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Posts from the ‘People’ Category

Dec 4

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No. 65: Gustave Eiffel: Magician of Iron

 

“The first principle of architectural beauty is that the essential lines of a construction be determined by a perfect appropriateness to its use.”

— Gustave Eiffel

Anyone who knows me well knows that j’adore la tour Eiffel.

I’ve written a lot about it in the past, and I’ve read many books and articles on its construction. Every time I read something new, I am stuck (again) by Gustav Eiffel and his vision. Because I am a woman obsessed, I just spent the last couple of days, reading even more about this fascinating man and his iconic structures. Every time I tried to stop myself and get on with some paid work, I got sidetracked by another enticing story or structure.

Yes, structures, plural. While most of the world knows him and loves him for his “tragic street lamp”, la tour Eiffel, I am equally enamored with his less known, but certainly not less beautiful, creations.

Born in Dijon in 1832, to a family of weavers, Eiffel graduated from the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures in 1855 as a civil engineer and began to specialize in constructing with metal. Initially he made his name designing bridges for the French railway network, but as we all know, he didn’t limit himself to bridges only.

Here are some Eiffel’s structures I find most interesting—some already visited, but most on my Gustave Eiffel bucket list:

 

Passerelle Eiffel Iron Bridge in Bordeaux, France, 1858passerelle1861

At only 26-years-old, Eiffel was the construction designer of an iron bridge in Bordeaux designed to link the Orleans rail station to the Midi rail station. Imagine the spectacle before the bridge was completed, when carriages were transferred between the two stations on a ferry across the Garonne River.

Suspension Bridge, Parc de Buttes Chaumont, Paris, 1867

source: Paris walks

The suspension bridge designed by Eiffel was one of two bridges used to access the park’s “Temple of Sybille” in one of Paris’ most beloved parks. It is 64 meters in length and 8 meters above ground. Unfortunately it is currently closed to foot traffic.

 

Church of San Marco, Arica, Chile, 1871-1875

© - Barbara Boensch

© – Barbara Boensch

In 1871, the Peruvian President José Balta commissioned the workshop of Gustave Eiffel to build this church. The all-metal prefabricated building was manufactured in France and shipped to South America in pieces to be assembled on site.

 

Bon Marché, Department Store, Paris, 1872-74

Eiffel collaborated with the architect. L.A. Boileau on the first glass and cast iron department store in Paris. This popular and fashionable store still stands, albeit with its masonry skin added in the 1920s.

 

Les Halles (Dijon Covered Market), Dijon, France, 1875

Beautiful, light and airy, this historic covered market in Eiffel’s hometown features his iconic iron columns and glass and is a wondrous market to visit.

 

Statue of Liberty, Internal Frame, 1876

When the Statue of Liberty’s initial internal engineer unexpectedly died, Eiffel was hired as the new engineer. Eiffel created a skeletal system for the statue that relied on the internal metal structure to support Bartholdi’s copper plates and sculpture. EIffel and his company built the statue from the ground up and then dismantled it for its journey to New York.

 

Nyugati Railway Station, Budapest, Hungary, 1877

Budapest railway station (www.quora.com)

Budapest railway station (www.quora.com)

One of the earliest examples of the combined use of metal and masonry, this train station is definitely high on my list to visit. Where you might have seen it: The 2011 film Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol took place in and around this station.

 

Ruhnu Lighthouse, Estonia, 1877

wikimedia commons

wikimedia commons

A lighthouse with a red metal cylindrical tower made in the Le Havre plant in France and shipped and reconstructed on the highest spot on Ruhnu Island, in 1877. It is the only lighthouse of its type left in the Baltic Sea region.

 

Ponte Maria Pia, Oporto, Portugal, 1877

ponte maria pia, portugal (wikimedia commons)

One of Eiffel’s most famous bridges which spans the Douro River in Portugal. No longer in use, two Portuguese architects want to transform the bridge into a monument by moving the disused structure from its present location to the city center (as seen above).

 

The Eiffel Bridge, Viana do Castelo, Peru, 1878

eiffel bridge, viana do castelo, portugal, 1866 (wikimedia commons)
eiffel bridge, viana do castelo, portugal, 1866, at night, (wikimedia commons)
Two-level bridge, Viana do Castelo, Portugal (source: modestine.blogspot.fr)

The Eiffel Bridge crosses the River Lima near the mouth and connects the city of Viana do Castelo. Its two stories are more than 560 meters in length and a spectacular feat of engineering.

