La Comédie Française Gets a Temporary Home

The Palais Royal is currently the site of a long-term historic preservation project. First, the Cour d’Honneur, site of Daniel Buren’s public sculpture, Les Deux Plateaux, was cordoned off from public view for some spit and polish. Then it was the turn of La Galerie d’Orléans, once a glass-topped shopping arcade that, over time, became so rotten and rat infested all but the neo-classical columns had to be torn down.

Next among the monument’s many historic treasures slated for restoration: La Salle Richelieu, home of La Comédie Française. Which means that for the 2011-12 season, the kings’ former drama troupe is obliged to find a temporary home… or make one.

And as it turns out, even at 11 million Euros, it’s cheaper to build a state-of-the-art, pre-fabricated, sound-proof theater right in the middle of the Palais Royal gardens than to move the beehive of actors, administrators, set-builders, costume-makers, make-up artists, musicians, ticket-sellers, etc., to a wholly new rented location.

The temporary home of La Comédie Française will be built of wood and inserted, just as the shopping passage of yesteryear, within the twin arcades of La Galerie d’Orléans.  It will include a stage every bit as big as that of La Salle Richelieu, though without wing and subspaces, and have enough seating to serve 700 (the Salle Richelieu seats 880). 

Work to construct le théâtre éphémère en bois will take four months and will begin this summer, starting theoretically on June 4^th, though actual dates have yet to be announced. 

Donc, le show will go on at La Comédie Française !

But what does this mean for the prototype tour of Time Traveler Tours, Beware Madame la Guillotine, which takes place, in part, at the Palais Royal (cue sound of nail-biting). 

Stay tuned while I found out…

Image: 

Galerie D'Orleans at the Palais Royal, Paris et Ses Environs, Engraved A. Bry, c.1850-60, by Jean Jacottet, Item #: 4048804. 

Purchase Here: http://www.allposters.com

Travel Tips & Paris Metro Crossword

 Planning a trip to Paris this year?

Bringing the kids?

Don't leave home without

Travel Tips and & Paris Metro Crossword

from

Time Traveler Tours

Ahh, April in Paris! But don't Forget your Scarf!

April is here and, true to form, Paris is spectacular!

Trees are bursting with new growth, spring flowers are in full bloom, and flowering bushes are alive with color. No wonder the 1932 song, April in Paris, by Vernon Duke and E. Y. “Yip” Harburg continues to resonate today with lovers of music and Paris, alike:

April in Paris, chestnuts in blossom,
Holiday tables under the trees.

April in Paris, this is a feeling,

No one can ever reprise.

 

I never knew the charm of spring,

Never met it face to face.

I never knew my heart could sing,

Never missed a warm embrace.

 

‘Til April in Paris.

Whom can I run to?

What have you done to

my heart?

To be honest, though, the weather in Paris can be quite changeable throughout the month of April. Perhaps that's part of the charm. On any one April day, it's possible to experience all four season. So, when visiting Paris in April, remember to have with you the following items, at all times:

• A portable, collapsible umbrella for when it showers;

• A light jacket to guard against the chill, but one that can go easily into a bag or tie around the waist with the sun comes out;

• Sunglasses, for when the sun really shines;

• The all-important Parisian écharpe (spring scarf) for when the sun is in and out and it’s too warm for your jacket but still a bit nippy for a shirt alone.

You thought les Parisiennes were just being fashionable with their scarves! Mais, non! The écharpe is a valuable, and very practical, part of our April wardrobe here in Paris. And it looks good, too!

My final word of advice: wait to buy your ubiquitous Parisian scarf first thing on arrival, that way les dames can show you the myriad ways to tie it. It will make for a much-loved souvenir when you return home.

Images:

Painting of Paris in springtime by Camille Pissarro (1830-1903), courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Painting of Paris Chestnut trees by Van Gogh (1853-1890), courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Spring scarf from http://stylediary.stylehive.com/Toolbox.aspx?ArticleId=781.



Today in History: Eiffel Tower Inauguration Opens the 1889 World's Fair

122 years ago today, March 31, 1889, Gustav Eiffel inaugurated La Tour Eiffel.

He climbed her 1,710 steps and planted the French flag at her peak, thus kicking off the 1889 World’s Fair.

Marie Curie: A Sign Ahead of Her Time

Check out my latest published article, on the occassion of Women's History Month, honoring an historical giant who was not so much a sign of her time, but a sign of times to come for women...

• She was the first woman in France to receive a university doctorate
• She was the first female professor at the University of Paris
• She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and the first person to win two!
• She was the first -- and is currently the only -- woman to be buried at the Panthéon not because of who she married but because of her contributions to science and humanity.

Her name was Marie Curie.

Read all about her in Bonjour Paris, a great on-line resource covering practically everything Parisien!

Who would you like to honor? Leave your comments below.



Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Opinion: What is "Interactivity"?

Today's issue of PCSpeed cites children’s author, Julia Donaldson, on why she has decided not to put her award winning, Gruffalo, into eBook format. According to Julia, when children discover that touching a certain hidden button will make the character’s neck grow then they just spend their time “fiddling with the wretched button” and not reading or listening to the story.  On this point, I have to say, I totally agree. 

But there are gimmicks.  And there is interaction. 

The issue, really, is how the children's book industry currently interprets the notion of “interaction”. 

Too many of today’s eBooks and book Apps are laced with gimmicks – bells and whistles, buttons and doo-dads – posing as interactive elements. Finding the button that will make the dog’s tail wag or the bird fly or the gnome do a back flip is fun, but doesn’t add anything to the story and, as Julia maintains, may even detract from it.

