Catching a cab in Sydney last week, I was reminded of this one:
In India recently, I saw a sign that said ENGLISH SPEAKING TAXI DRIVER.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Catching taxis in Sydney
An old joke, but a relevant one...
Catching a cab in Sydney last week, I was reminded of this one:
In India recently, I saw a sign that said ENGLISH SPEAKING TAXI DRIVER.
I thought "What a f****ing great idea, why don't we have them in our country?"
Catching a cab in Sydney last week, I was reminded of this one:
In India recently, I saw a sign that said ENGLISH SPEAKING TAXI DRIVER.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
J’ai deux amours…..Mon pays et Paris. (Josephine Baker)
20 Things I do in Paris:
“In Paris they simply stared when I spoke to them in French; I never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language”.
(Mark Twain)
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| Eurostar arrival Gare du Nord |
1.Travelling to Paris
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| John Betjeman at St Pancras Station |
The only civilised way to travel to Paris these days is by Eurostar from St Pancras Station, London straight to the Gare du Nord. Instead of trekking out to Heathrow or Gatwick or London City (where there is no BA / Qantas lounge!) two hours before and sitting on plastic seats with screaming children and smelly backpackers... you trundle out to central London St Pancras Station, admire the post-modern take on Victorian railway architecture on steroids and soon you are sipping Ruinart bubbly out of Riedel glasses and nibbling on perfect poached eggs for only 45 minutes... (Not to mention no worries about the restrictions of carry-on luggage when Madame buys 14 pairs of shoes.)
Recommend starting off the trip in very festive fashion with breakfast in the Champagne Bar upstairs and admire the John Betjeman statue. Even if you're on expenses (yes, I do buy wholesale books in Paris) and you are travelling First Class, it's a good idea to be near the front of the pre-boarding queue, as there is only limited space for suitcases between the carriages. The overhead shelves are quite generous but too narrow and too high to pop your suitcase up there.
If you are lashing out on a premium ticket (and if you buy them well ahead they are almost affordable), you'll get an enjoyable lunch with unlimited petit bottles of vin while gazing at the really dreary NW France flat countryside mercifully flashing past at 200 km per hour.
Arriving at Gare du Nord is a piece of cake. Head straight for the taxi queue - which sometimes looks daunting, but moves quickly. No need to tip anyone looking after the queue, especially not the vagrants who offer to lift your luggage into the taxi. You're smack bang in the middle of Paris (rather than a camel ride from Charles de Gaulle airport) and your Parisian taxi driver will happily show off his stock car racing skills en route to the Rive Gauche hotel...
Have always stayed here since my cousins Jackie & Angela recommended it while I was still young... Even the loo has a view of Notre Dame Cathedral across le Petit Pont right outside the front door. As Elizabeth once said, "You can tick off the number 1 on your tourist list before you've even brushed your teeth", let alone had your breakfast croissant dipped in chocolat chaud in the first floor foyer or across the road with the tourist horde. Apparently, the hotel has been refurbished chapeau to toe in Christian Lacroix designer style (floor to ceiling image wallpaper on what used to be charming crumbling plaster and dark beam walls, etc). I daresay the rates have gone up to match. Small rooms: Ask for the ones on the corner overlooking Notre Dame, but at least second floor to avoid the traffic noise. It has one of those tiny Parisian lifts of which it is said that if you share it with an attractive stranger you will be engaged by the time you reach the third floor.
UPDATE: Pictures of the Christian Lacroix interior revamp and NO the prices have not increased!
UPDATE: Pictures of the Christian Lacroix interior revamp and NO the prices have not increased!
3. Buy Books
Gibert Jeune has wonderful multi-storey bookshops around Boulevard St Michel. They stock new books, university texts for the nearby Sorbonne, remainders and secondhand books (Livres d'Occasion). I brush up my three day stubble and wear my totally illegitimate Cambridge Half Blue scarf wrapped nonchalantly around my shoulders to blend while I browse in the Left Bank retail shops. For my serious professional buying I deal with their no nonsense Wholesale Department (on the Right Bank), run by a most elegant and charmant boulevardier who convincingly pretends not to speak a word of English.
4. Inhale 'Shakespeare & Co.'
167 steps along the banks of the Seine from the hotel's front door is one of the most famous bookshops in the world.
