"Paris Has Ugly Dirt," Says
Club Member

The club's charter members at the first meeting
last Thursday.

News About the 'Café Metropole Club'

Paris:- Saturday, 16. October 1999:- The beginning, the outset, the first gathering of the Café Metropole Club took place at the café La Corona last Thursday afternoon. Despite absolutely stunning weather, there were four charter members in attendance in addition to your host, me, the Ed.

Since a quorum was reached within five minutes of the official starting time of 15:00 - aka 3 pm, in certain time zones - the meeting was held without a head-count and since it was the first meeting, the minutes of the previous meeting were not read, discussed or voted upon.

For an account of the first meeting, you will have to hit this link in order to have it before your eyes.

If you do, you will find an interesting 'report' rather than actual club 'minutes' - as the 'club' now has no 'rules' whatsoever, practically no structure, no order of business, and no 'old' business. Even last Thursday's meeting report is not 'old' business - it is just some stuff online.

In case you are more interested in the future than in the past and do not wish to read the report of the first meeting, I can say that the first meeting had two unusual elements.

All those attending, except Ed, either live in or have lived in Minnesota. Last Thursday probably saw the single largest gathering of Minnesotians in Paris on any 14. October 1999 in history. It's like will never be seen again.

Charter club member Marion Mann, from Minnesota, also stated, "Paris has ugly dirt."

This was a stunning thing to say. Only the day before - see this issue's 'Anyone for Pétanque?' - I had seen some very fine-looking dirt at the boulodrome in the Luxembourg gardens.

Luckily, before I could fall off my comfortable banquette in total surprise, Marion explained the reason for her observation. It was a perectly reasonable explanation and if you are interested in knowing what it was, I suggest you look at last week's report after all.

If you are still dead-set against doing this, well, forget it then.

The café La Corona turned out to provide a very comfortable space for the Café Metropole Club, with about 22 spare places to sit. The café's service was perfect. Over the next few reports of club meetings, I will provide introductions for the café's staff, who help to make it all possible.

This café is a full-sized establishment on the right bank of the Seine, located between the Louvre and the Pont des Arts, and the Pont-Neuf.

Here are the day, time and location details for you to note:

Café-Tabac La Corona
2. Rue de l'Amiral Coligny
Paris 1. Métro: Louvre-Rivoli or Pont-Neuf
Every Thursday at 15:00, until 17:00.

La Corona has a small 'salle' just off the bar and a large 'salle' behind the bar. There is a small terrace on the Rue de l'Amiral Coligny side, which faces west; and a big terrace on the Quai de Louvre side, which faces south. The club meetings are at the rear of the big 'salle.'

The 'Club's' purpose is to offer an opportunity for all readers to meet each oter and me, the editor of this online weekly magazine about Paris. Together, we will have an opportunity to transfer from the 'virtual' of the online magazine to the 'real' of Paris. It will be helpful to be in Paris in person if you wish to do this.