He’s the man of two worlds, of two revolutions and of two languages.
He’s a fellow who understands the politics of a republic, an empire and a kingdom.
He’s a citizen of France and an honorary citizen of the United States.
He’s Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette—call him Lafayette—and he’s returning to America for the first time in two hundred years.

Yes, Lafayette is back – in the new series Lafayette in America on Instagram, launched on September 23, beginning with Episode 1: The Awakening in Paris. New episodes will be posted weekly. Follow now as Lafayette prepares to embark on yet another American adventure.

Absurd, intriguing, irreverent, timely and occasionally historical, Lafayette takes to the streets of Paris before returning to the United States, where he reconnects with old comrades, meets Americans, does food reviews, and tries to understand how the country of his dear friend General George Washington has changed over the centuries.

Follow Lafayette in America @lafayetteinamerica now!

Why now?

At the invitation of the United States government, Lafayette made a grand tour of the United States in 1824 and 1825, visiting the then 24 states of the union, where he was celebrated as the oldest surviving major general of the American Revolution and a reminder of the promise of the Declaration of Independence of 1776 and the creation of the democratic republic of the United States of America. Two hundred years later, in 2025, told that he’s needed, he returns on a quieter but no less significant journey, on a secret mission at the behest of unknown figures, accompanied at times by the charmante Mademoiselle Lilly.

Yes, Lafayette is back!

Here are a few images from the upcoming series, filmed and photographed in France and in the United States.

Left: Lafayette tries to go incognito in Paris, yet, once recognized, he gladly poses with fans by the Eiffel Tower.
Right: Lafayette stands by the equestrian statue of his dear friend the General George Washington, a work by the American sculptor Daniel Chester French, on Place d’Iéna in Paris.

Left: Lafayette takes a seat at Les Parisiennes, 17 avenue de la Motte Picquet, 7th arr.
Right: Lafayette reflects on the evolution of the American project as he walks on Omaha Beach, Normandy.

Left: Lafayette with Axel Robb and fellow patriots at Washington Crossing Historic Park in Pennsylvania, with the charmante Mademoiselle Lilly by his side.
Right: Lafeyette and Will Krakower toast the memory of fallen soldiers of the Continental Army at Princeton Battlefield State Park in New Jersey.

Yes, Lafayette is back! Follow his adventures on Instagram @lafayetteinamerica.

© 2025

Learn about Lafayette’s tomb in Paris.
Learn about Lafayette’s relationship with George Washington.

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Lectures and events from Feb. 6 to Feb. 20

On Feb. 6 at 10:00 a.m. Gary will present to the Alliance Française in Doylestown, PA, a program entitled L’histoire et le patrimoine juifs à Paris (Jewish Heritage and History in Paris). This lecture will be presented in French. Contact the Alliance Française at afdoyletown@gmail.com for details.

On Feb. 7 at 7:00 p.m. Gary will discuss the American presence in France during the First World War and during the post-war reconstruction period of the 1920s as he examines sights that can be visited in the Paris region and in northeast France. This free program, entitled American First World War Memories in France, 1917-1918, will be held at the Lawrence Public Library Headquarters Branch, 2751 Brunswick Pike, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648. Registration is suggested by calling 609-883-8294 or emailing lawprogs@mcl.org.

On Feb. 10 Gary will present A Jewish Tour of Paris: An Exploration of Jewish Heritage and History at 2:00 p.m. at Beth El Synagogue, 375 Stony Hill Rd. in Yardley, PA. A $5 donation is suggested for non-members. Register online or by calling the synagogue at 215-493-1707.

On Feb. 13 at 7:30 p.m. Gary will present The Cycling Traveler: Biking in France at Sourland Cycles in Hopewell, NJ. He will explain how to match your cycling level and travel rhythm with your desire to explore the pleasures and treasures of France. Gary will cover routes of interest to easy-going leisure bikers, to family with teens, and to experienced road cyclists seeking challenging ride, including the Paris region, the Loire Valley, Normandy, Burgundy, and Provence. See here for details.

On Feb. 19 at 7:00 p.m. Gary returns to the subject of American First World War memories in France while also speaking about the significance of American philanthropy and culture in post-war France in a presentation at the The College of New Jersey. His lecture American First World War and Post-War Memories in France, 1917-1928 will be held at the college’s library auditorium. It is free and open to the general public. The College of New Jersey, 2000 Pennington Rd, Ewing Township, NJ 08618. (Read this article from the student paper published after this lecture.)

