I hear you on Shakespeare and Company..it unfortunately IS pretentious. Last time I was there it really seemed to be kind of a pick up joint for a certain breed of traveler. It's redeeming feature is that they filmed the opening scene of Before Sunset in there.

I'm looking forward to future episodes of Johnny Depp stalking..

I am having problems listening to this episode.... on the website and the podcast. HELP! I feel like I am going through withdrawal of the K&K podcast!

Hi K & K,

Just on Johnny Depp. I saw him walking along the rue Saint-Honoré some time last year. He looked like he was just nipping down the road to buy a baguette or a pollywaffle or something, although that may be the look he was trying to create, so perhaps he has a flat somewhere around there. He was pleasant on both the nose and eyes but unfortunately he didn't check me out!

Excuse me? "Florida is full of old people"? You are aware that I live in Florida, aren't you? Actually, the demographic has changed quite a bit and the average age in Florida is now about 40.

I believe there is something like Spring Break in Australia. What about the Schoolies in Surfer Paradise?

Thankyou everyone for your Johnny Depp tips, ESPECIALLY Melissa - you've saved us some serious stalking time. At least we know we have to wait a bit before we can follow him here ;)

@Bob - you mean flagrant stereotypes are NOT TRUE? Who'd've thunk it?

@Emmanuelle - schoolies is a little like Spring Break, you're right. It jumped into my mind when I relistened to this episode too. But to get technical, Schoolies is end-of-year celebrations, not the middle of the year.

Of course having read A Moveable Feast and other essays and impressions of Shakespeare and Co., I was really excited to go in there and get some advice. I mean, they're supposed to be well-read, knowledgable people working in there, right? Plus, I had a great question. I wanted to know what anglophone French historian I should be reading, to fill in the gaps in my knowledge about French history, from the monarchy to the République. I was hoping for something irreverant and fun, and I offered up the names of a couple well-known historians as examples of the kind of narrative I had really enjoyed. I was so looking forward to a great book recommendation. I wasn't just looking for an 800 page biography of Marie Antoinette, either.

The English girl who talked to me just kept pulling history books off the shelf, seemingly at random, causing me to say stuff like "But, um, this is about pottery from the Iberian Peninsula...?" As for French history, if it wasn't a biography of Marie Antoinette, they didn't have it. In the end she tried to sell me some of the Merde books! Honest to god. She was like, "these are pretty funny. You know, irreverant."

!!!