On the road, we reach our destination earlier as sunset creeps toward teatime. We are more kindly treated in small-town hotels. In Paris we linger longer in museums as though the rain outside makes us more interested in art and history. In restaurants we return to culinary classics as though we’ve lost a taste for street food. We renew our interest in theater, concerts and opera. We abandon café and bar terraces to smokers. We find ourselves admiring each other’s scarves. We arrive more on time for dinner parties. On some Sundays a lengthy brunch becomes our main meal of the day. And have I got a brunch suggestion for you!

Brunch and beyond

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.

Paris Street Talk: Rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud, 11th arrondissement
Where to after brunch? Some call it a no-go zone full of potential Islamist terrorists. Others pretend that the neighborhood is just one big hipster playground. What’s really going on at the eastern end of Jean-Pierre Timbaud? Here, in a two-part illustrated vignette, is what two American travelers discover as they explore eastern Paris after brunch one Sunday afternoon.
Part 1: Chadors, Communists, Cannibals
Part 2: The Wall of 3 Crowns

Cluny Museum of the Middle Ages: Magical Unicorns and Gothic Sculpture
When it fully reopens at the end of 2020 upon completion of a 5-year restoration and reconfiguration project, the Cluny Museum will regain its place among Europe’s premier museums of medieval art and among Paris’s major museums. Already, the project is bearing fruit in the form of two concurrent exhibitions that explore some of the mysteries of medieval art and culture: Magical Unicorns (until Feb. 25) and Birth of Gothic Sculpture (until Jan. 7).

Other exhibitions in Paris

The Army Museum at the Invalides reveals (until Jan. 20) just how complicated and illusory peace can be with the exhibition In the East, War Without End, 1918-1923.

The Museum of Jewish Art and History examines the life of Sigmund Freud (until Feb. 10).

Masterpieces from the Mellon collection from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts are presented (until Dec. 2) in the exhibition Country Life at the Museum of Hunting and Nature, a surprisingly beautiful and often ignored museum in the Marais.

Even if, like me, you were never particularly attracted to the work of Miro, you’ll nevertheless be drawn in to the measured evolution of the artist’s work in a major retrospective at the Grand Palais (until Feb. 4).

On the book shelf

English writer Annabel Simms recently published Half an Hour From Paris: 10 Secret Daytrips by Train. I’m wary of the use of the word “secret” to describe destinations that don’t involve Indiana Jones or certain bars. The book is nevertheless a welcome addition to the guidebook shelf. It provides detailed itineraries for DIY walking tours that will be of interest to curious travelers looking for lesser-visited areas of the Paris region. Among them, well-known sights such as Château de Vincennes, Malmaison and Bagatelle and little-known towns and villages such as Lagny sur Marne, La Ferté sous Jouarre and Igny. The book is a follow-up to Simms’s An Hour From Paris, reviewed here on France Revisited.

I’m even more wary of books that claim to tell us how to do anything like a “local” than I am of those that set out to reveal “secret” locations. Still, it’s no secret that one can eat quite well in Paris and that Clotilde Dusoulier knows her way around her local food market and around the kitchen. Tasting Paris: 100 Recipes to Eat Like a Local, her latest book, may have more appropriately been subtitled 100 Recipes to Eat Like a Local’s Parents, but thankfully many of the dishes their parents ate remain on tables of Paris today. With a trio of chocolate-dripping profiteroles on the cover, handsome illustrations inside, and little cultural tidbits at the start of each recipe, there’s a user-friendly feel to this book. The recipes may not be ultra-complicated, still, it helps to have a good local food market and to know some culinary secrets before undertaking them.

Driving in Europe

For those planning on driving in Europe, here’s some basic information (pdf) that will help you correctly select the appropriate fuel for your vehicle.

The Curious Tasting & Travel Club

The Curious Tasting & Travel Club has several small-group tastings and other events in the works, including tasting in Paris on Nov. 7, 13, 21, Dec. 6, 14, 19. Upcoming tastings involve Rhone Valley wines, whiskey, foie gras, smoked salmon, champagne, pastries. Contact me directly to be added to the list to receive event details.

Happy travels always,

Gary
Oct. 29, 2018

Gary Lee Kraut
Editor, France Revisited
www.francerevisited.com
gary@francerevisited.com

The post France Revisited’s Early Autumn Newsletter appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

This article follows an interview with architect Edouard Pastor, one of France’s leading experts on accessibility.

While many travelers scan the web for information as they prepare their trip to Paris, advance planning is especially important for those with a handicap or disability that may make it difficult or impossible to access certain museums and monuments.

The department of Durable and Adapted Tourism of the Paris Tourist Office communicates to tourism professionals and to the public about accessibility while also accompanying businesses in applying laws and being properly outfitted.

Hervé Guillon, the department’s coordinator for the past five years, is an urbanist who previously worked with Edouard Pastor at Handigo. Asked how Paris compares with other cities regarding accessibility, Guillon says, “We could do better, but we’re catching up with cities such as Barcelona and London. We’re not the best adapted as yet but we’re doing a good job at communicating what we have.”