On Feb. 20 at 7:00 p.m. Gary presents A Toast to the History of the Wines of Burgundy and Champagne at the East Brunswick Public Library, 2 Jean Walling Civic Center in East Brunswick, NJ. Gary will introduce the audience to the astounding cast of characters, the regions, and the grapes that helped create two of the world’s most evocative names in wine and also give tips for visiting Burgundy and Champagne. See here for details.

Additionally, on the afternoons of Feb. 17, Gary will host private events in Ewing, NJ for those planning a trip to France within the next 18 months. The number of participants for each date is limited to 20. Email Gary directly at gary@francerevisited.com with your travel dates, interests and phone number, along with information about your travel party, if interested in attending.

Throughout this period, from February 6 to 20, Gary will be available for private consultations with those planning on visiting France in 2019. Email Gary to schedule a meeting.

About Gary Lee Kraut

Gary Lee Kraut has been inspiring and informing travelers to France for three decades. Originally from Mercer County, New Jersey, he is an award-winning Paris-based travel writer and the editor of the web magazine France Revisited, www.francerevisited.com, and author of the critically acclaimed guide “Paris Revisited: The Guide for the Return Traveler.” His unparalleled experience and knowledge as a France travel and tour specialist has also made him the go-to guy for individuals and travel professionals seeking highly personalized tours, advice and tailor-made events in Paris and throughout France (www.garysparistours.com).

Gary has lectured extensively in the United States and France, often using stories and insights from his travel, touring, and expatriate experiences to reveal how our most rewarding travel experiences are ones in which we find a personal connection with our route or destination. He has also lectured about travel writing, wine regions and American war sites in France. Directly and through top-flight travel agents he has assisted hundreds of travelers seeking highly personalized advice on traveling in France.

###

U.S. media contact:
Beth Brody
Brody PR
beth@brodypr.com
908-295-0600

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PARIS, FRANCE/EWING, NJ (Feb. 3, 2015)—While the recent terrorist attacks in Paris caused some travelers to push the pause button on their immediate European travel plans, we can all be armchair travelers this month when New Jersey native and award-winning Paris-based travel writer Gary Lee Kraut explores France during a tour in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. from Feb. 16 to March 2, 2015. Read the lecture descriptions and schedule here.

During that time Gary will be meeting with select travel agents, travelers and travel groups. If you’re in any of those areas and would like to meet up in person or speak with him by phone, send a message to gary [at] francerevisited.com.

Back next month with new articles from France (Revisited).

Happy travels always.

France Revisited

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Yet within that silence came a steady stream of new readers clicking aboard as I met hundreds of Francophiles, citizens with passports, college students dreaming of travel abroad, and armchair travelers curious or passionate about one of the various topics of my talks: WWI and WWII touring in France, the history of wine in Burgundy and Champagne and the pleasures of touring there, understanding patrimoine (cultural heritage) in France, travel and travel writing beyond the clichés.

Toward the end of my East Coast road trip, I was pleased  as all get-out, both personally and on behalf of France Revisited, to learn that one of the articles published on this web magazine had just been awarded top honors as best culinary travel article written for the internet. The Gold Award, as it’s called, was for my 3-part article, Drome Provencale: Eat Like a Sixth Grader, Drink Like a Wine Enthusiast. This Gold is one of the NATJA awards given by the North American Travel Journalists Association (NATJA)  recognizing what the jury feels are the best articles published in print and on the web during the period from October 2012 through September 2013.

What’s especially gratifying about being honored for the Drome article is that it represents recognition by my travel media peers that one needn’t be a specialized food writer to write about culinary travel and one needn’t be a chronic foodie to appreciate the pleasures and insights of culinary travel. Wherever there is bread to break and glass to raise there is potential for a good story because the greater part of the experience lies outside the dish or the glass (as those who join me on organized Paris and France Revisited culinary and wine [and beer] adventures well know.)

Not quite Gold but also gratifying, my article Biarritz: The Surfing Lesson was a named a finalist in the NATJA Sports and Recreation category.

As sad as I was to leave the U.S. after 6 weeks on the road, I was happy to return to Paris. What traveler could ask for more when leaving home to come home?

Imagine then further pleasure of returning to Paris on a beautiful March day, wheeling my luggage toward my building, looking forward to further culinary, sports, recreation and other adventures in France, and coming across that surfboard standing on the sidewalk.

I take as a sign of a great new wave of articles, stories, and adventures coming my way… and yours.

