The Earful Tower: Paris

This week we have the one of the cofounders of HolyBelly, the hippest breakfast place in Paris.  The team has opened a second location, just down the road from the first one, so I headed down to check it out. Nico talks about the restaurant, how he is coming to terms with the word brunch (begrudgingly), and what happened when Macaulay Culkin came in for breakfast. After Nico, we have another story...

Here's how to live in Paris on the cheap. Everything mentioned on the show is written out, with addresses, on our website here . Happy saving! *********** The Earful Tower exists thanks to support from its Patreon members. From $10 a month you can unlock almost endless extras including bonus podcast episodes, live video replays, special event invites, and our annually updated PDF guide to Paris. ...

This week we're joined by Adam Roberts from the Invisible Paris blog . It's thanks to Adam that I learned about chasses roues (pictured below), which I blogged about before here . He's also the guy who inspired me to head out to the "human zoo" at the eastern edge of Paris. More on this over the weekend.  And in case you're wondering, here's the link to the blog post he wrote after he found the "p...

This week we're joined in the studio by Paris guru Lindsey Tramuta - the woman behind The New Paris and the Lost in Cheeseland blog .  She recommends the top restaurant experiences in every arrondissement of the right bank of Paris. Plus we talk about everything from her new podcast to Scarlett Johansson's popcorn shop in Paris .  Afterwards, we have Corey Frye sharing a story about when the Paris...

This time, you're gonna hear how an American fan of our show suggested a guest and an episode topic for us - and the next thing he knew, he was in the studio, co-hosting a show and meeting his favourite Paris author. Yes, we had Colby Fox ( whose pictures we just published ) in the studio meeting Aussie writer John Baxter. The moral of this story? Send us fan mail and we will have you on the show....

Earful Tower listeners!  In the studio this week is Stephen Clarke, the author behind all those Merde books and the man who is behind a new play hitting Paris this month. Be sure to check out the video excerpt from our chat on Facebook too! Here's Stephen Clarke talking about his play, swearing, and how he gets his observational comedy into his books.  As usual, the show ends with a story from Cor...

Over 500,000 people have seen his one-man show - How to Become Parisian in One Hour - and he's still going strong.  Frenchman Olivier Giraud joins us in the studio to talk about Parisians, how he came to dominate the Paris theatre scene, and to give us a lesson on how to make the French "I don't care" noise. Find out more about his show here . And for our first "Story from Corey", we hear about th...

It's the season finale, so we tackled Corey Frye's top 20 tips in Paris in one day! Or at least we tried to.  Listen to episode seven for the background, or join us on a scooter ride around Paris and against time.  Beep beep.  *********** The Earful Tower exists thanks to support from its Patreon members. From $10 a month you can unlock almost endless extras including bonus podcast episodes, live...

We are joined by Lina, the illustrator behind Instagram's @parisianpostcards , to discuss French politeness, the whole tu and vous thing, and whether or not French people are rude.  You might recognize Lina's work from our logo, by the way.  Here is the audio from the chat.  *********** The Earful Tower exists thanks to support from its Patreon members. From $10 a month you can unlock almost endle...

Here's the audio from when Oliver met with Guy from Cafe Oberkampf in April and went for a walk around Paris.  Their final stop was the cafe that Guy was about to open, Cafe Mericourt, which ha opened its doors to the public this week.  Find out all about the coffee scene in Paris, the 11th arrondissement of Paris, and the mysterious signature dish of the cafe - shakshuka.  And of course, get the...

With Luke Thompson from Luke's English podcast.  We tackle the topic of French people and their English talents, with one of the biggest podcasters in town. 

To celebrate our 21st episode, we're treating it like a 21st birthday and we're having a drink. Or 20. We're joined in the studio by Forest Collins, the absolute expert when it comes to Paris bars (and the woman behind 52 Martinis), who presents the top watering hole in every arrondissement of the French capital.  Below is the full list of bars with addresses.  And watch this space… we can feel a...