Established in 1919 by Sylvia Beach and still has the aura of Ezra Pound, Ernest Hemingway and James Joyce in the very dust on its shelves. George Whitman and now his daughter Sylvia have run it since 1951.The yuppie Americans working the front counter are irritating, but the atmosphere makes my bookseller's heart skip a syncopated beat. Not actually a great bookshop, but one without my Paris trip is not complete. If only Australian Health & Safety and Fire laws would allow us to put in wobbly staircases and dead-end corridors with no space to turn around, we could make Elizabeth's Bookshops almost as quaint and interesting!
5. Lunch at Musee d'Orsay
Along the Left Bank of the Seine (opposite the Louvre) is the converted railway station that is now the very stylish Musee d'Orsay.
The former First Class waiting room has been transformed into the museum cafetaria / restaurant, where you can get a very affordable Plat du Jour and a house wine while sitting underneath a breathtaking roccoco ceiling of gilded cherubs and massive chandeliers.
The permanent and temporary exhibitions are fascinating and the size of the place is managable for travellers with limited attention spans.
6. Musee de l'Armee: the Napoleonic exhibitions
I have been a Napoleon addict since my first visit to the Hotel des Invalides in 1975. (Elizabeth stayed in the car and just about froze to death.) Things have changed in the galleries: The Napoleon salle was closed for several years (apparently reopened in March this year), the wonderful relief battle dioramas have disappeared (with all their thousands of tiny model soldiers), but it is still high on the list of every Bonaparte fan in the world. See the stool on which he sat his painful fat bottom at Waterloo... See the stuffed remains of his favourite charger... Admire the splendid uniforms of the Old Guard... Vive l'Empereur!
There are several other galleries in the museum, including an exhibition that shows that it was really de Gaulle and the French that won World War II. Virtually on their own. Allons enfants and all that. Note: Nearest parking is a bit of a walk; there are a couple of semi-decent places to lunch in what is a fairly dreary neighbourhood. Cab rank: Out the Napoleon's Tomb entrance, turn left, walk about 150 metres.
7. Degustation
6. Musee de l'Armee: the Napoleonic exhibitions
There are several other galleries in the museum, including an exhibition that shows that it was really de Gaulle and the French that won World War II. Virtually on their own. Allons enfants and all that. Note: Nearest parking is a bit of a walk; there are a couple of semi-decent places to lunch in what is a fairly dreary neighbourhood. Cab rank: Out the Napoleon's Tomb entrance, turn left, walk about 150 metres.
7. Degustation
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| Brasserie Bofinger, 3 Rue de la Bastille |
If you're a browser of foodie websites, you will already know that we poor occasional tourist visitors to Paris haven't got a hope in Hades of gourmanding in the places where serious gourmets discuss Michelin stars the way you and I might chat about Ricky Ponting...
We accept the fact that waiters snigger behind our backs and swap Rhone for Chablis just to watch our faces, but hey, we may have just lost the Ashes (again) but not our sense of humour and the Aussie dollar is kicking arse with the Euro First XI.
So my little selection of (mostly Left Bank) restaurants in Paris is not likely to make it into Gourmet Traveller, and they are heavily weighted towards crawling distance from the hotel, but it works for me:
Brasserie Bofinger (3 rue de la Bastille 75004 Paris , actually just off the Place de la Bastille. Right Bank, but only 20 minutes walk from Notre Dame) Great atmosphere, Art Deco. Perfect introduction to the iconic brasseries of Paris. Staff are very welcoming and helpful with our broken francais. My favourite: the snails (even if they occasionally jump three tables when you try to grasp them with the snail implement). Definitely book ahead and don't accept the upstairs room: You want to be in the ground floor room on the left at the back with banquette seating and the domed ceiling.
Ribouldingue (10 rue St-Julien le Pauvre. 2 minutes from Hotel Notre Dame past Shakespeare & Co in the next little square.) Specializes in amazing offal (which, I know, isn't to everyone's taste). Michelin Guide likes it and they only seem to have about 10 tables, so pop in book a table during the afternoon for an evening meal.
Allard (41 rue Saint-Andre-des-Arts, St Germain des Pres) Great atmosphere, lovely atmosphere. On your way home you can grab a crepe with Nutella.
Le Reminet ( 3 rue des Grands Degres) Forget this one. Changed owners. Zagat crucified it.
Guy Savoy (Right Bank: 18, rue Troyon, Batignolles-Monceau) 3 Michelin stars says it all. Special lunch menu available. Suggest you book online and well ahead. Do you know a black American Express card looks really funny when it's melted?
