La Felicita

Location: Paris, France
Address: 5 Parv. Alan Turing
Date: May 2023
Website: www.lafelicita.fr

    La Felicita is the largest food court in Europe. It features a variety of Italian eateries. Where would it be located?  In a former train depot in Paris, France of course.

 

    The former train depot was named la Halle Freyssinet and fell into disrepair when it closed in 2006.  It was formally re-opened by French President Macron in 2017 as Station F. The F is for Freyssinet.  There are still some old trains inside the eating spaces. These days the trains are covered in artwork and hanging lights.

    There were also some trains that you could go inside.  The train above had an ice cream shop inside.

    The ice cream shop had a disco ball inside to make everything even more fun. They also had Big Mamma cookbooks for sale. The Big Mamma group owns and operates many restaurants across Europe including La Felicita.

   La Felicita takes up 48,000 square feet of space. The rest of the almost 370,000 square foot Station F is taken up by offices for small business start-ups.

 

    Outside the main entrance to Station F stands the giant legs of L'Arc. L'Arc stands about 36 feet tall. La Felicita is located at the opposite end of Station F.

   Back inside La Felicita we decided to figure out what we wanted to eat and found a seat in between the trains and plants and hanging art.

    The restaurants are all cashless and you have to scan a QR code to order and pay from a menu. This one restaurant had France's favourite private investigator holding a giant ice cream on a stick. It was Magnum holding a Magnum.

 

    La Felicita also hosts many event nights and often has deejays and other performers. The night we visited it was up to the crowd to entertain us. We visited on Karaoke night and were surprised by the mostly English music selections.

  There are plenty of drink and food options. One restaurant had a brightly lit wall highlighting its drink selection.

    Anyone can come inside and enjoy the decor of La Felicita. You don't have to eat or drink. If you find yourself passing this neighbourhood of Paris be sure to check out how new life has been brought to this giant space.

---

Map of Our World
La Felicita

---

Post # 338

Ted Lasso In Amsterdam

 

Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Address: Raamgracht, 1011 KK
Date: May 2024
Website: iamsterdam.com

    Ted Lasso is a television show starring Jason Sedeikis as the title character. It is about an American college football coach who ends up coaching a British football team called AFC Richmond. In England, football is the same as American soccer. In season 3 episode 6, Ted Lasso's team take a trip to Amsterdam, Netherlands. We also found ourselves in Amsterdam and while we were there we visited a few of the filming locations from this episode.

 

Higgins & Will

    The first storyline we will look at follows Leslie Higgins, the Director of Football Operations, and Will the new equipment manager. Leslie brings Will to the Prins Hendrik Hotel to explain his love of jazz music.

    Leslie explains to Will that it was Chet Baker who got him interested in jazz. Chet Baker is a well known jazz trumpet player and singer who died at this hotel. Jeremy Swift who plays Leslie Higgins is also a skilled jazz player and he proves that later in the episode on the double bass. The monument that Higgins shows Will explains that Chet died here on May 13, 1988.

    Chet fell from a second floor window of the hotel. His photo has been placed in the window. He had a history of drug addiction and his death was ruled as an accident. Higgins says, "We only know this. Drugs are bad."

Jamie & Roy & Bond

   Roy Kent wants Jamie Tartt to get some training while in Amsterdam. Jamie Tartt is a new star on the team while Roy is a veteran player and now coach of AFC Richmond. Jamie makes Roy chase him around the city. One place they visit is a bridge known as Skinny Bridge or Magere Brug. This bridge only allows pedestrian and of course, bicycle traffic to cross.

 

    Jamie points out to Roy that this bridge was seen in the major motion picture, James Bond's Diamonds Are Forever. In that movie, a canal boat passes under the bridge while Mr Wint and Mr Kidd stand on top of it taking pictures. The boat tour gets a little more than they bargained for as they see the police fishing a body out of the river. That reminds us of a boat ride we took down the Thames in London, England. Mr Wint and Mr Kidd's comments lead us to believe that they are responsible for the body in the canal.

   When Roy politely asks Jamie to stop for a second they are at the boat cruise stations beside the Rokin Canal.  Rondvaart in Dutch means cruise. There is another Bond connection here as the Rederij P. Kooij tour company provided the canal boat for Diamonds Are Forever.

    Even better, the exact boat is still operating. It changed its name from Prins Willem-Alexander to Koning Willem-Alexander when the real Prince Willem-Alexander became King of the Netherlands in 2013. The boat can be found in the Rokin canal next to the little Dutch elephant with long, yellow braids.

  Roy Kent catches his breath while sitting down on one of the concrete posts in front of the Diamond Factory. He sits on the last post which can just barely be seen (in the photo above) on the far right, between the planter and the street light. It is here that he points at the Diamond Factory windmill and declares that all windmills are fake.

