It was particularly thrilling to me that M. Chevalier chose to include my all-time favorite, “Ah! Si Vous Connaissiez Ma Poule” in his program. Not as well known as “Valentine” or “Mimi,” the song was so familiar to me I couldn’t wait for him to come to my favorite part where he injected his very French laugh into the notes of the title: “Ha ha ha… ah si vous connaissiez ma pou ou ou ou ou ou ou ou le.” If I had known how to say, “stage door” in French, I would have gladly stood in line to get his autograph—unfortunately, I left empty-handed.

Flash forward—Back in the States, ten years and two children after that first Parisian encounter, when I read that M. Chevalier was coming to this country to do a one man show at The Ziegfeld Theater in New York. I immediately wrote for tickets. My husband, who had always tolerated this rival and even brought him into the house (musically speaking) on several occasions, agreed to accompany me to the theater.

It was a blustery winter night in February 1963, but the house was full, and neither the audience nor Maurice was daunted by the weather outside. If his bio had not revealed his age as being 75, nothing in his performance would have given it away.

I sat enthralled as he went through his repertoire from “Mimi” and “Louise” in English to “Valentine,” “Place Pigalle,” Quai de Bercy,” and many of my other favorites in French. Mind you, I scarcely knew a word of French—I took Spanish in high school—but his gestures, his bearing and the tilt of his straw hat made the meaning of each song as clear as if he had been born on 42nd Street.

The audience that night was made up of equally enthusiastic fans who joined me in applauding wildly and shouting “Bravo” at the end. His curtain calls sent the audience into a tizzy of excitement. “Toujours Maurice,” we shouted. But many of us forwent the last of the bows to be first in line at the stage door where we could see our idol emerge and perhaps, just perhaps, get his autograph. I left my husband, still seated, with strict instructions to shout all my “Bravos” and Encores” and to meet me outside when the final curtain went down.

Almost tripping on my spike heels, I was still not the closest to the door. Others, savvier than I in the ways of autograph seeking, crowded in, but when a representative of M. Chevalier’s appeared in the doorway and said Monsieur would see a few people at a time in his dressing room, I took an uncharacteristic action that surprised even me. I elbowed my way to the front and boldly included myself in the very first (and for all I know the only) group to be ushered into the presence of The Star.

We were escorted past the guard at the entrance, who in an old movie would have been called “Pop,” and then we were there. And there he was, a tall, unsmiling, even dour man in a dressing gown and the obligatory ascot. Without his straw hat, he did not seem as jaunty as he had on stage until I heard him speak. Then I thought I would faint. It took me a moment or two to realize he was asking for the Playbill hanging limply from my hand so that he could write his name on it. That lilt, that accent, that voice.

And that was all there was to it. I walked out onto the street where my husband was waiting for me. In my hand was the autograph on my Playbill. Over the years, my 78’s became 45’s became tapes and now “Ah! Si Vous Connaissiez Ma Poule” is one band on a CD, “Le Roi Du Music-Hall.”

I never saw Chevalier in person after that. I have only my memories, my recordings and a precious piece of paper signed in his own hand. But if you walked into my office on any given day, you would see a large poster of that gentleman in the straw hat hanging over my desk, and in the background hear the unmistakable voice of my all-time favorite chanteur: Maurice Chevalier.

© 2022, Lyla Blake Ward

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A Jewish Tour of Paris: Exploring Historical and Contemporary Paris through the Lives of Jews. An illustrated lecture by Gary Lee Kraut

With more than 500,000 Jews, France has the world’s third largest Jewish population, after Israel and the United States. More than half of French Jews live in Paris and the surrounding region. Yet aside from occasional reports of anti-Semitism, Americans, even Jewish Americans, are generally unaware of the history and contemporary life of Jews in the French capital.

This lecture follows in the footsteps of other lectures that Kraut has presented in the U.S. over the years on various topics of interest to both travelers and armchair travelers, including American War Memories in France; Travel and Travel Writing Beyond the Clichés; Got Heritage?: Understanding Patrimoine; DIY Biking in France, and A History of the Wines of Burgundy and Champagne.

As diverse as these topics are, they, and now A Jewish Tour of Paris, encourage a connection between the Americans and the history, culture, people and contemporary life of France.

In “A Jewish Tour of Paris,” Kraut presents 20 sights, individuals and neighborhoods that reveal various aspects of the history of Jews in Paris. After briefly examining medieval Jewry and medieval expulsions, he will speak of the liberating laws of the French Revolution, the appeal of France to European Jews throughout the 19th and into the 20th centuries, the construction of major synagogues, the Dreyfus Affair, Jewish artists of the 1920s, the Holocaust, Sephardic immigration of the 1950s and 60s, and more recent events, along with major French figures of the past 200 years and contemporary Jewish life as a visitor may encounter it today.

