in the world that hair on the floor would have been woven into a cape. The cape would take on magic powers because of the hair. Locks of hair would preserve a memory of childhood or the departed. The power of the hair color dates from Mesopotamia when everyone dyed their hair blonde. Poets and painters envisioned their female characters as blonde in the 1500 and 1600s. Long, flowing blonde hair became a mystical image of innocence and purity like the angels. In contemporary times beginning with Marilyn Monroe, blondes replaced redheads as the incendiary, seductive femmes.

“Cheveux Cheris” uses paintings, sculptures, photographs, reproductions, objects and multimedia programs to mirror the relationship with our appearance. “Hair symbolizes normality and individuality, conformity and rebellion, seduction and repulsion.” Worth the visit! BTW: Free Musée du Quai Branly audio guide from ZeVisit to discover Musée du Quai Branly (ZeVisit Web site)

Musée du Quai Branly 
Hours: Tuesday hours 11:00 a.m.–7:00 p.m.
Address: 37 Quai Branly, 75007
Metro: Line 9 (Alma-Marceau or Iéna), Line 8 (Ecole Militaire), Line 6 (Bir Hakeim)
Phone: 01 56 61 70 00

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Croissant aficionados, prepare yourself to indulge. The best time to indulge in a croissant is in the morning. This might mean either anticipating its appearance in front of an oven or breathlessly waiting at a counter.

After tasting thirty Paris croissants, the French newspaper, le Figaro, has published its ranking of the best croissants in Paris. I felt this was important enough to warrant front page publication on Colleen’s Paris. The last time I wrote about croissants was in 2006 (Croissant Tasting – la dégustation) after a Figaro article and rating in 2006.

Le Figaroscope, the Wednesday supplement of le Figaro, published an article that begs to answer the question: “Where does one find the best croissants in Paris“. ‘… A ton of crumbs later’ …,  the tasters’ response: Pierre Hermé, 72 rue Bonaparte 75006. The newspaper’s journalists compiled Figaroscope’s list of 30 best croissants tested in Paris. Some results are noted by “ex aequo” because of ties in the tasting,.

Translating from the Figaroscope article, the croissant is the most celebrated French viennoiserie and the most consumed. The croissant is associated with cafés and their zinc bars, slow rising yeast, a warm and cosy breakfast, in other words, all the rituals that help kickstart the day. The croissant is not exactly something you bite into over tea or before bed.

Answering the question of where to buy a croissant leads to a complicated response, they say. Where don’t you find a croissant ….??? Boulangeries, pâtisseries, major supermarkets, and pastry chains make the flaky, layered pastry. Among hundreds of addresses, everywhere you look and on every corner dozens are artisan bakers who probably make the best flaky pastry in the world. Figaroscope concentrated on the most well-known Parisian artists. Thus, they had to narrow the search by eliminating chains and franchises, frozen croissants and croissants sold in a grocery store.

Christophe Felder pendant le test. Crédits photo : Sébastien SORIANO/Le Figaro

The Tasting Criteria
Christophe Felder managed the tasting and answered three questions in the Figaroscope article about the criteria.

What makes a good croissant?
It’s aspect is very important: slight golden color, the multiple layers of pastry. When opening the croissant, as
with bread, you should smell the rich scent of butter, a mastered fermentation without a strong yeast taste.

What is your opinion of the winner, Pierre Hermé?
It had the most agreeable taste. Taking into consideration the beautiful shape of the alvéoles (holes in the crumb of the pastry) and the saveur (taste) of fresh butter, a creaminess like milk… Mr. Felder also liked Sébastian Gaudard‘s croissant with its small touch of syrup on top that is found on the galette or the chausson aux pommes.

Can anyone make a croissant?
More and more people are attempting to make croissants, especially men. More than likely, men like the technique involved. The secret for a successful croissant, besides an excellent AOC (Appellation d’origine contrôlée) is the temperature of the dough. It should especially not be too warm before it enters the oven.

Comme lors de notre précédent palmarès, le croissant de Pierre Hermé arrive en tête du classement. Crédits photo : BOUCHON

Croissant and Baguette Differences
Preparation criteria differentiate certain boulangerie favorites: the baguette and the croissant. For a croissant choosing between “beurre” or “ordinaire” was once the distinction. For a few years now, the butter croissant has practically eliminated the ordinary (butter substitute). You were able to tell the difference by the price and the shape. The cheaper ordinary being curved like a crescent moon.  It is more rare nowadays to have the choice of the two styles.

