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Health Care for All
By Karen FawcettLast Updated ( Sunday, 29 March 2009 )
One of President Barack Obama’s goals is to make health insurance affordable and accessible to all Americans by utilizing the current healthcare system. This would include using existing providers and insurance plans. Being a French resident has increased my awareness that medicine in France is a whole lot cheaper than in the U.S. A consultation with an internist costs 22 euros. And French healthcare is excellent. You can’t help but wonder if there will ever be parity.
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Hotel Reservations Made Easy
By BP EditorLast Updated ( Sunday, 19 October 2008 )
Booking.com, part of Priceline.com is Europe’s leading online hotel reservations agency by room nights sold, attracting over 20 million unique visitors each month via the Internet from both leisure and business markets worldwide.For more good deals -- check out our Bonjour Paris Marketplace
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Paris Restaurants
PREMIUMCultural Differences – Italy, US and France
By John TalbottLast Updated ( Friday, 03 July 2009 )
I’ll continue the theme I started last week by moving to Italy where I’m lucky enough to visit once or twice a year. I’m always struck by the cultural differences on setting foot inside the boot.
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French Wine
PREMIUMDownsizing Your Wine Budget
By Bill ShepardLast Updated ( Friday, 03 July 2009 )
One reads a lot about the “new normal” in spending patterns during this recession. It seems that most people have taken a good look at what seemed to be indispensable, from designer coffee to dinners out, and then cut back. Savings are in: credit card spending is out (at least temporarily). Many have said that they will not go back to old spending patterns when good times resume.
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Tour France
PREMIUM2009 Tour de French Cuisine
By Claudine Hemingway KnappLast Updated ( Friday, 03 July 2009 )
With a little more then 24 hours until the start of the 2009 Tour de France, there are many things to still get done before we start the 2009 Tour de French Cuisine.
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A Newly-released Novel and an Interview with the Author
By Mj RoeLast Updated ( Thursday, 02 July 2009 )
It is rare to come across a novel that is so compelling and creatively developed that you wonder how the author conceived such a powerful idea. Mj Roë’s The Seven Turns of the Snail’s Shell is one of these books. Princess Diana has been killed in a terrible crash…or has she? From this question evolves an intricate story of unrequited love, deception, murder, and intrigue. The novel opens in Paris, revealed to us in all its beauty and its flaws.
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Paris Restaurants
PREMIUMFerran Adria in concert & Romantica Caffé BUZZ
By Margaret KempLast Updated ( Saturday, 27 June 2009 )
French composer Bruno Mantovani's a lucky man. First he snagged a table at El Bulli which as you know is lucking-out big time. The moment the first dish hit his palate, Mantovani's brain exploded in a way he could only describe as pure music, read seriously avant garde. Not unusual, the 34 year old Mantovani is a talented musician/composer who studied at the Paris Conservatoire and has already worked with the greats.
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From Sow's Ear to Silk Purse
By Cynthia David PriceLast Updated ( Saturday, 27 June 2009 )
Seventeen years ago we decided to move to France, which was a reasonable enough decision considering Cynthia's ex had married a lovely French girl and wanted to take the kids to France with them, and the kids had said yes, but only if "mom and David can go."
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President Sarkozy makes a Bold Move that may have Negative Ramifications
By Karen FawcettLast Updated ( Saturday, 27 June 2009 )
France’s President Sarkozy recently addressed a hotly contested social issue about whether or not Muslim women should be permitted to wear the traditional burqa that totally cloaks her body and essentially all of her face. His answer is no.
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Paris Restaurants
PREMIUMCultural differences – US and France
By John TalbottLast Updated ( Saturday, 27 June 2009 )
While there have been whole books written about cultural differences, most of my bicontinental friends regard them with scorn. It’s all too easy to mistake bustling brasserie waiters as brusque deliverers of food and long pauses after finishing dessert and coffee as inattentive service lapses but in this and succeeding essays, I’ll try to single out some of the things that strike me as interestingly different rather than misperceived attitudes.
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Paris Restaurants
PREMIUMVin Chai Moi, Bistrot de l'Avenue & Chalet des Iles BUZZ
By Margaret KempLast Updated ( Saturday, 27 June 2009 )
Luc Menier, former Guy Savoy Chef Sommelier, created his lovely 20-seater bistro/wine bar in the unlovely rue de Chine 20th. Food, served from the tiny open kitchen was excellent and, obviously, there were lots of surprises coté vins. Obscure cocktails, few could guess the ingredients, a wine list worthy of an ex-Savoy (Grand Cascade, Jules Verne, Ritz, London etc. sommelier).