The Paris Tourist Office provides extensive visitor information, including a list of accessible museums and monuments in and around the capital along with other useful information for those with a disability.

A downloadable brochure in English entitled Accessible Paris provides information about adapted hotels and restaurants and about companies specialized in transporting people with disabilities, along with information about artistic, cultural, and entertainment venues. A paper version is also available in Paris tourist offices.

Accessible.net lists accessible businesses and public buildings throughout France, and beyond.

Yanous.com is an online magazine in French with news and information useful for travelers and residents with a disability.

Jaccede.com/en/ is an internet guide and app that provides information about accessible businesses throughout France.

I Wheel Share is an app through which users share their experience about navigating Paris and other cities in view of physical and sensorial deficiencies.

Paris en Fauteuil Roulant (Paris in a wheelchair) is a Facebook page concerned with culture and lifestyle in the capital.

Labels of accessibility

Edouard Pastor and Handigo have provided the know-how behind the creation of Label LA Accessibilité, used to indicate the accessibility and usage performances of non-residential buildings. Discerned by the CSTB, the France-based Scientific and Technical Centre for Construction, it has been available in France since the spring 2017 via its subsidy Certivea and will extend internationally via its subsidiary Cerway beginning in 2018.

Already well established, the label Tourisme & Handicap, France’s national Tourism & Disability mark, was created in 2001 for the purpose of “providing reliable information… about accessibility to tourism sites and facilities in relation to the four categories of disability … and to develop a range of adapted tourism options.” The awarding of the label, along with a recent national label Destination pour tous (destination for all), is managed by the association Tourisme & Handicaps.

Annette Masson, president since the association’s inception, said in a phone interview, “We used to knock at doors to get tourism professionals interested in our work, now they come to us. There’s been an evolution of mentality. In Europe, France is now in the average regarding accessibility but we’ve made enormous progress. It’s difficult to make an old country accessible.”

In becoming involved in issues concerning accessibility Masson was not in a situation of disability herself, nor was anyone in her immediate family, but she had come to know people who were and saw the problems that confronted them.

“It’s not up to only those with disabilities or those close to them to defend their rights,” she said. “It’s also a societal question. We have to stop thinking that only those in a situation of disability need to care about accessibility. We all do. The elevator may be essential for some but we’re all happy to see one as we get older or if we’re pushing a stroller. “

© Gary Lee Kraut

This article was first published in a slightly different version in the October 2017 issue of The Connexion.

The post Accessible Paris: Information and Accessibility Labels appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

Since March 1, 2016 fares have been set and additional baggage fees no longer apply. The legal maximum price for taxi service is set as follows:

Between Charles de Gaulle and right bank Paris: 50 €
Between Charles de Gaulle and left bank Paris: 55 €
Between Orly and right bank Paris: 35 €
Between Orly and left bank Paris: 30 €

The right bank is more or less north of the looping river in Paris and concerns arrondissements 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20.

The left bank is south more or less of the river and concerns arrondissements 5, 6, 7, 13, 14 and 15.

Charles de Gaulle is northeast of the city. Orly is south of the city.

There is also a set fee for reservations that may be added to the fares noted above or to metered fares for other taxi destinations, no matter what distance is covered.

Immediate reservation: 4€
Advance reservation: 7 €

Those additional fees do not apply for hailed taxis.

In the past there drivers have been allowed to add fees for baggage and pets, but those fees no longer exist. A supplement may, however, legally be added for a fifth passenger, even if that fifth passenger is a child.

Tipping of 5-10% is entirely optional. Reservation fees may in themselves may be considered a form of service charge.

If, when taking the taxi from the airport to the hotel, you find the requested fare questionable, remove your bags from the taxi and inquire inside the hotel before making payment.

Note: While it is legal for pre-reserved car services to await clients in the terminal, a licensed taxi may not solicit clients inside a terminal. Beware of anyone who comes up to you offering car service.

The post Taxi Fares Between Paris and Charles de Gaulle or Orly Airports appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

Even before you travel you can benefit from some GLK Travel Therapy to get you over the humps of planning your travels in France.

When you’re suffering from a case of Paris-envy, Francophilia, Normandy-mania other regional-minded afflictions, a session or two of GLK Travel Therapy by phone will help lay the groundwork for a worry-free trip. GLK Travel Therapy is also the perfect tailor-made travel gift for your traveling loved-ones.

How do you know if you need GLK Travel Therapy?

Some of the symptoms to watch for:
– You’re restless.
– Your minds wanders frequently to thoughts of Paris and elsewhere in France.
– You’ve been spending hours searching for travel ideas about France rather than doing something useful such as improving your French vocabulary.
– You believe that you have to visit Paris exactly the same way that a friend of yours from work did years ago even though you have nothing in common.
– You dream of food (cuisine, you’d call it)
– You imagine yourself surrounded by great monuments, wandering through unknown neighborhoods, pressing your nose against pastry-shop windows.
– You imagine setting down not to food but to cuisine.
– You see yourself as “belonging” in the heart of café culture.
– You’d rather plan a rendez-vous than any ordinary get-together.
– You panic at having choose between Normandy, the Loire Valley, Provence, the Riviera and all those other places you’ve read about on France Revisited.
– You speak of burgundy as though it were more than just a color.
– You say “baguette,” “boutique,” “macaron” and “champagne” as though no English words for them exist.
– You frequently long to be wished “bon voyage” and to wish others “bon appétit.”

