Still Life in Paris, Inspired by Notre-Dame
You’re at your desk 24 hours after the outset of the fire at Notre-Dame, after being up much of the previous night, first having dinner with a friend, then standing in silence on Ile Saint Louis watching the blaze peter out, then speaking and texting with family and friends six time zones away, then ...
The Humble Crepe Gets a Paris Makeover
The humble crepe has been enjoying a Paris makeover recently as stylish yet relaxed restaurants devoted to neo-griddlecakes topped with anything from yuzu and Japanese sugar to sautéed scallops have popped up in trendsetting neighborhoods throughout the city.
The Paris Médusarium, the Most Psychedelic Show in Town
The Médusarium at the Aquarium de Paris, set up to educate visitors about climate change while highlighting the beauty of ocean fauna, is akin to a marine jewel box. Watching these iridescent creatures perform their graceful water ballet is a mesmerizing, nearly hypnotic experience.
Jean Paul Gaultier Fashion Freak Show at the Folies Bergère
Jean Paul Gaultier has always been the offbeat enfant terrible of French fashion culture, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that his life and work are presented in a Barnum & Bailey version of Gay Pride in Las Vegas. His Fashion Freak Show plays at the Folies Bergère until April 21, 2019.
Kei Kobayashi: Exceptional French Chefs Aren’t Always French
If the name Kei Kobayashi sounded more French then perhaps this exceptional chef would have more American and British clients at his restaurant Kei, near Les Halles. As it is, he has a faithful French clientele, Japanese clients and a smattering of other well-informed international gastronomes. No need to wait for him to earn a third Michelin star to put Kei on your culinary map of Paris.
Matrimoine in Paris: A Guide to Women Who Made French History
Cherchez la femme? Even in Paris that’s not an easy task from a historical standpoint. Psychologist, author and feminist Edith Vallée sets out to rectify that in Le Matrimoine de Paris, a new guidebook that tracks the city's female history-makers through 20 itineraries, 20 arrondissements.
Arcs of War and Triumph
The France Revisited Newsletter: I write this in the wake of two major events in Paris over the past month that occurred by the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Arc de Triomphe. On Nov. 11, the gathering of leaders of the belligerent nations of the First World War to commemorate the centennial of the armistice.
On Dec. 1, the vandalization of the arch by some affiliated with the Yellow Vest movement.
Cluny Museum of the Middle Ages: Magical Unicorns and Gothic Sculpture
When it fully reopens at the end of 2020, the Cluny Museum will regain its place among Paris’s major museums. Already, its 5-year restoration project is bearing fruit in the form of two concurrent exhibitions that explore the mysteries of medieval art and culture: Magical Unicorns (until Feb. 25, 2019) and Birth of Gothic Sculpture (until Jan. 7, 2019).
Benoît Castel: Bread, Brunch, Pastries in Eastern Paris
Brunch at Benoît Castel Ménilmontant, a pastry shop and bakery in the 20th arrondissement, is an ideal place to begin weekend wandering in the increasingly gentrified neighborhoods of eastern Paris. We came for the bread, we stayed for the brunch, and only later did we taste the heart of Benoît Castel’s trade, the pastries.