 

Observatory Dome, Nice, France, 1879

Moving away from bridgework, Eiffel created the dome for the astronomical observatory in Nice, France. It is most notable for a revolving cupola that opens to the sky. The building itself was designed by Charles Garnier (architect of the Opera Garnier and one of the most prominent critics of the Eiffel Tower).

Where you might have seen it: The 1999 film Simon Sez.

 

Garabit Viaduct, Ruynes-en-Margeride (Cantal), France, 1884

wikimedia commons
1877 (wikimedia commons)

Maybe Eiffel’s most famous bridge, this engineering marvel spans the River Truyère (near Ruynes). It significantly shortened the rail route between Paris and Marseilles.

Where you might have seen it: Henri-Georges Clouzot 1964 film The Inferno (L’Enfer)

 

The Eiffel Tower, Paris 1887-1889

A subject of another detailed post soon. Meanwhile see: The Sparkling Tower.

 

Konak Pier, Izmir, Turkey, 1890

konak pier, turkey, 1890 (wikimedia commons)
konak pier, izmir, turkey, 1890 (skyscrapercity.com)

Originally built as a warehouse and French customs office and restored in 2003, it is now an upmarket shopping center, featuring seaside restaurants and cafés.

 

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) Main Post Office, Vietnam, 1886-1891

saigon central post office, 1886-1891 (wikimedia commons)

saigon central post office, 1886-1891 (wikimedia commons)

Designed and constructed by Eiffel when Vietnam was part of French Indochina.

gustav eiffel, liberty park, NY (photo: Suzanne Murphy)

Do you have other favorite Eiffel creations? If so, let me know, I’d love to add them to my bucket list.

Dec 3

No. 64: The American Library in Paris

When you are a foreigner in a foreign land, sometimes it is nice to make a break for the familiar. For me, the American Library in Paris provides the homey haven I occasionally need.

As the largest English-language lending library on the European continent, it has enough books, magazines and media and enough of an Anglo-feel to sooth my occasional American longings.

It also has quite an interesting history (retold here thanks to their informative website) beginning in the final years of WWI when hundreds of American libraries launched a massive project to send books to the doughboys fighting in the trenches (accumulating in nearly a million and a half books by the end of the war). As the website says:

“When the American Library in Paris was founded in 1920, its initial collection was composed of those wartime books. With the motto: Atrum post bellum, ex libris lux: After the darkness of war, the light of books, its charter promised to bring the best of American literature and culture, and library science, to readers in France.

History_of_the_American_Library_in_Paris

Among the first trustees of the Library was the expatriate American author Edith Wharton. Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein were also early patrons. Thornton Wilder and Archibald MacLeish borrowed books. Stephen Vincent Benét wrote “John Brown’s Body” (1928) at the Library, and Sylvia Beach donated books from her lending library when she shuttered Shakespeare & Co. in 1941.

With the coming of World War II, the occupation of France by the Nazi regime, and the deepening threats to French Jews, Library director Dorothy Reeder and her staff and volunteers provided heroic service by operating an underground, and potentially dangerous, book-lending service to Jewish members barred from libraries. One staff member was shot by the Gestapo when he failed to raise his hands quickly enough during a surprise inspection.

When Reeder was sent home for her safety, Countess de Chambrun rose to the occasion to lead the Library. In a classic Occupation paradox, the happenstance of her son’s marriage to the daughter of the Vichy prime minister, Pierre Laval, ensured the Library a friend in high places, and a near-exclusive right to keep its doors open and its collections largely uncensored throughout the war. A French diplomat later said the Library had been to occupied Paris ‘an open window on the free world.’image4

The Library prospered in the postwar era as the United States took on a new role in the world, the expatriate community in Paris experienced regeneration, and a new wave of American writers came to Paris – and to the Library. Irwin Shaw, James Jones, Mary McCarthy, Art Buchwald, Richard Wright, and Samuel Beckett were active members during a heady period of growth and expansion. During these early Cold War years the Director Ian Forbes Fraser barred the door to a high-profile visit from Senator Joseph McCarthy’s notorious minions, who were touring Europe in search of ‘red’ books in American libraries.”

For the last 48 years, the Library has been located two blocks from the Seine and two blocks from the Eiffel Tower, on rue du Général Camou, handily right around the corner chez moi.

Library2

When I find myself too distracted by laundry and household chores to get any work done, I make my way to the Library’s large reading room and nestle in for a quiet day of writing and French. Other times, I take advantage of the large selection of French and English DVDs (currently on my list of must “sees”: Le Petit Nicolas, Rue Cases-Nègres, and LOST, Season 4).