If you or loved one has two or more of these symptoms then you/he/she may have a case of case of Paris-envy, Francophilia, Normandy-mania other regional-minded afflictions that could benefit from GLK Travel Therapy.

The best self-help a traveler can get

A session or two of travel therapy with moi, Gary, Paris’s premier travel therapist (and the editor of your trusty and uncommon web magazine France Revisited).

Your therapy session(s) will take place by phone when I call you from Paris (or wherever I may be) whenever you feel a bout of Paris-envy or Francophilia coming on. That typically occurs in the weeks or months before you travel abroad but could be a matter of days.

As a professional, I’ll help you turn the dreams of your visit to Paris and/or your travels in France into an exciting and delicious reality by providing the advice and the self-help tips that will enable you to:
– plan your itinerary,
– choose the lodging and the restaurants that are right for you,
– understand the logistics of your upcoming trip, and
– make the most of your vacation time.

I’ll further provide you with personalized tour ideas, child-friendly travel advice and other discreet remedies not found on WebMD.

A 50-minute phone session

As a France specialists, I recommend starting your travel therapy before entering the hellish spiral of spending countless hours searching online for tours, hotels, restaurants and itineraries and before letting your friend who once spent three days in Paris five years ago tell you exactly how you should live your dream of travel abroad.

Treat yourself (or your friends or loved ones) to a 50-minute session of travel therapy with Gary for only 65 euros.

If you or they have got a severe case of Paris-envy, Francophilia or multi-region-fantasies, consider purchasing two sessions for 120 euros.

And for that special someone on your holiday list, humor their Paris fantasies by offering them one of the unique and personalized tours listed here.

Get informed and you’ll suffer no longer from indecision

So don’t just sit back and suffer (or let your loved ones suffer) from Francophilia or Paris-envy or Normandy-mania and other regional-minded afflictions. Get on track to the trip that’s right you with a session or more of GLK Travel Therapy with me by phone, or in person. Yes, you or they can have travel therapy in Paris over café or wine.

Write to me personally at gary [at] francerevisited.com to arrange a session of travel therapy or to purchase a travel therapy gift certificate for your friends who may be suffering from Paris-envy.

Be kind to yourself, get travel therapy with a professional Paris-based travel specialist.

Gary

Gary Lee Kraut
Editor, journalist, travel therapist
gary [at] francerevisited.com

The post Professional Travel Therapy for You, Your Friends and Your Loved Ones appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

Those are all things that you, the visitor and the return traveler, look forward to when you imagine (re)visiting Paris.

So you naturally pause when thinking of coming to Paris today.

You naturally wonder: Will I feel safe? Will I be safe? Do I want to walk around in fear? Is it worth the risk?

Just five days after the attacks, it would be a lie to say that those of us who live in Paris don’t also asked ourselves the same questions. We are not defiant or brave, and you will not be if you come.

Yes, we want to feel “normal” again. Yes, we want to—we need to—go about our lives without fear. We have personal and work obligations, we have children to take care of, friends we want to see, activities we enjoy, shopping to do, errands to run. We want to feel the normalcy of our lives as we felt on it early Friday evening as the weekend arrived.

In a way, we already have it. We are out and about. Paris is open for business.

But normalcy does not mean that we are nonchalant about the death and destruction that has struck and that wishes to strike again. We continue to pause in front of memorials, to think about those who were kills, to comfort those who were wounded or more directly affected than us, to tell each other first-, second- and third-hand stories.

The question of safety is one we all ask ourselves. Yet our lives are rooted here. Whether those roots are one year or 20 years or generations old, roots of family or work or friends or of unwillingness to move, few of us will flee today, as few fled after the attacks 10 months ago.

But you, the visitor and the return traveler, don’t have those roots. You may be contemplating your first visit to Paris. Or you may profess a love for Paris; you may consider yourself a Parisian at heart; you may consider Paris your second home. Yet Paris is not your home. And for those of us who live here to say, “Yes, everything’s fine, you should come,” would be to confuse our roots with your travels, our daily lives with your vacation.

You are right to question a visit so soon after the events of Nov. 13. You are right to reconsider your plans. You are right to be concerned about the threat of more violence. Don’t let anyone lead you to believe otherwise. Go right ahead and imagine your fear.

And then remember that what you feel about Paris from afar is not what you will feel about Paris when you are here.

Because once here you will join with those of us who have roots, whether shallow or deep, in life in Paris. You may then be afraid sometimes as we are. You might then tear up sometimes as we do. You may then wonder if you would feel safer in this seat or that, in this restaurant or that, walking down this street or that. You will wonder if you should be here at all.

