As is often the case when I go to conferences or seminars, my head is swimming with thoughts and ideas…so much to get down on paper (or interspace). After coming back from SOBCon, I’ve got blog posts galore, just got to find the time to get it all out!
But enough about me, once again around the world this week there were interesting stories to see.
In a story picked up by many, many news agencies (like this), it was reported that the French eat and sleep more than any other country in the world. The eating doesn’t surprise me. The French spend more than 2 hours a day eating. I can certainly attest to that. I myself have enjoyed countless leisurely meals at French tables and it is one of the things I like most about the French style of living. During my time in France and Switzerland, my pace of life slowed way down, and in fact, it is one of the things that I miss most about living there.
Weekend treats like going to the baker 1/2 a block away for just-baked croissants (and fresh baguettes during the week), picking up fresh and extremely local vegetables and Sunday chicken at the farmer’s market and leisurely walks along the Jura mountains or biking around Lake Annecy, made life in France good. And what does this lifestyle bring besides a slower pace of life?
Second place in longevity only behind Japan. There is something about that French joie-de-vivre….
And speaking of longevity, the Elvis Presley of France, Johnny Halladay kicked off his farewell tour last night. For the next six months, the 65 year old singer will be touring in his last concert tour of his career. He’s tired and wants to spend time with his current wife and new kids (he has an original set already in their 20′s). Johnny is a big-stadium performer that generations of French fans have adored for years.
Wonder if his retirement is going to be like Jay-Z’s?
In Twitterland, we have the first spotting of royalty. Queen Raina of Jordan has an account and is twittering away. In fact yesterday, she was twittering about trying to convince her 2 and 4-year old sons to wear suits to meet the Pope. The Pope is doing a tour of the Holy Land, and it was this particular Pope’s first visit to Jordan. It was interesting to see her perspective on the visit, and she is very down-to-earth for “royalty”.
Wonder if Prince William and Harry will be next. We have already seen them break up on Facebook, lord knows what could happen on Twitter!
Lastly, left over from last weekend, the cocktail party on Friday night for SOBCon was at the Hotel 71 in downtown Chicago (I also stayed in this hotel, it was nice). It had a gorgeous view of downtown, it was impressive. But what was even more impressive is that the room was used as Batman’s apartment in the Dark Knight! You know how much I love movies, so how cool is that?
I had no idea that the movie was filmed here. And of course, I tried to find a photo still from the movie of the apartment and I couldn’t find anything except this one (and one other one with Maggie and Heath). Bummer! Having recently had a location scout visit our house as a potential candidate for a TV sitcom pilot, I can tell you even the idea of possibly having a film crew around is totally exciting, I can just imagine what it would have been like for the staff at the Hotel 71!
One more thing…saw Wolverine today! Love it! I don’t read the comics but really liked the previous X-Men movies (all of them). And I liked this one a lot. I am fond of Hugh Jackman, but I am not a facial hair kind of gal, so I prefer this photo of Jack in France in front of the Eiffel Tower while out promoting the movie. He’s clean shaven, and sexy. Got Australia in the Netflix queue, been there forever, I am dying to see Hugh rugged, but not so scruffy.
And that’s it for this week’s round-up, hope you enjoyed it!
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The Greeks spend a lot of hours eating as well. I think my longest stay seated at a Greek table was eleven hours!
Rebecca – I would have LOVED to have been at that table! I did have a 5 hours dinner in Cyprus and it was heavenly.
Hi Andi ;D
I also can attest to this Fench habit…eating…As a student I went home from school at 11:30am and went back to school at 2:00pm. Our main meal is at lunch with the family (things might have changed with so many American fast food places
anyway, we eat lunch which is a whole 2 hours and sometimes for the adults a little nap…to digest. I still take a nap in the afternoon, habit!
We also do not eat dinner before 8:00-10:00pm and nly something ight, so we do not go to sleep until close to 11:00pm and up early. School starts at 8:00am
I had a doctor tell me the reason french people are not as heavy as Americans is because we do not snack between meals (this probably has also changed I start to see obese people in France at an alarming rate) and our biggest meal is at lunch.
Helas! I see from my niece and nephew that the Big Mac is on their list of lunch meal…terrible, non? Ah la la!
A nice sunday Andi
Andi, I’ve come to firmly believe that we are kindred spirits because we have SO much in common. I read many of the same stories this past week. I really enjoyed reading the story about French eating habits. It’s so grand when meals are events and not just rushed functional endeavors (as I refer to American eating habits).
Plus, I’m glad to hear the good news about Wolverine. I must confess that I’m a big fan of X-Men (thanks to my younger brother) and I was so hoping that Hugh knocked it out of the park in this one. Gotta see it!
I’m curious to hear what you think about “Australia”; the critics didn’t care for it, which doesn’t say much in my book.
Best wishes for an awesome week!!
Lots of great stories!