Gary Lee Kraut
Gary Lee Kraut is the editor of France Revisited and an award-winning travel writer. As a long-time specialist on travel and touring in France, he has become the go-to contact for individual travelers and travel agents seeking personalized travel advice and customized tours in Paris and throughout France. See the About the Editor tab at the top of this page for his complete bio.
Sylvie Deschamps, France’s Master Artist of Gold Embroidery
An interview with Sylvie Deschamps, France's Master Artist of gold embroidery and director of the Bégonia d'Or workshop in Rochefort, an upriver port town in western France. Includes demonstration video.
The Begonia Conservatory: Without Rochefort There Would Be No Begonias
The town of Rochefort in western France, best known for its historic naval dockyard, is home to Europe’s most important collection of begonias, which is to be expected given that there would be no begonias (or magnolias or fuchsias) were it not for Rochefort. An explanation and a visit.
Paris by All-Night Bistro: La Poule au Pot
It’s 2am on a Tuesday night and I’m enjoying a bowl of French onion soup at La Poule au Pot in the Halles quarter in central Paris. What may sound like an unreasonable hour to be out dining on a weekday is in fact the perfect time to get to know one of the most esteemed traditional bistros and most venerable bistro owners in the capital.
Loire Valley: Where There’s a Château There’s a Garden Waiting to Be Discovered
The chateaux of the Loire Valley each tell a story, many stories in fact, mostly told in limestone and slate. But not all of its stories are written in stone. Some are also told in vegetation (gardens, parks, woods and forests) and water (rivers, streams, canals and basins).
D-Day Revisited: The Airborne Museum’s Disturbing Glorification of Ronald Reagan
Two films are shown at the Airborne Museum in Sainte Mere Eglise, Normandy. One of them is among the better introductory films to a visit to the Landing Zone. The other, a film glorifying Ronald Reagan, is undoubtedly the worst. An editorial explaining why the latter should be taken down.
Paris-Basque: Bistrot Belhara, Iratze and Paris’s Basque Festival
An encounter with two Basque chefs in Paris, Thierry Dufroux of Bistro Belhara and Mathieu Moity of Iratze, participants in Paris-Basque, an annual festival that brings Basque cuisine, sports, music and good cheer to Paris. Includes video interviews with the chefs.
The American Traveler and the First World War Sights in France
Between America First and me first there isn't much daylight for a national history lesson. Nevertheless, you don't have to be a war buff or a history buff to visit American-related First World War sights in France and to understand how they relate to our place in the world today.
Three Paris Vignettes: A Suit, Blue T-Shirts and Some Change
A vignette is a short text that focuses on a moment, a mood, a scene, a character, an encounter, an idea or a place. Here are three Paris vignettes that involve shopping, gift-giving and biking.
Beyond D-Day: Falaise, Normandy Examines the Fate of Civilians in Wartime
Of the 20,000 Normans who died as a direct result of WWII, the majority were killed by Allied bombardments. The effect of war on civilian populations is now the subject of a museum in Falaise, birthplace of William the Conqueror and site, with its surroundings, of the final combat of the Battle of Normandy 1944.