Paris Bans Thong Bikinis, Nudity at Event
By Associated Press
7:25 AM PDT, July 29, 2006

PARIS — Worried about an excess of flesh visible on the banks of the River Seine, Paris City Hall has banned thong bikinis, topless sunbathing and nudity at the summer sand-in-the-city event known as Paris Beaches, Le Parisien newspaper reported Saturday. Violators will be fined $48, the report said. Thongs and “monokinis” — or bottom-only bikinis — are common sights on France’s Mediterrannean and Atlantic shores.

Paris was pushed to forbid “indecent attire” because it could “provoke temptation and dangerous behavior along the bank of a river,” Pascal Cherki, mayoral aide in charge of sports, was quoted as saying.

City officials responsible for Paris Beaches could not be reached for comment Saturday. It was unclear why the ban was only imposed this year, the fifth year of the popular event.

Mayor Bertand Delanoe inaugurated Paris Plages in 2002, filling sections of the left and right banks of the Seine with sand and installing spray misters, hammocks, parasols and other beach-style accoutrements.

The monthlong event attracted 3.8 million people last year, and this year has pulled in many seeking relief from record heat.

Hot Paris is nothing like 2003
by Sabastian Rotella
Los Angeles Times

PARIS - The French capital broiled Wednesday.

As the temperature climbed toward 100 degrees, Paris baked, fumed and seethed.

Tempers flared. Taxi drivers and salespeople scowled. Subway passengers resembled sweat-drenched inmates of a rolling, furnace-equipped dungeon. Desperate tourists and natives plunged fully clothed into the ornamental fountains of the Tuileries garden and the Trocadero plaza.

“Paris furnace: 98 degrees in the shade,” trumpeted Le Parisien newspaper, which covers weather with the same scrappy enthusiasm it devotes to crime and politics, on Tuesday.

It could be worse. The death toll in France during a Europe-wide July heat wave has reached an estimated 40. Nothing like the summer of 2003, when killer heat combined with social dysfunction, leaving 15,000 dead.

This time, the government launched a concerted effort to protect the vulnerable. In Paris, 380 retired doctors have joined a program to monitor the sick, elderly and homeless. Emergency services are on alert.

“The catastrophe of 2003 cannot happen again,” Health Minister Xavier Bertrand declared this week.

With Lance Armstrong out of the way, it was another American that won this year’s tour. Although some people say the playing field was not what it should have been with the absense of Jan Ullrich (who was supposed to go on and win this year’s tour), it is a great victory for American cyclist Floyd Landis of Pennsylvania.

Landis impressed Lance Armstrong so much, in fact, that he would like to sign him to the Discovery Channel team. Lance Armstrong is part owner of that team.

More details of the tour and Lance Armstrong’s comments can be seen in this article.

Paris opens annual ‘beach’ on the Seine
by CECILE BRISSON, Associated Press Writer
Thu Jul 20, 3:05 PM ET

PARIS - Parisians adjusted to Tahiti time on Thursday for the opening of the Paris Beaches — a city-sponsored initiative that turns Seine’s riverbanks into a tropical getaway.

With the landlocked capital gripped by a heat wave, tourists and vacation-less Parisians flocked to the artificial beaches throughout the day. They relaxed on deck chairs and received free shiatsu massages, courtesy of the project’s sponsors.

Now in its fifth year, the monthlong event expands this summer to include a new beach on the Left Bank. The half-mile stretch of white sand offsets surrounding architecture: the futuristic Simone de Beauvoir bridge and ultra-modern Francois Mitterand Library.

“It’s fun because it’s in the middle of the city,” said Sarah, a 20-year-old Australian student, tanning in a bikini. “We came to the city and it just happens that it’s on. It’s lively.”

Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe inaugurated the first Paris Plages in in 2002. Skeptics called it silly and contrary to the Paris aesthetic, but visitors embraced it.

Last year, 3.8 million people came, and the idea has inspired other European capitals, including Berlin, Rome, Amsterdam and Budapest, to open similar sand-in-the-city installations. Other towns around France, too, have followed the capital’s lead.

Another new attraction in Paris this year is a new sports complex floating on the Left Bank that houses a lap pool with a retractable roof.

The complex, named after jazz era icon Josephine Baker, is the 21st-century version of another floating Paris pool, which sank into the Seine in 1993 after more than two centuries of service.

If you’re planning a Paris vacation anytime soon, be sure to bring your summer clothes.  They are experiencing extremely hot temperatures (up to 104 degrees in some parts) all over Europe.  Read more about the specifics in this article from the New York Times.

It’s not Paris travel, but it’s got the world talking.  What made Zinedine Zidane react so angrily at the World Cup finals?

There has been no official word from Zidane, but it has been leaked that Materazzi called Zidane a “terrorist”.  Zidane is of Algerian descent so this would be a particularly cutting insult.  Materazzi denies the claim.

If it is true is left to be seen.  A great article on the incident and aftermath appeared today in the New York Times.

Book on Air France by August 31 and get great deals to Paris and elsewhere in Europe. Here are some sample fares to Paris:

New York: $436*
Philadelphia: $497*
Washington D.C.: $502*