Cruising from Madrid to Paris

This year I decided to stay in Madrid one week longer at the price of driving back to Paris all by my little self. So, while the rest of the family popped over to Italy to visit la nonna I needed to entertain myself for 1250km. This is how it went...

My heart jumps every time I see the Osborne bull, 

a 14 metre high black silhouetted image of a bull in semi-profile

erected starting in 1956 to advertise their Brandy de Jerez

seems like the epitomy of Spanish heritage.

Tom Cruise is in town

I'll just say this straight out... I have NOT seen Tom Cruise... even though he has been besieging our neighbourhood for the past 10 days. It's tough when your hood is so popular they need to close it down for Tom Cruise to shoot his movie.

When the white and orange cones go up along the parking spaces in your road or big white trucks pull up with no logo on them or sections of the sidewalk all of a sudden aren't accessible anymore even though they are perfectly in order you know there is a movie shoot in the works.

Since we happen to live near some pretty famous monuments like the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower this mayhem seems to go on quite a lot.

But in the six years we have lived in Paris Tom Cruise's production has topped them all.

Coming home last week the Trocadero, the esplanade looking onto the Eiffel Tower, was closed off and white trucks were lining not just one avenue leading to the Trocadero but all of them.

Inquiring who was in town a staffer timidly told me although the news had already spread like wildfire on Paris' social media. The man sitting in the food truck (yes, they have their own food trucks and the food looks good!) kindly informed me that if I were willing to hang around until 3 or 4 am in the morning I would be able to follow the filming. I admit for a second I actually considered setting my alarm clock and sneaking out in my PJs but on second thought I don't think so!!!

Accompanying Expat girl to her theatre class this afternoon we turned the corner at the end of our road to yet again find a gymkhana of trucks, cars, lights, electrical material, props and people to make our way past. Not to mention all the security guards who were pushing the curious onlookers along in a very French fashion!

So, in a very French fashion I stood there nonchalantly hoping for a glimpse of the man on the bike but alas it started raining and hence my admiration for movie stars ends here!

I will just have to wait till I see him on screen whizzing through my neighbourhood as if it were his. Though luck, Tom Cruise, it's mine!

A small section of the filming entourage

Trying to catch the metro has become quite a challenge today

Distance between Tom and myself 50 meters. Staffers in between 500!!!

Impressive technical set-up

NOW we know how they shoot the car scenes

 A well travelled car!

Can't wait to see this car in the movie

Interesting vehicle... not your usual Parisian transport

I wish I could see this one in action

 Do NOT enter when red light is on

Tomorrow it will all be back to normal!

A Parisian feeling

Meeting Bond... James Bond

Who can resist James Bond? He's a legend. The British secret agent is one of the very few characters who has managed to survive 3 generations... despite cinematographic and technological advancement.

My parents watched Bond movies before I was born, I saw my first one "Moonraker" aged 13,  and I am now taking my kids to see Ian Fleming's latest adventures of 007.

So I jumped at the occasion when Mamita Cubana asked me if I would accompany her to the "Designing 007" exhibition to discover the design and style in James Bond films over the course of five decades, through a various themed areas and environments from 1962’s Dr. No to 2012’s Skyfall. It featured over 500 unforgettable objects, including costumes, gadgets, props, storyboards and models, some we recognised, many we had to explain to our kids.

Did you know that the code number 007 is from one of the key achievements of British naval intelligence, breaking the German diplomatic code in World War I?

Just thinking of how much work went into writing scripts with an old-fashion typewriter or drawing storyboards by hand because computers had not been invented yet, the processes exhibited were mind-boggling.

The piece de resistance must have been Ursula Andress' white bikini in "Dr. No" (1962) - cited as the most famous bikini of all time and an iconic moment in cinematic and fashion history - exposed next to Halle Berry's orange version in "Die Another Day" (2002).

I will hold that image in mind next time I graciously emerge out of the sea in my pink bikini!

James Bond is in Madrid

My favourite James Bond... Sean Connery, he starred in five films: 

Dr. No, From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, and Never Say Never Again

50 years of Bond style

Sketch of the Hotel Cala Di Volpe on the Italian island of Sardinia 

which inspired the setting for the movie "The Spy Who Loved Me" (1977)

Italian plus French equals American???

Cinema Paradiso... an Italian classic! Combine this with Le Grand Palais, a Parisian Classic, and what do you get? A weird mix of American paraphernalia from the 1980s it seems.

The idea of a drive-in cinema under the dome of the Grand Palais - currently the largest existing ironwork and glass structure in the world - sounded tempting. The notion of sitting in a vintage Fiat 500 while watching "Greace" or "La Boum" made it irresistable. I bought tickets online the minute they were on sale.

Walking into the large lobby of the Grand Palais I was hit with Reece's peanut butter cups, marshmallow fluff and other wonderful American gourmet food. I am thinking: "Where does this fit in with Cinema Paradiso?"