But here you will be. And in being here you will know the pleasure and beauty of discovering and rediscovering Paris. Beyond the landmarks, beyond the treasure-trove of museums, you will know all those things that the enemies of life in Paris abhor: the pleasure of sharing a drink or a meal with friends, of listening to music, of strolling down the street, of kissing on the sidewalk, of men and women mingling freely, of gathering comfortably with strangers, of being young in years or young at heart, of openly celebrating life. You will know pleasure and discovery and perhaps love. You will allow them, as we do, to brighten the darkness that is fear. You will wish you could stay long. You will want to return.

.
Gary Lee Kraut
Editor, France Revisited
November 18, 2015

The post To Those (Re)Considering coming to Paris appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

The terrorist attacks in Paris and Saint-Denis on November 13 killed 130 people and left hundreds more wounded. The immediate target was joie de vivre in the City of Light: the pleasure of sharing a drink or a meal with friends, of listening to music, of strolling down the street, of kissing on the sidewalk, of men and women mingling and dressing freely, of gathering comfortably with strangers, of being young in years or young at heart, of openly celebrating life.

Those are all things that you, the visitor and the return traveler, look forward to when you imagine (re)visiting Paris.

So you naturally pause when thinking of coming to Paris today.

You naturally wonder: Will I feel safe? Will I be safe? Do I want to walk around in fear? Is it worth the risk?

Just five days after the attacks, it would be a lie to say that those of us who live in Paris don’t also asked ourselves the same questions. We are not defiant or brave, and you will not be if you come.

Yes, we want to feel “normal” again. Yes, we want to—we need to—go about our lives without fear. We have personal and work obligations, we have children to take care of, friends we want to see, activities we enjoy, shopping to do, errands to run. We want to feel the normalcy of our lives as we felt on it early Friday evening as the weekend arrived.

In a way, we already have it. We are out and about. Paris is open for business.

But normalcy does not mean that we are nonchalant about the death and destruction that has struck and that wishes to strike again. We continue to pause in front of memorials, to think about those who were kills, to comfort those who were wounded or more directly affected than us, to tell each other first-, second- and third-hand stories.

The question of safety is one we all ask ourselves. Yet our lives are rooted here. Whether those roots are one year or 20 years or generations old, roots of family or work or friends or of unwillingness to move, few of us will flee today, as few fled after the attacks 10 months ago.

But you, the visitor and the return traveler, don’t have those roots. You may be contemplating your first visit to Paris. Or you may profess a love for Paris; you may consider yourself a Parisian at heart; you may consider Paris your second home. Yet Paris is not your home. And for those of us who live here to say, “Yes, everything’s fine, you should come,” would be to confuse our roots with your travels, our daily lives with your vacation.

You are right to question a visit so soon after the events of Nov. 13. You are right to reconsider your plans. You are right to be concerned about the threat of more violence. Don’t let anyone lead you to believe otherwise. Go right ahead and imagine your fear.

And then remember that what you feel about Paris from afar is not what you will feel about Paris when you are here.

Because once here you will join with those of us who have roots, whether shallow or deep, in life in Paris. You may then be afraid sometimes as we are. You might then tear up sometimes as we do. You may then wonder if you would feel safer in this seat or that, in this restaurant or that, walking down this street or that. You will wonder if you should be here at all.

But here you will be. And in being here you will know the pleasure and beauty of discovering and rediscovering Paris. Beyond the landmarks, beyond the treasure-trove of museums, you will know all those things that the enemies of life in Paris abhor: the pleasure of sharing a drink or a meal with friends, of listening to music, of strolling down the street, of kissing on the sidewalk, of men and women mingling freely, of gathering comfortably with strangers, of being young in years or young at heart, of openly celebrating life. You will know pleasure and discovery and perhaps love. You will allow them, as we do, to brighten the darkness that is fear. You will wish you could stay long. You will want to return.

.
Gary Lee Kraut
Editor, France Revisited
November 18, 2015

The post To Those (Re)Considering Coming to Paris appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

* * *

Paris, 4 a.m.—A couple I met this July afternoon told me how disappointed they were with a “Paris By Night” driving tour that they’d taken the previous night.

“We saw the major monuments,” they said, “but we never saw them by night.”

Apparently, year-round, the company is offering an 8 p.m. Paris By Night Tour even though night doesn’t fully descend over Paris until after 10 p.m. from late May to late July.

“The driver was nice enough to extend the tour for 20 minutes because we felt cheated,” they continued, “but we never made it past twilight.”

Twilight is known in French as “the time between dog and wolf” (l’heure entre chien et loup). On the right evening and with the right company or mindset, there’s breathtaking seduction in its deepening blue. But this couple had been looking forward to encountering full, howling wolf.

I sympathized with them for being the victims of misleading advertising, or at least of static advertising since 8-10pm would indeed have a night component nine months of the year.

I suggest that they join me for a bike ride that night.

“What time?” they asked.

“Round midnight,” I said. “Or one a.m. or two, if you truly want to know Paris by night.”

They laughed, thinking I was joking.

“Seriously,” I said. “We’ll use Vélib, the public bike share system.”

“That’s too late for us,” they said. “We want to be at Versailles first thing in the morning.”

Wanting the butter and the money for the butter (vouloir le beurre et l’argent du beurre) is the French expression for having one’s cake and eating it too, or in this case of experiencing Paris by night in early July without being willing to stay out past one’s usual bedtime.

