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Nuit Blanche -- White Night

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An excuse to stay up all night sponsored by the City of Paris. We don't actually understand French modern art.  Or maybe we don't understand anyone's modern art... One night a year the city of Paris runs the event called Nuit Blanche,  which I (Tom) attended 12 years ago and we've been looking forward to since before we arrived.   We accept that we don't "get it".  But,  that's ok.  It's fun.  And one of the areas where they were concentrating this year was less than a mile away. But, first,  lunch.  We picked up sandwiches and macarons at what had been one of our favorite bakeries in 2006 when we lived down the street.   With the weather remaining great,  we had a picnic in Luxembourg Gardens. Now, Nuit Blanche... Nothing says French Art like outdoor roller ball Or tall women posing next to statues of DeGaulle Or soccer under black light in glow-in-the-dark, neon rain jackets. But, Paris at...
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Similarities between Portland Oregon and Paris France

We moved from Los Angeles to Portland just over 2 years ago.  We'd been coming to Portland for 20 years and always felt a strong bond with the place.  It simply has a LOT of the things we value in where we live (I won't enumerate them here -- this blog is about Paris). During our time (this time) in Paris we kept noticing ways in which Paris and Portland were alike or at least similar to us.  Here's the list we came up with: 1. Guys with man buns 2. People are polite: "no after you" 3. Both cities are food oriented 4. Geographically, everything is close both in distance and transit times 5. Similar weather -- not a good thing! 6. Liberal/progressive 7. Both are among the most attractive cities we know.  With Paris, it's from the hand of man -- buildings, architecture, public spaces.  With Portland, it's the setting -- green spaces, the trees. 8. Both cities have an anti car attitude 9. Guys can wear scarves and not feel silly 10. ...
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Gilets Jaunes

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Yesterday was the 4th week of demonstrations throughout France by the Gilets Jaunes.  First, a little bit of background and then I'll tell you about our experiences.  Gilet Jaune means yellow vest and refers to the bright yellow safety vests that drivers must carry in their cars.  These have become the symbol of the protests because the near term cause of the protests was the increase in the gas tax. The gas tax increase is an attempt by Macron to push drivers to use more climate friendly forms of transportation such as public transportation or hybrid vehicles.  The gas tax increase combined with higher world oil prices to dramatically increase the cost of transportation, especially for those who live outside the major cities and are forced to drive. The public perception is that Macron is president for the rich since the changes are only helping the wealthy.  The general population of working and middle class is suffering and having an increasingly difficul...
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