Next, I come across an Amercian diner set up under the glass dome with a vintage Coca Cola pin-up girl smiling at me. NOW, I am confused.... but not disappointed. It is just not what I had expected.

Venturing past the smell of hamburgers and pop corn I discover a rollerblade rink, if that is what you can call a portion of bare concret floor sectioned off by a huge wall with a DJ installation blaring out 80's disco music.

Uhhh, I think I am getting my brain around this Cinema Paradiso concept (not a very clear one but never mind) and I'm starting to like this place. Donna Summer here I come! ;)

Tucked away to one corner I locate rows of video game machines from the 80's. Boy, does Pac-Man bring back memories from when we were young.

However, the piece-de-resistance MUST be the Barbie football table. Now, WHY didn't they have that when I was growing up? In my days getting your hands on a 24cm wide pink plastic Barbie swimming pool was a luxury, not the mention the pink camper. Oops, I'm giving away my age...that was the 70's!!!

I have still to return to Cinema Paradiso this week to watch "La Boum", a French Classic from 1980 starring Sophie Marceau. Will my Fiat 500 be pink???

Dancing with the chimps

One if the reasons I love my life in Paris is that you gain access to events you would not usually attend unless you live in a big metropole.

Two months ago we watched Placido Domingo receive a nomination as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. The next day, I actually was introduced to him personally since we happend to be having lunch at the table next to him. Talk about being in the right place at the right time.

Tonight we had a chance to meet Dr Jane Goodall, a British primatologist and UN Messenger of Peace. She had been invited by the kids' school to stand question and answer about her life's work. Along with Diane Fossey (the gorilla lady), Jane Goodall (the chimpanzee lady) is also known as one of Leakey's angels. The archaeologist Louis Leakey sent them to study primates in their natural environments in the 60's when very little was known about these primates.

After having watched her biography in the version of a two-hour film called "Jane's journey", it was up to us to stretch her mind with our questions. I fear we did not live up to her (or ours for that matter) standards as an International institution since we filled most of the scheduled time with dancing and music recitals rather than taking advantage of her endless source of knowledge on studying chimps while living in Gombe Stream National Park of Tanzania.

Heading into her eighties she seemed full of energy and certainly transmitted her passion for her cause called "Roots and Shoots".

I feel as if we were too busy in making it a memorable evening by charging it with as many activities as possible rather than just listening to what she had to say. Students were so eager to "entertain" her with their performance art that when it finally came to its excruciating end, Ms Goodall said, "Right. Well, that was very weird." She invited us to challenge her with our questions and I can't say we did.

It seems a real pity to have missed such a unique opportunity. Next time maybe a little more preparation and organization could make an extraordinary visit turn into a distinguished event.

A French take on Hollywood

When I was a little girl I dreamt of becoming a Hollywood actress. But life takes over and you grow up. An old boss once asked me in which era I would have liked to live in, if I could choose. My answer: Hollywood late 1940's!

Paris vue par Hollywood was therefore an aboslute "must" for me to visit. The current exhibit at the city hall features still photos and film clips from the more than 800 Hollywood movies about or set in Paris—shot on location or on backlot sets—from 1900’s The Girl from Paris to last year’s Midnight in Paris by Woody Allen.

It's a sunny day and there are no queues...hurray!

Audrey Hepburn's Funny Face released in 1957

Bonjour Paris a song written by George and Ira Gershwin

I came across this Palmolive soap ad from 1921 which made me smile

Ninotchka is a 1939 American film featuring Greta Garbo as a stern Russian woman sent to Paris on official business only to find herself attracted to a man who represents everything she is supposed to detest.

April in Paris: the original 1933 hit was performed by Freddy Martin, and the 1952 remake by Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong

A hitlist from 1958 features The Parisians at No.1

Leslie Caron as Gigi singing I don't understand the Parisians

The Artist - Bravo Jean - Formidable Loulou

He did it. He really pulled it off!

Jean Dujardin jumped to fame thanks to a silent movie and has become the first Frenchman to win the coveted accolade and beat out Hollywood frontrunner George Clooney to the Oscar as best actor!

Now, if you grew up this side of the pond you have most probably come across Jean in a comedy television series called "Un gars, Une fille". I used to watch it along with other 5 million viewers each day, that is to say a third of the people watching television at that timeslot in France. It won a Sept d'or award for "best entertainment show" in 2001 and concluded in 2003. "Un gars, Une fille" contains 486 episodes with 4,500 sketches.

Jean Dujardin began his acting career performing a one-man show he wrote in various bars and cabarets in Paris. He first gained attention when he appeared on the French talent show "Graines de star" in 1996 as part of the comedy group "Nous C Nous".

But nothing could have prepared him for the success of "The Artist," for which he won the best actor prize at the Cannes Film Festival last year.

More honors followed, including the Golden Globe for best actor in a musical or comedy, the BAFTA prize for best actor, and the Screen Actors Guild award - all leading up to Dujardin's Oscar triumph.

Bravo, bravo, bravo Loulou! "Genial! Merci! Formidable! Merci beaucoup! I love you"