Les Bouquinistes (Left Bank, Saint Michel / St Germain: 53 Quai des grands Augustins) One of Guy Savoy's restaurants, but a lot cheaper than the flagship establishment. On a small side street just off the seine. Snooty "too cool for school" staff, but delicious and elegant food. 30 euro lunch menu.
Relais Louis XIII (Left Bank, St Germain: 8 rue des Grands Augustins) 2 Michelin stars, excellent set lunch menu. Amazing foie gras.
Jacques Cagna (Left Bank, Saint Michel / St Germain: 14 rue Grands Augustine) 1 Michelin star, cheaper than Relais Louis, great frog's legs.
And a few others: La Rotisserie d'en Face (another Jacques Cagna project nearby at 2 rue Christine); Le Timbre ( 3 rue Sainte-Beuve) really tiny place, so you need luck to get in to taste British chef's slant on french food); Helene Darroze - La Salle a Manger (4 rue d'Assas) Unusually for France, a celebrity lady chef...
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| Place des Vosges |
8. Go gay. Go to Le Marais
17th century Paris (originally built on a swamp), with narrow streets, the breathtakingly beautiful Place des Vosges, funky boutiques along Rue des Francs Bourgeois, really cool bars and
more beautiful men than Oxford Street, Sydney.
From the hotel, cross the bridges over the Seine and walk directly north.
As the blokes start looking better than the women (quite an achievement in Paris), you know you are approaching one of the Gay centres of the universe.
In the adjacent, more downmarket, more student / affordable but also and more downright nastily tourissimo Beaubourg area, there is the Pompidou Centre with visual arts display etc inside a glass and steel structure that looks like its wearing its underpants and intestines on the outside of its trousers. (No, I don't like the Lloyds building in London either). I am told that it is cutting edge and the hottest thing in modern art. Hmm, give me the Place des Vosges anytime.
There are some great little short-let bedsitter apartments available in the area as well as pretty and gay-friendly (OK: gay / lesbian / transexual - friendly) hotels, but these are not generally all that cheap compared to the Left Bank.
9. Louvre, Jardin des Tuileries, Musee de l'Orangerie
10. Notre Dame cathedral and Ile St Louis
11. Batobus to the Eiffel Tower
12. Montmartre and the Sacre Coeur
13. Shopping at Galeries Lafayette, the Left and Right Banks
14. Champs Elysees and l'Arc de Triomphe
9. Louvre, Jardin des Tuileries, Musee de l'Orangerie
10. Notre Dame cathedral and Ile St Louis
11. Batobus to the Eiffel Tower
12. Montmartre and the Sacre Coeur
13. Shopping at Galeries Lafayette, the Left and Right Banks
14. Champs Elysees and l'Arc de Triomphe
TO BE CONTINUED....
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Flying Kangaroo Shrugs Off A380 glitches and wins Plastic Knife Award
Plastic Knives are all that prevents Qantas from being the World's No.1 Terrorist Airline
Forget A380 engines blowing themselves to smithereens and scaring the nasi gorengs out of Indonesian villagers....
To celebrate the 90th Birthday of the Flying Kangaroo, Qantas has just earned the most prized of airline commendations, as voted by the Terrorists of the World Academy: The Utterly Useless Plastic Knife Award.
14 of the 573 accredited Terrorists polled by the News of the World agreed that the only thing missing from their view of a perfect 'preferred airline' was Qantas' insistence on using up the 562 million plastic knives they bought at the height of the post 9/11 scare.
"Without that truly unique anachronism", said El-Khaib Ben Dingbat from his hide-away in the airconditioning ducts of the Jupiter Casino, Queensland, "all self-respecting terrorists would be Qantas Platinum Frequent Flyers."
A Qantas spokesman denied that being the only airline that still insisted on using plastic knives gave them an unfair advantage over competitors.
"As you can see from our recent $12 million dollar fine convictions for engaging in cartel activities in Europe, we take our corporate ethics very seriously. Plastic knives are an integral part of that integrity."
Terrorists interviewed also nominated Neil Perry, the Kangaroo Iron Chef-in-Chief, as their favourite inflight caterer: "Nothing reminds us more of the smell of 100 year old camel hide than the beef served up on Qantas flights. It makes us feel at home. We pray to Allah for his eternal life" was a common comment from Frequent Flyers based in the Middle East.
Qantas modestly acknowledged its favourite status amongst Terrorist Frequent Flyers and promised to continue to be the only major international airline to issue only plastic knives. Or at least for as long as 52 million of them last:
"Quite frankly, if we used metal knives like our One World partners such as British Airways and Cathay Pacific, our customers would try to eat the Qantas inflight food and we would never see them again."
