One trend that I can see will take a while to catch on in Paris, even trendy Paris. Portuguese paper products company Renova sells Renova Black, lauded as the first fashionable toilet paper. Price per roll is EUR 2.17. Renova Black is also available as Renova Red, Renova Orange, and Renova Green.
But not in Renova Grainy Pink. The preferred colour for toilet paper all over France.
n.b. - PQ, or papier cul - toilet paper in France.
Beside the Louvre Pyramid and the Centre Pompidou (to name a few of the few), this labyrinth of narrow streets doesn't leave much room for new architectural projects. You may find your fix however, at the Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine, also known as the Cité Chaillot, a newly opened museum in Paris displaying a variety of exhibitions on contemporary architecture -- both French and foreign -- including different approaches to town planning. You can also go for a virtual tour to discover the museum's different galleries. Also, in efforts to encourage thought on the matter, the museum regularly organizes conferences and debates.
Upcoming: a debate in context of the Prix de l’Union Européenne pour l’architecture contemporaine Mies van der Rohe - Prix 2007
More on: Paris' new architecture museum »
Matthew Rose writing for I V Y Paris & Bonapart Consulting
L'Ebrescade: For Adults Only
MARCEL RICHAUD (below) is one of those rare French wine producers who have made Cairanne, a Côte de Rhone, into a cult vintage. The cépage for
L'Ebrescade, one of Richaud's top-shelf vintages, is a blend of syrah, grenache and mourvédre. I recently tasted the 2004 L'Ebrescade and suddenly began to sing. If this bottle were a woman, I'd say she's rather like Lindsay Lohan: spicy, smoky and very sexy, oh and a little wild in just the right way.
Priced between 24 to 26 euros, the 2004 production for the L'Ebrescade came to approximately 5,000 bottles and is clearly one of the great wines Richaud has to offer. (Richaud's vineyards are relatively small - just 30 hectares). It's alcohol content is great, too : 15,5%, but there's no killing taste of alcohol here, just pure pleasure.
Read more on I V Y paris.
