French may ban child beauty pageants - fascinating

Personally, I despise the whole child beauty pageant mania in the US, maybe if I had a little girl who wanted the pageant life I would understand it. It always seems more for the mothers than for the children. So, it is interesting that the French, in their current feminist mode post-DSK, would consider banning these pageants. Also interesting given how we puritanical Americans view French society as all about sex, sensuality, romance, and dreams, that this would become a "hot" topic. But apparently, thanks to a 10 year old girl in a Vogue photo shoot, it has become just that:

http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/06/10596518-french-report-ban-child-beauty-pageants-padded-bras-for-little-girls

Like many cultural differences, we would never do this in the USA, but it will be interesting to see if France actually acts on this proposal.

10 most picturesque villages - worldwide

Naturally a French Provence village is on the list - really Cote D'Azur - Eze which is on the way from Cannes and Nice to Monaco, high on a hill-top. It is where I found my signature fragrance in 1985 - Fragonard. It is quite medieval in its design and architecture and you have to be prepared to climb the narrow, sloped streets, but it is worth the effort to get to the top where there is a pleasant restaurant and hotel where you can eat on a veranda overlooking the mountains with a spectacular view.


http://travel.yahoo.com/ideas/world-s-10-most-picturesque-villages.html?page=1

Politics a la Francaise

This is a topic I am still studying to understand it. It is rather different than American elections which seem to go on forever.

In France, the first round is collecting enough signatures from the candidate's respective party members, meaning the mayors and counsel members etc. to qualify to be on the primary ballot. I suppose this is not unlike the American primary system where only the most involved members vote in the primaries.

In France, once the candidate meets this qualification, by the deadline, there is only three months from the deadline to the first round of voting. If a candidate does not achieve more than 50% of the vote, one month later is the run-off.

This time around, it is looking likely that Sarkozy will face a run-off with Francois Hollande, the socialist candidate. Thus, Sarkozy is trying to court the conservative, Nationalist vote from Marie Le Pen, so he can squeak through. Sarkozy is particularly disliked in France, but he may win anyway.

Fascinating, politics a la Francaise.

A Modern Paris Salon - Still American style

Having recently attending the fabulous Stein exhibit at the Met, this article caught my eye. The Steins were family of art collectors including Gertrude Stein, and they hosted weekly salon in their Paris flat de jour. So, to see this article and realize that an American in Paris in still holding a weekly get together for those who want to meet and mingle warms my heart. We can certainly hope to get there soon:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/travel/dinner-paris-invite-everyone.html?ref=travel

High costs of summer travel 2012

For those of you who are looking at tickets for this summer, the costs are higher then ever, mostly due to fees and taxes. Those are now so exorbitant, the fees are almost as higher if not higher than the ticket itself. This article discusses those fees and costs and mentions some alternate airports to fly in and out of. We've often done this, particularly BF (before Avril), flown into Cologne, Frankfort and Geneva, all good alternatives depending on where you are starting on ending your trip.


http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/make-summer-europe-affordable-big-backup-plan/story?id=15834252#.T1OrFhz2OSI

A tale of two cities - French and German

Here is an article from the NY Times describing well the disparity between the French and Germany economies as exemplified by two cities on the French-German border in the Alsace region. The German apprenticeship program is one American companies should be emulating, especially to begin filling the 3.4 million job openings we have here which are unfilled due to companies being unable to find workers with the requisite skills. Shouldn't we also look at how Germany is maintaining its manufacturing base?


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/world/europe/when-a-border-shapes-more-than-territory.html?_r=1&hp

Want to buy a French village?

Here is the dream for many - buying a distressed French village or hamelt relatively close to Paris in the Dordogne region. Cheap with a deposit of $440,000. It apparently has received interest from all over the world. Bidders?

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/sale-deserted-french-village-pool-112542411.html