Yet Another Bank Destroys Yet Another Great Small Business

BNP-Paribas has the French courts' permission to raise Brentano's rent from 7000 to 20,000 euros per month.  The sad result?  Brentano's, Paris's American bookstore since 1895, closes its doors today.  :(

A lot of the Charing Cross Road book shops in London have met with the same sorry fate. :(

BNP-Paribas' slogan seems particularly appropriate:  "The bank for a changing world."  Changing not necessarily for the better, it seems...

Now I wonder, what will happen to The Village Voice on rue Princesse, or The Red Wheelbarrow in the Marais?  To Shakespeare & Co.?

Nativitas Mariae

Catholics celebrate Mary's birthday today. I thought I'd put up this photo of Nôtre-Dame for the occasion.

Cornerstone laid: 1163

Western façade begun: c. 1200

Nave vaults almost done: 1208

Western façade completed: 1225

Western towers and North rose window completed: 1250

Remaining elements completed: 1250-1345

A Vertiginous View of the Tour Eiffel

What made this especially dizzying to me was the movement of the passing clouds overhead.

"Now to what phenomenon did I give primary concern in designing the Tower? It was wind resistance.  Well then!  I hold that the curvature of the monument's four outer edges, which is as mathematical calculation dictated it should be...will give a great impression of strength and beauty, for it will reveal to the eyes of the observer the boldness of the design as a whole." -Gustave Eiffel [see original French* below]

The tower sways two to three inches (6-7 cm) in the wind.  I think we definitely experienced a little of that the day this photo was taken.

Uh oh...I think I'm feeling queasy again...

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*"Or de quelle condition ai-je eu, avant tout, à tenir compte dans la Tour? De la résistance au vent.  Eh bien! je prétends que les courbes des quatre arêtes du monument, telles que le calcul les a fournies...donneront une grande impression de force et de beauté; car elles traduiront aux yeux la hardiesse de la conception dans son ensemble..."

Craving French Chocolate, Part II

Mon Dieu...they have chocolate-scented stamps? I wonder if they're still available?!

And they also make ANTI-STRESS chocolate bars?!

Can we move to France already? :)

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Update, 9/25/09: a sheet of the above stamps arrived from St. Cyr yesterday, courtesy of a family friend.

Check out Paris Breakfasts' post about learning how to make Maison du Chocolat ganache. I am SOOOOOO jealous. I just might have to sign up for one of the New York classes myself. What am I saying? Let's go to Paris and take a class THERE! :)

Craving French Chocolate; or, There's a Reason I Always Gravitate to the 6th and 7th...

[Photo source.]

Stumbled upon this...

...so now I want this:

Here's an alphabetical list of where to get the best chocolate in Paris (according to this person, this person, and this person):

Bernachon and Bernard Dufoux via À l'Étoile d'Or, 30, rue Fontaine

Berthillon (ice cream) 29-31, rue Saint-Louis-en-l'Île (I can personally vouch for this one - had a combo dark and white chocolate cup from there that was to-die-for)

Christian Constant, 37, rue d'Assas (the address is almost a rebuke...)

Debauve & Gallais, 30, rue des Saints-Pères

Gérard Mulot, 76, rue de Seine

Jean-Charles Rochoux, 16, rue d'Assas

Jean-Paul Hévin, 3, rue Vavin

Joël Durand via La Grande Épicerie, 38, rue de Sevres

Josephine Vannier, 4, rue pas de la Mule

La Maison du Chocolat, 52, rue François 1er or 225, rue du Faubourg St. Honoré (though these shots are actually from the boutique at the airport)

Lenôtre, 48, ave Victor Hugo

Michel Chaudun, 149, rue de l'Université

Michel Cluizel, 201, rue St. Honoré

Patrice Chapon, 69, rue du Bac

Patrick Roger, 108, bd St. Germain

Pierre Hermé, 72, rue Bonaparte (see here too)

Pierre Marcolini, 89, rue de Seine

Richart, 258, bd St. Germain

Sadaharu Aoki, 35, rue de Vaugirard

See also ChocoParis and ChocoMap.

Note to Self: Beware the rue des Petites Écuries

Supposedly the most publicly peed-on street in Paris!  

(See a nice street view by anders_k on flickr here and another on picasaweb here.) 

(An écurie is a kind of stable / place for keeping horses, mules, donkeys, etc.)

Les Bouquinistes

One of my favorite things to do in Paris:  stroll aimlessly.  One of my favorite places to do that:  along the quais near Nôtre-Dame, to browse the book stalls...