The web site of the city of Paris is a very, very useful tool for discovering special events, information about tourist sites et cetera.
One useful thing in it is the map of the street market http://equipement.paris.fr/?tid=289
If you click on each market icon it brings you to the page with the information about the day of the week and the hours in which it is open.
(you can also read this ready-made blog post with more details on the same subject)
I find markets are one of the best ways to get to know a city, and this is particularly true for Paris. They are quite different from each other, often reflecting the life and people of the neighborhood they are found in.When I was looking for an apartment when I first arrived in Paris the street market was the first place I would visit while exploring a new neighborhood.
I guess I should add some pictures, as beautiful ones can be taken at markets.... that could be a good idea to feed a tumblr blog...
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Home made Paris guide, restaurants
for the restaurants, it depends a bit on your budget....
Here is a map I made: http://goo.gl/maps/oHkX
Parisian type, there is chez Prosper at Nation, a real bistro, no reservations taken, quick service, reliable staples from steak frites, anduillette, tartare, duck and huge salads.
Then there is Le Tambour, a leftover of the days when Les Halles was a bustling market that did business mainly at night, and so the restaurants nearby would be open all night. If I remember correctly the kitchen is open until 2 am after that you can order cold cuts and bread (and meet real interesting people...), until 6, then it's breakfast. Open all night from the old days, but completely different ambiance is the famous but a bit more fancy (they have oysters) Pied de Cochon just around the corner. Read Giovanni's room, by James Baldwin. Or "the Belly of paris" by Emile Zola.
Then near Odeon there is Polidor, a tall big lady with huge breasts used to be maitre there. This is the old parisian working class, cafeteria style, long tables, very good food, not expencive, they don't take credit cards.
Not too far from there (near the cafe Flore of st Germain), well, a 15 min walk at least, is Le Petit St Bernard, we call it the beuf bourgugnon place, bc it's one of their specialties. Also cheap and reliable like the one above, with lots of character, oh, and tables outside, on the same street very beautiful restaurants with art nouveau decorations etc. this is the heart of the intellectual st germain neighborhood (read Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir). Also nearby the national assembly, they say that the laws of the country are decided in these restaurants.
On the fancier side, in the bobo neighborhood of Faidherbe Chaligny, there is the classic Bistro Paul Bert (need to reserve there), I think I've had the best wine there ever, a bottle of Margaux that was to die for suggested by the waiter. Next to it they have their fish restaurant, much more expensive, so I have not tried it yet, but apparently very good.
A bit more expensive than the first set above but younger and a bit more experimental compared to the third, and very good, is L'Ebachoir (also in the same neighborhood). It's part of a wave of young restaurant owners opening up new restaurants in paris.
Finally, the classics:
Le Grand Colbert
2 Rue Vivienne
75002 Paris, France
01 42 86 87 88
legrandcolbert.fr
and the Cloiserie des Lilas, where Hemingway used to hang out (you have to read a movable feast), but at the time it was much cheaper I think, they have at least two options, restaurant (never been, too fancy) and brasserie, still expensive but not excessively.
La Closerie des Lilas
171 Boulevard du Montparnasse
75006 Paris, France
01 40 51 34 50
closeriedeslilas.fr
but when in paris you should probably also try cous cous, there are a few places on my list (chez Omar on rue de Bretagne or Clair de Lune near rue Montorgeuil).
ha ! a recent discovery, but not too cheap, depending how hungry you are, is le verre volé, near the canal st Martin, very nice wine selection, friendly staff...
anyway, as you can see the list in paris is long, there should be enough choices to keep you away from the many tourist traps,
asian food can also be very good, especially in belleville or in the 13th, and african food ! (near canal de l'ourq and boulevard jaurés, need to add it to my map) !
Here is a map I made: http://goo.gl/maps/oHkX
Parisian type, there is chez Prosper at Nation, a real bistro, no reservations taken, quick service, reliable staples from steak frites, anduillette, tartare, duck and huge salads.
