|
Post by lagatta on Dec 25, 2017 14:51:31 GMT
Where on earth is that mall? Somewhere near La Villette, I presume...
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Dec 25, 2017 16:27:07 GMT
I see I failed to comment on the last two picture postings. I am going to allow Mossie to have the pink pigs if I can have the treats on either side. Five cheeses for €9 seems pretty reasonable to me -- a comment on what I'm forced to pay here for good cheese.
Possibly many people have negative feelings about Christmas because its commercialization has raised expectations for presents so high, and there's no turning back now. Mossie's, Tod's and LaGatta's memories of cherished gifts are worlds away from the credit card meltdown that Christmas now means for many.
I like that Vill'Up decoration -- it looks like a giant wind chime made out of light.
|
|
|
Post by lagatta on Dec 25, 2017 16:39:59 GMT
I remember seeing woollen dolls and other homemade objects at the Resistance Museum in Amsterdam, as it didn't only deal with political and military resistance to the invaders, but also ways people there got on with life in the face of shortages and fear, in what had been an advanced industrial country with a good standard of living and nutrition. Not that ANYONE would ever want to return to such dark days!!!! ----- Found Vill'up, by the way: www.villup.com/
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Dec 25, 2017 17:44:12 GMT
Yes, it occupies 30% of the building containing the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie, which was empty for 20 years. It opened one year late because one month before it was supposed to open, the Pathé multiplex on the top level was destroyed by a fire, and they had to redo everything. The shops on the other levels had already been filled with merchandise, and it all had to be thrown out.
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Dec 27, 2017 11:59:43 GMT
Lagatta - we were in South Africa after returning from Kenya, Uganda and a short stint in Lagos. My father was an engineer on the Sunderland Flying Boats on Lake Victoria and got a transfer to Vaal Dam where he continued to work on them. He did some of his training in Maidenhead UK but that was before I was born.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Dec 27, 2017 20:02:23 GMT
|
|
|
Post by lagatta on Dec 27, 2017 20:19:44 GMT
Yes, I'm familiar with that market. I had friends (at least two households) who lived very close to where you do, but I've lost touch with them. Now my closest friends in northeastern Paris are in the 19th and 20th - and I also have a friend farther south in the 20th as she was able to get some kind of HLM at long last. She is a teacher.
I wish my favourite halal butcher's would do rôtisserie chichen as their poultry is very good, but municipal regulations on rôtisseries are very stringent. The Vietnamese supermarket does great ducks, but their chickens are rather lacklustre, those pale wan things. We also have merchants from different Latin American countries, Central and South American.
Unlike in the US, Mexican groceries are rare here; the Mexicans who immigrate here tend to be highly-qualified professionals, most often trilingual. There is one at Jean-Talon Market; they do fresh tortillas (a godsend!)
Are your Chinese merchants from China or Sino-Vietnamese, Sino-Cambodian etc? (as they are in my neighbourhood).
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Dec 27, 2017 21:27:27 GMT
My main Chinese supermarket is Paris Store which seems to be Hong Kong based. They have branches all over France. The main rival is Tang Frères, which I prefer, but they don't have a store closer to me than Belleville. The Tang brothers are from Laos. They have a lot of stores, but mostly in Paris and in the eastern 'Chinese' suburbs of Torcy and Lognes.
|
|
|
Post by lagatta on Dec 28, 2017 0:04:19 GMT
Yes, Tang frères is impressive. There is one in the 13th arrondissement Chinatown as well, if I recall? I see that they have quite the empire now.
|
|