Life Evolves

Life in Paris evolves just like anywhere else on the planet. In spite of the fact that most of the buildings are at least one hundred years old and it seems on the surface that nothing has changed in all those years, behind the cut stone the lives of its denizens move on to new and different tunes.

In the last ten years, I’ve witnessed major changes in the landscape…More of the French are speaking English quite fluently, the youth are becoming much more entrepreneurial than their previous generation and American style retailing and marketing ideas have invaded the world of commerce and even rubbed off on old French establishments. Where once you couldn’t find an apartment with a kitchen equipped with a single appliance, now every apartment is proud to promote their “Cuisine Americaine.” Neighborhoods you wouldn’t dare to have considered living in ten years ago are now the most “branché” and something I never thought would happen — the French have taken to eating sandwiches on the street.

And so it is that we change, too.

Parler Paris was just a little idea exactly six years ago at the same time when Parler Parlor, the French-English Conversation Group, was born. It started as a simple communiqué for conversation group members…a way to keep them up-to-date with what was going on at Parler Parlor and in the English-speaking community in general. Over the years it evolved, too. The list grew longer, the scope grew wider.

In December of 2001, we opened the doors of the International Living Paris Office and adopted Parler Paris as our official communiqué for those of you who want to have a deeper understanding and insight into life in Paris, for Americans and English-speakers of all nationalities. It began as a weekly newsletter filled with so much information that our readers told us they didn’t have time to read it all.

Behind the scenes we saw that our readers needed help to realize their dreams to move to France and we began to offer more and more services to make that dream come true…Living in France conferences and workshops, one-on-one consultations, property searches and property listings, French mortgages, rental apartments, and just about anything someone might need us to help them do to make a short or long-term move to France.

Then Parler Paris became a daily slice of life in Paris and the community of readers grew even broader. Every day we’ve brought you a taste of what it’s like to be an Expat living in Paris, going through the trials and tribulations, pains and pleasures, joys and thrills of it all. That’s the part we believe you wouldn’t want to give up.

On our side, we’ve missed the opportunity we used to have to bring you information on pcoming events, particularly those for English-speakers or those of special interest. The community calendar seemed to be sadly missing from our daily communiqués and I longed for it.

So, in the spirit of evolution, you will get your wish and I will get mine. Beginning tomorrow, Wednesdays will be devoted to the community with what we call “Parler Paris Previews…A Weekly Community Calendar for English-Speaking Paris.” Each week we’ll be giving you what’s on in Paris for the coming week as well as previews of future events you’ll want to mark your calendars for.

Thursdays will be devoted to the French Property Insider. For those of you considering purchasing property for pleasure or investment, “FPI” is a valuable resource of information that will help make your decisions intelligent ones. If you’re not already a subscriber, but would like to learn more, visit /frenchproperty/insider

Fridays you can still expect to get Paris Property Picks with information about a part of the city that maybe you hadn’t known about before. Mondays I reserve for commentary on life in Paris just as always and Tuesdays we will take a break and give you one, too.

We hope you will enjoy the new Parler Paris line-up — that it will be more of what you’re looking for from your friends here at the International Living Paris Office.

A la prochaine…

Adrian Leeds
Editor, Parler Paris
E-mail: [email protected]

P.S. To all of you who are organizers and promoters of these events, by all means be sure to keep me informed so I can pass on your announcements to our community of readers, too. Please send your announcements by email only to: [email protected] (We reserve the right to use our own discretion and edit your information accordingly.)