Metropole Paris
Metropole Paris
:Ò January 2008:Ò  If I was asked in 1996 what I would be doing these days I might have said I was going to be under a swaying palm taking in the balmy breezes, sipping on a green cocktail and smoking a big fat cigar. Instead I am still here in Paris where we can't smoke big fat cigars in caf»s, trying to look busy and get my hands on halfÒprice m»tro tickets. Something about this old town has grabbed me by the neck.
The Historical Version
Metropole Paris is a weekly online magazine about Paris. It is for lovers, dreamers, hopeless romantics and ordinary visitors to Paris Ò past, present, future, virtual and since 1996, for real.
Metropole's Contents
Metropole's People
Support Metropole
Metropole's Partners
Advertisement for Myself
Caf» MetropoleÙ Sparkling Wine
Technical Notes
Write to Ed
Each issue of Metropole Paris contains fresh news and feature articles about today's Paris. FlashNews items may be added as an update at any time, especially if they concern local transport conditions.
The week's new edition is datelined Monday. The actual deadlines have become elusive Ò so Monday's new edition may be available slightly later in your time zone, possibly on Tuesday. This is a Paris kind of later. An Internet kind of later, usually caused by gremlins, could also cause delay.
There is also a real club for readers who are clever enough to be in Paris. The Caf» Metropole Club meets every Thursday, and reports about these meetings are put online late on the same day, usually a Thursday. See About the Club for more details, as few as they are. The club is free and you can join it anytime, but only in person here on Thursdays.
Put the Metropole Paris Web address into your Web browser's bookmarks file for easy reference. Simply save it as a bookmark as soon as you look at the latest contents page, or after clicking on the link below:
See this week's issue. Also, you can probably clip the URL Ò http://www.metropoleparis.com/ Ò right here, off your browser's screen and paste it wherever you want.
Metropole's Contents
Caf» Metropole Ò is the editor's weekly column Ò Ed's name is at top and bottom. This column can contain anything, and occasionally even has some valuable information about Paris. If an issue is skipped, there will occasionally be a new Caf» Life column or some GoodBlogWeek to look at while you wait an extra week.
Au Bistro Ò is the weekly news page with items about Paris and France, from a variety of sources, including gossip in caf»s. Au Bistro has occasional SportsNews but you shouldn't count on it any more than the weather. Au Bistro itself has become somewhat occasional too Ò sometimes reduced to six words or less.
The Week's Features Ò are datelined articles about Paris. All articles are written exclusively for Metropole Paris. Except for the Caf» Metropole column, Ed does not put his name on the features he writes because he writes most of them. Readers are invited to contribute emailed comments, or ideas for feature articles. Contributors get their bylined names in the magazine, but do not necessarily become famous overnight.
The Caf» Metropole Club Update Ò is the report about the latest real club meeting and is put online on Thursdays. If you miss seeing it, each Monday's new contents page has a link back to the previous Thursday's report.
Emails Ò from readers are welcome. Replies will be sent as soon as possible. Sometimes immediate replies are not possible. Subjects of possible interest to all readers may become Email features. Ed usually asks for your permission first. Nobody gets famous from this either.
The Poster Pages Ò show real posters that were on view during the week in Paris. These are only visible for a week on the street here, but they become forever in Metropole. These posters are not available for sale, not here, not anywhere.
Ric's Cartoon Ò is supposed to be funny, even if it is dreamed up by Ed himself. Each week's cartoon throws a different light on life in Paris and sometimes on France, or on Ed's Caf» Life.
Metropole Paris does not always feature all of the contents listed above in every issue. There are 32 different reasons for this lessÒthanÒperfect performance, but the main one is the weather, or summer, or Ed was asleep.
All Past Issues of Metropole Paris, going back to February of 1996, are kept online. Together, this archive contains about 5500 pages of Paris lore. Access the annual indexes by clicking the All Past Issues link located on every page. Each of the annual index pages has links to all of the annual indexes.