This lecture will be of interest to armchair travelers as well as travelers who have visited or plan to visit Paris. For the latter, Gary Lee Kraut will be available for private consultations upon advance request.

For tickets and further information contact the hosting organizations directly. Non-members of those organizations are typically allowed to attend.

If interested in hosting this lecture within your own organization, contact Gary Lee Kraut at gary [at] francerevisited.com.

Lecture schedule, Feb. 2 – March 1, 2020

Sunday February 2, 10am. A Jewish Tour of Paris
Adath Israel Synagogue, Lawrenceville, New Jersey
1958 Lawrenceville Road, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648
Tel. 609-896-4977

Wednesday February 5, 7-8:30pm. A Jewish Tour of Paris
East Brunswick Public Library, New Jersey
2 Jean Walling Civic Center Dr, East Brunswick, NJ 08816
Tel. 732-390-6767

Wednesday February 5, 9:45-11:30am. A History of the Wines of Burgundy and Champagne (and how to visit those wine regions)
Alliance Française de Doylestown, Pennsylvania
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, 301 N Main St, Doylestown, PA 18901
Actually entitled Une histoire des vins de Bourgogne et de Champagne since this presentation will be in French.

Friday February 7, 6-7:30pm. A Jewish Tour of Paris
Alliance Française de Philadelphie, Pennsylvania
1420 Walnut Street – Suite 700, Philadelphia, PA 19102
Tel. 215-735-5283

Sunday, February 9, 2-5pm. Travel and Touring in Paris and Throughout France
A private event in Trenton-Princeton area of New Jersey for those planning to travel to France in 2020. If interested in attending contact Gary directly for details at gary [at] francerevisited.com.

Thursday February 13, 11:15am-12:15pm. A Jewish Tour of Paris
Jewish Community Center of Central New Jersey (Scotch Plains)
1391 Martine Avenue, Scotch Plains, NJ 07076
Tel. 908-889-8800 x260

Wednesday February 19, 10:30am-noon. A Jewish Tour of Paris.
Beth El Hebrew Congregation of Alexandria, Virginia.
Organized by The Posner Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia for their Adult Outreach Program, the lecture will be held at Beth El Hebrew Congregation, 3830 Seminary Road, Alexandria, Virginia 22304
Tel. 703-537-3026

Thursday February 20, 7pm. A Jewish Tour of Paris.
Alliance Française de Washington, DC
2142 Wyoming Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20008
Tel. 202-234-7911

Wednesday February 26, 6pm. A Jewish Tour of Paris.
Alliance Française de Miami Metro, Florida
1221 Brickell Avenue Business Center, 6th floor, Miami, FL
Tel. 305-395-4100

Friday February 28, 9:3am-11:30am. Travel and Touring in Paris and Throughout France.
Orlando, Florida
Meet Gary for coffee at Le Café de Paris, 5170 Dr Phillips Blvd, Orlando, anytime between 9:30am and 11:30am for an informal meet-and-greet for those planning to travel to France in 2020 or dreaming of 2021. Write to Gary directly at gary [at] francerevisited.com if you’d like to meet that day but are unavailable that morning.

Sunday March 1, 3:30PM. Les Misérables, film presentation and discussion
ACME Screening Room, Lambertville, New Jersey
25 S Union Street, Lambertville, NJ 08530
Gary Lee Kraut leads a discussion of the Oscar-nominated film Les Misérables following a projection at the Acme Screening Room.

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Meanwhile, here in France, Americans celebrating Thanksgiving typically, even traditionally, enjoy their fresh French turkey with some fine French terroir in their selection of wine—make that wines, plural, since a long meal calls for more than one. So while the information below will especially serve Americans celebrating in France, don’t be afraid to try this back in the homeland or elsewhere abroad on this or any turkey day.

There are a multitude of approaches to turkey, from roasting to smoking to frying, and plenty of stuffing recipes that, when combined, can influence your wine pairing. But on average the range of French pinot noirs, with its great and subtle variety from light to medium to full body, lends itself to roast turkey pairing. Thoughts of pinot noir then leads us primarily to the wines of Burgundy and Champagne (with all due respect to Alsace and to the Loire Valley’s Sancerre and Manetou-Salon).

So I asked the pros promoting the wines of Champagne and Burgundy what they recommended to accompany our traditional American meal.

