Corinne earned the “Regard de la presse étrangère” award for her article Château de Beauregard: A Castle Road Less Taken published on France Revisited in May 2015. The award includes a prize of 1500 euros.

Brava Corinne! Looking forward to seeing more of your terrific and perceptive work on France Revisited in 2016.

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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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NATJA Awards recognize excellence in travel writing, photojournalism, social media, multimedia platforms, advertising, marketing and public relations for the travel and tourism industry. This year, NATJA received over 650 submissions from all over the world.

Gary Lee Kraut, editor of France Revisited, also personally won a Silver Award in the Culinary Travel category for his series about the Ardennes region of France. The article 25 Paris Restaurants: A List Beyond The List, written by Kraut and including suggestions from six other Paris-based foodies and food writers, was named a finalist in that category.

Last year Kraut won the Gold Award in the Culinary Travel category for his series about France’s Drôme region.

“NATJA received an overwhelming number of entries in this year’s awards competition. The stories and photographs were so compelling and life-like that they placed the reader in that moment. This made it challenging for the judges to select the winners,” said Helen Hernandez, CEO of the organization. “The award entries this last year were clearly, the best ever in NATJA’s history. We congratulate all of the Grand Prize winners, Gold, Silver and Bronze winners for bringing to life their travel experiences for the general public.”

NATJA is the second largest travel media association in North America. Members include travel media professionals, convention and visitors bureaus, social media, hotels and attractions, and other travel marketing agencies. Members are provided with professional development workshops, peer-to-peer evaluation, web tools and networking opportunities. NATJA also publishes TravelWorld International Magazine.

For more information about NATJA or a complete list of 2014 award winners and finalists, visit www.natja.org.

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A string quartet of the Republican Guard set the tone for an evening of lilting pleasantness before the audience took place in the Grand Salon (former Counsel Room) of the Invalides, the vast complex built under Louis XIV to care for wounded soldiers. Louis the Great himself stood at the head of the room in full royal drapery, sporting big hair and surrounded by the symbols of the Sun King, watching over the ceremony with weary approval. Emperor Napoleon III witnessed the ceremony from the back of the room while several generals and field marshals looked on from the side at this made-for-TV ceremony.

Maurice Tasler, president of Excellence Française, told the audience that French savoir-faire is recognized (reconnu) throughout the world but not sufficiently known (connu). He emphasized the importance of reinforcing the links between Excellence Française members who can help each other “in the spirit of mutual assistance and influence,” whatever their sector of activity may be. Each year, eight or more new members (individuals and entities) join an expanding circle of “mutual assistance and influence” called the Cercle de l’Excellence Française.

Beyond the ceremony’s naturalpraise of French products, talent and savoir-faire, it was Tasler’s expression “mutual assistance and influence” that scented the room for this writer, reawakening a sense of the mystery about the organization and its founders noted in this report of the 2012 ceremony.

Excellence Francaise is a non-profit organization working in conjunction with the company Tasler International.

How are members selected?

Sponsored by previously admitted members, then preselected, candidates pay a fee to the Excellence Francaise organization in order to gain admission to the group of 73 individuals and 62 member companies, associations, organizations and institutions. It’s therefore an honor for which one pays an admission fee or droit d’entrée, like entering an exclusive country club. (A request for further information about the droit d’entrée was denied.)

Since the mutual interests of Tasler International and Excellence Française in promoting French companies and goods clearly merge with those of the state, the ceremony took place under the patronage of the French ministers of foreign affairs, defense and the economy.

Intended especially for broadcast overseas, the event was filmed by TV5 Monde, a major partner of the Excellence Française organization, to be broadcast in 14 foreign languages. TV presenter Philippe Dessaint served as discreet master of ceremonies. Honorees and members receive a copy of the Excellence Française yearbook (cover image at top of this article). The full ceremony can be seen here.

Anne-Marie Descôtes, director of globalization, development and partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development, and member of the Excellence Française since 2012 when she was admitted as then-Director of the Agency for French Teaching Abroad, read a letter from Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius arguing for the multi-faced notion of the Foreign Ministry, including economic development.

Special recognition was then given to the Mission for the Centenary of the First World War. France’s role in NATO was also honored in the category Defense Sector. In accepting that honor, General Jean-Paul Paloméros, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, made special note of “the courage” of those who worked to reintegrate France into the organization in 2009.

The speeches: from complicity to beauty

Despite a current of gracious tutoiement on the podium as members of the class of 2013 passed the baton to those of the class of 2014, absent this year was the friendly banter that previously came from the unexpected encounter of two members representing different sectors. The speeches were not as lofty those of the two previous years attended by this writer. Had the most famous and prestigious of France’s companies already joined the Excellence Française club? Was this year’s crop simply not as articulate? Or was there already too much corporate complicity between members present to add any unforeseen charm to the conversation?