Then there is Le Tambour, a leftover of the days when Les Halles was a bustling market that did business mainly at night, and so the restaurants nearby would be open all night. If I remember correctly the kitchen is open until 2 am after that you can order cold cuts and bread (and meet real interesting people...), until 6, then it's breakfast. Open all night from the old days, but completely different ambiance is the famous but a bit more fancy (they have oysters) Pied de Cochon just around the corner. Read Giovanni's room, by James Baldwin. Or "the Belly of paris" by Emile Zola.
Then near Odeon there is Polidor, a tall big lady with huge breasts used to be maitre there. This is the old parisian working class, cafeteria style, long tables, very good food, not expencive, they don't take credit cards.
Not too far from there (near the cafe Flore of st Germain), well, a 15 min walk at least, is Le Petit St Bernard, we call it the beuf bourgugnon place, bc it's one of their specialties. Also cheap and reliable like the one above, with lots of character, oh, and tables outside, on the same street very beautiful restaurants with art nouveau decorations etc. this is the heart of the intellectual st germain neighborhood (read Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir). Also nearby the national assembly, they say that the laws of the country are decided in these restaurants.
On the fancier side, in the bobo neighborhood of Faidherbe Chaligny, there is the classic Bistro Paul Bert (need to reserve there), I think I've had the best wine there ever, a bottle of Margaux that was to die for suggested by the waiter. Next to it they have their fish restaurant, much more expensive, so I have not tried it yet, but apparently very good.
A bit more expensive than the first set above but younger and a bit more experimental compared to the third, and very good, is L'Ebachoir (also in the same neighborhood). It's part of a wave of young restaurant owners opening up new restaurants in paris.
Finally, the classics:
Le Grand Colbert
2 Rue Vivienne
75002 Paris, France
01 42 86 87 88
legrandcolbert.fr
and the Cloiserie des Lilas, where Hemingway used to hang out (you have to read a movable feast), but at the time it was much cheaper I think, they have at least two options, restaurant (never been, too fancy) and brasserie, still expensive but not excessively.
La Closerie des Lilas
171 Boulevard du Montparnasse
75006 Paris, France
01 40 51 34 50
closeriedeslilas.fr
but when in paris you should probably also try cous cous, there are a few places on my list (chez Omar on rue de Bretagne or Clair de Lune near rue Montorgeuil).
ha ! a recent discovery, but not too cheap, depending how hungry you are, is le verre volé, near the canal st Martin, very nice wine selection, friendly staff...
anyway, as you can see the list in paris is long, there should be enough choices to keep you away from the many tourist traps,
asian food can also be very good, especially in belleville or in the 13th, and african food ! (near canal de l'ourq and boulevard jaurés, need to add it to my map) !
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Thursday, November 20, 2008
De vs Du, De la, Des - French Prepositions and Articles
De vs Du, De la, Des - French Prepositions and Articles
I recently read a book I enjoyed called The Elegance of the Hedgehog, (in french) and the lovely concierge there made me want to improve my french grammar. So today I have to send off a grant proposal, thankfully most of it can be written in english, but they do ask for a 5000 character abstract in french, and that's where the apple fell, as they say. My french grammar still needs work. One of the things I have a hard time with is the use of "de" and "des". Found this web site, that is very clear, but these rules are too long to remember. I've decided that for now I'll jus remember the use in the negative (always "de").....
I am getting a better hang of the accents, until now I have been depending on the spell checker, but I've recently realized that if I put them in myself (using a french keyboard) it actually goes faster. i still get a bunch worng, but it's improving.
Anyway, I have pulled an all nighter for this grant. Had not happened in years. But now I'm all woozy .... just waiting for my colleague to correct the abstract and then I'm off to dreamland.
I recently read a book I enjoyed called The Elegance of the Hedgehog, (in french) and the lovely concierge there made me want to improve my french grammar. So today I have to send off a grant proposal, thankfully most of it can be written in english, but they do ask for a 5000 character abstract in french, and that's where the apple fell, as they say. My french grammar still needs work. One of the things I have a hard time with is the use of "de" and "des". Found this web site, that is very clear, but these rules are too long to remember. I've decided that for now I'll jus remember the use in the negative (always "de").....
I am getting a better hang of the accents, until now I have been depending on the spell checker, but I've recently realized that if I put them in myself (using a french keyboard) it actually goes faster. i still get a bunch worng, but it's improving.
