The long & short of it

Every so often, when I'm reading OU forums, somebody mentions the famous quote about only writing such a long letter because there wasn't time to write a shorter one. It's attributed variously to Mark Twain, 'some French guy", 'an classical writer'... Usually I pass it by, though if anybody asks directly who said it, I look it up & then promptly forget again!

This time I'm making a note. It was Blaise Pascal.

I'm also recording this rather lovely blog entry where the ins & outs of its attribution are explored.

The blog, Notes from Classy's Kitchen, is so called because it's written by Claus Dahl & hosted on a computer in his kitchen. In Copenhagen. Hence the logo:

which refers cheekily to another of Denmark's famous exports.

Some of my colleagues have just been debating whether blogging necessarily tends to lead to self-indulgent rambling. I couldn't possibly comment.

Paris

Well - better late than never!
Paris more than lived up to expectations. Some personal highlights:

Mmmmm food :-)
Copious breakfasts - not at all how I remember le petit déjeuner as a grudging affair of dry toast & greasy coffee...
Croque-monsieur "paysanne" made with Auvergne blue cheese...
Vietnamese nougat - think concentrated Turkish delight, studded with almonds & rolled in sesame seeds...

Mmmm art :-)

We "did" the Louvre (only got lost once - stranded in the Etruscan statues - then went round the escalators twice trying to get back in, but that was my own fault for thinking I could nip out for a quick fag...) & the Orsay. Bypassed the Mona Lisa & grew a little weary of massed cherubs & bared bosoms, but on the whole it was rewarding. I'll blog properly about the art another time!

Green wheelie bins with yellow lids!

Disappointingly, the one outside our hotel was common or garden green.



Chasing buses with Pirates of the Caribbean ("Jusqu'au bout du monde") posters on the back. Didn't manage to collect a full set, but it wasn't for lack of trying.



The Georges Brassens park.
Baffled a local elderly gent who was a little hard of hearing; his wife had to explain
that we were looking for the Georges Brassens bust, not a bus-stop named after him...
We found the buste eventually, & our joy knew no bounds:


So, that was Paris in the springtime... Paris in the fall has a certain ring to it :-)

Je blogge / Je blogue

For a travel-phobic who hasn't been on a plane since 1975, May 8th 2007 has been something of a challenge. But this time tomorrow, I should be asleep in Paris :-)
Travelling with HazeofPink & Daydreamer. I'm reliably informed that one farts & the other snores, so it may be a less than peaceful sleep!
We intend to eat well, drink well & make the most of being able to visit art galleries without reluctant partners/children in tow. The visit was carefully timed to avoid Parisians' propensity for throwing stones at the police regardless of who wins their elections. Weather forecast isn't brilliant, but who goes to Paris to sunbathe?
Interesting linguistic phenomenon in "blogger" (to blog). French g followed by e is usually soft, so I would've expected "blogger" to work like, say, suggérer with a j sound inthe middle. But apparently not. I still want to spell it "bloguer" though. Seems I'm not alone.
Nearly at the end of my Chamber of Sorrows CD now, so I suppose I should call it a day.
[Oh look - it's a day!]

Kindablogging

The lovely Sarah is blogging :-)