Travelers touring Paris on a working-day schedule certainly get to see the museums and the monuments. They get early restaurant reservations and make all the right pastry stops. But one of the best ways to experience Paris as a living city is by assuming a wobbly schedule whereby you:

• take the streets at least once by 7am so as to appreciate the opening of cafés, markets, gardens and parks while (re)discovering the aura of old monuments before they get poked by selfie sticks,

• and stay out past midnight at least once so as to truly appreciate after-hours in the city.

I understand that taking on such a schedule is disturbing to some. (Napping helps.) Between overcoming jet lag and maintaining one’s habitual rise, dine and sleep times, an untethered program can be troubling for some, and unadvisable when traveling with children.

But for me, one of the unsung pleasures of Paris is the midnight stroll or bike ride. Make that 2 a.m. on a warm summer night. In fact, “off-the-beaten track” in such as heavily visited city as Paris isn’t a place, it’s a time — especially that time in summer when most tourists are in bed dreaming of Paris. That’s when venturesome and sleepless travelers are out living their dream.

Sometime after midnight, heading out, or home, on foot or on bike (of not too much alcohol in the bloodstream), you’ll stand or sit or walk or ride by the river.

You’ll bathe in the diffuse yellow light of the streetlamps as it plays against sidewalk, street, stone buildings and the lower leaves of chestnut, linden and turkish filbert trees. You’ll listen to or take part in street conversations.

You’ll want to feel safe, of course. In certain quarters you might have to contend with or steer clear of alcohol-fueled night-folk. But Paris is a well-lit city. It is, after all, the City of Lights.

So I went out biking that night. I meandered along the boulevards and avenues and well-lit rues, through open squares and along the banks of the river and of the canal, rediscovering the true pleasure of Paris by night as I encountered:

Brazilian salsa dancing by the Arab Institute,

a friendly game of pétanque (bocce) by the river,

the intimate end of a long picnic,

a tête-à-tête with a view,

a headless martyr,

spiders over the Seine,

a heap of garbage beside City Hall.

silent cemetery walls.

and a dance of drunken seduction after a neighborhood bar has closed.

I could go on and on.

But it’s 4am. I’m going to bed.

Text and photos © 2015, Gary Lee Kraut, except for Va-nu-pieds’ photo of Notre-Dame in the morning.

Biking Paris after midnight is one way to travel in the spirit of France Revisited.

The post Paris By Night: The Midnight Ride appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

Kraut will be exploring France from five different angles during his upcoming lectures. He’ll be speaking about American war memories in France, with an emphasis on Normandy, at the Alliance Française de Doylestown, PA (in French) on Feb. 18 and the Alliance Française de Washington, D.C. (in English) on Feb. 25; about culinary travel in Paris at the public libraries in Lambertville, NJ on Feb. 20 and Yardley, PA on Feb. 21; about Jewish travel in Paris at the Lawrence, NJ Public Library on Feb. 19; about travel and travel writing beyond the clichés at Bucks County Community College (Newtown, PA) on Feb. 16, and about cultural heritage and preservation at The College of New Jersey on March 2 .

In addition to his upcoming lectures, Kraut will also be meeting with travel agents, individual travelers and Francophile groups discuss their concerns about and interest in travel to France.

Gary Lee Kraut is the author of five guidebooks and hundreds of articles about France. He is the founding editor of France Revisited www.francerevisited.com, a premier web magazine exploring life in Paris and travel in France. This month France Revisited received the North American Travel Journalists Association’s Silver Award as first runner-up in NATJA’s annual Best Online Travel Magazine competition. Kraut also received a Silver Award in the Best Culinary Travel Article category for a series about the Ardennes region of France. Last year he received NATJA’s Gold Award in the Culinary Travel Article category for an article about France’s Drôme region.

As a travel consultant and private guide, he has worked with a wide array of individuals, including a U.S. senator, a Hollywood actress, a best-selling author, top-flight travel agents, corporate presidents and many curious travelers from across the U.S. and from a half-dozen other countries.

Kraut’s area lecture schedule is as follows. All lectures are open to the public.

Travel and Travel Writing in France Beyond the Clichés
Date: Monday, February 16 at 11am.
Address: Bucks County Community College, 275 Swamp Rd. Newtown, PA 18940. The lecture will take place in the Gallagher room on the second floor of the Rollins Building.
Info: Free. Those not affiliated with the BCCC community are welcome to attend but should first send an e-mail to Theresa.Montagna@bucks.edu or call the Language and Literature Dept. at 215.968.8103 to let them know that they’re coming.

Description: “The clichés of Paris and of France are wonderful,” says Gary Lee Kraut, “but our most rewarding travels are those in which we develop a personal connection with our destination.”

Using insights, experiences and anecdotes from his work in travel and tourism in France over the past 25 years, Kraut will reveal how travel and travel writing are enriched by seeking those connections and by the surprises found along the way. He’ll speak about his own evolution over the years from a tenderfoot journalist working for a suburban New York paper to a top American specialist on travel in France, discuss the magic of “the perfect travel moment,” and provide useful tips on how and where to look.