The Champagne Bureau USA was well-prepared for the question and supplied the following chart:

The Burgundy Wine Bureau (BIVB) put some thought to the question and sent the following suggestions:

As an aperitif, Burgundy’s bubbly, Crémant de Bourgogne, either a blanc de blancs for its lightness and fitness or a blanc de noirs for a more complex opening to your thankful gathering.

For your stuffed turkey with cranberry sauce, something in the order of a Morey-Saint-Denis, a Mercurey, a Savigny-les-Beaune Premier Cru or a Ladoix.

Then, come dessert, to accompany your pumpkin pie or your pecan pie (as long as they aren’t overwhelmingly sweet), a white (chardonnay) Meurault or Marsannay.

So many ways to give thanks.

© 2019, Gary Lee Kraut

The post French Wines for an American Thanksgiving appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

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

The post Editor of France Revisited Lectures in NJ and PA appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

By Herbert H. Hoffman

In our younger years, long before we met, we had both been to Paris. We had seen the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Champs Elysées, the Arc de Triomphe and other sights, most of them on the right bank of the Seine. We were now a couple, American tourists revisiting a city we had separately loved the first time. Friends had suggested that we might like the left bank this time.

We took their advice. We rented an apartment on rue du Bac, a street we didn’t know. “Our” house was at no. 40. The third floor leaned a little and the floor boards creaked at every step, making us walk as if we were at sea. It was the romantic milieu we had sought.

Rue de Bac is an old street, a former cattle-driving path leading to the ferry (le bac) across the Seine to what is now the western end of the Louvre. There is a bridge now, the Pont Royale, completed in 1689.

On our first evening in Paris we had dinner near the bridge at Le Terminus at no. 5 rue du Bac. The name of the restaurant refers to the nearby railroad station that was eventually transformed into the Orsay Museum. About 400 years ago, Charles d’Artagnan, the dashing captain of the King’s Mousquetaires, once rented rooms at no. 1 rue du Bac. The fusion of dates in a single location let us know that that certain parts of Paris run on a time table that differs from what we are used to at home in Southern California. It was just the beginning of our realization that Parisians store the memories of their notables on streets throughout the city, including a good many on rue du Bac.

The following day we discovered that at no. 44 we had another illustrious neighbor, so to speak, a ghost of more modern times, André Malraux whom people of our age group remember as DeGaulle’s minister of cultural affairs. Some of us know him for his novel La Condition Humaine, Prix Goncourt, 1933. He finished that book in a room just one door south from where we were billeted. He was a difficult neighbor, it seems, and some wit once said that he was one third genius, one third hard to follow and one third totally incomprehensible. He died in 1976 and is buried in the crypt of the Pantheon.

Another of De Gaulle’s ministers also once resided at no. 44. He was Maurice Couve de Murville. His portrait appeared on the cover of Time for February 1964 because he had important dealings with the United States. As France’s foreign minister, he had the unpleasant task of informing President Lyndon Johnson that the French government, convinced that America’s policies would lead to failure, could not lend support to the Vietnam enterprise. Unfortunately he was right, and we now had a glimpse of the ghost of Vietnam to add to our list. The poet Charles Baudelaire had set the scene for us when he wrote about the cité pleine de rêves, où le spectre, en plein jour, raccroche le passant, where ghosts by daylight tug the passer’s sleeves.

Our sleeves were tugged again a day later. Branching off rue du Bac across the street from our building is the short rue Montalembert, named for a writer and publicist of the 1830s who, incidentally, also once resided at our own address, no. 40 rue du Bac. As we followed this little street we came to rue Jacob where we stopped at no. 56, in front of a most important monument for a visitor with an interest in American history. It was here that Benjamin Franklin, John Jay and John Adams negotiated and, in 1783, signed the Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War and officially recognized the United States of America as an independent country. The building itself is not the original one but the site—am I too sentimental to say this?—remains the birthplace of the USA.

No Frenchman has been more celebrated in America than the Marquis de Lafayette, friend and trusted ally of General George Washington. There are at least twelve cities in the United States called Fayetteville. There are also three Lafayette townships, two Lafayette counties and one Lafayette parish. One of the Marquis’ homes was at no. 183 rue de Bourbon, several blocks around the corner from rue Jacob. It is a lieu de memoires that invited us to speculate what might have become of the American Colonies had France not been on our side. The French-American admiration goes both ways. We were happy to learn, for example, that the Marquis named his eldest son George Washington de Lafayette.

Americans have many friends whose spirits still hover over or near rue du Bac. We promptly located another: the writer Romain Gary, who resided at no. 108. He won the Prix Goncourt, a prestigious literary prize, twice, for The Roots of Heaven and The Life Before Us, respectively. Apart from being an essayist, soldier, politician, diplomat, pilot and secretary of the French delegation to the United Nations, he was also a friend, almost an American himself, working as a screenwriter in Hollywood and later as consul of France in Los Angeles. He died in 1980. His ashes float in the Mediterranean.