The Tours pages are extracted from the annual indexes. You can easily find articles about tours in Paris and other features. Each item is linked directly to its page. The Tours pages are arranged by year, in chronological order. The links for the Tours indexes are 1996 and 2003 here. Other years yet to come. Back to top.
Metropole's People
Who is Ed? Ò my name is Richard Erickson and I sign some columns and all eMail replies with regards, Ric and sometimes Radioric. My byline is not on all material concocted for this magazine. If a feature or an image doesn't carry a contributor's name, I probably did it. For all the mistakes, I am responsible.
Ric the Ed photo
by Ric the Ed.
I have been living in Paris since July of 1999, after residing in various near and far Paris suburbs since 1976. Before becoming the Ed of Metropole I was a cartoonist for the press in Paris for 15 years. I was an editor before too. After collecting impressions about the city as I drift around it year after year I have come to realize I will never become an expert. Ask me anything and I will probably say, "I can try to look it up."
Readers, club members, and ordinary civilians in caf»s often ask me why I came here. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I am also asked why I'm still here. I have no ready reponse to this. I guess one reason is Paris.
Readers Like You Ò live in an average of 95 countries all over the world, and you have one common interest Ò Paris. Many readers take this passion to an extreme by coming halfway around the world to visit Paris and the IleÒdeÒ France in person. Those who can't, read Metropole Paris anyway. Readers like you are not mere statistics, because any of you may become real Caf» Metropole Club members at any time. Back to top.
Support Metropole
Readers like you Ò may contribute to Metropole's support. There is no subscription charge for the magazine because it is only available on the WorldWideWeb, and it is meant to be accessible to everybody all the time. If you read it regularly, or see a particular article you like, a contribution for its production and upkeep will be welcome.
You can contribute today by clicking on this link to the new Metropole Paris 'support' page. Helping to keep Metropole online will ensure that your magazine about Paris today continues to show up regularly on your nearest Web browser.
Metropole's Partners
Metropole Paris has an advertising agent in the Manhattan part of New York City. The result is a permanent 'Partner' page that features selected advertisers and their offers Ò mostly relating to France. Some of these are offering special deals, only available to Metropole readers.
Monsieur Cyril Toullier, and his company called Capricorn, are responsible for the offers on the page. I have personally met Cyril, both at a caf» here, and in New York. For complete information please contact Cyril Toullier today.
Metropole also has a page featuring all forms of lodging in Paris and France. If you have an apartment or a chÇteau for rent, you can advertise it on this page where it will be seen by Metropole's many readers who will be visiting France soon.
More Paris, More France Ò See the Paris In Sites Web site for more information, service tips and products. Sign up for the free Paris In Sites subscription newsletter. This is produced by Metropole's serverÒlady Linda Green Fingers Thalman, who is also a Caf» Metropole Club member, and occasional contributor of odd travel articles. Back to top.
Historic Metropole.
Technical Notes
NEW Ò During 2006 Metropole was treated to a refreshed layout that cleaned up the pages, including all of the past issues. Ed chose the design, but none of it would have worked without the CSS and PHP codework by Josef Schomburg, photographer, coder and Caf» Metropole Club member. For some truly amazing examples, see Josef's Website here.
Navigation Ò is supposed to be simple within the magazine. After all these years you may find it still has its idiotic faults. These should be reported to Ed without delay. By doing so you will receive free membership in the Caf» Metropole Club, which is truly real as well as free anyhow.
Search Metropole Ò Can't find it? Search Metropole's database to find nearly anything. After eleven years, the database is big, but the search engine is mighty fast. Still can't find it? Write to Ed to ask.
The Latest Weekly Issue Ò of Metropole has the standard Web address of http://www.metropoleparis.com/ If you do not see the contents of the latest issue, then click on your Web browser's reload or refresh button.
Your Web browser stores older pages of Metropole in a cache on your hard disk. Older issues are also possibly cached by your access provider or on other servers. If you do not reload, then you may get a page from an older issue of the magazine that you last accessed from our server or your host's server. Please reload Metropole every week to get the latest issue. Back to top.
Thanks for reading this. If I've forgotten anything, just write to:
A bientŸt á Paris
Votes:33