Superman regularly checks out a stack of non-fiction reads, and Button heads there to study, and thankfully it also serves as a shelter for me when I have locked myself out of my apartment for the umpteenth time…

…yes, Nicola, I did it again!

Nov 30

5 Comments

No. 62: American Christmas or French Thanksgiving

The French have reluctantly taken on a few of our American holidays and traditions…Halloween, bachelorette or hen parties, and lavish weddings, for example. Luckily, Thanksgiving is still a mystery to them. As it should be, given that the history of the holiday is exclusively tied to America.

They don’t have a good handle on what it is all about (and I might add, neither do our dear British allies…).

As I set out on my annual scavenger hunt to find all the necessary ingredients for our feast, I watched several shop keepers have their “AHA moments”, when I told them I needed so-and-so for le jour de grâces.

I even tried: le jour de l’action de grâce.

After repeating it several times, a smile would spread across their faces, and they would say, “Madame, vouliez-vous dire Noël américain?”

“No, kind sir, I don’t mean American Christmas! I mean Thanksgiving.”

“Humph. Noël américain.”

So this year, I decided to celebrate American Christmas in a very French Thanksgiving-ish way. I chose to host a wine tasting Thanksgiving chez nous. Complete with foie gras and strange French farce (stuffing).

IMG_8913

foie gras
farce (meatloaf-like stuffing)

My precious friend and wine expert Hélène chose a yummy menu of four wines (two white and two reds) and a bubbly magnum of champagne to sample over the course of the evening. Who knew wine could taste of grass and honey, dirt and mold, black berries and grapefruit. It was a hoot and a delicious way to remember to be grateful for the wonderful group of international friends we have in Paris…

…and to enlighten a few of our French friends on the finer points of American Christmas Thanksgiving.

IMG_8824

Vocabulaire

le jour de grâces / le jour de l’action de grâce: Thanksgiving

“Madame, vouliez-vous  dire Noël américain?”: “Madam, do you mean American Christmas?”

Noël américain: American Christmas.

 

Autre Vocabulaire (curtesy of Laura K. Lawless, www.French.about.com)

autumn, fall   l’automne

colony   une colonie

family   la famille

feast   un festin, un banquet

football   le football américain

grateful (adj)   reconnaissant 

harvest   la récolte

horn of plenty   la corne d’abondance

native (adj)   indigène

(Native American) Indians    les Indiens (d’Amérique)

November   novembre

parade   une parade

Pilgrims   les pèlerins

settler   un colonisateur

to share   partager

thanks   les remerciements

Thursday   jeudi

tradition   une tradition

traditional (adj)   traditionnel

treaty   un pacte

tribe   une tribu

Some traditional dishes served on Thanksgiving:

food   la nourriture

bread   le pain

corn   le maïs 

cranberry   la canneberge

gravy   la sauce au jus de viande

mashed potatoes   la purée

pumpkin pie   la tarte à la citrouille

stuffing   la farce

sweet potato   la patate douce

turkey   la dinde 

yam   un igname

 

Nov 23

2 Comments

No. 56: Applause

I love going to the theatre or a concert in France because the French are so splendid at showing their appreciation for artists and performances.

I remember the first performance I attended in Paris 4 years ago at the Opera Garnier. Granted it was the Paris Opera Ballet performing a tribute to Jerome Robbins (Westside Story, King and I, Pajama Game, Fiddler on the Roof…), and destined to be incredible; still I was amazed when the final piece ended and the dancers came out to take their bows. The audience roared with praise in the form of applause. Not just your regular run-of-the-mill applause, but loud and exceptionally long-lasting applause. As the performers came out for one bow after another, the clapping changed from spontaneous random clapping, to the entire audience clapping rhythmically in sync, not letting up until the dancers gave in and performed another short piece.

5720_1 2

Since then, this has been my experience at every piece of theatre I have attended in France, from top-notch professionals to student concerts, from Paris to small villages, from huge audiences to audiences of less than 25. It is not uncommon to clap through 4-5 curtain calls. I’ve clapped for over 15 minutes!

I thought of this very French way of showing appreciation last night when Superman and I went to hear Handel’s Messiah performed by the Paris Choral Society at the American Cathedral. It was a wonderful and very applause worthy performance. After nearly 3 hours, I was ready to give the choir and especially the soloists a good long round of applause.

But something weird happened…that is, it didn’t happen, not in the way I have grown used to. The audience just clapped normally and that was that.