The American artist James Whistler lived at no. 110 from 1892 to 1901. He died in London in 1903 and is buried across the channel, but his mother—at least her stern portrait officially titled “Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1” (1871)—remains in Paris and is now a stone’s throw from rue du Bac, in the Orsay Museum.

The writer François René de Chateaubriand was still a very young man in Franklin’s day. He was astute enough, however, to have observed that in the days before the French Revolution turned ugly the ordinary people of Paris were enthusiastic about the Americans’ struggle for independence (from the King of England, that is). In the street, if not in the royal palace, “le suprême bon ton était d’être américain“, the coolest thing was to be American, Chateaubriand wrote in his memoires. He traveled to America and met General Washington. He describes this visit in great detail, finishing his account by calling Washington “le soldat citoyen, libérateur d’un monde,” citizen soldier and liberator of a world. He confessed in his memoires how happy he was that the General received him and that he has felt a certain excitement about the encounter all his life: “je m’en suis senti échauffé le reste de ma vie“. Chateaubriand remained a lifelong friend of America and years later remarked with satisfaction that “la république de Washington subsiste; l’empire de Bonaparte est détruit,” Washington’s republic lives; Napoleon’s empire is dead. We were truly surprised to find such a good friend at no. 120 rue du Bac. Across the street in a little park there’s a sculpture, a bust really, of this remarkable man. His remains are not in the Pantheon. They are in St. Malo where this stubborn writer and diplomat from Brittany had wished to be buried.

As an aside it’s worth noting that Chateaubriand’s longtime friend Madame Récamier was with him when he died. That was in 1848. She died a year later. She is known to many of us because Jacques-Louis David portrayed her in a thin white something reclining on a two-headed couch. We now call that sort of sofa a Récamier. The picture hangs in the Louvre.

One of the cross streets of rue du Bac is rue de Varenne. There, at no. 50, stands the Hôtel Galliffet, where, in 1797, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand was installed as foreign minister during the Directoire period of the new French Republic. (It is now the Italian Cultural Institute.) It is no exaggeration to say that Talleyrand was the most ingenious politician and statesman of the French revolutionary period and beyond. It is said that First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte was a guest here at one of his parties. By 1803 Talleyrand was Napoleon’s adviser, an appointment that had incalculable consequences for the new United States. Napoleon had plans to expand French possessions in the Americas. President Jefferson was aware of these plans and feared that the United States, then a small country, might lose docking privileges in the formerly Spanish, now French harbor of New Orleans. He sent envoys to negotiate lease terms. Napoleon’s plans had changed, however, and Talleyrand, his negotiator, suggested that the President just buy New Orleans outright, and the rest of Louisiana as well. All American school children know about the Louisiana Purchase which doubled the territory of the United States. It was news to us that we have to thank Monsieur de Talleyrand for that.

Another important person was at that party in 1797, Madame de Staël. She was a champion of liberty, freedom of speech and democracy, a prolific writer, critic and mover of ideas. She met or corresponded with everybody who was anybody, anywhere, from Auguste Comte, Lafayette and Lord Byron to Emerson, Goethe and Pushkin. Politically she was opposed to Napoleon I, Emperor of the French. He exiled her because the dislike was mutual. By 1815 Napoleon was out, however, but Madame was not. She had good judgement and saw the world clearly. Some wit suggested that with Napoleon now gone there were only three powers left to save Europe: England, Russia and Mme de Staël. Such was the woman who had her salon at no. 94 rue du Bac, an influential woman who had nothing but good to say about America. “You are the advanced guard of the human race,” she is reported to have said. “You have the fortune of the world.”

At the Seine end of rue du Bac the river road was once called quai des Théatines, now quai Voltaire. There, at no. 27, another illustrious man of letters, Jean Arouet, dit Voltaire, died in the home of his friend, the Marquis de Villette. He did not live to witness the signing of the Treaty of Paris, but he knew Franklin and apparently liked him enough because it is said that he referred to the struggling colonies as “Franklin’s New World.” Voltaire, incidentally, once suggested that it was the duty of all men to examine their hearts and ask if religion should not be charitable rather than barbaric. The question is still open.

Before the great renovation projects of Baron Haussmann in the 1850s and 1860s, rue du Bac was connected to rue St. Dominique. Alexis de Tocqueville was born in 1805 at no. 77 rue St. Dominique, above what is now an Irish pub. In 1831 the United States was still somewhat of a mystery. The French government was eager to learn how things were done in this new republic. They sent a young de Tocqueville to find out. His two-volume report became a classic, known to us as “Democracy in America.”

