From Today's Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/science/a...tops_of_paris/

There are flowers all over the city for the bees to feed from, and practically year-round.

Not to mention all the patisseries, with sweet items in the display cases -- we walked past one shop where the bees in the cases outnumbered the customers easily!

It's also a environmently issue where bees over the world cannot survive because of insecticides killing them.
In Paris, they do not use them. Flowers et al are not
enough to keep bees alive if these poisons are used

<i>Not to mention all the patisseries, with sweet items in the display cases</i>

which will attract yellow jackets but not bees that feed on nectar or sugar water that resembles nectar.

Indeed, bees thrive in all urban areas in Europe. And their honey tastes excellent. In urban areas, the variety of flowers is much greater than in the countryside (how many flowers do they find in a maize field?).

>>>New York, however, lists bees as “venomous insects,’’ and beekeeping is punishable by a $2,000 fine.<<<

What do expect from a country where foie gras is banned (in some cities)? Certainly not intelligence.

Well, I think I know the difference between bees and yellowjackets; what I saw in that window were bees. I imagine there was plenty of sweet liquid in that case for them.

New York is a backwards city in many ways. As is Nashville, where I live -- our city council just banned chickens from backyards. Now if we could just get rid of the turkeys in city government...

A guy walks into a Parisian cake-shop and says, "I'd like a wasp, please." the shop-assistant says, "We don't sell wasps."
"But there are lots in the window," says the man.

Great story. Thanks for posting it. I've never been stung by a bee, only yellow jackets. The loss of the bee population in the US is reaching a crisis level. It would be great to allow bee keeping in NYC. There are a couple of bee keepers in Baltimore with no problems. I've heard that eating honey made from local plants is good for allergy problems.

There was an article in our paper yesterday about the bees in Paris. Glad to know they are surviving somewhere.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episo...troduction/38/

Above link to PBS's Nature series segment called
Silence of the Bees

An important story re: world ecology and food supply; also some great visuals, including the Paris rooftops. You can watch the episode online.

<<What do expect from a country where foie gras is banned (in some cities)? Certainly not intelligence.>>

I beg your pardon?

thanks cigale for all the buzz about bees in Paris!

What do expect from a country where foie gras is banned (in some cities)? Certainly not intelligence.> Perhaps not but compassion for what is certainly horrible animal abuse that you seem to sanction. Bon Appetit!