UPDATE: Metal knives sighted in the Business Lounge of the Qantas Club, Sydney Airport! (But not in Perth, or on the planes.)
Qantas agrees plastic knives are pointless...
Forget A380 engines blowing themselves to smithereens and scaring the nasi gorengs out of Indonesian villagers....
To celebrate the 90th Birthday of the Flying Kangaroo, Qantas has just earned the most prized of airline commendations, as voted by the Terrorists of the World Academy: The Utterly Useless Plastic Knife Award.
14 of the 573 accredited Terrorists polled by the News of the World agreed that the only thing missing from their view of a perfect 'preferred airline' was Qantas' insistence on using up the 562 million plastic knives they bought at the height of the post 9/11 scare.
"Without that truly unique anachronism", said El-Khaib Ben Dingbat from his hide-away in the airconditioning ducts of the Jupiter Casino, Queensland, "all self-respecting terrorists would be Qantas Platinum Frequent Flyers."
A Qantas spokesman denied that being the only airline that still insisted on using plastic knives gave them an unfair advantage over competitors.
"As you can see from our recent $12 million dollar fine convictions for engaging in cartel activities in Europe, we take our corporate ethics very seriously. Plastic knives are an integral part of that integrity."
Terrorists interviewed also nominated Neil Perry, the Kangaroo Iron Chef-in-Chief, as their favourite inflight caterer: "Nothing reminds us more of the smell of 100 year old camel hide than the beef served up on Qantas flights. It makes us feel at home. We pray to Allah for his eternal life" was a common comment from Frequent Flyers based in the Middle East.
Qantas modestly acknowledged its favourite status amongst Terrorist Frequent Flyers and promised to continue to be the only major international airline to issue only plastic knives. Or at least for as long as 52 million of them last:
"Quite frankly, if we used metal knives like our One World partners such as British Airways and Cathay Pacific, our customers would try to eat the Qantas inflight food and we would never see them again."
UPDATE: Metal knives sighted in the Business Lounge of the Qantas Club, Sydney Airport! (But not in Perth, or on the planes.)
Qantas agrees plastic knives are pointless...
We're up and running...
Elizabeth’s launches new Website!
Elizabeth’s Bookshops have launched a new website: Updated with hundreds of new titles, easier browsing, opportunities to receive discount coupons and lots of other goodies…
After 5 years, our website was due for an overhaul and, thanks to our friends at PerthWeb, it has been updated from top to bottom.
Registering as a customer allows you to track your purchases and qualifies you for Loyalty Rewards and Discount Coupons.
We have even introduced FREE POSTAGE for Registered Customers on Australian orders over $49.00, which saves you (on average) a further 20% on purchases.
Go to elizabethsbookshop.com.au
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Chilling Out in Castle Combe
England's "England's Prettiest Village" (even when Spielberg is in town)
Spielberg in Castle Combe
Very cool guys in battle jackets with lightmeters on cords around their necks.
Played with my new digital camera (no idea what to do), but came up with a couple of passable shots:
Stayed in a nice pub. (I think there are three in the village itself, including the Manor) and a couple on the fringes:
Location: *****(You can't get better in the village, unless you stay at the seriously exxy Manor)
Room: ***
Ambience: ****(Nice Disneyland Olde English)
Staff: **** (Very friendly)
Parking: * (but I was lucky and parked right outside)
Value for money: ***
Meals: **(Bit hohum pub food+)
Bar: ** (Looks nice, but no atmosphere)
Hint: Book (especially in filming season)
Curiosity: The eastern european waiter
Comment: Many of the people staying at the posh Manor House Hotel next door come here for dinner
Other info: Four poster beds apparently available
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Are you a Frequent Flyer Points Junkie like me?
How to play the Frequent Flyer Points Game
Best FF points credit cards
So what are you reading at the moment?
Booksellers’ Bedside Table Books…
As booksellers, we are frequently asked “What are you reading at the moment?”