The croissant beurre artist makes up the recipe, how many “turns” the pastry layers make, fermentation and baking time. The preparation is varied and might be changed on a whim.

The whimsical croissant preparation has no comparison with the baguette. Today, at the boulangerie, many ask for “Tradition” or “Trady” instead of the white bread baguette of the past. The Tradition (tra di cion) is a little more expensive. The price includes strict process of rules to be followed, a longer preparation process and more expensive ingredients. (Worth every crumb!)

Methodology for the Tasting
The journalists and tasters anonymously purchased the croissants on the morning of the tasting.

Each croissant was numbered and blindly tasted. Christophe Felder managed the tasting, which lasted about 70 minutes.

Five points were covered on a rating of 1 to 5, including half marks. The points were (1) aspect – form, color, size, the bumps in the crust (aspérités); (2) the “nose” (the strength of the butter perfume); (3) the taste; (4) the layers (crackling next to the ear). Using a quality-price ratio was insignificant to the findings.

As a result of the findings, the ingredients, the technique and the baking time made the difference (some croissants from a dough insufficiently rested or undercooked).

Always taste this small, fragile pastry immediately out of the oven, they recommend. Delicious at dawn, lousy late at night. (“Cette petite chose fragile, délicieuse à l’aube, support mal les nuits blanches“.)

Colette Monsat, Alice Bosio and François Simon of le Figaro researched and prepared the Figaroscope article.

You might also be interested in:
Patisserie: Mastering the Fundamentals of French Pastry by Christophe Felder (Christophe Felder is one of the world’s most respected pastry masters. After working at Fauchon and Guy Savoy, he served as the pastry chef at the Hôtel de Crillon for fifteen years. He has published more than twenty cookbooks in France, but this is the first to be translated into English. In 2009, he founded his own school devoted to teaching pastry skills to the home cook, located in Strasbourg, France.–from the Rizzoli Web site)

Les meilleurs croissants de Paris, includes list of 30 best in Paris.

Croissant Tasting la dégustation - from Colleen’s Paris archives.

Video of the dégustation (tasting) – wait for the ad to finish - or visit “Les meilleurs croissants de Paris”

Christophe Felder’s recipe for crèpes.

© 2013 Colleensparis.com
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“Estelle” flew into Paris for business. She went to a Starbucks and set down her iPhone. Someone came up to her with a piece of paper. When “Estelle” looked at the paper, by sleight of hand the phone disappeared, in a second.

A purse can disappear just as quickly. Set it down to try on shoes, someone comes from behind and the purse disappears!

The difference is that you can save your phone from being used.

Copy down the IMEI number from your iPhone . The calls can be blocked, if you report your phone stolen to the nearest phone service or a company similar to yours from home: Orange, Vodaphone, Virgin, etc. .

Finding the IMEI number
One way to quickly find your IMEI number and jot it down is by pressing *#06#.
Other methods include connecting the phone to your iTunes or your invoice.

1. Look for IMEI on your original invoice.

2. Phone method
This information comes from the United Kingdom Orange Web site:
“If your mobile is lost or stolen, it’s important to ensure that it can’t be used again. Call Orange customer services as soon as possible. Orange will bar the SIM card, block calls from the phone account and immobilise the phone using the IMEI number.

The IMEI number is a unique identifier which can be found by pressing *#06#. By keeping a record of it you’ll help operator companies disable the handset on all networks. It can also be used by the police to prove a phone is stolen.

You can register the IMEI number free of charge by visiting the Mobile Phone Register. It helps police find the original owner of a stolen phone.”

3. iTunes method
The Apple Web site has a summary of ways to find your iPhone serial number, International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI), ICCID, or Mobile Equipment Identfier (MEID).

List of easy to follow methods:
When iPhone is connected
When iPhone is not connected
On the SIM tray of iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and iPhone 4 (GSM model):
On the the back of the original iPhone
iPhone About screen
In Apple System Profiler
iPhone packaging

Orange (my service) in France, they suggest that you contact the nearest police department (préfecture de police). Have the serial number for the phone (IMEI). With their help, your phone can be blocked immediately making it totally nonfunctional. (Use Google Translate)

Send the complaint paperwork to your customer service. Upon receipt they should stop all traffic from your phone, even if another phone operator’s SIM card is activated. Your line and billing should already have been protected from the beginning.
Customer services should reimburse all fees for renewing your SIM card and reimburse contract fees during the suspension of your line. These are the French Orange customer service guidelines.

