You know you live in Paris when… BHV Marais and the vocabulary of complaint
There’s no greater sign of your acculturation in Paris than seizing the right moment to râler (grouse, gripe, grumble) during an in-store complaint, while avoiding the emotional pitfalls and using the proper vocabulary.
The Potato Chronicles: Memories of Brittany
After several months in Finistère, Brittany, Francesca Cannan discovers the importance of potatoes to Breton chefs in a small café on a blustery winter day, the wind roaring in off the Atlantic.
Bastille Day, a Paris Vignette
Is it worth a 7-hour wait on the Champs de Mars to watch 14th of July (Bastille Day) fireworks at the Eiffel Tower in Paris? Watch and read this Paris vignette for one experienced point of view.
Toujours Maurice
Lyla Blake Ward, who previously wrote for France Revisited about her experiences in Paris in 1952, recalls the pleasure of seeing Maurice Chevalier perform twice then of meeting him in person in an indelible third encounter.
Couples Therapy in the Cour d’Or Museum in Metz
I wouldn’t have thought that a museum could be so romantic. In Metz of all places. I didn’t expect to encounter so many couples in city’s Cour d’Or Museum.
You know you live in Paris when … Gazelle Horns
He arrives bearing gifts. There’s a box of camembert since he knows that you like cheese. He’s also brought a plastic container of eight cornes de gazelle (gazelle horns).
The Other Paris Wrap: Dior on the Champs-Elysées
Not to be outdone by the Christo-wrapping of the Arc de Triomphe, Bernard Arnault, chairman of Dior and LVMH, has had a monumental building on the Champs-Elysées wrapped following "Christian Dior's original drawings of 1955."
1952: The First Time I Saw Paris…
Lyla Blake Ward revisits her first trip to Paris as a 24-year-old newlywed with her husband Russ. The year was 1952 and the city was still coated in its post-war grime.
The Mona Lisa of the Champs-Elysées (How Le Cat Killed Curiosity)
Paris seeks herd immunity against curiosity by installing 20 monumentally insipid bronzes of Philippe Geluck's Le Chat on the Champs-Elysees.