Anyway, I have pulled an all nighter for this grant. Had not happened in years. But now I'm all woozy .... just waiting for my colleague to correct the abstract and then I'm off to dreamland.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Paper Airplane Designs
Paper Airplane Designs
good summertime activity !
and here you can learn something about the physics of paper airplanes....
:-)
good summertime activity !
and here you can learn something about the physics of paper airplanes....
:-)
Saturday, July 12, 2008
creme fraiche and peanut butter
you know you've been long enough in the states when you start eating peanut butter from the jar, by the same token you know you've been long enough in france when you start eating crème fraiche in the same fashion .... getting there .... but not quite to the point of making butter and cheese sandwiches
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
trainspotting !
Gare SNCF, Trains à l'arrivée en gare de Paris Nord
fascinating.... you can look at any train station.... let your mind travel !!
fascinating.... you can look at any train station.... let your mind travel !!
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Brooks: Neural Buddhists - International Herald Tribune
Brooks: Neural Buddhists - International Herald Tribune
more about Buddhism, the brain, religion vs atheism, religion vs science
I'm torn, in a way I like the idea that we can control our brain to some extent
however I don't like the fact that these new studies could explain why we feel such a sense of wonder sometimes
it's like looking behind the curtain at oz
or when the magician tells you their trick
where did I hear this recently, we don't want to know the trick, we prefer being surprised and being in wonder every time, and try to imagine how it is done, but we don't want the solution
more about Buddhism, the brain, religion vs atheism, religion vs science
I'm torn, in a way I like the idea that we can control our brain to some extent
however I don't like the fact that these new studies could explain why we feel such a sense of wonder sometimes
it's like looking behind the curtain at oz
or when the magician tells you their trick
where did I hear this recently, we don't want to know the trick, we prefer being surprised and being in wonder every time, and try to imagine how it is done, but we don't want the solution
Sunday, May 11, 2008
active rewiring of the brain: actions and emotions
On the ted talks site there are sevral talks about the brain that I found very interesting, here's a sample. From the "tricks" that it plays on our perceptions (also this one on consciousness especially for the intro) because of its reliance on expectations from past experience due to its structural organization, (for that you might want to see Jeff Hawkins' talk (also see post on sine wave speech)), and how we can trick it by similar means during physical rehabilitation after a stroke or the loss of a limb (check this out if ever wondered about self awareness).
And speaking of self awareness, what happens when you lose it ?
Jill Bolte Taylor is a neuroscientist who has suffered a stroke, a hemorrage on the left side of the brain, and thus lost activity from her left side of the brain and she describes what that felt like. She describes is as the ultimate experiment for a neuroscientist, watch the brain as it misfunctions from the inside !! She can thus see the effects of disconnecting the left and right sides of the brain and she decribes what each side does. In the absence of activity from the left side of the brain she felt a connection to everything, she felt larger than her physical self. She decsribes it as a nirvana.
But then when you watch the talk by buddist monk Matthieu Ricard (described below) he shows recent results on MRI scans of buddist monks brains meditating on compassion and it is the left side of the brain that has a much higher level of activity compared to nonmeditating people..... the dalai lama talks about he importance of interconnectedness (see webcasts on his web site), but also on how it is important to know yourself, and that seems to be the job of the left side of the brain, so it seems to me that this means that you cannot have real compassion if you cannot put the interconnectedness from the right side of the brain in the context of your identity on the left side of your brain. (see here for an article based on the talk the dalai lama gave at the Society for Neroscience in 2005 and for further information on the scientific basis of the effects of meditation).
Christopher deCharms shows how new developments in brain imaging (MRI) has considerably increased the time resolution of imaging so that you can now follow the change in activity inside your brain as you think or move.... they have been using this for people suffering from chronic pain, to influence the dynamics of their own brain to control the perception of pain. The idea is that if you see a specific part of your brain lit up as a reaction to something you have done then you can repeat that action and recognize it and develop it, affecting the wiring in your brain. This is similar to how a violinist or an athlete by practice can rewire their brain for specific actions. And this practice we know does not necessarily need to be only physical, we can just think of the movements we need to make for our brain to learn them and reinforce their pattern and sequence to have a better coordination of all the motions necessary.