And then it dawned on me, the Paris Choral Society is more than fifty-percent Anglo, and the audience was more Anglo than French. And, us Anglos, well we just don’t know how to do it the way the French do. And that made me a little bit sad.

As a mother of two beautiful girls trying to make it in the musical theatre world, I know how much blood, sweat and tears goes into each and every performance, and I appreciate when an audience appreciates that.

French audiences seem to get it. They recognize and value artists…and that is one more thing that I love about France.

Nov 21

8 Comments

No. 54: un p’tit… / une p’tite…

hopper.com

hopper.com

Now that I’m more in tune with the French (literally, I can finally understand a lot of what the French are saying to me…hurrah!), I keep hearing “un p’tit / une p’tite so and so”… Short, of course for un petit/ une petite.

While I, with my VERY literal grasp on français, find it an adorable habit to make nouns smaller than they actually are by prefacing them with the word “petite”, mes amies françaises have a slightly different take on it.

They seem to be of two minds, or perhaps I should say, they can see both a positive side and a negative side to their compatriots’ linguistic addiction to le p’tit mot “petit(e)”.

On the positive side, when used among close friends, or people you’d like to be close friends with, the word petite, indicates a “closeness” and not  a smaller size. For example, when you invite a few good friends to “une p’tite soirée” (a party), you are implying that it will be a warm gathering among close friends. Un p’tit café  with a friend implies an intimate catching up over coffee (not a tiny cup of Joe), where as an invitation to have un café with an acquaintance or colleague, is more in line with the business end of things.

Among friends you could share une p’tite bière, (beer), une p’tite blanquette de veau, (veal stew), un petit dîner (dinner), or un p’tit verre (a glass of wine). You could go for un p’tit ciné (a trip to the movies), on une p’tite ballade (walk), and, of course, un p’tit week-end, which the French adore. None of these things are necessarily reduced in size or length.

As a form of politeness you could ask your prof une p’tite question, or the cashier at the grocery store might ask for un p’tit signiture for your credit card bill. Both of which imply a certain reticence for disturbing you with a request.

But according to my French friends, the addition of the word petite also has a negative implication. They say that the word petite can be used to negate something that was actually a very pleasurable experience… lowering the bar and the value of a really enjoyable moment. Much as the French will almost always reply, when ask about their opinion of something, that it was: “pas mal” (not bad), rather than daring to articulate that is was pretty darn great, the word petite can take the wind from your sails, and imply that the glass is definitely half empty, and nowhere near full. That’s when un p’tit dîner detours from being a lovely dinner among friends, to a dinner that was pretty boring and hardly worth the time, or at least that’s what you want others to believe.

Mais moi, je préfère to go with the literal and positive translation. I like to imagine that when I’m invited to un p’tit restau (restaurant) that I will be dining in a tiny cozy café with my closest friends, drinking small beers and small glasses of wine and sharing tiny plates of food while laughing large and reveling in vast quantities of friendship.

1finecookie.com
vat9.com

Vocabulaire

le p’tit mot “petit(e)”: the small word “petite”

Mais moi, je préfère..: But me, I prefer…

mes amies françaises: my French friends

Nov 11

3 Comments

No. 46: Faux Amis

hippiehippieshaker.blogspot.com
bespeckledhedgehog.wordpress.com

There are so many things I love about learning French. One of my favorite is the chance to collect the funny stories or ridiculous things foreigners say as we plod along in our language classes. It can get particularly silly in French.

Donc, over the past three weeks, I have been compiling a list of faux amis, or false friends, that my classmates and I have incorrectly used in our attempt to communicate with our prof. These are the words that look the same (or nearly the same) in French and English, which foreigners desperately throw into their conversations in hopes of being understood.

Although there are thousands of words that are true cognates or vrai amis in French, I’ve found that sometimes it’s better not to simply throw in the English word, and avoid feeling like un imbécile.

For example, it’s best not to ask an owner of a fruit orchard if she puts préservatifs in her jam, as I’m quite sure she hasn’t been adding condoms to her confiture. Better to say: conservateurs or agent de conservation.

source: shame-full.com

When someone asks you to bring your baskets, don’t go looking for some nice wooden ones, better to head to the closet and pick up your tennis shoes/trainers.

If you are a single male at a bar, you might not want to start the conversation by notifying the ladies that you are un bachelier, unless you want to impress upon them that you did indeed pass the bac (the French equivalent of a high school degree.) Try célibataire instead.