The spirit of Charles Louis, Baron de Montesquieu caught up with us on rue St. Dominique, mainly because my book discussion group had recently studied his De l’esprit des lois. He is another important Frenchman for Americans because his ideas were widely read in the second half of the 18th century and were in part responsible for the way the Constitution of the United States was conceived. He did not live to see what he had helped create. He died in 1755 on a visit to Paris, probably at a friend’s house at no. 16 rue St. Dominique.

Antoine-Nicholas de Condorcet lived at no. 6 rue St. Dominique. He had much to say about the American Revolution. Shortly before his death in 1794 he wrote a treatise outlining how its development could ultimately benefit the world. His particular concern was an extensive bill of rights that would go farther than the Constitution did at that time. He foresaw the need to abolish slavery, for example. Our forefathers should have listened to him. Without his encouragement it took us another seventy years to accomplish that. Tragically, he did not survive the French Revolution.

America has still another friend whose memory lives on in Paris, the poet Charles Baudelaire. While it is difficult to say where in Paris Baudelaire lived—he lived in many different places—it appears certain that he once lived at no. 21 rue du Bac, in a house that is still there, a house with a huge stone portico spanning an extra wide wooden portal. “J’ai longtemps habité sous de vastes portiques...” he wrote in La Vie Anterieure, which increases the probability that it was this house.

A decade or so after de Tocqueville’s voyage, an American poet burst upon the Parisian scene, Edgar Allan Poe. Some say that there is a melancholic string in the French soul and that Poe’s somber moods made that string vibrate. Baudelaire and Poe never met but they were kindred spirits. Here is a stanza from Baudelaire’s poem Spleen, translated by Kenneth O. Hanson:

When the low heavy sky weighs like a lid
Upon the spirit aching for the light
And all the wide horizon’s hid
By a black day sadder than any night…

“…un jour noir plus triste que les nuits” – a black day sadder than any night? Well then, how about “Once upon a midnight dreary”?

If the French understood Baudelaire, how could they not love Poe? It is not hard to see why Baudelaire felt compelled to translate The Raven, and everything else Poe wrote, into French. To this day, it is said, Poe is better known in France than in America. How comforting to know that we have cultural as well as political ties across the ocean. And the story does not end here. Messrs. Harper Brothers, Poe’s publishers, commissioned the well-known French painter Gustave Doré to illustrate The Raven, the original English language edition, with twenty-five engravings. Over the years these illustrations have become almost as important and as gripping as Poe’s words. And the work has endured. Doré, it turned out, is another spirit floating over the neighborhood. The house where he lived with his mother was no. 73 rue St.Dominique, across the street from the Tocquevilles’.

Who would have thought that America has so many friends among the ghosts of this old neighborhood?

© 2016

Herb Hoffman and Joan Preston visit France from their home in Southern California as often as possible. They enjoy walking the streets and stumbling upon places that hint at a story which Herb then puts into words.

The post Street Talk: The Ghosts of Rue du Bac appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

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

The post France Revisited Strikes Silver, Editor Goes on Tour 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.

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

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1. Since 2014 marks the 70th anniversary of the D-Day Landing in Normandy and the Liberation of France by the Allied Forces as well as the 100th anniversary of the outset of the First World War, my most frequently requested lecture on this trip is on the theme of War Touring: Exploring Normandy and Other American War Memories in France.

In this lecture, I’ll explain how the American battle sites in France—from Utah and Omaha Beaches (WWII) to Belleau Wood and and the Somme (WWI)—and their surrounding areas can captivate Americans of all ages. I’ll describe how war tourism has evolved over time and speak of some of the fascinating Americans, French and others that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing in and around the battle sites.

2.My second major lecture is entitled Understanding Patrimoine: The Key to Extraordinary Travels in France. In this lecture I’ll examine the notion of patrimoine, often translated as heritage, which is so deeply engrained in the consciousness of the French that it is applied to everything from cathedrals, chateaux, old mills and gardens to cuisine, wine culture, craftsmanship and horseback riding.

I’ll explain through history, anecdotes and examples from my own travels throughout France how understanding the pervasive concept of patrimoine, along with its sidekick preservation, is a major key to enjoying enriching, insightful and extraordinary travels in France.

3. I’ll also be speaking to several groups about wine tourism in France, particularly Burgundy and Champagne, regions that I know well from researching and writing about them and from organizing wine tours there.