Something similar probably happens with our emotions.
Matthieu Ricard, a french buddist monk (formerly a molecular biologist), defines happiness and how we can work on our mind to control how much impact different emotions can have, and he describes some of the experiments that are now being done on "professional" meditators to measure how their brains are physically affected by their practice.
This is interesting because we often tend to give a lot of importance to our emotions, if I feel angry about this there must be a good reason for it and so I should act on it, and reinforce it in a feedback cycle by finding more reasons to support it. But we don't often stop to think of the validity of that emotion, its source. This can have detrimental effects on negative emotions such as anger, jealousy or depression, but also on positive emotions, where we go back and try to find reasons to validate those emotions so that we fall into illusions of happiness, we build a parallel universe where we don't see all that we don't want to see.
These seem to be innate instincts that are there because in the short term they may be very useful, but they have to be recognized as such.
In a future post I will develop more on the idea of how we can recognize the source of our emotional response and its dependence on our beliefs that were created by our culture, society and our environment (it's actually something my mother works on).
A lot of work has been done recently on how we make decisions (it is of interest for economists trying to make simulations of the market..), one interesting aspect of this work is that it suggests that we tend to validate our decision by discounting the alternative options as worse, we quickly convince ourselves that we made the right decision so that we stop wondering about it. There is still a lot of debate about this, but I think it is interesting that it is being studied. Related to this is the book Blink by malcolm gladwell for example.
And speaking of self awareness, what happens when you lose it ?
Jill Bolte Taylor is a neuroscientist who has suffered a stroke, a hemorrage on the left side of the brain, and thus lost activity from her left side of the brain and she describes what that felt like. She describes is as the ultimate experiment for a neuroscientist, watch the brain as it misfunctions from the inside !! She can thus see the effects of disconnecting the left and right sides of the brain and she decribes what each side does. In the absence of activity from the left side of the brain she felt a connection to everything, she felt larger than her physical self. She decsribes it as a nirvana.
But then when you watch the talk by buddist monk Matthieu Ricard (described below) he shows recent results on MRI scans of buddist monks brains meditating on compassion and it is the left side of the brain that has a much higher level of activity compared to nonmeditating people..... the dalai lama talks about he importance of interconnectedness (see webcasts on his web site), but also on how it is important to know yourself, and that seems to be the job of the left side of the brain, so it seems to me that this means that you cannot have real compassion if you cannot put the interconnectedness from the right side of the brain in the context of your identity on the left side of your brain. (see here for an article based on the talk the dalai lama gave at the Society for Neroscience in 2005 and for further information on the scientific basis of the effects of meditation).
Christopher deCharms shows how new developments in brain imaging (MRI) has considerably increased the time resolution of imaging so that you can now follow the change in activity inside your brain as you think or move.... they have been using this for people suffering from chronic pain, to influence the dynamics of their own brain to control the perception of pain. The idea is that if you see a specific part of your brain lit up as a reaction to something you have done then you can repeat that action and recognize it and develop it, affecting the wiring in your brain. This is similar to how a violinist or an athlete by practice can rewire their brain for specific actions. And this practice we know does not necessarily need to be only physical, we can just think of the movements we need to make for our brain to learn them and reinforce their pattern and sequence to have a better coordination of all the motions necessary.
Something similar probably happens with our emotions.
Matthieu Ricard, a french buddist monk (formerly a molecular biologist), defines happiness and how we can work on our mind to control how much impact different emotions can have, and he describes some of the experiments that are now being done on "professional" meditators to measure how their brains are physically affected by their practice.
This is interesting because we often tend to give a lot of importance to our emotions, if I feel angry about this there must be a good reason for it and so I should act on it, and reinforce it in a feedback cycle by finding more reasons to support it. But we don't often stop to think of the validity of that emotion, its source. This can have detrimental effects on negative emotions such as anger, jealousy or depression, but also on positive emotions, where we go back and try to find reasons to validate those emotions so that we fall into illusions of happiness, we build a parallel universe where we don't see all that we don't want to see.