    Jamie decides to round up some bicycles and go and find a windmill. It turns out that Roy has never learned to ride a bike so Jamie teaches him in front of the Allard Pierson Museum. After a little frustation, a few falls and a thrown bike, Roy finally gets the hang of it. The pair goes off in search of a real windmill.

Colin & Trent

  The next storyline follows another AFC Richmond player named Colin. He leaves the rest of the team at the hotel deciding what to do and heads out into Amsterdam by himself. He ends up at a gay bar named Prik and runs out when Trent Crimm, a reporter who is writing a book about the team, sees him there. Trent tells Colin that he knows his secret and they end up sitting at the edge of the canal near Westerkerk (the Western Church). When the bells of the church toll, Trent mentions that Anne Frank heard those same bells every night.

     Colin says she lived very close to this big pink triangle. They are sitting in front of Homomonument which was placed here in 1987. It commemorates gays and lesbians who are persecuted because of their sexual orientation.

 

Rebecca & The Man With A Houseboat

    The final storyline has Rebecca, the owner of AFC Richmond, going for a stroll through Amsterdam. She stops on this bridge where Groenburgwal canal meets Raamgracht canal because she answers a phone call.

    You can see the houses behind her. The light purple one on the left really stands out.

    As bicycles whiz past Rebecca, a man on the houseboat on the left whistles at her and says, "I have to say something to this beautiful woman."

 

     A bike rider comes close to hitting her and Rebecca loses her balance. She flips over the railing and into the canal.What is it that the mystery man wanted to tell her?  "You're walking in the bike lane."

    Rebecca gets out of the canal and the mystery man welcomes her into his houseboat. She takes a shower while her clothes dry and ends up enjoying a nice dinner and a few drinks. Her and the mystery man end up spending the night talking and having a great time. The next day she joins the rest of the team on their bus. Everyone from Ted Lasso had a great time in Amsterdam and so did we.

---

Map of Our World
Roy Kent Learns To Ride A Bike , Rebecca Falls In The Canal

---

Post # 337

Gillie & Marc

 

   Gillie & Marc are a married couple who are known for the sculptures that they create together. Their work can be found on public streets all around the world. They are best known for their sculptures of Rabbitwoman and Dogman. They also have a strong focus on endangered animals. You can find out more about the artists and where their sculptures can be found at gillieandmarc.com. Below are some of the Gillie & Marc sculptures we have encountered in our travels. Many of their sculptures are on temporary exhibition before they move on to a new location.

Paparazzi Dogs

 

  These paparazzi dogmen were the first Gillie & Marc sculpture that we recall seeing. They were located on Powell Street in San Francisco. They were taking photos of people coming out of an H&M store inside the Elevated Shops building. The dogmen are a combination of Marc and his weimaraner dog named Indie.

Coffee Table Of Love

 

 In New York City at Park Ave and East 46th Street you will find Coffee Table Of Love. Dogman is joined by Rabbitwoman for a cup of coffee. There are two more stools at the table for passerbys to join the half animal, half human couple.

 

 

  Rabbitwoman in based on Gillie and an unknown rabbit. Rabbitwoman holds a coffee and looks across at Dogman.

 

   Dogman holds a coffee and looks across at Rabbitwoman.

Love Negotiation

  In Toronto, Canada there is another Rabbitwoman and Dogman sculpture on Scollard Street. This time they are sitting at a smaller coffee table with no room for anyone else to join them. 

 

 When we took these pictures there had been a recent snowfall so the sculptures had a layer of snow on them. These versions of Dogman and Rabbitwoman had some colour in them. Dogman was sporting a blue suit and Rabbitwoman wore a red dress. Neither of them was dressed for the weather.

 

He Was On A Wild Ride To A Safer Place With Rabbitwoman & Dogman

  At the time of posting this blog there was another Gillie & Marc sculpture in Toronto at David Pecaut Square. Dogman and Rabbitwoman are sharing a tandem bicylce with a rhinoceros. You can join them in the last seat. This sculpture is temporary and will leave Toronto in 2025. Who knows where it might end up. 

 

 

  The rhino is there to represent the campaign called Love The Last. This is meant to raise awareness of endangered animal species. We tried to see their sculpture called The Last Three in New York City, but it was gone when we got there. The sculpture represented the last three northern white rhinos on earth. Only two remain alive today.

 
The Travellers Have Arrived

  While other sculptures show Dogman and Rabbitwoman enjoying coffee or riding a bike, this sculpture in Las Vegas is quite different. The two half human, half animals are riding a donkey naked through the Cosmopolitan hotel. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!

---

Map of Our World

Love Negotiation , He Was On A Wild Ride To A Safer Place With Rabbitwoman & Dogman , Paparazzi Dogs , Coffee Table Of Love , The Travellers Have Arrived

---

Post # 336