The winter 2014 lecture tour schedule

Jan. 18, Yardley-Makefield Public Library (PA), 2pm. Subject: War touring.
Jan. 22, Alliance Francaise de Doylestown (PA), 10am. Subject: War touring. I’ll be delivering this lecture in French.
Jan. 22, Newtown Square Library (PA), 7pm. Subject: War touring.
Jan. 24, Princeton (NJ) Elks Lodge #2129, 7pm. Subject: War touring.

Jan. 27, Vorhees (NJ), private event with a local wine club. Subject: Wine touring.
Jan. 28, The College of New Jersey. , 7pm in the college library auditorium. Open to the public. Subject: War touring.
Jan. 30, Jake’s American Grille, 5018 Conn Ave NW, Washington DC, 6:30-8:30pm. My friend Janet Hulstrand, a writer and teacher who has contributed to France Revisited, organizes a Francophile/Bibliophile evenings in the DC area and has invited me to make informal presentation about travel and travel writing in France during this evening’s gathering, followed by Q&A time. If interested in attending contact Janet directly at janet.hulstrand[at]gmail.com.
Jan. 31, Alliance Française de Washington DC, 2142 Wyoming Avenue, NW, Washington DC, 7:30pm. Subject: Understanding Patrimoine.
Feb. 4, Rotary Club of Medford (NJ). Subject: Wine touring.
Feb. 5, Mid-Manhattan Library (6th floor), 455 Fifth Avenue, NYC, 6:30pm. Subject: Travel and Travel Writing Beyond the Clichés: In Search of the Perfect Travel Moment. See the library’s events calendar for details.
Feb. 6, Lawrence Library (NJ), 7pm. Subject: War touring.
Feb. 7. Princeton Library (NJ), 7pm, followed by a Burgundy wine tasting at CoolVines, a wonderful wine shop near the library. Subject: Wine touring in Burgundy and Champagne.
Feb. 16, Alliance Française de Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill (NC), 4pm. Subject: Understanding patrimoine.
Feb. 18, Alliance Française de Charleston (SC), held jointly with the College of Charleston, on campus. Subject: War touring.
Feb. 21, Alliance Française d’Orlando (FL), 7pm. Subject: Understanding Patrimoine.
Feb. 25. Pinecrest Library (Miami-Dade, FL), 11am. Subject: War touring.

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Writer, inspirational speaker, radio personality, wife, mother, friend, stranger with a tolerant gaze and a kind word, Maura is a native of New Jersey, a longtime Floridian and an inveterate traveler who wants us all to carry a passport from the State of Happiness.

I got together with Maura and her husband Jim, a buddy of mine from high school, when we were all visiting family in New Jersey.

Maura makes interview videos and sight videos and inspirational videos on whatever theme strikes her fancy at the moment. You can see many of them on her terrifically upbeat website Maura4u.  She creates these snippets of happy living whenever she travels and has her cameraman (Jim) handy.

Well, there were all were. So Maura took a few notes, asked to see a copy of my old guide to Paris, and said “Jim, film.”

Here is Maura’s 7-minute interview with me, whom she calls “a cultural facilitator and travel therapist,” terms I quite like.

You can see Maura’s videos and texts and learn more about her work (including her e-books) on her website Maura4u or on the very likable Facebook page of the same name.

And if you’re a sports fan of any kind check out Jim Sweeney’s site Mike on sports!, featuring the animated figure and comic book big-mouth Mike Rafone, “the ultimate talking head on sports.”

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* * *

The largest plane tree in France sits like a beloved grandfather in the square in Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, an ancient village in the Hérault Valley, 27 miles west of Montpellier. Children race around its massive trunk and stop to drink from the multiple spouts of the nearby fountain topped by Liberty. Adults sit in its shade to chat. It’s a beautiful, comfortable spot whose history runs deep, but it was not on our itinerary as we originally skirted this part of the valley on our way from Provence to Toulouse.

A chance encounter with a shop keeper in Pézenas, a wine town among the vineyards between Montpellier and Béziers, however, made us change directions and head north into the Hérault Gorges. The shopkeeper’s excitement about the beauty and history of the village convinced me and my husband that a detour would reward us with a memorable stay. She was right, and at the time we did not realize that we would come face to face with sublime architecture, some of which could be found just a short drive from our home in Pennsylvania.

Approached from the south along the Herault River, Saint-Guilhem-le-Desert is heralded by a striking series of bridges, including the medieval Pont du Diable, arched high above a steep gorge lined with grey-white rocks that look as if they had been drizzled down the cliff.

