Action!

A few weeks ago, before the park was truly bursting with the colors of spring, we happened upon a film set. It was a good 8 minutes before we figured out exactly what the film crew was filming. Was she a famous actress? Was it a movie scene? A TV show? Alas, we were witness to nothing more than a yogurt commercial. My excellent sleuthing skills tell me that it was a commercial for none other than Taillefine (literally, slender waist) brand yogurt, which would explain why they chose an extremely skinny model and did everything they could to accentuate her thinness (including pulling her shirt extra tight with a clip and smoothing it between every take).

From our observations, the commercial consisted of the young woman in purple walking through a park - past the teenagers making out and some dudes playing Frisbee (not pictured) - all the while enjoying her first spoonful of yogurt.

When she reaches the end of the bench, she has a realization (or a heart attack) and gets a very surprised look on her face.

At last, she falls to the ground, out of sight. Except she wasn't out of our sight, and we had the pleasure of seeing her (over and over again) get rid of the spoonful of yogurt she had eaten just moments before. Hey, she's got to keep a slender waist, right? 

Métro Deco (Cars)

The Paris Métro has the most diverse collection of trains of any city I've ever been to. Lines 1, 2, 3, 9, 13, and 14 all have different kinds of cars. Lines 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, and 12 somehow missed out on the waves of updates that hit the other lines over the last few decades. Line 14 is already fully automated; Line 1 is well on its way. Some day we'll try to take a picture in each kind of métro car without getting arrested by the French version of Homeland Security. Until then, here are some of our favorite métro car decorations.

This is the car that the majority of the lines use. It's not a great shot of the car itself, but that's not what I was after - see the heart/infinity symbol ("lemniscate") in the window? Coolest métro graffiti ever. How better to tell someone, "I love you forever" than to draw it in lipstick or red magic marker on the side of a métro car?

In what is maybe an attempt to discourage graffiti, at least one train on Line 1 has been decorated in early-21st-century Coca Cola Style. Despite the crass commercialism of it all - where will they think to advertise next? - I love the brightness of the ad. That standard green-on-white uniform (see above) can feel kind of drab at times. Maybe in the future each line's trains could be decorated with a color scheme that matches the colors used to differentiate each line on the métro map? Just an idea.

The French Protection

For a few days this week, you could see this ad coming out of Métro Belleville:

It reads, "Condoms protect against AIDS" and I'll let you figure out the rest. This is a good example of the different standard of propriety that applies to French ads. Lots of near-nudity, lots of suggestive prose, tackling the tough issues, it's all good. No abstinence-only education here.

This ad is actually one in a series. Here are the two other versions:

It turns out you can make your own (if you're so inclined) by going to the Têtu website. Just put in your name, the number of capotes, and upload a picture, et voilà! You're fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS. Or so the website claims.

While that might be a little weird, you have to give the French government credit for backing up words with deeds. Within Métro Belleville (as well as many other Métro stations) you'll find condom vending machines:

Notice on the left side of the machine it translates condoms as "préservatifs" (rather than capotes, which is more informal). Keep this in mind if you ever come to France and end up talking about food preservation. The phrase you want to use is "agents de conservation" - saying "préservatifs" will only confuse everyone.