***

American War Memories in France: Exploring the WWII sites of Normandy and the WWI sites of northern and eastern France
Dates: Wednesday, February 18 at 9:45am in Doylestown, PA (in French) and Wednesday, February 25 at 7pm in Washington, DC (in English
Address 1: Feb. 18: Alliance Française de Doylestown, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, 301 North Main Street, Doylestown, PA 18901.
Address 2: Feb. 25: Alliance Française de Washington, DC, 2142 Wyoming Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20008. Tel. 202-234-7911.

Description: An illustrated lecture that examines American WWII war sites in Normandy and WWI sites in northern and eastern France and various approaches to visiting them. Along with a survey of a variety of sites and museums and an analysis of the future of the Normandy Landing Zone, Kraut will tell about some of the fascinating people he’s met during his work as a travel writer and travel specialist, from a brandy producer on a historic farm near Omaha Beach to encounters with the children of WWII veterans and with travelers who were unexpectedly and indelibly touched by what they experienced.

In Nov. 2014, at the end of the commemorative year of the 70th anniversary of the Invasion of Normandy, Kraut organized and moderated on behalf of France’s Heritage Journalist Association a round-table discussion at Paris’s International Heritage Fair about the future of the Normandy Landing Zone.

***

Jewish Travel in Paris
Date: Thursday, February 19 at 7pm
Address: Lawrence Public Library, 2751 Brunswick Pike, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648. 609-989-6920
Info: Free and open to the public. Registration is suggested by calling 609-989-6928.

Description: “Jewish travelers invariably ask me about anti-Semitism in France but rarely set out to meet French Jews or learn about French Jewish history beyond anti-Semitism when in Paris,” says Gary Lee Kraut. “The effect is a skewed view of Jewish life in Paris. Without denying or apologizing for anti-Semitism, I want to show travelers and armchair travelers that Paris is an extraordinary place to explore Jewish history and contemporary Judaism in Europe.”

In this illustrated lecture Kraut will examine the history of Jews and Judaism in France as seen through various sights and neighborhoods that can be visited in Paris, covering medieval Paris, the emancipation of Jews during the French Revolution, financial and political success in the 19th century, Askhenazic and Sephardic immigration, the Dreyfus Affair, artists of the 1920s, the German Occupation and the Vichy Government, and recent events. He’ll also discuss questions of the identity that Americans and in particular American Jews carry with them when traveling abroad.

***

Culinary Explorations in Paris: A Delicious Bite of Historical and Contemporary Gastronomy in the French Capital
Dates: Friday, February 20 at 7pm at the Lambertville (NJ) Free Public Library and Saturday, February 21 at 2pm at the Yardley-Makefield (PA) Public Library.
Address 1: Feb. 20, Lambertville Free Public Library, 6 Lilly Street, Lambertville, NJ 08530. For further information call the library at 609-397-0275.
Address 2: Feb. 21, Yardley-Makefield Public Library, 1080 Edgewood Road, Yardley, PA 19067. Tel. 215-493-9020.
Both events are free and open to the public.

Description: Gary Lee Kraut treats foodies, gastronomies, bons vivants and simply hungry travelers to a tasteful exploration of food and drink in the great culinary city of Paris. He will examine the history of markets and gastronomy in Paris, describe the development of French cuisine as we know it, explain the interest of experiencing the various types of eating and drinking establishments in Paris, and give tips on how to enjoy culinary travels today in Paris and beyond.

***

Got Heritage? Understanding and Exploring Patrimoine and Preservation in France
Date: Monday, March 2 at 7pm.
Address: The College of New Jersey, in the auditorium of the college library. 2000 Pennington Rd, Ewing Township, NJ 08618. Tel. 609-771-2131
Patrimoine is translated into English as heritage yet patrimoine is used in French in ways that are much deeper and more complex than our use of the word heritage. This lecture explores the notion of patrimoine that is so deeply engrained in the consciousness of the French that it is applied to everything from cathedrals to chateaux to old mills to cuisine to wine culture to craftsmanship to horseback riding and much more. Gary Lee Kraut will explain the scope of patrimoine and reveal through anecdotes and other examples the ways in which he encounters patrimoine through his work as a travel writer and journalist and the wonderful and varied ways in which travelers can come into contact with patrimoine throughout in France. In November 2012 Gary became the first foreign journalist to be elected to the board of France’s Association des journalistes du patrimoine (the Association of Heritage Journalists).

***

Private consulting: During his stay in the area, Kraut will also be meeting with individuals and travel agents to discuss their interests and concerns about travel in France. For more information contact Gary Lee Kraut directly at gary [at] francerevisited.com.

###

Media Contact
Beth Brody, Brody PR
609-397-3737
beth [at] brodypr.com

The post Editor of France Revisited on Lecture Tour in NJ, PA, DC appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

* * *

Over the years I’ve visited Monet’s gardens and lily pond at Giverny at various times during its open seasons, late March to early November. I’ve witnessed it in their various stages of bloom and rebloom, and each time their expression is different. That was, after all, Monet created them and returned to them so often in his work, especially in his 70s and 80s. I visited Giverny again recently in early October (the photos in this article are from then) and was once again impressed by how it had maintained its lushness and color into the fall. The season’s calm, flower-friendly weather had certainly helped.

