Ninth Arrondissement

CROSSWORD HERE 

***

The Gardeners 
Two employees of the Jardin des Plantes go to complain to their boss. They were
given the following tasks:

1. To rake the paths, which takes at least two hours;
2. To empty all the garbage bins, which also takes two hours;
3. To tend the grass, which requires, again, two hours.

However, they only have three hours to do all these different jobs. 

-You can share the work, suggests the boss.
   -Yes, but how? Even if we both rake and empty the garbage bins, it will take
us two hours in all. But you know that there only one lawn mower; so it'll
still take us two hours to tend the grass and two plus two is four!
   -OK, OK, I can give you a solution...

   There is, in effect, only one solution.

***

A Parisian Anthology
       "No, there is no city in the world where the street vendors have a louder
and more piercing voice. You always hear them raise their voices over the
rooftops; their throats overcoming the noise and uproar at the crossroads. It
is impossible to for a foreigner to understand anything; even the Parisians
themselves never distinguish it from the background noise. The watercarrier,
the old hat vendor, the scrap metal merchant, the rabbit skin merchant, the
seafood vendor, they all sing of their merchandise in a high and piercing way.
All the discordant shouting forms an ensemble which we can not tell whether we
have heard."

    {Louis-Sebastien Mercier
    A Picture of Paris (1781-1788)
    Editions Maspero, Discovery Collection.}

***

Paris and its History
    We know that Henry IV was assassinated on the 14, May 1610 at 4:00 in the
afternoon, at no. 11 rue de la Ferronnerie by Francois Ravaillac. By do you
know exactly:

1) How many attempts on Henry IV's life did he escape?
a) None
b) 3
c) 7
d) 17

2) What was Henry IV doing on rue de la Ferronnerie?
a) He was going to see the Queen at Saint-Denis
b) He was going to the Louvre
c) He was going to Sully in the Arsenal
d) He was going to play tennis

3) Who was with Henry IV?
a) The Duke of Epernon
b) The Duke of Montbazon
c) The Marquis de la Force
d) The Marshall of Crequi

4) Where did Ravaillac come from?
a) Angouleme
b) Nantes
c) Poitiers
d) Tours