Dubai, a modern miracle

DUBAI (AIRPORT)
Dubai (and its airport) seems like an improbable place, rising up out of the desert sands. Seems like a fairytale place—wave the wand (of money, of oil) and a city develops. It’s hot, dry and dusty, and frequently a thick heat and dust haze obscures the horizon. But amazingly, this small area has carved [...]

Read Full Post »

Flying Emirates

(I’m using a VERY slow phone modem and can’t post any pics from China—will do so when we get back to Paris)
CARING FOR CUSTOMERS
In many places in Paris we see ads for Emirates Airlines, especially in sports shops, as Emirates sponsor many sporting events, notably the World Cup Rugby on in France now. “Fly Emirates” [...]

Read Full Post »

Off to China

This will just be a short note, to tell you all that Rod and I are leaving today (September 9) for a trip to China and will return to Paris on September 28. Rod has 3 conferences in China: in Hangzhou, then in Beijing, and lastly in Kunming—so we’ll be travelling to a number of [...]

Read Full Post »

Fairytale Dreamland in Luxembourg Gardens

Paris is still a city of art and artists (among other things!) and there are many galeries, special exhibits, artists’ days, visits to artists’ studios etc. It’s hard to know which one to visit if you’re not up in the art world (like me). I happened on this special exhibition at the Orangerie in the [...]

Read Full Post »

Noting My Namesake

‘GALERIE VIVIENNE’
At the time of their construction, the early19th century Parisian shopping arcades or streets (known as ‘galeries’ or ‘passages’) represented a new traffic-free area for commerce, workshops and apartments. More than 200 of these covered shopping streets once criss-crossed Paris, providing much needed shelter from the rain. They fell into disuse but were dramatically [...]

Read Full Post »