I saw David Sedaris (author of "Me Talk Pretty One Day&quot last night for a reading and he was widely funny. Since he lives off and on in London and Paris I asked him to give me a recommendation for a cool place to visit in Paris next week. Knowing his penchant for acquiring odd things (he has a new story for the New Yorker coming out in May about the 300 yr old human skeleton he found in Paris for his boyfriend), I thought he'd tell me to visit an out of the way shop or flea market. His recommendation? Buy the Pariscope magazine, check out the Puppet Show in the Luxemborg gardens in the 6th arondissemont. Make sure you tip the lady who hands you the ticket and enjoy the show. I can't remember all the things he said about it, but I'm in. While sharing this fun tid bit, I'd like to ask to all the other Fodorites, have you seen this show? And are there other off the path things I should also consider for my trip next week?

He says he shops at Champion, the supermarket. He hates Paris in the spring, usually goes out of town. He says its kissing season, you see kissing everywhere and find it discusting. They buy this book with 100 best places to kiss. I need to buy it to see which places to avoid(he said)
His favorite museum is in the medical school, he said he bought the skeleton for his boyfriend for Christmas. He claims never to have gone to the Louvre, preferring to go to Drouot because the paintings are onlt there today. He loves the Foire du Tone, a yearly street carnival. He takes people to Picard, the frozen produce chain, claiming to go everyday when his BF is out of town. The puppets shows are a delightful, there are several. It's seeing the faces of the children that
make it worthwhile.

the puppet show in the luxembourg garden is great! my husband and i loved it. it is really funny because most of the kids in the audience when i went were at the age where they don't realize that the show is a performance and not interactive. they were all talking to the puppets. after taking 10 years of french in school, the kids were the only people i could understand the whole trip!

Charming! Mimi
Sally, sooo sweet, I would love to see it too..or rather, see the children

ok, Scarlett

http://www.billcorrigan.com/images/C...uppet_show.JPG

The puppet show is featured in the "French in Action" series that runs on PBS periodically--the show closes each episode and is great fun.

We've been to the Foire du Trone and didn't find anything special about it (other than that it was in Paris). Pretty much the usual carny stuff, just with a French accent.

David Sedaris = Paris, in my mind anyway. I immediately knew this was a Paris thread when I saw his name. Perhaps you need to be well read to know this though.

He said the foire was the same as ours WITH THE SAME KIND of people manning it and that, he found refreshing

Mrs. Charles and I are big fans of Mr. Sedaris. We consider him to be a very brave individual. He survived being OCD in an era when no one was diagnosed as such, and he also had to deal with being gay (when no one was accepted as such either!). It's nice to see someone reach for happiness rather than bitterness.

We were surprised, therefore, to see people walking out of his presentation in droves at a lecture series we attends. As Cammci said, he was "widely funny." He smiled as they left--apparently this often happens. Again, this is not only a funny man, but a brave man.

My wife leaned over to me and said, "Please remind me of this the next time "so and so" ignores me in the grocery store and I have the nerve to be upset about it."

re Sedaris live

I am a long time David Sedaris fan and admirer. That said I think he is funniest:
1- when he reads on the radio
2- his books
3- in person in concert
(in that order)

This is absolutely not a negative comment about his work or him as a person (because I think he is amazing), but I don't think he views himself as a stand-up comedian and maybe that's what some audience members are expecting?

Mimi, thanks for the photo, adorable!

Mimi--also loved the picture! I want to take the 2 on the right in sweaters home with me!