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I know that I’m back in Paris because:

1. Returning home from the airport on the metro during rush hour everyone looks so… French. And there’s a whole new set of posters on the wall announcing exceptional concerts and exhibitions that I’m unlikely to go to.

2. Before I can unlock the door to my apartment my neighbor greets me by saying, “Bonjour. You’re back! I’m glad because now you can turn on your heat to help warm my apartment.” Solidarity, we’re big on that in France, as long as someone else is footing the bill. But I feel the same way about her.

3. After unpacking I open my mail and find two notices from divisions of the national health system asking for information that I’ve already sent twice.

4. While the apartment warms up I go grocery shopping. Checking out, the cashier, whom I’ve greeted with a customary “Bonjour,” complains to me that the person in front of me line hadn’t been polite enough to say “Bonjour.” I respond, “Exceptionally, today I don’t give a damn,” to remind myself that I haven’t forgotten how to interact in French. The cashier then declares us all a “une bande d’impolis” (an impolite bunch) and punishes me by shoving my goods down the ramp. I’m already missing Thriftway.

5. It’s noon. I climb into bed, making sure to set the alarm for a 90-minute nap, only to wake up four hours later. There’s no better bed than one’s own.

6. At the mall in New Jersey two days before leaving I was happy to have found a sports jacket that I liked for $99. When I asked the salesman how he thought it fit, he said it fit fine, that it was normal for one of my arms to be longer than the other, and he reminded me that there was a two-for-one Presidents Day sale for that rack. Those are three things that I’m unlikely to find in France: a president being celebrated, a sale worthy of its name, and a salesperson responding kindly to serve me well even without a “bonjour.” But I rarely have a good occasion to wear a sports jacket (let alone two) in New Jersey, whereas I’ve just arrived in Paris and already I have a good occasion to get gussied up. I shower, shave, and get dressed to meet Corinne LaBalme, one of France’s top French-American travel writers and the newest contributor to France Revisited, for a drink at the Hotel Plaza-Athénée …

… after which we visit the Imperial Suite. We’re told it would cost 26 000 euros to have them turn down the beds (there are four in this suite). Breakfast, the general manager says a little too cheerfully, is extra.

7. The following day I give a tour of Pere Lachaise cemetery to some young Canadians. It’s freezing out, but we’re glad to be alive—and I’m personally happy to know that my neighbors are solidarily helping to heat my apartment for when I return.

8. I’ve been invited to serve on the jury of the Concours Général Agricole discerning prizes for French wines at the International Agricultural Show, and so on Saturday morning I find myself wearing a sports jacket and sitting at a table with four others assigned to the task of tasting, describing and judging 15 bottles of Chateauneuf-du-Pape (five 2012 white, 5 2011 red). The tired half-smile is the after-effect of a 2-hour tasting and a desire to not show my purple teeth.

9. That evening I attend the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards at the Carrousel du Louvre. Another sports jacket occasion (reminder to self: look for tux sale when next in New Jersey). The big winners are China and Scandinavia with some choice Mexican, Spanish and South American winners. The foremost prize for an American cookbook goes to Timothy Ferriss for “The Four-Hour Chef,” which wins for Best First Cookbook.

The Norwegian-American food photographer Nancy Bundt, sitting at my table, comes in second in her category. Marc Lagrange, a French doctor also sitting at the table, wins in the category “Drinks and Health” for his book “Vin et Médecine” (Wine and Medicine). We all feel healthier for it.

10. The following morning, Sunday, it’s market day in my neighborhood. Need I say more?

I love returning the U.S., but there’s no mistaking: I am now back in Paris.

© 2013, Gary Lee Kraut

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Hope to see you there. Complete information below.

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Not that we tune out completely, of course. Partisan chatter is for better or worse—mostly for worse—right at our fingertips. But in voting 30-45 days prior to the election, as Americans abroad are advised to do, we have taken ourselves off of the rolls of the undecided and don’t have to worry about car failure, heart failure or weather issues on Election Day. I imagine that only a tiny percentage of non-military overseas voters (and I’m speaking of civilians here) come from battleground states anyway (as American voters living overseas we vote in the state where we last resided), but I suppose that, sigh, is another matter.

Therefore, most election news, particularly once the party conventions are over, is of little use to expatriates in casting their vote. Even the debates are post-partum of the ballot. The main use of partisan gotchas, for those who wish to relay them, is to taunt our loved ones (possibly soon to be formerly loved ones), to explain to them why they or their spouses are raving idiots, and mostly to preach to the choir.