These seem to be innate instincts that are there because in the short term they may be very useful, but they have to be recognized as such.
In a future post I will develop more on the idea of how we can recognize the source of our emotional response and its dependence on our beliefs that were created by our culture, society and our environment (it's actually something my mother works on).
A lot of work has been done recently on how we make decisions (it is of interest for economists trying to make simulations of the market..), one interesting aspect of this work is that it suggests that we tend to validate our decision by discounting the alternative options as worse, we quickly convince ourselves that we made the right decision so that we stop wondering about it. There is still a lot of debate about this, but I think it is interesting that it is being studied. Related to this is the book Blink by malcolm gladwell for example.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
Friday, January 18, 2008
Really cool, really simple experiment
what freezes first, hot or cold water ?
try this experiment at home
I would add some unstirred food coloring.....
SBE Activity
try this experiment at home
I would add some unstirred food coloring.....
SBE Activity
Thursday, January 17, 2008
John K. in Naples .... ?
this image comes from the cnn site. of course it is of naples. it reminds me of this book (link below). I wonder if there is a John Kaltenbrunner somewhere .... what if this was someone's subtle plan to undo camorra's hold on the region. However it does not seem to work, as I read in the editorial page of the IHT today.
Lord of the Barnyard : Killing the Fatted Calf and Arming the Aware in the Corn Belt: Books: Tristan Egolf
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Sine-wave speech demos
Sine-wave speech demos
ok, now, go to this web site, listen to the SWS file and see whatyou can understand, then listen to the original speech and then go back to the SWS .... remind you of anything ? could this explein why it's sometimes difficult to understand a foreign language ?
ok, now, go to this web site, listen to the SWS file and see whatyou can understand, then listen to the original speech and then go back to the SWS .... remind you of anything ? could this explein why it's sometimes difficult to understand a foreign language ?
Thursday, January 10, 2008
The Genographic Project
Tempting .... very tempting .... as any scientist will tell you the ultimate experiment is you.... so if you want to know the history in your DNA and take part in a real experiment here is your chance.... for just 99.95 US dollars :
How to Participate - The Genographic Project
How to Participate - The Genographic Project
Saturday, December 15, 2007
I made cookies
The recipes are from The Joy of Cooking. The "fourteen in one" recipe, the lemon poppyseed variation and the chocolate cinnamon one. The chocolate ones were made by the "squashed ball "method, it works very well. Just have to remember to flour the bottom of the glass everytime.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
what's your sequence ?
deCODEme
so, you ever wandered what your DNA sequence looked like ? for just under 1000 dollars you might just find out. not that it will reveal your future, maybe will give you some probabilities of some diseases, but most of the things that will happen to you will not be dictated by your DNA, at least not in simple uncomplex format as analyzed here. I wonder if they'll be able one day to add epigenetic data to the sequences. that might add an additional layer of information. and even then, I don't know if I would want to find out, would I become worried and paranoid if I knew I had a certain probability of having a disease ?
The thing I would be curious about would be to learn about the past. where did my ancestors come from ? I find journeys interesting. but I would not pay 1000 dollars for it.
There is an interesting discussion on the sciam web site about james watson's comments on race and intelligence. Is intelligence linked to our DNA ? which intelligence ? how do we measure intelligence ? is knowledge stored in DNA ? some of it....
so, you ever wandered what your DNA sequence looked like ? for just under 1000 dollars you might just find out. not that it will reveal your future, maybe will give you some probabilities of some diseases, but most of the things that will happen to you will not be dictated by your DNA, at least not in simple uncomplex format as analyzed here. I wonder if they'll be able one day to add epigenetic data to the sequences. that might add an additional layer of information. and even then, I don't know if I would want to find out, would I become worried and paranoid if I knew I had a certain probability of having a disease ?
The thing I would be curious about would be to learn about the past. where did my ancestors come from ? I find journeys interesting. but I would not pay 1000 dollars for it.
There is an interesting discussion on the sciam web site about james watson's comments on race and intelligence. Is intelligence linked to our DNA ? which intelligence ? how do we measure intelligence ? is knowledge stored in DNA ? some of it....
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