Three days after this blog entry was posted, I read in the newspaper “Directmatin” that fewer phones are being stolen. Blocking the phone is the new deterrent. The prefecture de police said that since March 2011, 9,259 mobile phones have been blocked in the Paris region. In the city along that accounts for 5,122 phones. The telephone operators react as quickly as they receive the complaint from the police. But nothing is certain. The police say that you still have to remain vigilant of your surroundings. IPhones and Blackberrys are the principal targets to be stolen and resold.

The purse? you might get it back minus the money. I received my important documents from the thief; but they found my credit card PIN numbers (Lost Stolen Credit Cards). This was in 1992. After my wallet was stolen at school a month later, I punished myself for the following year and wore a pouch around my neck. It contained all of my important documents and credit card. Knock on wood, I have been very careful since then.

© 2011 Colleensparis.com
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Costumes of war, layouts of palaces, images of daily street life, fantasies in imaginary worlds transport the visitor into the imaginary world of modern arts: film, ballets and paintings. Even if the visitor has not read a story, it is evident that the stories have enchanted and continue to enchant the world.

The volumes traverse many cultures and interpretations. They are known in English by two names: “The Thousand and One Nights” and “The Arabian Nights”.  The origin of the ”The Nights” is Indo-Persian. Evidence shows they existed during the time of Alexander the Great (around 340 B.C.).  In the first room of the exhibition, a manuscript fragment catches my attention immediately. Discovered in Egypt, this is the first trace of a manuscript with the word “Nights” and dates from 879 A.D. It was found in a heap of old manuscripts used as scrap paper.

What You Will See At the Exhibit
The main explanations of the exhibit are in French, Arabic and English, as is the brochure. The wall documentation relates some of the explanations, but the audio guide goes into much more detail. If you have the time, the five euros is well spent. If your native tongue is not English, the speaker is very clear and speaks slowly. The French newspaper, ‘le Figaro’, supplies a free supplement, “l’Orient Fabuleux des Mille et Une Nuits”, in French.

In Persian, they were first called “A thousand tales”. Translated into Arabic, they become “A thousand nights”. “The Nights” were translated for the first time into a European language (French) and Arabic stories were added to this translation. The title became “The Thousand and One Nights”.

On display in the dimly lit first room are samples of original writings origins of books, tales, the most well-known translations, examples of bound and unbound manuscripts. Pages open to colorful illustrations, including those in the fake and counterfeit interpretations.

The first official, translated editions of 1704 are in French by Antoine Galland. French, considered the language of the educated enabled the Occident to read these tales. The first English translation in three volumes is by Edward W. Lane around 1840. The translation by Dr. Charles J. Mardrus once considered a “fake” (then ruled acceptable),  stands out for its influence on an era.

Upstairs, Georges Méliès’ 1905 colorized film interpretation is shown in the palace segment of the exhibit.  The exhibition art works of René Magritte, Pablo Picasso, Kees Van Dongen, François-Louis Schmied and the set painting of Ida Rubenstein by Jacques-Émile Blanche from the ballet represent their interpretations of the tales as told by Dr. Mardrus.

From its collection, the IMA displays decorative arts, weapons typical in the stories’ tales and battle dress (note the impressive shield with the point that looks it stepped right out of a book). The tales describe battles and details quite thoroughly. The IMA intertwines the descriptions of objects of the tales into the reality from their museum archives.

The cave of Aladdin houses the world of between worlds: the intermediary world. In the “intermediary world cave” of the exhibit is a tiny terra-cotta seal from 538-381 B.C. depicting a battle scene. The illustration appears to be large in size In the Figarscope hand-out; it is miniscule.

From “The Night’s” angels and demons, witches, fairies, and spirits, the visitor moves to the sea tales of Sinbad and the Flying Bed.  Many things fly in the tales, and the IMA shows what those flying objects could have looked like: the chest and the bed, for example. The carpet is considered the least important because it plays a small role in the end of the tales.

Why the fascination with these tales? 
The tales represent a complex world with humans and supernatural creatures with supernatural powers. “They contain something for everyone: from romance to science-fiction, vignettes to classical poetry…. They are written for the masses at a level everyone can understand…. They reveal a feminine observation, are earthy and sometimes erotic,” according to Nacer Khemir, author, director and documentarian. In his opinion, Arab culture is based on two books: the Koran and A Thousand and One Nights.