What passes for news in the final two months of recent American presidential election is comprised largely of sound bites and spin (“what he really meant was…”), over-analysis, horserace commentary, hoping that the opposition will make a major blunder or inventing one anyway, and arguments by people who want to let you know that a vote for one guy is a vote for America and a vote for the other guy is a vote for evil, or at least incompetence.

It’s easy to get caught up in this whether you’ve already voted or not. However, even prior to casting their ballot overseas voters are less subject to the sound bites and to the negative advertising; overall, we see and hear less of it (unless it’s our job or we take it upon ourselves to churn it out or to relay it) and so have an easier time tuning it out.

Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat, President of the of the non-partisan Overseas Vote Foundation wrote to me this week in response to a question about American voters abroad, “My sense is that overseas voters benefit from a bit of distance when considering who they will vote for as it allows them make a thoughtful decision with less influence of propaganda and advertising from either side.”

Some might say that makes us more informed, but I don’t think of it as a question of more or less informed as much as less aggressively informed at in a partisan way. We don’t walk into a grocery store and hear a notoriously left-leaning or right-leaning radio station or cable channel berating the enemy. We don’t get automated calls kindly explaining the best way to vote. We don’t see signs in our neighbors’ yards promoting one candidate or another.

We can of course get a good dose of trash talk anytime we want through Facebook and Twitter, but we generally receive that in a private setting, meaning that we can turn it off. (As a side note, I saw from my small sampling on Facebook that when Romney’s “47% percent” became news my in-your-face Republicans “friends” were suddenly busy getting their kids ready for school, and when Obama failed to hit the mark after the first presidential debate the in-your-face Democrats “friends” became keenly aware of the beautiful fall weather. Both camps quickly regrouped of course.)

I don’t know of any large-scale polling about party preferences of overseas and neither did the president of the Overseas Vote Foundation (the reason for the e-mail correspondence noted above). (Please send any such poll if you know of one, keeping in mind that the annual poll at Harry’s Bar in Paris does not count.) It’s commonly heard that members of the military tend towards Republicans and non-military expats tend toward Democrats but I’m not aware of any reliable data showing that.

A BBC opinion poll recently revealed non-American nationals in 21 countries around the world would massively prefer Obama. That might be taken as an important indicator of how the world views or wishes to view the United States, but is clearly unimportant for individual voters at home. The United States, as all states, acts out of self-interests, so it’s only natural that American voters approach our own election from a different angle.

While it’s important, given America’s role in the world, to understand why the world has been so wary of Republican presidential candidates over the past decade, it’s a bit like asking Christians whether or not Muslim women should be required to cover their hair or asking the British whether or not Koreans should use chili peppers in their food or asking Americans whether or not Russians should celebrate Halloween—not so important when making a decision based in your own self-interest (i.e. your vote).

I therefore found it a bit shocking to learn that for this election an organization seeking to get out the American vote in Israel took as their slogan “Vote Israel.” Just imagine if dual nationals in other countries were to organize the get-out-the-vote campaigns with slogans such “Vote Venezuela” or “Vote India” or “Vote Ukraine.” Pity the American in Tehran going to the “Vote Iran” meeting; he’ll never get off the no-fly list. Living in Paris, I even imagine that going an American “Vote France” event would get me in trouble.

No, probably not, since Americans outside of France already assume that I “vote France” or that I vote like a Frenchman. For Americans living within the United States, overseas voters who disagree with them are unduly influenced by where they live. Allow me to modify that: people who live in another region or state or country from where you live will inevitably see you as unduly influenced by where you live. I modified that because I just remembered hearing an odd bar conversation in Paris in September in which an American living in London was telling an American living in Paris that the latter’s views on the election were skewed because he lived in Paris. “Well, you live in London!” said the American Parisian. “Yeah, and they speak English there!” said the American Londoner. Admittedly, there was drinking involved. (For a related vignette that I’ve written on the subject click here.)

Anyway, we already have polarized blue states and red states to tell us that we are influenced (unduly or not isn’t the question) by where we live. My sister told me that her stock broker said that voting for a certain candidate would be good for her portfolio—now that’s undue influence.

Americans have one national electoral event every four years whereby we can vote an individual and a party in or out of office. (Other democracies may hold national referenda, for example, or a parliament can cause a government to fall). Yet even then we have an electoral system whereby one New Yorker’s vote can cancel another New Yorker’s vote but cannot cancel a Texan’s vote. Were the New Yorker to say to the Texan, “You say that because you live in Texas,” the Texan could rightly say, “Hell yeah!”