At times, the mix of corporate politeness and mutual salesmanship turned what could have been a celebration into a dry ritual. And so when Alexandre de Juniac, the director of Air France-KLM, surrounded by uniformed employees, praised the work of Augustin de Romanet, the president of the Paris airport authority, Aéroports de Paris, and vice versa, with both noting the importance of attracting the growing Chinese middle class, the discourses failed to take flight. Similarly when Patrice Piveteau of Cognac Frapin passed the flame in the Wine and Spirits Sector to Valérie Rousselle, president of Château Roubine, who spoke of the virtues of rosés from Provence. Absent were the subtleties and good humor heard in 2012 with the welcoming of Louis-Marc Chevignard, Grand Connétable of the Confrérie des Chevaliers de Tastevin, Burgundy’s famous wine brotherhood.

Nevertheless, the event was not without earnest elegance, as when Brigitte Lefèvre accepted the honor on behalf of the National Ballet of the Paris Opera. “Why do we dance?” she said, “… Why do we defend France? For beauty… The world is beautiful… Not simply because it’s beautiful but because we work at it.”

What constitutes French excellence?

In addition to the major categories it honors, Excellence Française has taken to celebrating each year a special category of French accomplishment. Last year that category was the arts, with a stellar podium including Jean-Luc Ponty (jazz violinist), Bernard Lavier (visual artist), Sarah Moon (photographer), Philippe Starck (designer), Marie-Agnès Gillot (classical dancer), Lou Diollon (pop singer-songwriter), Michel Bouquet (actor), Albert Urdozo (comic book writer), Natalie Dessay (lyrical singer). Edgar Moreau (classical cellist) was unable to attend.

Among that evening’s most interesting comments were those that attempted to define French excellence. Philippe Starck noted that to be French is “to be European of French origin.” Natalie Dessay, citing the presence of her parents in the audience, remarked that it’s they who best represent French excellence (“C’est eux l’excellence française)”. Actor Michel Bouquet chose to “offer silence” as his comment on the question. The artists scored points for drama and humor, yet it was Yann Callère, director of the Sofitel group, representing the Luxury Hotel Sector, who astutely observed last year that French excellence is also conveyed internationally “by people who aren’t French.”

There was little such analysis this year, though Ariane de Rothschild, vice president of Edmonde de Rothschild Holding, in entering the class of 2014 in the Banking Sector, said that she associated excellence with passion, engagement (philanthropically and socially), reinvention, risk-taking and competitiveness. She saw membership as a sign of encouragement in the face of French bashing and bank bashing. Yet she seemed to recognize that not all of the bashing is undeserving and coming from without. “France is going through a slight slump (passage à vide) that I regret a lot,” she said, “because France is an extremely competitive country that doesn’t have to be intimidated by the rest of the world.”

Innovation: the American model

When Francophiles abroad profess their love for France they rarely mention an admiration for its technological innovation or entrepreneurial prowess. One of the objectives of Excellence Française is to change that perception. Therefore, “innovation” was honored as this year’s special category with eight relatively young companies joining the class of 2014.

“It’s necessary for small fish to be able to become big fish,” said Anne Lauvergeon in introducing the innovators. “And small fish becoming big fish, that’s the American model… I think we’re in the process of beginning to get there.” Lauvergeon was inducted as a member in 2010 when she was CEO of the nuclear energy company Areva, and now president of the French commission Innovation 2030.

The eight, mostly small-fish companies applauded for their innovation this year and represented at the ceremony by their CEOs or presidents were Sigfox (cellular connectivity), Nawa Technologies (organized nanostructures), Ennesys (energy technology), Withings (consumer electronics), Mauna Kea Technologies (medical imaging), Snips (data technology), Blue Frog Robotics (robotics) and KissKissBankBank (crowdfunding).

No awards ceremony is without its occasional miscue. This year’s most notable off-note took the form of an ad banner for a brand of champagne that was placed toward the right edge of our view (though not seen in the filming of the event). It was as though someone had forgotten to take the banner down from a private corporate event the previous evening. But the promo was indeed scheduled for this evening.

That brand of champagne and the rosé that had been celebrated during the ceremony were offered in abundance at the reception afterwards, yet the canapés and sweets were surprisingly spare. After an evening in which French gastronomy was so frequently lauded in speeches as one of the most internationally recognized forms of French excellence, it scant representation at the reception was glaring—not simply to journalists, who aren’t immune to the pleasures of endless champagne and filling reception fare, but apparently to hungry honorees and their sharp-elbowed guests.