Shéhérazade (One of the Persian Vizier’s daughters volunteers to tell stories to the King at night. Each time, she finishes a story, she begins another, only to stop at dawn. Intrigued, the King keeps her and her sister alive in order to hear the ending that night. The method continues until she has told one thousand stories and the king is happy.) She speaks about creatures with powers and tells stories about providence, wars, injustice, cruelty of powerful figures and death.

These translations were exciting for their era (1700s and 1800s). Dangerous sea creatures and strange personages, already known to the Arab-Muslim world, were now the fantasies of the Occidental world. Talisman, genies, magical formulas were new to Western fantasies and led to the tales’ appeal. Consider the time of the 1800s, and the restrictions on women. These tales, told by a woman, and now available for the English-speaking world were bold and daring.

Two hundred years after their first western translation, Dr. Mardrus’s enhancements and liberties with his translated text fit the Belle Epoque’s turn of the century Orientalist influences. This was an era of artistic interpretation of his version of the tales. Dr. Charles J. Mardrus’s translation inspired artists, dancer, film makers, photographers during the Gilded Age’s time of late 1800s and the turn of the twentieth century.

Serge de Diaghilev’s Russian ballet, “Shéhérazade”, creates art within art: costumes, paintings, dance styles using Dr. Mardrus’s racy translation. This exhibition, ”Mille et Une Nuits” at l’Institute Monde Arabe uses Geroge Barbier’s 1913 poster from that ballet, which was an adaption Dr. Mardrus’s “fake” translation of the “Arabian Nights”.

First Western Translation
In the 1690s, French Orientalist and archaeologist, Antoine Galland began translating “The Nights” into French. The Christian Maronite monk, Hannâ Diyâb (from Aleppo, Syria around 1685) recounted additional tales, which were added to the first French version between 1704-1717. The final translation was made up of twelve volumes, which included seven of those fourteen stories:  Aladdin, Ali Baba and Sinbad.

Edward W. Lane, British Orientalist, translator and lexicographer, published the first English translation in 1841. In my home library are three volumes of “A Thousand and One Nights” translated by Lane and printed in 1863. I have never read all the stories. They are translated with a heavy hand. I am, however, fascinated and drawn to their history.

The doctor, poet, French translator, Orientalist, and a well-known figure in Parisian life, Dr. Charles J. Mardrus, of  Armenian roots, was born in Cairo. Dr. Mardrus’s translation used bold literary license. He translated and adapted the tales from Galland. Mardrus enlivened them to match the atmosphere and modernity of the Belle Epoque. His edition fed the enjoyment of the modern world and was very popular. His interpretation was considered exotic, fantastic and erotic interpretation while Galland tended to bow to pressure and tone down the passages considered too hot to handle.

Imagine living in a western country in the 1800s. Wouldn’t you want to travel on journeys into a different world on the back of a demon or a winged horse or on the wings of a legendary bird named Roc who feeds its chicks with elephants or on a flying bed and chests or take maritime voyages? Imagine traveling into the world with someone named Aladdin traveling the world of cultural fashion, technological exchanges across geographical regions from China along the silk road to the sky and the sun on flying horse genies encountering shape shifting beings, hybrid creatures and possessed creatures. The exhibit is overtime for the imagination!

Reads That Could be Interesting

“Tales From The Arabian Nights“, Antoine Galland

“The Thousand and One Nights The Harvard Classics“ by Edward W. Lane

“Studies in Arabic Papyri” by Nabia Abbott

“The Arabian Nights Reader (Series in Fairy-Tale Studies)“ By Ulrich Marzolph

“A thousand and one images” by David Tresilian (review in Al-Ahram with images)

“The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night”. Rendered into English from the … French Translation of DR. J. C. Mardrus By Powys Mathers

“Wild Heart: A Life”: Natalie Clifford Barney and the Decadence of Literary Paris

Institut du Monde Arabe 
1, rue des Fossés-Saint-Bernard
Place Mohammed V 75005 Paris
Telephone: 0140513838
Open: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Friday: 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Saturday, Sunday & holidays: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Metro: Line 10-Jussieu, Line 10- Cardinal-Lemoine, Line 7-Sully-Morland
Bus : 24, 63, 67, 86, 87, 89
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Bright lights, scary and beautiful faces, exotic vehicles, dancing animals that pump up and down …. The Paris Musée des Arts Forains (Fairground Arts Museum) opens its doors to the general public between the day after Christmas and the first Sunday in January (December 26, 2012 and January 6, 2013). Visit the museum without a reservation between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. This is one of two occasions, the other is Journées du Patrimoine.