Well, here are the books currently piled up at the bedside:
HARRY’S BOOKS
John le Carre: Our Kind of Traitor
le Carre has made the post Cold War espionage genre his own, although I confess a secret hankering for the days when we all knew, albeit cynically, who were the Goodies and who were the Baddies. le Carre always pushes the boundaries of his writing, not content to rest on the laurels of the style of his previous bestsellers. ♥♥♥♥ Guardian review
Stephen Fry: The Fry Chronicles
Fry has a wonderfully elegant, self-consciously crafted style that is not necessarily to everyone’s taste. I enjoy the style more than the subject matter. He wants to be a 21st Century Oscar Wilde and is making good progress. Nevertheless, I can’t help thinking that sometimes he comes across as a poor man’s Clive James – who is a funnier writer. ♥♥♥ Guardian Review
Hans Fallada: Alone in Berlin
I enjoy just about everything set in Berlin, which is one of my favourite cities. Add to that the Nazi Third Reich dimension, with intriguing detail based on sound historical research and I’m hooked. Read it in one go on a Perth – Sydney flight last week. Not a Great Novel but a very enjoyable one. ♥♥♥ Review
Clive James: Cultural Amnesia. Notes in the margin of my time
I’m on page 527. 352 pages to go… I can only manage about 30 pages at a time because of the unbelievable density of the prose and the richness of its wealth of cultural references. It’s a book you need to read with a pencil to hand (so you can remind yourself of all the things you need to check out before you fully appreciate what James is talking about.) I love it, but 75% of the time it makes me feel like an uneducated hick. ♥♥♥♥♥ Review
Stieg Larsson: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (Milennium III)
I devoured it, cover to cover until 3:30 in the morning. Totally addictive stuff. (And a lot easier to consume than the movies which – however enjoyable – seem to think that we can read white sub-titles on a background of lots of Scandinavian snow-filled scenery.) Kinky and tightly plotted.
♥♥♥♥ Review
Well, here are the books currently piled up at the bedside:
HARRY’S BOOKS
John le Carre: Our Kind of Traitor
le Carre has made the post Cold War espionage genre his own, although I confess a secret hankering for the days when we all knew, albeit cynically, who were the Goodies and who were the Baddies. le Carre always pushes the boundaries of his writing, not content to rest on the laurels of the style of his previous bestsellers. ♥♥♥♥ Guardian review
Stephen Fry: The Fry Chronicles
Fry has a wonderfully elegant, self-consciously crafted style that is not necessarily to everyone’s taste. I enjoy the style more than the subject matter. He wants to be a 21st Century Oscar Wilde and is making good progress. Nevertheless, I can’t help thinking that sometimes he comes across as a poor man’s Clive James – who is a funnier writer. ♥♥♥ Guardian Review
Hans Fallada: Alone in Berlin
I enjoy just about everything set in Berlin, which is one of my favourite cities. Add to that the Nazi Third Reich dimension, with intriguing detail based on sound historical research and I’m hooked. Read it in one go on a Perth – Sydney flight last week. Not a Great Novel but a very enjoyable one. ♥♥♥ Review
Clive James: Cultural Amnesia. Notes in the margin of my time
I’m on page 527. 352 pages to go… I can only manage about 30 pages at a time because of the unbelievable density of the prose and the richness of its wealth of cultural references. It’s a book you need to read with a pencil to hand (so you can remind yourself of all the things you need to check out before you fully appreciate what James is talking about.) I love it, but 75% of the time it makes me feel like an uneducated hick. ♥♥♥♥♥ Review
Stieg Larsson: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (Milennium III)
I devoured it, cover to cover until 3:30 in the morning. Totally addictive stuff. (And a lot easier to consume than the movies which – however enjoyable – seem to think that we can read white sub-titles on a background of lots of Scandinavian snow-filled scenery.) Kinky and tightly plotted.
♥♥♥♥ Review
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Team Saab off to Winning Start to the Season
Freshie Opening Day
Saturday 16th October, Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club Opening Day
Elizabeth's Bookshops' boat 'Team SAAB' (with white spinnaker) in front of 'Grand Prix' and 'By and Large' after rounding Bricklanding buoys the first time and heading for Dolphin West. 'Team SAAB' R5 (Harry Schmitz and Gordon Lucas) were first across the line at the finish.
After a very unpromising lack of wind earlier in the afternoon, the vacillating SSEasterly finally gave way to light to moderate sea breeze.. A shortened course saw boats finish early to enjoy very pleasant Freshie post-race festivities on the lawn.
Monday, October 11, 2010
A Few Useful Links
They mention corporate discounts for any "registered business", so may be worth checking out:
http://www.corporatetraveller.com.au/specials/international-airfares/
http://www.corporatetraveller.com.au/specials/international-hotels/
http://www.corporatetraveller.com.au/specials/international-airfares/
http://www.corporatetraveller.com.au/specials/international-hotels/
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