Clint Eastwood, the Louvre and Chinese New Year

It's been a quiet week for us in Paris but a busy week for the city.

The week ended with nearly springlike weather, in the low 60s and sunshine! Crocuses are even starting to bloom.

Clint Eastwood was in town to receive the Legion d'Honneur. During the ceremony at the Elysee Palace, President Jacques Chirac told Clint "you embody the best of Hollywood. In France, your films move millions of viewers because they are strong without being simplistic, lucid without being cynical." For more on the Eastwood story click here.

With over 8 million visitors in 2006 the Louvre has become one of the visited places on earth. This is not necessarily a good thing, at least for some of the staff of the museum who went on a partial strike this past Wednesday. Apparently the reason was that the men and women who patrol the halls and rooms are simply too stressed out with trying to manage the (increasingly) enormous crowds with no increase in staff.

Maybe entry to the museum should be by reservation only. Or they might double or triple the admission fees. Or, in keeping with government bureaucracies around the world, they might charge a different fee for each room of the museum, with each successive room slightly more (or less) than the previous room and all tied to how fast one goes through each room (whioch can be tracked by requiring each entrant to wear a bracelet or anklet similar to house arrest bracelts or anklets). Or better yet why not just make a really cool movie of a visit to the museum with plenty of special effects (sorry no car chases) and lots of closeups (I mean now you can't even get near the Mona Lisa), and of course revenue from the popcorn alone would probably pay for the maintenance costs alone. And you could make several versions of the film: one for the people who just want to go to the museum and say they've been there (a 10 minute short reel), and another for folks who want to spend more time with individual works of art (2-10 hours depending on attention span). You could then sell copies of the film but they would only play so many times before you would have to renew the license because you aren't really purchasing the film but just licensing it for limited use. . .

Meanwhile, back on planet Earth, Saturday was a gorgeous day in Paris so I thought I would go to Chinatown and do my weekly meat shopping. Naturally of all days to go I picked the day before Chinese New Year and found myself standing in lines with every Asian living or visiting Paris, all trying to buy groceries for the weekend. Nearly everybody seemed to be at the Tang Brothers or the Paris Store next door. Since I get all my meat at the Paris Store (Tang Freres has a very limited selection) that was my stop for the day. After seeing the number of people inside I hesitated briefly before deciding to take the plunge. Aisles were packed -- I mean these stores are large by Parisian standards but tiny when compared to the mega-markets of North America -- and lines were everywhere. So I stood in line to order my meat, stood in line to get a few items of produce and naturally stood in line to checkout. (See photo above, and no that's not one of my lines just one of many along Avenue d'Ivry that morning.)

Everyone seemed to be in good spirits and really very nice -- at least in my line, joking and helping each other in those very small ways that make us realize we really couldn't get along very well without each other. And I really didn't have to wait too long.

Sunday afternoon we plan to head to Chinatown (it's only about a 20-minute walk) to sample the New Year's festivities -- and of course have lunch! Stay tuned for another update!

I was soon back out on the street strolling toward the Metro at Tolbiac where I hopped on the no. 7 and got off at Censier. I was off to rue Mouffetard -- it was busy as always on a Saturday -- and to Fontaine's to make my wine purchases for the week (I'm presently in to Rhone reds and Alsatian whites if you must know).

Afterwards I stopped by Pascal's to see Susie but she couldn't talk for long since they were in the middle of some serious baking so I walked home, unloaded, grabbed my cameras and went off to Pere Lachaise for the afternoon. (For more on that click here.)

Wish you were here,

Steve