The collection of costumes, Music Hall accessories and amusement park rides dates from the nineteenth century. Some of the attractions include a Hooghuys organ, the bicycle merry-go-round, swing boat, the Parisian Waiter Race, and Fun fair background photos (put your head in the hole of the character). Mr. Favand believes the bicycle merry-go-round (vélocipèdes) “is a real heritage…. It should almost be behind a glass screen!” Converted over time to steam-driven and then powered electrically, Mr. Favand restored the vélocipède to its original condition. Riders now pedal to make it go round.

With the price of an entry ticket, choose an amusement ride, either the carousel or other amusement rides. A fairground-style  show is scheduled every thirty minutes. Musicians and stilt walkers will guide the visitors between the buildings.

Formerly, an old wine storage facility, these preserved attractions cover four themes: Le Musée des Arts Forains, Le Théâtre du Merveilleux, Les Salons Vénitiens and Le Théâtre de Verdure.

Jean-Paul Favand, the founder, has put together the largest collection of fairground art in Europe at Bercy. For its preservation and presentation, the Ministry of Commerce deems the museum important enough to be labeled as a living heritage (Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant). Read the Paris Tourist Info interview with Jean-Paul Favand, who considers himself a “concept designer”.

The Web page Pavillons de Bercy provides a virtual visit in English. On the page, follow the Union Flag link for a virtual visit to the Museum of Fairground Art in English.  Tap the “Attractions” link to find the background of the museum, photos, a virtual visit, etc.

Over 200,000 people visit the museum annually to see and ride these restored marvels. The restorers had to remove one hundred years of paint to give each piece a “renewed voice”. The Indian elephant, acquired in 2010, was part of the 1931 Colonial Exhibition. It is an illustration of the connection between fairground art and the popular world fairs after 1900. The elephant required over 300 hours of restoration work.

Except for private receptions and group reservations, the only other time for individuals and families to visit the museum is during European Heritage Days (Journées Européennes du Patrimoine) the third weekend in September.

Musée des Arts Forains
December 26 to January 6, 2012
Open everyday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., no reservations
Admission: 12 euros/ 10 euros (students and handicaps)/ 5 euros (under 12)
One ticket = one ride
53 avenue des Terroirs de France 75012
Metro: Line 14, Cour St Emillion/ Bus: 24, 64
Telephone: 01 43 40 16 22
Guided visits  available between holidays, call 01 43 40 16 22 or 01 43 40 16 15 for groups of 15 or more.

More fun stuff:
More photos
National Fairground Archive from the University of Sheffield
News from the past: Self-Powered Loop-the-Loop Is Latest Ride – 1935 Popular Mechanics (not part of the museum)

Click here to view the embedded video.

© 2013 Colleensparis.com
Your HOTEL and APARTMENT RESERVATION is a contribution to maintenance costs of my Web site. Using GOOGLE helps, too. THANKS!

Over 140,000 objects are turned in to lost and found every year. The latest losses from readers involve loss on the RER and along the Champs-Elysées. A writer wrote she lost her Sony camera, red scarf and grey hat on the RER B heading to the airport. Another reader just wrote he lost his beaded dance costume on the Champs-Elysées while flagging a taxi.

The Préfecture de police (Police Department) has been collecting objects for over two hundred years. Every day the Objets trouvés (lost and found) receives between 600 and 700 articles. The articles come from Parisian public places: Streets, public transportation, airports, taxis and all public gathering places. About 150 articles find their owners each day.

Since December 22, 2011 eleven euros is required, payable either in cash or by French bank check, to retrieve your item from the main office of lost and found. This fee is a droit de garde (caretaker fee). For objects of value over 762 euros, a fee of three percent is charged. There is no charge to retrieve your French ID, driver license or other official French document.

The police advice trying to find the object at the place of loss. Contact the local police station within five days. Contact Lost and Found fifteen days after your loss (08 21 00 25 25 (0,12€ a minute). From abroad (00)33 821 002 525). If any identification is found in the article, the police will send you a letter. The police department does not handle articles lost on SNCF trains. “Lost and Found in Paris – What to Expect”

Objects with an approximate value up to 100 euros are held for three months. Articles with an estimated value over 100 euros are held for one year.

What To Do If You Find An Article
Found on a public street: Take it to the closest police station.
Found on the RATP: Give it to a metro agent.
Found in the airport: Turn it in to the lost and found office.
Found at a public place: Turn it in to an agent or the ticket window.

