Don't Bring Your Laundry Here

'Cause We're Closed For Vacation

Paris:- Monday, 3. August 1998:- After another 'white nights' weekend, I close the shop today to go chasing the sun for a month.

With the way the calendar falls this year, I call it quits in the 31st week of non-stop Paris in 1998. Although the calendar doesn't say so, the year begins again in the 36th week, which will be reported as usual on the first working day of the following week - Monday, 7. September.

Some of you are true addicts of Paris, so I've done two more issues for this 'year.' The next one comes two weeks from today on 17. August and the second will appear online worldwide on 31. August, the last day of summer.

These issues are not about Paris. No, they instead contain crazed ravings by somebody who by now is working on full-auto, overloaded by sports and more sports, overloaded by stone and cars and trains and métro tunnels.

I'm not trying to say you should skip the next two issues. But if you are as overloaded by Paris as I am, then you might even like them - even if you might think you've read the stories before, all the photos and the cartoons are first-run.

Your messages have continued to be a great source of encouragement to me. Sometimes I feel that I would rather spend my time replying to them rather than hiking up to the train for the ride into town. But about 99 times out of a hundred, once I'm in Paris I get a charge out of it and shift into a higher gear.

I should take this opportunity to say how much more the magazine is going to be as we take it into another season. There are, in fact, some new things on the horizon - but I am going to keep them under my hat. Who knows what winds will be blowing up there after some fresh air has been pumped through it?

The Italians who came to Paris yesterday to see their guy win the Tour de France looked a lot happier than the ones who came for the World Cup. Everybody wins one sometime, so I'll just finish this with - ciao.

'The Tocqueville Connection' has a roundup of French press comment about the Tour de France, which ends with the question - what prompted prosecutors and the police to target this years' event?

I don't know the answer to this one. But I'm leaving the Tour's Web sites intact in the 'Au Bistro' column if case you want to follow this subject a bit further.

If summer heat sets in like it seems to have done down south, then nights are really wonderful and even better if you are on the Côte d'Azur and there's a festival event to attend within walking distance.

The guide to festivals in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region is now online. If you intend to be down that way between now and September, give it a look to find out what you can see and hear.

With the way the weather has been in the last half of July, my advice for the nightly 'walk-in' movies 'under the stars' at the ninth open air festival at La Villette, is to check the sky before you go. Check the Web site too for the list of the 39 films to be shown, until Sunday, 30. August. At 22:00, rain or shine.

If you are less than 25, there are 150 independent cinemas showing movies for the entire month of August, for 25 francs a seat. All you have to do is find out where to get the free 'Carte Août au Ciné' - and you can start by asking for one at the Paris Tourist Office on the Champs-Elysées and possibly at Fnac outlets and RATP ticket windows. Info. Tel.: 01 42 78 44 72.

Partly due to a somewhat unattractive poster, but also due to the late posting of it, a major show devoted to various forms of eye, mouth, ear, nose and feel-candy called 'Théâtres des Sens' has already been open for two months, but is probably still worth a visit.

This show is running under the umbrella of the Comité Colbert, which is the trade association of the French luxo industry. If you are an anti-materialist and like sack-cloth, you will not appreciate the stuff on show here.

If on the other hand, you think the French are pretty good at making fancy stuff for high prices, and you are either a dreamer or rich or both, then this is probably a real treat of an exhibition. Make a note of it, in case there are any rainy days to come.

Les Quatre Théâtres des Sens
Palais de la Découverte, avenue Franklin-Roosevelt, Paris 8. Métro: Franklin-Roosevelt. Open from Tuesday to Saturdays, from 9:30 to 18:00; on Sundays from 10:00 to 19:00. Closed also on 2. and 15. August. This show runs until 3. January 1999. Info. Tel.: 01 40 74 89 00.

A 'retrospective' of everybody's favorite Barbie, with 300 models from 1959 onwards, presented in 24 holiday settings. Until Sunday, 20. September.

Halle Saint-Pierre
2. rue Rosard, Paris 18. Info. Tel.: 01 42 58 72 89.

A photographic exhibition which presents contemporary Africa, within seven different themes. Until Sunday, 23. August. Open from Wednesdays to Sundays, 11:00 to 20:00.

Maison Européenne de la Photographie
82. rue François-Miron, Paris 4. Info. Tel.: 01 44 78 75 00.

The artistic 'Supports-Surfaces' movement was the last in France to achieve the category of 'a movement,' regardless of me never having heard of it. This exhibition brings together works from the collections of the National Museum of Modern Art and the George Pompidou Centre for a current display at the Jeu de Paume.

National Gallery of the Jeu de Paume
At the place de la Concorde, Paris 1. Métro: Concorde. Until Sunday, 30. August; open Tuesday to Fridays from 12:00 to 19:00, Saturdays and Sundays from 10:00 to 19:00; closed Mondays. Open Tuesday evenings until 21:30.

The Moslem dynasty of the Fatimids ruled over North frica, and parts of Egypt from 909 to 1171. During this time, its Moslem art and civilization reached its highest degree ever, and its influence swept from the Middle East to Spain. This exhibition, lasting until Sunday, 30. August, shows 300 pieces, including a hundred from Egyptian museums.