When visitors without much interest in Monet or in his work follow the paths around his pond and through his garden they inevitably find them lovely. For those curious about the artist (1840-1926), his sustained form of Impressionism and his family life (two children with his first wife who died shortly after the birth of their second child, cohabitation then marriage with a long-time friend who had six children of her own after their father had abandoned the family), the garden and lily pond are magnificent. With the naked eye rather than through a camera lens they are extremely telling and will invariably send a visitor back to Paris with intentions to revisit Monet’s work at the Orsay Museum and more particularly at the Orangerie Museum and at the Marmottan Monet Museum.

I often feel uplifted after a visit to Giverny, both for the view of the (controlled) nature itself and for my own interest in the man and in his work. Though I’d rather visit with sunny skies or white clouds, overcast weather also allows insights into Monet’s world and outlook. I’m less fond of a rainy-day visit, but from beneath an umbrella I’ve come to appreciate Monet’s gardens at Giverny more than Louis XIV’s at Versailles.

Yet I often find myself less than encouraging when advising travelers on whether or not to trek out to Giverny, 45 miles west of Paris, on a daytrip. I’m concerned that the weather will be bad (Giverny is, after all, at the entrance to Normandy, which is not known for sunny days) and/or the crowds overwhelming, and that even on a pleasant day they will spend 90 minutes or more getting out there only to find Giverny lends itself to a 45-minute visit.

I know, there’s more to do in Giverny than visit the house and garden and lily pond; there’s the Monet boutique (as you can imagine, Monet’s work lends itself to appealing merchandising) and some pretty (yawn) art galleries, there’s the enjoyable and occasionally insightful Giverny Museum of Impressionisms, whose restaurant is a decent place to lunch, and there’s the relatively little visited tomb of Monet in the village churchyard. So it is possible to spend a couple of hours here. Also, though often ignored, the nearby town of Vernon, which is where you stop if coming this way be train, gives a nice and ordinary sense of small-town France for those who know little of that life. Still, I’m just not always convinced that it’s worth the time for those who have little of it in Paris. As I say, I’m a big fan of Monet’s garden and lily pond. But I don’t think that making it a destination in and of itself is right for all those who say they would like to see them.

However, add La Roche-Guyon to the day and I’m sure to encourage a visit to this area. La Roche-Guyon is a village along the Seine just 5 miles to the east Giverny, on the opposite side of the Normand border. Though the castle of La Roche-Guyon is mostly empty inside (that is, the public parts are since a portion is private chateau, which belongs to the La Rochefoucauld family, is still inhabited and used for artist residencies) it nevertheless gives a glimpse of some strong points in French history, including the importance of its strategic site overlooking a loop in the Seine (a 12-century dungeon is accessed through stairs cut into the cliff) to its stories from the Enlightenment and the Revolution (the 18th-century portion and rehabilitated garden) to its WWII history (this was Rommel’s headquarters during the lead up to D-Day 1944)

Maybe you don’t feel like climbing many steps up to the dungeon or don’t have enough time to visit the castle at all. Still, the view is impressive. Furthermore, La Roche-Guyon makes for an easy-going lunch stop at Les Bords de Seine, which offers one of the best inexpensive lunch deals you’ll find anyway. Or the edge of the Seine is a wonderful spot for a picnic made from bread and cheese and such purchase in the village.

You’ll need your own wheels, however, to visit both Giverny and La Roche-Guyon, either a rental car or a bike rented in Vernon, which is why so few visitors to Giverny ever make it to La Roche-Guyon, despite its proximity.

I especially recommend the Giverny – La Roche-Guyon combo to those flying into Paris and wishing to drive directly to Normandy to visit the D-Day Beaches. It makes for a nice break in a tiring day between the airport and whatever hotel you’ll be staying at in Normandy.

Alternatively, you can stop at both Giverny and La Roche-Guyon on the way back from Normandy, but the timing can be more difficult if returning in the afternoon since you’ll want to avoid driving into Paris during rush hour.

I write this with fond memories of my own recent October visit to both villages on the route between Charles de Gaulle Airport and Bayeux.

© 2014, Gary Lee Kraut

The post Near Paris: The Giverny – La Roche-Guyon Daytrip Combo appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

That’s quite a small number considering the breadth of the Paris restaurant scene.

Imagine, you spend countless hours compiling names from newspapers, magazines and blogs, questioning friends and colleagues about their recent trip to Paris, then cross-checking with guidebooks and Tripadvisor. You’ve finally drawn up a selection of a dozen restaurants intended to be a reflection of your personality, taste and budget, yet it’s nearly the same as that of every other list-making American visiting Paris. Unbeknownst to you, you have compiled the current American Paris Restaurant List.

I know this to be true because I receive dozens such lists each year from travelers seeking my help in whittling it down to a few choice selections and I notice that about 70% of every list is the same. High-end travelers will add a few more stellar restaurants (always the same few) and budget travelers will add a few more cheap eats (always the same few) but the mid-list is largely the same, give or take a few selections from American Paris Restaurant Lists of years past.

