Apparently they enter France, cross the country at top speed, overnight in a not so cheap roadside inn accomodation and are counted once as visitors, then once again on their way back home.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Why don't folks stop in Avignon ?
The Figaro daily http://www.lefigaro.fr/conjoncture/ annouced today that France, first world tourist destination by the number of visitors, ranks only third in revenue behind the United States and Spain. "Spain overtook us ten years ago. Ever since are we losing market share, "says Christian Mantei of Atout France, the country's tourism promotion bureau. Last year, these revenues accounted for 36 billion euros, against 39 billion for Spain and 69 billion for the United States. The market share of France in Europe fell from 19.6% in 2000 to 16% in 2009. The British, like the Germans, are less likely to consider coming on holiday in France, focusing on long stays in Spain and Italy."
Apparently they enter France, cross the country at top speed, overnight in a not so cheap roadside inn accomodation and are counted once as visitors, then once again on their way back home.
Well let me tell you - they should stop in Avignon. Not at our place - we are not keen on overnight stays, due to our lack of organisation - but downtown anyway. Avignon is 20 km south of the fork were the huge north-south motorway A6 branches towards Spain on the A9 and the Riviera on the A7. Get out of A7 at Avignon Nord, enter the city after a few Km along the Rhone river, easily park the car (for free in the streets, after six o'clock, or at any time along the city walls), and spend a night or more into this extraordinary city. You can dine and wine yourselves like a Pope for 14 euros a head. ( The Hermitage restaurant just opened downstairs from our building, but more on this later) Then, after a pleasant night and an early morning stroll in the freshly sprayed streets, you could buy a postcard, a bag of lavender, and continue by car if you must towards Spain ( following the Nîmes signs) or Italy ( the Marseilles signs, even in you won't come near it). Maybe I should write to Mr.Mantei, and suggest him to post me on a little chair on that motorway fork, just to give info away.
Apparently they enter France, cross the country at top speed, overnight in a not so cheap roadside inn accomodation and are counted once as visitors, then once again on their way back home.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
An English language bookshop in Avignon
The only English language bookshop in Avignon is located in the eastern part of the walled-in city. Walk east for about a mile from the Popes's palace along the long and winding Carreterie street, past the derelict-looking church spire of the Augustinians, and you shall reach a lovely bookshop modestly hidden behind a garage type door, painted blue. It boast a rather large stock of books, both new and secondhand, a good ordering service, and a friendly manager.
Shakespeare Books Avignon was founded in June 1994 by Wolfgang Zuckermann, author of five books and former consultant in Paris and owner of Zuckermann Harpsichords in New York.
Note : Mr Zuckerman recently sold his bookshop to a new and young bookseller ; we wish her the best of success).
Though Shakespeare Books is not officially related to George Whitman's Shakespeare & Co, Paris, Wolfgang Zuckermann 'followed the tradition of English bookshops in France, first started by Sylvia Beach in Paris 1919 with the original Shakespeare & Co'. He is more relaxed and friendly than was his counterpart opposite Notre Dame de Paris. ( I still rememberWhitman's anger when I refused to have my Penguin copy of Ulysse defaced by his rather large inkstamp ; nowadays Withman's daughter, named Sylvia in memory of the famous Mrs. Beach, runs the Paris show). Airy and built on a single level , Avignon's Shakespeare seems to offers less opportunity for kissing one's Valentine than the original Parisian maze of books. There is a tiny garden of sorts at the back, though, and Mr Zuckermann is willing to serve English cream tea and scones in the afternoon. (One might feel he his too much of a delightful character to bother him with menial chores, though.) His place is still redolent of that nostalgic atmosphere that most English-language bookshops aboard used to have. I'm sure you have visited at least one of those bookshops that seem to be open exclusively for the benefit of a handful of exiles, or at least, for people definitely not wishing they'd be home, but unable to cut their intellectual ties with the anglo-saxon world. Shakespeare Avignon could be anywhere nice and unexpensive, in Tangiers, Sienna, Obidos or Kathmandou ; anyplace were people that are not 'travellers' neither 'mass tourists' like to hang out. Follow their steps into that abode of great books, just to check that serious reading is better done under foreign skies. After all, is it not rather more pleasant to immerse oneself resolutely in a novel, if one knows for sure that excitement and novelty are around the corner ? ( photo at bottom from the bookshop's web site, http://shakespeare.bookshop.free.fr). PS : In the good old days, people were allowed to unroll their sleeping bags in the Paris Shakespeare. Should you need accomodation in Provence, don't forget we have rooms and studios to let in Avignon .
La librairie Shakespeare (Shakespeare Books) Avignon was founded in June 1994 by Wolfgang Zuckermann, author of five books and former owner of Zuckermann Harpsichords, New York. Though Shakespeare Books is not officially related to George Whitman's Shakespeare & Co, Paris, Wolfgang Zuckermann followed the tradition of English bookshops in France, first started by Sylvia Beach in Paris 1919 with the original Shakespeare & Co.
Note : Mr Zuckerman recently sold his bookshop to a new and young bookseller ; we wish her the best of success).
Though Shakespeare Books is not officially related to George Whitman's Shakespeare & Co, Paris, Wolfgang Zuckermann 'followed the tradition of English bookshops in France, first started by Sylvia Beach in Paris 1919 with the original Shakespeare & Co'. He is more relaxed and friendly than was his counterpart opposite Notre Dame de Paris. ( I still rememberWhitman's anger when I refused to have my Penguin copy of Ulysse defaced by his rather large inkstamp ; nowadays Withman's daughter, named Sylvia in memory of the famous Mrs. Beach, runs the Paris show). Airy and built on a single level , Avignon's Shakespeare seems to offers less opportunity for kissing one's Valentine than the original Parisian maze of books. There is a tiny garden of sorts at the back, though, and Mr Zuckermann is willing to serve English cream tea and scones in the afternoon. (One might feel he his too much of a delightful character to bother him with menial chores, though.) His place is still redolent of that nostalgic atmosphere that most English-language bookshops aboard used to have. I'm sure you have visited at least one of those bookshops that seem to be open exclusively for the benefit of a handful of exiles, or at least, for people definitely not wishing they'd be home, but unable to cut their intellectual ties with the anglo-saxon world. Shakespeare Avignon could be anywhere nice and unexpensive, in Tangiers, Sienna, Obidos or Kathmandou ; anyplace were people that are not 'travellers' neither 'mass tourists' like to hang out. Follow their steps into that abode of great books, just to check that serious reading is better done under foreign skies. After all, is it not rather more pleasant to immerse oneself resolutely in a novel, if one knows for sure that excitement and novelty are around the corner ? ( photo at bottom from the bookshop's web site, http://shakespeare.bookshop.free.fr). PS : In the good old days, people were allowed to unroll their sleeping bags in the Paris Shakespeare. Should you need accomodation in Provence, don't forget we have rooms and studios to let in Avignon .
La librairie Shakespeare (Shakespeare Books) Avignon was founded in June 1994 by Wolfgang Zuckermann, author of five books and former owner of Zuckermann Harpsichords, New York. Though Shakespeare Books is not officially related to George Whitman's Shakespeare & Co, Paris, Wolfgang Zuckermann followed the tradition of English bookshops in France, first started by Sylvia Beach in Paris 1919 with the original Shakespeare & Co.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Avignon : friendliest city for gays in the south of France
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