As overseas voters we can all say “Hell yeah!” too as we hopefully vote—voted—America.

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You see, I normally speak to groups that invite me because they’re interested in the subject of my talk, whether some aspect of travel, wine, culture, writing or travel journalism. But at this recent event the group didn’t have any prior interest in France as far as I could tell, so I was unsure about the best approach to speak to them about the country where I live.

Wine was off-limits, they were underage.
Writing was inappropriate, they weren’t very experienced readers.
Pictures, alright, but to show what? Had they even heard of the Eiffel Tower?

So the twelve 4-year-olds of my neice’s pre-school class gathered around me along with their teaching assistant and I started off with a few pictures.

To my surprise, some of them did recognize the Eiffel Tower.

When I asked if they knew anything else about France one boy proudly volunteered that his mother was French. I asked if he knew any French words but he said he couldn’t remember.

I showed them pictures of castles and of kings and queens and princesses. The girls said “Ooooooh!” and claimed to recognize some of them. The boys, not to be undone, said they saw the movie.

They gathered closer as I showed them a picture of my French cat, not telling them that he’d died two years ago, and I taught them how to say cat and dog and mouse and elephant in French.

Most fun of all I had them hold onto each other’s shoulders and taught them how to dance the can-can. One girl had a purple ribbon in her hair.

They were an attentive audience, and I was relieved that no one asked what my favorite restaurant is in Paris and no one’s cell phone went off during the 30-minute talk, which regrettably ended due to snack time, where no one sidled up to me with a glass of wine to ask how to get a work permit in France or the name of a good but reasonably priced hotel in Avignon or to tell me that their daughter would be spending a semester abroad in Lyon.

Instead they had cookies and apple slices and juice and sensed that their parents would soon arrive.

When they did, I asked the teacher to point out the mother of the boy who’d told me that his mother was French.

I went up to her and said, “Bonjour. Your son tells me that you’re French.”

“I’m as French as mud,” she said, or something to that effect.

And his grandmother said, “Is he making up stories again?,” as the boy skipped off to look for a friend.

© 2012

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* * *

France’s national train company SNCF acknowledges with “profound pain” in Florida its wartime role in the deportation of Jews from 1942 to 1944.You’d think that Veterans Day—what Commonwealth countries call Remembrance Day and the French simply call 11 Novembre—would be an occasion to think about it our soldiers and policies in Iraq and in Afghanistan, but instead there’s been a lot of talk about Nazis this past week.

First, political entertainer Glenn Beck entertained his faithful by slamming a Holocaust survivor for not being Republican by referring to liberal philanthropist George Soros as “a Jewish boy sending Jews to the death camps.”

Then, looking to obtain contracts for train projects in the United States, France’s train company SNCF acknowledged with “profound pain” in Florida something that the company had yet to do directly in France: the state-run company’s active wartime compliance and contracts with Germans from 1942 to 1944 that resulted in the company transporting about 75,000 Jews toward concentration camps during the German Occupation of France. The company’s previous unwillingness to acknowledge its wartime role had all but blacklisted it from the competition for major rail contracts in Florida and California. Now, France’s ambassador for human rights, while encouraging SNCF to be upfront about its wartime history, has accused American politicians of exploiting the issue for protectionist purposes.

This was followed up over the weekend by The New York Times’ revelation of a 600-page Justice Department report detailing how, in the years following WWII, the U.S. government and its intelligence services assisted the entry of Nazis into the United States and provided them with safe haven.

So Glenn Beck’s listeners may have gotten a good chuckle, SNCF is back in the running for the Tampa-Orlando high-speed line, and it turns out that that old neighbor of yours you thought might have been a Nazi might actually have been one.

– GLK

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The American version is to appeal to a higher cause, the classic “I failed to live up to the standards of the Church thereby letting down all those whom I’ve helped throughout my years of selfless service” apology.

The business version of that hit the big-time news today with the resignation as chairman and chief executive of Hewlett-Packard of Mark V. Hurd following an internal sexual harassment inquiry that found him in violation of the company’s code of business conduct through his filing of illegitimate expense reports.

In a prepared statement accepting martyrdom, Mr. Hurd said, “As the investigation progressed, I realized there were instances in which I did not live up to the standards and principles of trust, respect and integrity that I have espoused at H.P. and which have guided me throughout my career.”

Interpretation: “Sorry for trying to be perfect.”

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