True interaction, I believe, should open the world of the story up to another layer of thinking and doing that has the potential to teach. Interactive elements connect with and collaborate with the story, leading the reader to a related experience that, once completed, brings them back to the story once again.

Interaction in its purest definition is two-way communication; it's a give and take. As it relates to digital books, interactivity should never be the end goal of user participation – touch the dog so the tail wags – but should enhance the user’s experience and engagement with story – touch the dog to make it run to the right corner, grab it in its teeth, and turn the page. Above all, interactivity should never take over the role of the reader’s active imagination, but should encourage the reader to imagine beyond the page.

This is how we think about interactivity at the Time Traveler Tours. Some will fault our product, saying there is not enough animation.  Rather, what our StoryApps provide are intellectual challenges, didactic games, and scavenger hunts that serve the story, enhance the user’s experience of it and allow for learning and engagement in a fun, stress-free way.  With Time Traveler Tours you approach history through story and learn without knowing you are learning. Archival images from the era in question are highlighted throughout not for their back-flipping gnomes and fluttering birds, but for their merits as works of art and/or historical propaganda. 

While I agree with Julia Donaldson’s point of view and admire her unwillingness to join the crowd just for the sake of it, I would also urge her to imagine how the Gruffalo could be truly interactive.  No doubt there are myriad ways.  We just haven't thought of them yet.

Thanks to Julia Donalsohn and Axel Scheffler for use of the Gruffalo image.

Click here to purchase the Gruffalo from Amazon.co.uk!

If you liked this post, you may also like our opinion piece: "Is the Book Dying?"

Tonight & Tomorrow in Paris: Paris Choral Society Sings Rossini

Come enjoy a sumptuous Petite Messe Solennelle at the Cathédrale Américaine, 23 Av Georges V, 8eme, with the Paris Choral Society.

This Weekend Only!

Friday 25 March - 8:30

Saturday 26 March - 6:00

Rossini composed the "solemn little mass" in 1863 while summering in Passy, then the suburbs of Paris. He always meant for the piece to be performed in concert, never as music for a sacred ceremony. At times slightly irreverent, foreshadowing jazz stride piano and barbershop quartet, Le Petite Messe is anything but solemn. It is fun, lyrical, uplifting and beautiful, especially in the able hands of conductor, Richard Wilberforce, whose love for the music is expressed in his every direction. 

The soloists - Laura Holm, Soprano; Asa Junesjo, Alto; Andrew Goodwin, Tenor; Philippe Brocard, Bass - are not to be missed!

The best part of the concert is this: It starts early enough on Saturday that you can come, enjoy, and still make it to your evening soirée!

See you at the Cathédrale - I'll be the blond in the second row, left ;)

Ever Wondered How to Grab a Cab in Paris?

Let the good folks at Parisien Salon tell you everything you ever wanted to know about...

• hailing a taxi in Paris
• paying the driver
• how much to tip
• who can ride
• where to find a taxi and
• how to call them if you can't

Awesome Image by Letheule (Template:Photo Atelier 80 - Paris) [GFDL (<a href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html" class="free external" rel="nofollow">http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html</a>) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

Why I Write Apps for Teens & Tweens

It all started on the streets of Paris...

One day, as I was crossing the Seine from Paris’ Right Bank, I heard the voice of a US compatriot behind me. 

“I think that’s the Conciergerie, straight ahead,” the man said, indicating the imposing four-turreted stone building just in front of us. “But I don’t see the Chatelet. It’s supposed to be around here somewhere.” 

It wasn't. So I turned and told him that the Chatelet had been torn down during the Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte (1802-1815) and replaced by twin theatres flanking the pleasant plaza on the northern side of the bridge on which we were standing.

“What was the Chatelet?” he asked. 

“A dreaded medieval prison, so hated the people would have pulled it down themselves if they hadn’t already exhausted themselves bringing down the Bastille.” 

That's when I noticed two disinterested boys, both about my height, fidgeting at the side of their father.  Tweens, maybe teens.  I turned my attention to them and pointed back to the Conciergerie. 

“That was a prison, too,” I said. “And during the French Revolution no one came out alive except to have their heads chopped off at the guillotine.” I drew an ominous line across my neck, then told them the name of each tower, stressing that the far one, the Tour Bonbec, meaning “good beak”, was once the kings' torture chamber.

The boys were suddently interested.  All they needed was a story, a little gorey, juicy context. 

“You know,” I said, “you can visit the revolutionary prison. You can see where the prisoners slept on beds of straw. And you can roam the vast room where the kings’ medieval policemen, or Gens d'Armes (men-at-arms), once took their meals. You can even find what's left of their once enormous black marble dining table."

“Can we go, Dad?" the boys asked their father, voices cracking slightly. And as he approached the Conciergerie entrance to buy tickets for his family, his wife pulled me aside.

“I'd like to hire you for the day,” she stated. “The boys haven’t been this engaged since we arrived.  All they want is to get back to their facebook pages and video games!”

Et Voila! Just like that, the Time Traveler Tours were born:

Self-guided interactive StoryApp itineraries for youth and the young at heart on your hand-held mobile device. 

Put History in the Palm of your Hand!

Discover the Past with those who Made it!



Time Traveler Tours Expands - Meet the New Team Member!

Time Traveler Tours welcomes

SmartShortz LLC

to its development team!

A full-service software design and development firm, SmartyShortz specializes in educational apps on mobile devices for "digital natives": young people growing up in an increasingly digital world.

Please welcome SmartyShortz to the TTT team! 

Send your comments below.