Paris

Minnesotans are a humorous people, and we are attempting to elect a comedian to the U.S. Senate, which is delicate work, as you might guess. You shouldn't sweep a comedian into office on a wave of public adulation any more than you should let him win the heroine in the first reel and fly off to Paris and suddenly start ordering meals in fluent French. You need him to move a piano up a long flight of stairs, and that's what Al Franken is doing now. He is leading the race by 50 votes or so out of 2.9 million cast.

PARIS - French police found dynamite in a Paris department store yesterday, triggering a bomb scare during the holiday shopping season that was accompanied by an unknown group's demand for the withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan. The five relatively old sticks of dynamite planted in the men's store of the elegant Printemps department chain were not attached to a detonator and did not pose a risk of explosion, authorities said. After evacuating the packed store in the heart of the downtown shopping district about 11 a.m., police used bomb-sniffing dogs to find the explosives, which a warning letter sent to a French news agency had said were in a third-floor bathroom.

I recently received a promotion letter from the Paris/Bally casino in Las Vegas offering me $3,000 in cash or live chips for Jan. 2-5. I called the same day (Oct. 16) to make the reservations and was told no rooms were available. Two of my relatives also received the same letter but couldn't reserve rooms either. I asked for a rain check and was told none was available. Shouldn't they honor this? The promotion letter began, "Looking for the ultimate Vegas getaway? You can always bet on Paris and Bally's!"

PARIS - A band of jewel thieves, some dressed as women, stole diamonds, rings and watches valued at more than $100 million from a Harry Winston boutique in the heart of the city's "golden triangle" of luxury shops, the authorities said yesterday. The brazen theft occurred Thursday afternoon but was not reported until yesterday. The robbers struck in the holiday season, when jewelry stocks are plentiful. The police said that at least four men brandishing guns had robbed Harry Winston, which is on a street of shops near the Champs-Elysees that is crowded with high-end boutiques such as Chanel, Dior and Gucci.

We're thinking of going to London and Paris from Dec. 21 to Jan. 2. Are there seasonal limitations that would keep us from visiting major sites and attractions? Both cities can be lovely to visit in winter. The cold weather can be bracing when you are spending hours tramping around, and there's certainly no shortage of indoor must-sees in these capitals of art and culture. Plus, there will be holiday lights, trees and events galore. Here are details on what's open and what's closed from Visit Britain and Maison de la France, the official tourism agencies: LONDON Sights: : The London Eye will be closed on Dec. 25 only.

Afew months ago, while my husband and I were in Paris working for several weeks, I noticed an unusual soup listed on the chalkboard outside a cafe in our neighborhood. I wasn't planning to eat lunch there but was so intrigued by the sound of a carrot-and-coconut soup that I stopped in. The waitress asked if I wanted the potage cold or warm, and I opted for the latter. Several minutes later, she returned with a bowl of piping-hot soup that was thick, creamy and a lovely orange hue. One sip and I knew I wanted the recipe.

A few months ago I wrote in The Sun about a home exchange my family was planning to make with a Parisian couple and their two young children. Home exchanges are a fast-growing way to save thousands on lodging costs, live like a local and get to know (if only over the Web) a family in the country you're visiting. The idea of letting strangers live in your house for an extended period is off-putting for some, but our exchange, completed a few days ago, could not have gone better.

Here in Paris, Coca-Cola is 10 dollars a glass. A grilled cheese sandwich is 10 dollars. And gas is 10 dollars a gallon. But France still offers one good deal to Americans - and the French and everybody else. A decent bottle of wine is 2 or 3 euros - 3 dollars to 5 dollars. A great bottle can be had for 10 or 15 dollars. (I'm violating Sun style by spelling out monetary amounts, but my French keyboard doesn't have a dollar sign! At least not that I can find. It also has the letters "w" and "m" and "a" and a bunch of other stuff in the "wrong" places.

From vacation in France ... Paris has the best subway system I've ever used. Trains go anywhere you want. (Even the snooty 8th arrondisement. No black holes for rich neighborhoods, such as for Georgetown in the D.C. metro system. And they run frequently. We haven't waited more than four minutes for a subway all week. READ JAY'S BLOG For Jay Hancock's take on local business news that affects you, read him daily at baltimoresun.com/blogs Even better: the Velib system for bike rentals.

John Carroll senior Nicole Clarke has had a spring to remember. She won the 3,200 meters Wednesday during the first day of the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland championship meet and has developed into one of the area's best distance runners. She recently accepted a scholarship to Florida Tech. She may have had even more fun off the track. Clarke was part of a group of John Carroll students who recently took a three-week trip to France. She stayed with a host family and in a hotel and had so much fun on her first trip out of the United States that she left for another trip yesterday, going on a backpacking trip through England, Ireland and France.