Girl’s Paris note gets reply from Louvre

An eight-year-old girl who sent a letter addressed simply to “somewhere in Paris, any house” has received a reply from the Louvre Museum.

Iris Corbett, from West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, wrote the note as she wanted to find out about the French capital.
She asked about about food, the Eiffel Tower and what the city was like after France’s Euro 2016 final loss.

The Louvre responded with answers to all her questions.
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The letter comes in a week when a similarly vaguely-addressed Christmas card found its way to the intended recipient in Suffolk.
Iris got the idea for her letter having seen her brother let go of a balloon and thinking it might end up in China.
Iris’s mother, Helena Tyce, said she was really pleased her daughter’s note received a reply.

She said: “Kids have these fantastic, creative ideas; you follow them through and nothing happens.

“I didn’t expect anything back, I really didn’t, we were so surprised and thrilled.”

The family are now planning “an adventure” on the Eurostar to visit Paris during the next school holidays.

Source: West Bridgford girl’s Paris note gets reply from Louvre – BBC News

Chanson Du Jour: l’Ouverture du Barbier de Séville

Chanson Du Jour 12/16/2016: es Quatre Barbus chantent l’Ouverture du Barbier de Séville 1954 

Les Quatre Barbus, founded in 1938 recorded thirty albums including sea chanties, children’s songs, popular songs, bawdy songs and even an album of anarchist songs in 1969.

Among the members was the photographer Pierre Jamet, who sang tenor. Jamet was the son of a butcher, born on rue Mouffetard in Paris in 1910. Jamet’s daughter has written that her father had two passions: singing and photography.

Jamet’s brilliant photographs are featured at the top of the pages of my blog.

Rossini’s Barber of Seville has proven to be one of the greatest masterpieces of comedy within music. Below is a cartoon treatment by Woody Woodpecker.

French furor over frog romance

A court in France is set to rule on whether 20 frogs in the Dordogne region should have their pond filled in. The pond-owners hope the court will overturn the judgment of the regional appeal court, which followed a complaint from their neighbor that the frogs mate too loudly. The case highlights a common clash that occurs when city folk move to the countryside in search of a quiet life.

Listen to these noisy frogs at: Living Planet: French furor over frog romance | All media content | DW.COM | 08.12.2016

Beaujolais Nouveau is available for a limited time every year for the holiday season

Every year on the third Thursday of November the historical Province of Beaujolais, a French wine producing region, releases its seasonal Beaujolais Nouveau that finds itself to the lips of most wine drinkers during the holiday season.This tradition dates to the 1980s when Georges Duboeuf, the founder of France’s Les Vins Georges Duboeuf, began a marketing campaign that popularized its production.

“Duboeuf came up with the idea to have the first wine of the harvest on the entire planet,” said Bryan Della Volpe, the wine and cigar manager at Continue reading “Beaujolais Nouveau is available for a limited time every year for the holiday season” →