This is not to say that the selections on The List are bad or that you will not enjoy a meal there (if you’ve reserved well in advance). But I’d like you to broaden your sense of worthy restaurants in the great if battered food city of Paris.

Why is everyone’s list be so similar?

As list-carriers are well aware, the American Paris Restaurant List isn’t about high gastronomy as might be ranked by Michelin stars but about the promise of an exceptional meal or atmosphere or character in other categories of restaurant, often in the upper mid-price / lower high-price range.

Though some outstanding selections will earn a spot on The List in a given year, what especially gets a restaurant onto it is its buzz, or the echo of its buzz of years past. The buzz generally starts off when a few major publications or journalists known for their food writing applaud a champion. Other journalists, travel writers and bloggers, some knowledgeable, some not, then echo that applause. From higher up on the bleachers then comes the loud roar of approval from your close and trusted friends on Tripadvisor. Superlatives get abused along the way, and soon a restaurant appears in your research to be unique and in a class of its own—incontournable, to use the French adjective that describes something that can’t be overlooked.

The passage of a celebrity may push a decent if unexceptional restaurant onto The List (for a while there everyone’s list suddenly included the restaurant where the Obamas ate even though it had been around for years). Meanwhile, far too many travelers are taking as gospel the restaurants listed under such clickable titles such as “Top 5 Bistros in Paris,” “10 Must-Eats in Paris,” “Where to Find the Best [Name Dish] in Paris” or “10 Great Paris Restaurants that Food Writers Keep to Themselves,” even though those restaurants may have been compiled by list-makers unlikely to have extensive direct knowledge of the Paris food scene. Put these all together and The American Paris Restaurant List is born.

Travelers wishing to know which restaurants and wine bars currently have the loudest buzz and the largest English-speaking clientele are therefore well served by The American Paris Restaurant List. (I insist on the Americanness of the list because other foreign visitors to Paris have their national lists as well.)

Do all of the restaurants on the American Visiting Paris Restaurant List truly stand out beyond the rest in terms of quality, atmosphere or class?

No!

Well, some on The List may indeed be excellent choices in their category, one or two may be truly unique or have something exceptional to offer, and others may be quite decent dining options. But the Paris restaurant-scape is too vast to limit yourselves to the same handful of choices as everyone else… and then to feel disappointed when you can’t get a reservation at one of them.

Furthermore, by virtue of being on The List those restaurants require reservations further in advance than what most Parisians would consider reasonable. (Anything more than 72 hours is unreasonable from where I sit.)

Cynics will say that what many list-carrying travelers really want is to be able to tell friends back home that that they ate at one of the year’s “it” restaurants in Paris. While that may be true for some travelers, I believe that most list carriers fall into three other categories:

1. Foodies and gastronomes who are truly curious to discover first-hand what makes the (American) headlines, whether or not it scores them points with friends back home.

2. Novelty seekers. (Novelty seekers are, however, hereby warned that the American Paris Restaurant List contains a heavy dose of old news from the point of view of hipsters, gastronomes and neighborhood explorers living in Paris).

3. Visitors looking for a memorable lunching or dining experience who don’t know where else to turn than to the consensus recommendations represented by The List.

To all of those I say: Don’t throw away The List, but do take it as just one piece of the large and personal puzzle of your enjoyment of the Paris restaurant adventure.

The traveler’s dilemma

I sympathize with the dilemma that visitors from afar have in selecting restaurants in Paris, particularly for dinner. And I understand the concern of those who don’t want to miss out on a meal at a hot property. As I say, The List does indeed contain many worthy selections, so enjoy the research if that whets your appetite—after all, part of the fun of this trip is the planning.

Over-planning can, however, be counterproductive; a bit of serendipity will actually enhance your enjoyment of the Paris restaurant adventure. Fretting about not having a reservation for every evening is unnecessary. For all the advice I give throughout the year, travelers, whether list-carriers or not, will often write to me after their trip to tell me about some great little restaurant they discovered (through a knowledgeable friend, on their own, from a blog, perhaps through me) that was not on The List. That, it turns out, is what most of us truly want: the memorable restaurant that we entered without great expectations, the one that we didn’t reserve more than a day in advance, the eatery that was not extensively described, decorticated and photographed for us in advance, “the nice local/little bistro” that wasn’t even on The List. (“The nice local/little bistro” is actually the type of restaurant that nearly every traveler, whether upscale, downscale or in between, asks me to recommend.)

A list beyond The List

It would be unfair of me to cast doubt upon The List without adding some suggestions to broaden it. I’ve therefore asked six Paris-based French and American foodies, gastronomes and food writers—Alexander Lobrano, Michel Tanguy, Corinne LaBalme, Allison Zinder, Alain Neyman and Randy Diaz—to suggest eateries that they’ve enjoyed recently that may not be on the current buzz list. To their 15 suggestions I’ve added 10 of my own.

You’ll find all of them in Part 2 of 25 Paris Restaurants: A List Beyond The List.

© 2014, Gary Lee Kraut

The post 25 Paris Restaurants: A List Beyond The List, Part 1 appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.