Odette for coffee and choux à la crème

In the Latin Quarter, around the corner from the bookstore Shakespeare and Company, and in view of Notre Dame, is a wonderful little coffee shop called Odette.
















Odette is more than just a coffee shop. The coffee is great mind you, sweet and served perfectly. The real reason for coming to Odette is the choux à la crème.  They are irresistible.

The view from Odette.

Simple, elegant little cream puff creations in a variety of wonderful flavours, including pistachio, caramel, lavender, chocolate and even champagne. These things are delightful.

In Paris, Odette is not to be missed.

Photos by Jim Murray. Copyright 2015.

A father's charter need not be a son's charter

I'm not sure where this image originated. It's a useful image especially

after Trudeau's Liberals (that would be the Trudeau on the right) 

supported Stephen Harper's Conservatives in passing Bill  C-51.
Trudeau (the one on the left) must be very discouraged indeed.

Density in Paris

In our travels through this wonderful city, we remark at the number of cafés and restaurants, green grocers and bakeries, we find everywhere. How do all these little cafés and stores survive?


Paris, apart from all the fantastic stuff, is a city of apartments. There is an endless rotation of six floor buildings throughout the city, usually with office or retail space on the main level and apartments above. The population density is significant.













In fact, through the 20 arrondissements that make up central Paris, or Paris proper, there are over 2.2 million people, in an area of 105 square kilometres.

To compare, the City of Vancouver, or Vancouver proper, is slightly larger at 115 square kilometres and boasts a grand population of nearly 605,000.



Paris has a population density over 21,000 per square kilometre. Vancouver has only 5,250 per square kilometre. Density varies through the arrondissements of course, with some of the central districts having as few a 8,000 per square kilometre while the 18e, where we reside, has 32,000. The district with the highest density is the 11e which is centred around the Bastille as a visible marker. It has over 42,000 people per square kilometre.

As another comparison, New York City's population density only approaches half  that in Paris. The borough of Manhattan, New York's most crowded, has a density approaching 27.000 per square kilometre.





With this kind of population density, having cafés, bars, convenience stores and green grocers on almost every corner becomes easier to understand. The fact that Paris has little room for big-box stores, unlike the wide open spaces of Canadian cities, means it's easier for smaller chains, and even independents, to operate.



Density also creates a sense of neighbourhood as people don't have to get in their cars in order to do their marketing. In fact, "buying groceries" is more likely to become a daily routine, and it takes place at small businesses where people get to know each other.











Paris is home to a varied population, and like Vancouver, finding people originally from Paris is relatively rare. Most Paris residents were not born in the city. It is a surprisingly young city with lower death rates than the rest of France. Upon reaching retirement age, many leave the city to retire to the provinces, especially the south.



Another fact of life in Paris is that there are a large number of single-person family units in this city. In fact, the average size of a household in Paris is only 1.75; many households are home to one person, and they tend to be either old or young. Younger families, while they are on the increase in the city, tend to move to the ring around Paris, where rents, or home ownership costs, are lower. And where the giant stores exist along with the motorways.










And with all those singe-person apartments filling the city, cafés, bars, and stores selling convenient single-use sizes of everything from yogurt to soups, meat and fish to desserts and pastries, can exist, and hopefully, flourish. Because a large number of apartments don't have en suitelaundry (ours a washing machine but doesn't have a drier), neighbourhood dry cleaners and laundries abound.



It is difficult to compare European cities with those in Canada or the US. Our cities, perhaps apart from New York, evolved in a different way. The automobile and lack of public transit played a big part in the way cities like Vancouver and Calgary developed. The absence of political leadership and a avoidance of any sort of planning allowed private interests to seize the civic agenda.



Part of the success of Paris as a world class city, and a city that actually functions properly, is the reality of higher densities of population and the limits of entry imposed upon developers and large big-box retailers. We would be wise to demand the same from our political leaders.

Photos by Jim Murray. Copyright 2015. 

"Don't let them tell you it can't be done."

A year ago, would any of us have imagined, even in our wildest dreams, that the New Democrats of Alberta would win a provincial election? I have crazed dreams but nothing as strange as Rachel Notley winning a majority government in a province that has kept the Conservatives in power for over forty years.






Back in 2011, no one gave the NDP any thought of electing MPs in Quebec. Yet the NDP did.





Now the Liberals and Conservatives will tell us, the NDP has no hope at winning a national election; that becoming Canada's Official Opposition was just a fluke, a one-time event that won't happen again. Liberals, and their friends in the media, will remind us that they are the natural governing party; that they are entitled to govern. Again.




There are several things to remember with last night's election in Alberta:

First: it can be done, if we work together. Rachel Notley didn't make last night happen all by herself. Albertans came together to create change.

Second: only New Democrats defeat Conservatives, even in Stephen Harper's heartland. And let's be honest about the two parties on the right: Liberals and Conservatives are both parties on the right.

It was the Liberal Party that cut funding to the CBC.

It was the Liberal Party that signed the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change, then did nothing. Absolutely nothing.

It is the Liberal Party of Justin Trudeau that voted for Stephen Harper's  Bill C-51.

So.

"Don't let them tell you it can't be done."  Jack Layton, 20 August 2011.

We're all in this together. For what matters.



by Jim Murray. Copyright 2015.

Sherry MacDonald appears at The Flame

Before we left for our Sojourn in Paris, Sherry appeared at The Flame in Vancouver.  In this case, the event took place on April 1st and featured eight storytellers.




The Flame is an almost-monthly event that features storytellers telling stories. The stories have to be true, personal and have some sort of consequence for the teller. And, they have to be told without any notes. Storytellers are given from 8 to 12 minutes to tell their tales.





About 150 people attended the Cottage Bistro on Main Street where this event, and others like it, happen throughout most months. The Cottage Bistro features an eclectic mix of menu items, and the usual refreshments. It's always best to arrive early for The Flame as standing-room-only often happens before the stories begin.












The Flame is open to the public though many friends and family come to support their storyteller. Others attend because it supports the art of storytelling, and is great entertainment too. Sherry had a wide swath of friends and family attending on this night too.




The genial host for the April 1st Flame was Joel Wirkkunen. He gets to refer to, and even read from, his notes.








Sherry's story was about the events around the birth of her second second Adam. It is called "Are we like the video yet?" and is from a series of stories Sherry is writing about being a single mom raising three boys.

























And when your storytelling time is finished, the applause has drifted into silence and your breathing has become normal again, it is time to relax and enjoy the storytellers who follow.



Photos by Jim Murray. Copyright 2015.