The village itself is surrounded by chalky limestone mountains stippled with green shrubs. Embedded in the hills are the remains of a Visigoth fortress and a dusty old mule path, portions of which have been traveled for centuries by pilgrims following the sign of the shell that marks routes of the Way of Saint James leading to the cathedral in Santiago de Compostella in Spain where the remains of St. James the Greater are said to be buried. Today this path also affords walkers day hikes that begin at the edge of the village on the rue du Bout-du-Monde, the street of the end of the world.

The graceful, rounded apse of the Abbey of Gellone dominates the pale buildings with tiled roofs that emerged as we drove past a gentle flow of the Verdus, a stream that keeps the area verdant as it runs toward the Herault River. We parked the car and walked a narrow street that led to the main square. Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert can be filled with tourists, but as with any well-known site, arriving off-season allows for less hindered signs of the past and of local life.

Those signs were already clear from the hotel room we found, from which we could hear the bells of the abbey, the greetings of residents on the pavement and watch an old dog make his way from the direction of the square toward the welcome of a water bowl.

As we meandered through the cobbled streets of the village we spotted scallop shells embedded in fountains and near doorways as signs of welcome for pilgrims traveling the Way of Saint James. We wondered if these doors opened as readily today to pilgrims as they had in past centuries.

We were charmed by the personalized doors and windows that reflect the artists who reside in the village; we were also struck by a few handmade signs protesting the possession of the original cloister from the Monastery of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. One poster advertised a meeting where a speaker would ask the question “Qui a Vendu Le Cloitre aux Americains?” Who sold the cloister to the Americans?

The Cloisters, in northern Manhattan, is the branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art dedicated to the art and architecture of Medieval Europe. It sits majestically atop a hill in a lush 66-acre park with wonderful views of the Hudson River. The impressive monastery-like building is, according to the museum’s website, “not a copy of any specific medieval structure but is rather an ensemble informed by a selection of historical precedents, with a deliberate combination of ecclesiastical and secular spaces arranged in chronological order.” The Cloisters developed out of an impressive collection of cloister sections and other medieval art accumulated by American sculptor George Grey Barnard early in the 20th century. That collection was later acquired and curated at the Fort Tryon site through the donation of land and funding by John D. Rockefeller. Among the highlights of its ecclesiastical spaces is a cloister, one of five, created with 140 fragments from the cloister of the Monastery of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert that, according to the museum, Barnard had discovered being used as “grape arbor supports and ornaments in the garden of a justice of the peace in nearby Aniane.”

The monastery in Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert dates to the 9th century when it was founded by Guilhem, Count of Toulouse and grandson of the Duke of Aquitaine. Guilhem was a cousin of Charlemagne and noted in his time as one of the emperor’s most valorous knights for his battles against the Saracens of Spain. For centuries that followed Troubadours sang about his bravery. Charlemagne presented him with a piece of the Holy Cross (it was an age of relics) that he brought with him when he came to establish a home and a monastery in 804 in the remote region that would eventually bear his name, Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert. (“Le Désert” refers not the geography but to the absence of people in the area at the time.) The relic helped make the Abbey of Gellone an important stopping point for pilgrims on the road to Compostella, and it remains there to this day. Despite his life as a warrior, Guilhem was deeply religious and spent his final years at the monastery as a monk from 806 until his death in 812.

Thanks to the traffic of pilgrims, the monastery prospered and most of the Abbey of Gellone visited today dates from the 11th century when it was rebuilt in the Romanesque style. Like many monasteries in France it eventually suffered from the vicissitudes of faith and politics. It was pillaged during the Wars of Religion and vandalized during the French Revolution, losing both furnishings and architectural elements. Each historical trauma, whether natural (e.g. floods) or man-made, led to more decay, and by the 19th century parts of the abbey were dispersed throughout the region, including sections of the cloister later purchased by Barnard.

The interior of the abbey conveys an intimacy and warmth due in part to the variegated rustic tones of the stone. The vault of the soaring apse is punctuated by three high windows that represent the Trinity, and an ornate marble and glass altar presents a stunning contrast with the simplicity of architectural line. Near the altar rests what are said to be the remains of Saint Guilhem and the relic of the Holy Cross given to him by Charlemagne. There are lovely spaces within the abbey, one of which houses an 18th-century organ. The abbey has an atmosphere that suggests mystery and evokes contemplation. It is also a perfect venue for intimate musical performances such as the string and flute ensemble we attended during our visit. The cloister that was rebuilt in the second half of the 20th century, which includes a few original columns, also affords a quiet retreat.

