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.
Great Encounters: Blois
Even without knowing much of the historical bla-bla about Blois, this Loire Valley town is a place of fascinating, magical, entertaining and tasty encounters. So before describing why Blois is considered the linchpin of understanding the history and architecture of the Loire Valley I’d like to introduce you to some of the people and characters that I encountered during a day of research throughout the town.
What Parisians Want, Exhibit 9
Paris, June 2012 -- Michelangelo it ain't, but this ad poster for taking the Eurostar to London for the Olympics, now showing in the Paris metro system, manages to make fun of the English, refer to great art and show genitalia. What more could a Parisian want?
Chambery Revisited: Reflections on a Pre-Alpine Valley Town
In which the author visits and revisits Chambery, the capital of Savoy in the Rhone-Alpes region, remembers old stones and water slides, tries to see the mountains through the mist, contemplates reading Rousseau, going cycling and visiting a museum, takes a cruise on Lake Bourget from Aix-les-Bains, goes skiing with Italians on Grand Revard, and reports on hotels and restaurants in and around Chambery.
Memorial Day Ceremony at the Escadrille Lafayette Memorial Near Paris
The Escadrille La Fayette Memorial, 6 miles west of the center of Paris, honors the flying corps comprised of American pilots who, having volunteered to take part in the First World War under French, lost their lives in aerial combat. Sixty-eight of them are entombed below in a wide semi-circular crypt. The monument is easily accessible from by suburban train.
Nasti Business in Kaysersberg, Alsace
Olivier Nasti may sound like the name of a villainous cartoon character, mean, bony, bitter and solitary, but the Olivier Nasti I met in the town of Kaysersberg in Alsace is a charming, round-cheeked chef and businessman with a strong sense family. Seven miles northwest of Colmar, in one of the small, colorful tourist-friendly towns along the Alsace wine route,...
Just a Glimpse: Colmar, Alsace
A brief stay in Colmar, capital of the Upper Rhine department of Alsace. The Hotel Marechal, the Unterlinden Museum, the Bartholdi Museum.
Le Petit Verdot, Deliciously Understated on Rue du Cherche-Midi, 6th Arrondissement
There are no secrets in the Paris restaurant scene. There are, however, understated addresses that are too earnest in their devotion to good food,...
Republicans, Democrats and the Politics of Vision in Paris
A Paris vignette by Gary Lee Kraut that examines the politics of vision (unless it's a vision of politics) in Paris, London and Berlin.
5 Days in Auvergne, Part IV: Château La Canière, a Luxury Hotel
10 miles from the spa town of Chatel-Guyon (Puy-de-Dôme, Auvergne), Château La Canière, the only luxury hotel within many miles, stands out in the plain. Lavoisier awaits inside, everywhere.