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Tour France
PREMIUMThe Veyzere Valley
By Arnie GreenbergLast Updated ( Saturday, 27 June 2009 )
For those of you who want to glimpse the past, I recommend the valley of the Veysere River. Here the spectacular rock formations, the ancient caves and preserved cave drawings will inspire you to see more.
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Sarkozy’s New Vision for Paris — Is it Yours?
By Karen FawcettLast Updated ( Saturday, 27 June 2009 )
Here comes French President Sarkozy heralding massive plans to construct a “Greater Paris.” His goal is to link the central city with the outskirts, where there has been incidents of civil unrest in recent years. During a nine-month-long competition, prestigious architects from around the world came up with ten presentations.
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"All Right?"
By Elias JabbeLast Updated ( Friday, 03 July 2009 )
Travel always brings opportunities to escape your reality...and feel clueless. Part of the appeal of going to a new place is the unpredictability of the environment. The feeling of being somewhere that challenges and surprises you is priceless and hard to reproduce. The standard patterns of life in your usual setting are replaced by immense curiosity and cluelessness. 'What lies around the corner?' and ‘Will the locals be able to give me directions?' Let alone, ‘Will they be able to understand my questions when I ask for directions and speak their language in my broken accent?'
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Liberté, Egalité ...
By Cathy FiorelloLast Updated ( Wednesday, 01 July 2009 )
…and, most important, Fraternité, in San Francisco’s renowned French Quarter. If you’re thinking it’s too early to make a reservation for Bastille Day at one of the cafés or bistros on Belden Place and the surrounding French-flavored areas— trust me, it’s not.
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Dresden
By Jean and Peter RichardsLast Updated ( Wednesday, 01 July 2009 )
It’s been 64 years and Dresden is still rising from the ashes of the Allied bombing that obliterated its core in February 1945. Buildings have vanished and people still leave to find work, but Dresden’s treasure has returned and what treasure it is.
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Ordering the Cheapest Wine on the Menu
By John TalbottLast Updated ( Saturday, 27 June 2009 )
With the turndown in the global economy, there have been news reports that people are both eating out less and cutting back on some items when they do eat out, for instance bottled water, expensive wine and dishes with supplemental charges. But long before that, I was dealing with cheapo wines.
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La Reserve Ramatuelle, Obamas' Eats & Les Crayeres Buzz
By Margaret KempLast Updated ( Monday, 15 June 2009 )
Picture an unspoilt hilltop village called Ramatuelle, close enough to Saint Tropez to park the mega-yacht, far enough from the madding crowd to zen out when you want. Add a new Jean Wilmotte designed resort and spa, Les Villas de la Reserve Ramatuelle, just 2km from Pampelonne plage, awaits. Heaven or what?
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The Obama Family Comes to France
By Karen FawcettLast Updated ( Saturday, 13 June 2009 )
Eighty million people can’t be wrong since that's how many came to France last year. And France must be doing something right. According to the French Ministry of the Economy, the country leads the world in attracting foreigner visitors. Some people may simply be passing through on the way to final destinations because of France's central European location and airlines using Paris as a hub. But many people stay.
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Are you ready for the Tour de France?
By Claudine KnappLast Updated ( Saturday, 13 June 2009 )
It is less than a month away, to that great holiday that is known as the Tour de France. Well maybe it is just a holiday in my house. It only happens once a year and is said to be the largest and most difficult sporting event in the world. What other sporting event can you stand on the side of the road and see some of the fittest athletes’ race by you so close you can touch them, and do this for free. Twenty one days of grueling and amazing stages that run all over France and then ends on the Champs Elysees. But this is much more than a bike race and watching guys ride around on their bikes and a lot of people don’t really understand it, or my fascination with it. I have to admit that I first watched it years ago quite by accident.
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PARIS NEWS
- Armstrong back on Tour
San Antonio Express
With the Tour de France starting here Saturday, there could have only been one reason for the comically chaotic scene. While this Mediterranean tax haven ...
and more »
University of Arizona News (press release)Regents' Professor Emeritus Robert H. Colescott Dies at 83
University of Arizona News (press release)
"It's because we are still living in the throes of the events in world history and American history and in art history that are the recurrent themes in ...
and more »- ALGERIAN SINGER MAMI GETS FIVE YEAR SENTENCE
Contactmusic.com
Mami was taken into custody by officials at a Paris, France airport as he arrived into the country from Algeria on Monday (29Jun09) to face trial for the ...
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Recent Comments of Stories
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Top 10 contributors of Stories
- Margaret Kemp (339)
- Karen Fawcett (250)
- John Talbott (175)
- BP Editor (140)
- Arnie Greenberg (129)
- Louis Borgenicht (81)
- Bill Shepard (71)
- Robert Korengold (70)
- Daniele Hawkins (66)
- Joseph Lestrange (56)