The village of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert appears to flow from the monastery. The narrow streets that begin at the portal of the abbey on the square seem a natural path to the beauty of the tight houses and the chalky tops of the mountains that appear beyond their roofline. An approach to the village offers a lovely view of the rounded apse symmetrically flanked by the round exterior walls of two smaller curved vaults and bordered by a low wall encasing a small garden. The exterior of the monastery, however, does not convey the serenity of the interior. Evidence of the tumultuous past is reflected in the monastery’s outer surfaces in color variation, patched walls, and solid sections that seem almost fortress-like. Still, there is a sense of calm and history as you walk between trees and flowers and enjoy time along a quiet path.

* * *

We drove to The Cloisters Museum in the fall on a radiant day much like the one that welcomed us to Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert. The museum rises from the topmost height of lushly wooded Fort Tryon Park on which it occupies four acres. It conveys medieval perfection through its stone tower, unmarred arches, metal steeple atop a spire such as those found on village churches in the south of France, and the graceful curve of an 11th-century apse from a church in Spain. It may be “an ensemble informed by a selection of historical precedents” but the total effect of The Cloisters is that you have arrived at another time and place. Cobbled paths wind up a hill toward the powerful stone structure, and visitors step into remarkable spaces that belie the 21st century. The statuary, paintings, tapestries and other artifacts humanize the medieval world. Coming so close to medieval art within authentic stone chapels and chambers and gazing into the faces of sublimely painted wooden sculptures makes a connection to ancient life that is transformational.

Four of the cloisters at the museum have outdoor settings with skillfully tended gardens. Everything appears natural and free; the eruption of color and texture suggest a rustic landscape, but the reality is far more calculated. The Cuxa Cloister from a Benedictine Monastery near the Pyrenees in Spain is breathtaking; stone pathways, flowers, trees, and dense foliage frame pink marble columns, a central fountain and low tiled roofs. It is a realization of how we imagine a medieval cloister to have looked and felt.

The reconstructed cloister from the Monastery of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert at The Cloisters is an interior space with a high glass ceiling for natural light and lovely arched windows that overlook the Hudson River behind one side of the cloister. A few potted plants and some large vessels from the period dot the hard pebbled courtyard. The columns are stunning, set in pairs to support the arched stone of the installation. They vary in both the shape of the columns and design of the capitals. Some of the columns are rounded, others hexagonal, still others are ornate with waves from top to bottom, and some are wide and fully sculpted. The capitals are carved with exquisite renderings of acanthus leaves, vines, flowers, honeycombed patterns and both animal and human figures. The passageways behind the columns suggest a sense of contemplation with stone benches for reflection. Care has clearly been taken to respect the extraordinary craftsmanship in the stonework and gracefully echo the serenity of a monastic setting.

I wanted to love this cloister, but I could not. I felt the artifice of museum lighting despite the open ceiling, and I begrudged the closed space that made it more of an exhibit than a setting where imagination might take you back in time. Viewing the columns from multiple perspectives, I tried to place them mentally at the peaceful Monastery of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, among the trees and flowers, the passageways to the abbey, the prayers of monks and the footsteps of approaching pilgrims. I wanted to see them not as individual elements of interest but as an essential part of an idea, a purpose, a commitment to the necessity of contemplation and prayer. Instead, despite the splendor of The Cloisters and my appreciation for how it celebrates the beauty and humanity of medieval life, makes it accessible to so many and preserves it for the future,  I found myself wishing I had attended the lecture that answered the question, “Who sold the cloister to the Americans?”

© 2013, Elizabeth Esris

Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, population 265 (2012 figure), is located in the department of Hérault in the region of Languedoc-Roussillon. The village’s official website, which also provides information about the surrounding Hérault Valley, can be found here.  Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert is a member of the association Les Plus Beaux Villages de France.

The Cloisters Museum and Gardens, Fort Tyron Park, New York, New York 10040. The website for The Cloisters contains a wealth of information. In exploring the site you will discover photos that show Barnard’s collection as it was originally displayed in New York City. Worth accessing are wonderful videos that detail the history and construction of the museum in Fort Tryon as well as detailed videos that focus specifically on the reconstructed cloisters, including further information about the cloister from Saint-Guilhem-Le-Désert.

Elizabeth Esris is a teacher and writer. Her poetry has appeared in Wild River Review, Bucks County Writer, and Women Writers. She wrote the libretto for Elegy For A Prince with composer Sergia Cervetti which premiered in excerpts at New York City Opera’s VOX Opera Showcase in 2007. She and Cervetti also collaborated on a one-act chamber opera, YUM!, a celebration of wine, food, and friendship. She teaches English and creative writing at Central Bucks High School South (Pennsylvania).

Other work by Elizabeth Esris on France Revisited include this article and poem about the Luberon and this article and poem about the Abbey of Senanque.

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