Today is a day off…
Posted by Dominic on Thursday, January 12th, 2006
We just finished up with our second day of filming here in Paris. It’s been a whirlwind since we arrived from Shanghai. It was a 14 hour flight out of China and a brief rest then we hit the town with our central French character, Yves Cotoulic. We met him at his “office”, Les Chimeres, a wonderful little bar here in the Marais area of Paris. Yves is a local musician, teacher, philosopher and a bit of a clown. He loves telling jokes, especially the one about a guy who goes into a
“brain store” and wants to buy a new one. He looks over the shelves of brains and sees a British brain for 100 dollars, an American brain for 50 dollars and low an behold and French brain for 2000 dollars. Exasperated he demands to know why the French brain is soooo expensive? The shopkeeper responds, “Well… it’s never been used!!!!”
This is a town full of characters, very passionate ones. Bao doesn’t have to do much prompting with questions, “so, what do you think, bla, bla, bla???” Many people have strong views about America though it’s generally much more complicated than the usual black and white garbage that we get in the news back home. Ultimately, people often comment on how similar our two countries are rather than the differences.
Today is a day off and I am headed to a small town named, Fountainbleu to visit the grave of my great-grandfather an actor and artist, Jules Maurice Tassencourt. France is my ancestral land and holds a special place in my heart. I remember my Granddad’s stories of his childhood in Paris and I often wonder if he walked the same streets that I now stumble around on with a camera in hand.
Filed under Journals, Dominic Howes, France.
Email this post to a friend
You can leave a comment below.
Related Posts
- Yves’ Mom, outside Paris: In her home in a suburb of Paris, the mother of our friend Yves tells us about her experience of A...
- Listening in the “suburbs”: The suburbs of Paris are different than the idea of suburbs in the U.S.: the wealthiest Parisians us...
- There’s no hiding for us in Paris: Walking up a steep set of stairs in Montmartre, I saw two kids at the top of the hill. One had his b...
- Yves, Paris, France: ...
- Scenes from Paris mass transit: The last two days have been all about the mass transit system in Paris. We’ve been jumping in and ...
