Comment du Jour

Dead Batteries??

As would be expected, France's socialist government is enchanted with electric cars.  Well in theory a good idea, but...

With falling sales at Peugeot/Citroen (among petrol powered) and a generally lackluster economy, the concept of  revived and practical electric car models at Renault seem to put the spark back into  the debate.  

Renault is planing a big battery production site in France in cooperatin with Korea's LG Chem. The plan is to produce affordable battery cells to power Renault Zoe models.

With great fanfare, the company announced that electric car sales in Europe were one half of one percent in 2011, are expected to hit a whopping one perent this year, and in 2017 would soar to just over 3 percent!! 

Juste pour rire??

Automotive Industry Data asserts that Opel and Chevy Volt are market leaders now;
Opel sales being 2,800 and Volt hitting 3,100.  About 11,000 electric cars were sold Europe wide in the first six months of 2012.

In the meantime though, it's now possible to rent electric autos in Paris at select plug in sites.  Maybe with gasoline at about $7.50 a gallon this does make some sense?

Comment du Jour

Notre Dame Cathedral--Most Popular Site in Paris


The Cathedral of the Notre Dame, the splendid gothic structure alongside the River Seine, remains the most popular place for tourists to visit in Paris.  The Le Figaro newspaper reports that in 2011 fully 13.6 million visitors went to the historic church.   Second for visitors is the Basilica  of Sacre Coeur with 10.5 million!!  Sacre Coeur stands on a hill overlooking the City of Light.

Visiting Notre Dame just days ago, it's obvious that the Church attracts a deluge of visitors from round the world. 

Other popular sites include the Louvre Museum with 8.9 million (it appears that at least one million of them appear to be there on any given day!!), and of course the majestic Eiffel Tour with 7 million visitors.

On second thought it is easy to see why Paris is so popular!

Comment du Jour

Team USA #1 Brings Back the Gold!


Great Olympic News!! Team USA ranked first in medals for the London Summer Olympics surging ahead of the People’s Republic of China. USA Gold Medal total was 46 to 38 for Mainland China. The close competition during the past weeks brought Team USA into an amazing standing due in no small part to Michael Phelps AND so many other great American athletes.

Great Britain, the host of the games, came in a powerful third place with 29 Gold. Just as an aside when the Brits participate as Great Britain as compared to the country’s official name United Kingdom (as in the UN) their teams seems to excel.

Russia sans steroids came in fourth. South Korea placed fifth!!! Amazing!

Germany showed a strong performance with 11 Gold and 44 medals, followed by an impressive French team with 11 Gold and 34 medals overall. Italy gained 8 Gold.

I’m happy to say Team Hungary scored an amazing 8 Gold medals and ranked number nine in overall standings. Bravo for the small Danubeian Republic!!! Hungary was the ONLY one of the former East Bloc countries to perform so well..  The Czech Republic reached nmber nineteen however.

Australia came in number ten with 7 Gold followed by Japan as number 11 in standing with 7 Gold.

Thus of the G-8 Economic Club, the United States, Great Britain, Russia, Germany, France, Italy, and Japan scored in the top eleven. Where was G-8 member Canada???

Canada came in 36th with one gold medal and 18 total. But just wait till the Winter Olympics in Sochi, eh?

Big Congrats go to London for hosting a wonderful and safe Olympics! Despite all the naysayers (including so very many British) before the Games, the old motto “Keep Calm and Carry on” carried the day! Well Done!!

Comment du Jour

Olympic Haute Cuisine

While the Summer Olympics are about sporting excellence, the French Team also
has gone one step further--to offer an exceptional culinary achievement.

The Parisian high end food store Fauchon, caters the Team France, or at least their VIP Space.  Fauchon, offers a tribute to culinary excellence with a wondeful window display at their Place Madeleine store.

Savor and Enjoy!

Comment du Jour

Olympic Gold

"In London a Harvest of French Medals," proclaimed the daily Le Monde.

Indeed the French Team has been doing extraordinarily well in London--keeping in third place until a few days ago. 
Now France is in fifth place having earned eight Gold medals.

The real contest is between China and the USA.  China still  holds the First Place position with Team USA slightly behind but in striking distance.  

The other day I was thinking that the Summer Olympics still tend to favor the economic powerhouse countries--the G8 for example.
Though China is not in the G 8,  the USA, Great Britain (now having surged to third place), France, Germany, Italy and Russia are. So too are Japan and Canada.   Tokyo has performed well but so far not Team Canada.

So is it a G8 Olympics?  

Equally the East Asian countries have surged--China, South Korea (number four), North Korea (number nine), and Japan down a few more notches.

By the way London is probably the real winner--all the criticism of the pre-planning aside, the Games are turning out to be a very class act.