Shopping for some lingerie or undergarments, please don’t ask where the bras are, or you could end up in the storage room with the spare mannequin arms.   Ask for the soutien-gorge instead.

prweb.com

When you go to vote, don’t expect to get un ballot, unless you want to hang out with the nitwits or nerds. If you want to make sure your vote is counted, see if they will rustle you up a un bulletin de vote.

Don’t ever ask someone if you can pet le chien, unless you want them to call the animal welfare agency to ticket you for thumping, beating, or passing gas on their furry friend. You’ll be better off if you simply ask if you can câliner or caresser the little guy.

When you come down with the inevitable autumn cold, don’t tell your prof that you can’t speak because you avoir la flemme, unless you are trying to tell him, “you really can’t be bothered” or you are “just plain lazy”. Rather explain to him that you have la mucosité in your throat.

If you are so sick that you have to go to the doctor, please don’t tell him that you have un pain in your throat, or he might spend the next 30 minutes rooting around for last night’s baguette. (Instead explain that you are mal à la gorge.)

And finally, when you are eating in a restau or café, it’s better not to ask the waiter for more napkins, unless you really need a couple of sanitary pads. Best to ask for une serviette.

newcel.co.uk

So, what are some of the funny Franglais conversations you’ve had with the French? Please send in your comments, I can always use a few more chuckles in my life.

Vocabulaire

avoir la flemme: can’t be bothered with

baskets: tennis shoes/trainers

bras: arms

câliner: to pet, pat

caresser: to caress, pet

célibataire: (to be) single

confiture: jam

conservateurs, agent de conservation: preservatives

faux amis: false friends

la mucosité: phlegm, mucus

le chien: male dog

mal à la gorge: to have a sore throat

napkins: sanitary pads

pain: bread

pet (péter): to thump, beat, pass gas, fart

préservatifs: condoms

soutien-gorge: bra

un bachelier: someone who has passed the bac (high school degree)

un ballot: a nitwit, nerd

un bulletin de vote: a ballot

un restau: cool way to say restaurant

une serviette: a napkin

vrai amis: real friends

 

Nov 10

2 Comments

No. 43: Les Rosbifs

english.almanar.com.ib
116, Rue Saint-Denis, 75002 Paris, France (metro: Opéra); source: insidethetravellab.com

As I’ve mentioned several times in other posts, I do love the fact that living in France affords me the opportunity to not only visit the United Kingdom, but has also allowed me to make friends with a group of wonderful British women living in Paris. Interestingly I actually seem to fit in better with the British community and the other non-American expats than with my own kind.

Yep, one of the 365 things I love about France is indeed *les rosbifs. I find their humor and candor refreshing and of course, I love their accents. I like their worldliness and global perspective. I like that they provide a reality check on America’s place in the world. I like the fact that their national news is international. And, I love their vocabulary. Why be “great” when you can instead be “brilliant”?

Have a go at these few lines:

Having skived off work and legged it to his mate’s flat, they had a knees up with the neighbors and faffed around. The next morning feeling a bit wonky, the poor bloke was so knackered he had a kip wearing nothing but his pants. Even though it was monkeys outside when he woke up, he popped over to the chemist wearing only his pants and his mac to pick up some nappies, plasters, and bog roll. At least he wasn’t starkers. On the way back home a tosser of a lollipop man stopped him as a long parade of lasses eating fairy cake and candy-floss blocked the street. He thought to himself, this is “total pants”, but not wanting to whinge about it, decide to make the best of a bad situation and pop into a pub for a pint and some bangers and mash.

Have you lost the plot?

Vocabulary:

bangers and mash: sausage and mashed potatoes

blog roll: toilet paper

chemist: the pharmacy/ pharmacist

candy-floss: cotton candy

had a knees up: to go to a dance party

faffed around: dither, waste time

fairy cake: cupcakes

it’s monkeys outside: it’s very cold

kip: sleep or nap

knackered: exhausted

lass(es): girl(s)

leg it: run or run for it

lollipop man/woman: crossing guard

lost the plot: gone crazy

mac: raincoat, short for Macintosh

nappies: diapers

pants: underwear (the Brits say trousers)

plasters: Band-Aids

skive off: evade or avoid something

starkers: naked

tosser: idiot

total pants: nonsense, rubbish, crap

whinge: whine

wonky: not right

**les rosbifs: Calling a Brit a “roast beef” is a French insult in line with the Anglo insult “frog”. I believe it was originally a gastronomic term describing the English style of cooking beef. At some point in history, a French king sent a delegation to England to learn this specialize way of cooking meat. Clearly this was before the French became the culinary champions of the world.

 

 

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