Shhhhh! Yes, it's our 20th episode so we're celebrating by revealing ten of the top secrets about Paris.  If you want to see pics and more info from the places and people mentioned in the episode, head over to www.theearfultower.wordpress.com Happy exploring

Episode 19: We talk to Pauline and Charlotte from the Paris Fringe festival about "the new Hemingways"... or in other words, today's arty types in the City of Light.  Who are they, where do they hang out... and is the Shakespeare and Company bookshop still as popular among writers as it was in the days of Ernest Hemingway?  

We asked listeners for their most embarrassing mistakes when trying to speak French.  Important background:  Jouer means "to play", jouir means "to orgasm".  J'ai chaud means "I'm hot", je suis chaud means "I'm horny".  Un baiser is "a kiss", baiser is "to f$$k" The rest are pretty self explanatory.  Thanks to Lily Heise, the author who co-hosted the episode. Check out the site for more info about...

We asked for your least favourite French words (after we did your favourite words in episode 15.) And so, here are the worst words in the French language. 1. Serrurerie (locksmiths) says Kevin Knight of Expatriates Magazine Paris.  "I just can't get my mouth around it and on the rare occasion I need to use it my mouth goes into gymnastics and I look ridiculous," he says. 2. Aurore, the name, says...

Lost in Frenchlation, a company that puts English subtitles on French movies in Paris, joins us on the terrace of Les Deux Moulins (the cafe from Amelie).  They share what they consider to be the five best movies set in Paris. 

What's your favourite word? We asked 24 listeners, past guests, and even each other for the "best" French word in existence. From dragonflies to hardware shops, here's the full list from the show, as well as a few links to check out the blogs and pages we mentioned. Check your spelling here: 1. Pamplemousse  (grapefruit), says   Veronique who runs French Girl in Seattle . "It appeals to all my sen...

Christophe Girard, the mayor of the 4th arrondissement.  We met him in the town hall to talk about the newly pedestrianized right bank of the River Seine (see pic above), the secrets of his district, and the best coffee in town. We also talked about what a mayor actually does and how to tackle a littering Parisian (not literally tackle, mind you). By the way, below is a pic of his recommendation f...

Hey, it's not just the lighter side of France on this show – sometimes we tackle some more serious issues. This time, for example, we talk to Annette Young who fronts the France 24 show "The 51 percent" – which is all about women shaping our world. We talk about being a woman in France, the single mother-of -three Marine Le Pen, and the word Mademoiselle and whether it should be banished. OK, OK,...

From bustling boulevards to Sunday promenades, grab a Vélib bike and discover Paris on two wheels. Our guests for this week are two entrepreneurs who know Paris very well indeed: Paul and Christian from Bike About Tours. They also run a funky coffee shop in the Marais, just off the river Seine, called Le Peloton Cafe.

Stephen Clarke has been writing books about France for almost 15 years. His first novel A Year in the Merde has become a point of reference for anyone who wants to get an entertaining view of life in Paris. The sequel, Merde Actually , even topped Harry Potter in the UK charts. He's here on the Earful Tower to tell us about how it all started and we discuss his latest book Merde in Europe .

We challenged professional cook David Lebovitz to the A-Z of French food – in other words, we put each letter to a food then asked him about it. Where is the best M for market? The best B for baguette in Paris? And what's the deal with F for foie gras. He did really well!

He's English, but lives in France, and has been proudly mocking the French for months on French TV and on YouTube. Paul Taylor joined us in the studio to talk all about the French, his new show, and life in Paris.

Lindsey Tramuta is the woman behind the Lost in Cheeseland blog and Instagram page – and she has just written a book called "The New Paris" ( on Amazon here ) . She joins us in the studio for a hot cappuccino and shares her tips on Instagramming Paris, explains how the city is changing, and reveals more about her new book. She also convinced us to get an Instagram account for the show — which WE H...