Now you can cross the street anywhere in Paris......................HA!

Charles Bremner, my favorite London Times Reporter from Paris, wrote this this morning..................................................

"If you have ever tried to use a pedestrian crossing in France, you know that cars don't stop -- no more than they do in Russia or other third world countries. The pedestrian is an inferior creature who deserves to be crushed. This reality has rather softened the impact of a revolution that was announced by President Sarkozy's government this week. Henceforward, all drivers in France must give way to anyone who crosses the road even if it they are not on a pedestrian crossing. Failure to stop will cost an automatic 135 euro fine and four points from the 12-point driving licence.This is a classic case of Gallic practice prevailing over theory. Even before this week's decree, the highway code said that French drivers must yield to anyone using a pedestrian crossing. Very few drivers, at least in the cities, have obeyed unless there were traffic lights denoting pedestrian priority. So the idea of making everyone everywhere stop for pedestrians has been greeted as a joke. "I'd like to see the first person try to walk across the Place de l'Etoile," said a news presenter on RTL radio. He was referring to the homicidal traffic circus around the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
There are a couple of qualifications to the new rule. A pedestrian does not have priority over the traffic if there is an official pedestrian crossing within 50 metres. The walker must also show "a clear intention to cross". This is defined as "an ostensible step forward or a hand gesture". This will be quite a novelty because hand gestures on French traffic are usually applied after the event not before.The new rules stem from the noble intention of taming French traffic. Another new regulation will enable cyclists to turn right at a red light if the intersection carries a special sign. Again, this will have little impact since few cyclists in Paris stop at red lights, whether turning right or left or going straight ahead. I know, because I am one of them".

La Maison d’Elise – A restaurant to Satisfy Both the Spiritual and Secular ( Le Mans)

On my recent visit to France, I stayed in the Loir Valley (not to be confused with the Loire Valley – although they are only 1 hour apart and easily visited) during my stay at a 400 year old Chateaux hosted by owners the Count and Countess Vassay ( Guy and Marni to their guests, please!), Marni suggested ( as she knows I live for great food) to spend the day in nearby Le Mans, visiting this famous Plantagenet city and then having lunch at the charming La Maison d’Elise.

The outlaying area of this large city, is somewhat grey , dull and modern, but at it’s center is the old city and here ( where Henri II of England was born and Richard the Lionhearted lived) one finds oneself entering a time tunnel with a myriad of streets each with houses with magnificent stone or wood carvings. This Plantagenet city serves as a stage set for numerous films such as the Man In The Iron Mask, The Three Musketeers and basically any film taking place in Paris of the XIVth to XVIII centuries. Walking the streets, makes you want to don a cape and sword. It’s quite magical. At its center is the Cathedral St Julien with the oldest stain glass window of the Ascension. Although I must admit that Churches and Cathedrals are not a major sightseeing activity for me, I must also admit that St Julien is quite over-powering. After spending a couple of hours it this remarkable and captivating old city and Yes, even its churches, I was ready to have an over-the-top lunch and what better place, that a cozy restaurant right next door to the cathedral.

The restaurant is La Maison d’Elise is housed in a former 18th-century mansion. Hosted by chef, Jean-Yves HERMAN, you are in for a treat. I had a lunch based on fish alone, in many courses and each course topped the previous one. I love a cozy restaurant, with tables spaced nicely apart, of starched table cloths and heavy silverware and sparking glasses and fresh cut fresh flowers on the table and of course- perfect service.
And may I add, a fantastic Lunch for only Euro 29!!

                                                                            My table- #11

London's new Pedi-bus Tours

Having just returned from a wonderful trip to the French Loire and Eure-et-Loir valley and then on to London for a few days, I will report more in detail on my trip, but I want to advise you of a new and fun way to tour the city. It's by a Pedibus ( see below). I did not take one (to much exercise for moi!)  but saw plenty of them all around the city. They have theme tours, like  a pub crawl or market tour. 

With a seating configuration similar to that of a dinner table, The Pedibus is the most fun and sociable way to cycle, chat and hang out with friends or people you have just met.