Parlez Vous?

My friend Linda invited a few of us over yesterday to speak French.

Well. I mean, alors.

There was stumbling, mumbling, and...how do you say...? Rust. Rusty tongues, rusty minds, rusty French. But that was just me.

But it was fun. J'ai m'amuse bien. I hope that's right, or at least close to it.

The photo above is of an alley in Old Town Pasadena where you'll find the entrance to the Alliance Française de Pasadena. Step south off of Union Street or north from Exchange Alley into Kendall Alley, just west of Raymond Avenue, and you'll see the blue sign.

Pasadena's alleys are pretty tame. In fact, I may have just proven they're downright classy.

More from OldPasadena.org.

Alliance Frankaise

The official address of the Alliance Francaise de Pasadena is 34 E. Union Street. (Pardon my lack of cedille on the c in "Francaise," but Blogger freaks out when I try to insert such things. There should also be an accent aigu on that first e in cedille, but...)

Anyway, the entrance is not on Union but in this little alley off of Union near Raymond. I can't remember the name of the alley and apparently Google Maps can't remember it either.

The Alliance holds classes in French, leads tours to France, and generally lends cachet to Pasadena. (Some of us like to think it's the other way around.)

Regardless of the alley's appellation, yesterday this bicyclette (no accent needed) made the scene look just a soupcon (sorry once again) more French.

Storming

This storm is not happening today. No, no, this happened sometime in the past. But we can commemorate it.

Today is Bastille Day in France, and because it was a French man who inspired me to create Pasadena Daily Photo, it's fitting to honor him and all my French amis with a photo.

I searched my files. I had no red, white and blue. I should have run out and taken a photo of the Alliance Française de Pasadena, but I was working today. I didn't have a picture of a Bastille. But storming? Storming I've got.