Did anyone hear Jim Haynes on NPR tonight? He was on the "This I believe" portion. He talked about how his passion in life was introducing people to one another. I know that some Fodorites have met him and gone to his apartment for dinner.

Here's the link to the replay on the NPR site:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...oryId=99172304

Thanks, I was traveling and missed it. Brings back a nice memory. He doesn't mention the donation - it's not a free meal...

Who is Jim Haynes and what does this chap's "passion in life" have to do with travel in Europe.

He lives in Paris and has been hosting Sunday night dinners for about 30 years. You can call up and make reservations and meet with all kinds of people. Several Fodorites have done this when visiting Paris. Does that make it okay to post on this forum sir?

spaarne, did you not read or listen? About the kinds of people who attend, most of them travelers? From every corner of the globe? If you ever attend an evening at Jim's you will find that it has everything to do with travel in Europe. There are more travel stories being swapped there than on all the boards at Fodors together... But you have to go and find out, then you'll know.

Pardon my lack of information. I was in Paris for a week last month. If only I had I known.

That sounds like fun! Thanks for sharing the link

I e-mailed from his site on Sunday and still haven't heard back - it was for dinner on May 3 - is it normal for a response to take this long?

Sally - I sent an email and it did take a while for him to respond, but he finally did! I wasn't asking for a seat at the table yet, but if I make it over in the next year or so. I think it sounds like so much fun.

Thanks, sheri-lp - I'll wait a few more days - we leave on the 24th but for London first .... if I don't hear by Monday, I'll annoy him and e-mail again.

We are booked with him in a few weeks--glad we reserved before the NPR segment. Will report back.

I'm sure EVERYONE wants to know that I e-mailed Jim again, he answered and we're on the waiting list for May 3 - fingers crossed we get to attend.

That's great - I'm happy to hear you got a spot. Can't wait to hear how it goes!

oh sorry - you said 'waitlist'..hope you GET a spot!

<i>I wasn't asking for a seat at the table yet.</i>

From what I've read, I don't think you have to worry about sitting down. You may need to hone your skills for eating standing with a plate in one hand.

I believe you're right Kerouac.

An article regarding Jim Haynes appeared in the Canada's National Post recently.

http://nationalpost.com/todays-paper...tml?id=1503107

I went to his place once, and I thikn some people have the wrong idea about this. It isn't a personal dinner party (re the question about sitting down, and someone else once asked what kind of gift they should bring the "host" -- who is charging a fee for a mass serve-yourself buffet which is catered, he doesn't cook it). This is a very very large buffet event with many people and you are not sitting down at a table. There are only a few seats in the place and mostly you will have to stand around balancing plates and trying to eat (very difficult to do if you have to balance a plate, utensils, and a drink). Even standing room is crowded.

I sort of remember he did take a long time to respond to me, in fact, I'm not sure he responded at all when I first contacted him but did later on.

I'm back and we did attend on Sunday - it was a very enjoyable evening - there were other Ontarians there - one couple from Stratford, Ontario were there for the second Sunday in a row, there were people from Ottawa (who had no intention of talking to anyone from Toronto or perhaps it was any one from Canada); we met people from Houston, Denver, San Fran and several Parisians. The couple from Houston were going on a river cruise for a week but the first two nights the ship is moored near the Eiffel Tower.

One young couple from Florida became engaged the night before on the bridge near the Eiffel Tower - he got down on his knee and she thought he was just posing for a fun photo as he asked someone to take a picture of them.

Seafood chowder was the main course and I can't eat shellfish but there was bread and salad - one of the women from Denver couldn't eat shellfish either so Seamus steamed broccoli and carrots for her - I didn't bother mentioning it to him - she didn't like broccoli so I ate it. There was lots of dessert.

I didn't know about the questionnaire he hands out - one of the questions made us laugh "Sex at birth".

I bought the party cookbook which he signed for me despite not being the author.

Someone in my community (Pgh. suburb) is trying to start a Jim Haynes type of thing here; there was an article about it in our local magazine. The woman has attended his dinners, been in touch with him about this project, etc. It will be interesting to see how this goes.