Claiming An Abandoned/Unclaimed Article
“Finders keepers, Loser weepers” goes the children’s rhyme. In all cases, leave your contact information. You have the right of ownership if the true owner is not found and the article is declared abandoned (droits de l’inventeur).

The question of when the article is declared abandoned is based on the value. If the object is estimated below 100 euros, ownership changes between the third and fourth month from the time the article was turned in. If the object is valued at over 100 euros, the “droits de l’inventeur” kick in between the twelfth and eighteenth month from the date the article is turned in.

Documents necessary to become the new owner of the unclaimed article:

• A piece of identification
• The receipt you receive when turning in an article (récépissé).
• If a third-party comes to claim the article for you, a proxy (procuration) is required and a copy of your identification.

Start Of the Search
Lost on the metro: Within 24 hours go to either the ticket window of the metro station or the end station of the metro on which you were riding.
Lost in a taxi: The number of the taxi is posted in view of all riders. That number will help retrieve your lost article. TaxisParis turns the item over to Objets Trouvés.
Lost at the airport: Within the first fifteen days, go to the airport police office for lost property.
Lost at the Eiffel Tower, department stores, museums, trade shows, etc.): Within five days return to the spot.

For lost items on a Paris train (RER) or at a Paris train station, phone numbers of Paris train stations:
Gare de Lyon : 01 53 33 67 22
Gare Montparnasse : 01 40 48 14 24
Gare Saint-Lazare : 01 53 42 01 44
Gare de l’Est : 01 53 31 58 40
Gare d’Austerlitz : 01 53 60 71 98
Gare du Nord : 01 55 31 58 40

Showing Proof It Is Your Article
To claim the object lost in a public place, your are required to show identification and a police report. If a third-party comes to claim the article, the third-party representing you needs to bring a proxy giving them your permission ; your proxy’s identification and a copy of your identification.

Lost cell phone: the IMEI number (available from your carrier or on your billing statement) or the SIM card number. “What To Do Before Your Cell Phone Is Stolen”

Article belongs to a company: French companies use a form “K BIS”. The person claiming the article, must have written permission and an ID.

Article belongs to an association: Documents proving that the association exists. The person claiming the article must have written permission and an ID. Web Pages From the Préfecture de Police: “Vous avez perdu un objet“ (What to do if you lose something)

Who To Contact
The police say your first reflex should be to return to the site of the loss.
Within the first five days, contact the closest police department where you lost the object
If you lose something on: an airport bus, contact the bus company; RER B to or from Charles-de-Gaulle/Roissy airport, contact SNCF/RATP. On the CDGVal or ORLYVal, parking bus, contact Aéroports de Paris (ADP)‘s office of  ”Objets trouvés” (Lost Property) in your airport terminal. Form to fill out.

Where To Find the Airport Lost And Found:
Paris-Orly Ouest: Porte (door) I, niveau arrivée (arrivals). Open 5:20 a.m. to 11:20 p.m.
Paris-Orly Sud: Porte G. Open 6 a.m. to 10:45 p.m.
Paris-CDG terminals 1 and 3: Terminal 1, Niveau Halls 5-6 next to the entry of CDGVAL. Open from 8:20 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4:20 p.m.
Paris-CDG other terminals: Zone commerces and services, between the terminals A, B, C and D (near the post office). Open 9 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

In case of loss or theft of credit cards, call the following numbers:
Visa:0 800 90 20 33
Diner’s Club: 0 800 22 20 73
JCB:0 800 058 111
Eurocard – Mastercard: 0 800 90 23 90
American Express – USA card - 0 800 900 898
American Express – Other Countries - 01 47 77 72 00

Object Trouvés Office
The email address for Lost and Found is servicedesobjetstrouves-paris @ interieur. gouv. fr
The physical address for the Préfecture de police:
Préfecture de police (use Google Translate)
Direction des transports et de la protection du public
Sous direction des déplacements et de l’espace public
Service des objets trouvés
36, rue des Morillons
75732 Paris Cedex 15

Hours: Monday to Thursday: 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Handy chart to show the best times to visit Objets trouvés (best: green, average: orange, terrible: red).

History of Paris’ Objets Trouvés

Are you a victim of assault in Paris? Advice from the Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau

© 2012 Colleensparis.com
Your HOTEL and APARTMENT RESERVATION is a contribution to maintenance costs of my Web site. Using GOOGLE helps, too. THANKS!