Honoring a chef would not only be entirely in keeping with the spirit of the evening but would likely allow for a more fitting reception. After more than three hours in polite company an evening, including a two-hour ceremony sparkling with superlatives and advancement of French enterprise, the final impression of watching guests descend upon a lonely plate of macaroons at 9:30 p.m. is not what one wishes to have in mind when thinking of French excellence.

Text © Gary Lee Kraut, 2014
Photos © Henri Martin, 2014

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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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The 60 stark black-and-white images of anima show creatures that are tired, hungry, caged, vagabond, alerted, wary, hunting, approaching, moving away, holding their ground, or simply watching: a dog in a lake, a sleeping donkey, two black cats against an white sky, an owl on the ground, a canine in an empty parking lot, a wary ox, birds in flight on a hazy night, a drooling cow with an intense gaze, an overfed pigeon, two leopards reacting to something in the dark.

The background in these photos is either pitch black or vague white. And there is pronounced silence to the images even though the picture hints at noise (water, wind, a growl, flight).

We may find in these images glimpses of our own fatigue or hunger or wariness, but these aren’t anthropomorphic vision of the animal world.

But before long we realize that what we are seeing is not that bit of us in them but rather how we are entirely like them, not as “animals” but as animated beings, or simply as beings—period. The odd inclusion of an image of weeds at night reinforces the concept that what we are seeing in anima are various forms of beings in the night. It’s no wonder then that images are alternately peaceful, amusing, and frightening.

The exhibition, running through November 21, 2009, is the endnote of the Prix d’Excellence that Mr. Spricigo was awarded in 2008. The prize includes a grant of 15,000 euros allowing confirmed photographers to carry out a significant project of their choice and to be known to the public, namely through this show.

Jean-François Spricigo was born in Tournai, Belgium, in 1979, and now navigates between Paris and Brussels. He is represented in Paris by the Galerie Agathe Gaillard in the Marais.

anima is a free exhibition on display Oct. 29-Nov. 21, 2009, in the Salle Comtesse de Caen at the Institut de France, 27 quai de Conti, in the 6th arrondissement. Open Tues.-Sun. 11am-6pm. A chance to see a fascinating exhibit and the Intitute up close.

The opening of this show on Oct. 28 was also the occasion for the Académie des Beaux-Arts to announce the winner of the 2009 prize: Thibault Cuisset. He received the honored for his project “En Campagne” (In the Country or Countryside).

Mr. Cuisset explained to the jury that in developing this project he wishes to have a eye “‘of the here and now’ without patriotism or nostalgia on our French countryside… perhaps most ordinary but still very much alive and that participates to the great diversity of landscapes that can been seen in France.” It’s a task that’s far more difficult than it may sound precisely because the French countryside is so intimately connected with patriotism and nostalgia. The result of that project will be exhibited in November 2010.

Born in Maubeuge in northern France in 1958, Thibault Cuisset now lives in the Paris suburb of Montreuil. He is represented in Paris by the Galerie les Filles du Calvaire in the Marais.

Mr. Cuisset was selected from among 200 entrants then 10 finalists. The other finalists were Lucie et Simon (a duo), Jean-Christian Bourcart, Patricia Canino, Luc Choqueur, Eric Dexheimer, Claudine Doury, Denis Rouvre, Ambroise Tézenas, Alain Turpault.

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The Palmes académiques, established in 1808 by Napoléon Bonaparte, recognizes those who have advanced the cause of French culture, education, and the arts and made active contribution to the expansion of French culture throughout the world.

Joanne fit the bill for her years of teaching French, her involvement with the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF) and other Franco-American organizations, and her work as publisher of Francophile books, in French and in English, at Beach Lloyd Publishers, whose mission is “to recognize the strong historical and ideological ties that bind France and the United States, and to view those ideals globally.”

Before the ceremony began, former Honorary Consul of France to Philadelphia Daniele Thomas Easton introduced me and this France Revisited to Ambassador Vimont. I didn’t dare ask the ambassador to sign up for the France Revisited Newsletter seeing as half my friends have yet to do so, but the three of us had a nice chat about this site nonetheless.

Also in attendance among the Francophile luminaries of Philadelphia and illustrious guests from the U.S. Canada, and France were some of the members of the Board of the Alliance Francaise de Philadelphie. Among them, left to right in the photo below, were Alliance Board Members Delphine Lawrence (Secretary), Martine Chauvet (Executive Director), Joanne Silver, Lynn H. Miller and Diana Regan (President).

Bravo et félicitations, Joanne!

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