It’s summer and you’re here for the first time. Or maybe you’re back again. If you hadn’t noticed, take a look around: you’re not alone. In fact, over five million Americans flit over to France each year and another whopping 19 million francophiles cross over or tunnel under the Channel, making the “Hexagon” the number one destination of choice for anglophones.
Artist’s Homes Become Paris Musems
This summer take the time to discover some of Paris’ hidden art treasures. For adventurous spirits the rarefied atmosphere of well-known artists’ studios, now open to the public, can’t be beat. The following suggestions will take you off the beaten track to some interesting homes and studios where famous artists once lived and worked.
Visting Caen in Normandy
In June 1944, the spirit and visage of Caen were altered forever. June 6, D-Day, was also the beginning of the Battle of Caen, which left some 2,000 civilians dead and 75% of Lower Normandy’s capital in rubble. The city that rose from these ashes has dedicated itself to enhancing its surviving historical monuments, nourishing the arts and sciences and promoting peace. To visit it in June is a poignant experience.
Chilling Out in Paris
Funny how a country with such great markets can be so prehistoric in its marketing mentality. That the French have had to borrow the term from l’américaine is no accident. Americans breathe marketing, whereas the French have to learn it.
Midi Break in the Drome Region
If the warm weather is not arriving quite fast enough for you, push the season by heading south for the weekend. The northern Provençal borderlands in the Drôme region, on the east bank of the Rhône River, are within easy reach by rail. And for a maximum of rays, consider spending your Midi break on a bike.
A Russian in Paris
Paris has always held a special attraction for Russians. “For them, it is the cultural center of the world,” says one of the city’s most famous Russian inhabitants, Andreï Makine, the latest Prix Goncourt winner. “There have been quite a few Anglophiles in Russia, but they have always played second fiddle to this infatuation for France.”
Too Many Weekends with Inlaws
Q. I am an American businessman, recently married to a French woman who is quite close to her family. Her parents expect us to have a meal with them once a week, and as they live some distance from us, we can only go there on Saturday or Sunday. I find once a week excessive and would like to reduce it to once every three or four weeks, but that’s not acceptable to my wife. We can’t discuss the subject without getting into a huge argument. What do you think would be fair to us both?
Dijon… More Than Mustard
Its name is practically synonymous with mustard, the region of which it is capital means fine wine, the lake outside town evokes France’s favorite apéritif … almost inevitably, a Dijon weekend will have a gastronomic theme. Yet as you proceed from winery tour to fancy meal, as you shop for spice bread and decorated mustard pots, or as you make your way to the mustard museum, be sure to sample the flavor of Dijon the city as well.
Jake Lamar “The Last Integrationist”
Jake Lamar does not claim to be clairvoyant. However, with his first novel, “The Last Integrationist,” Lamar has created a work that is not only humorous and richly written but may also prove to be a literary forecast for the United States. “The Last Integrationist” is set, as Lamar puts it, in a “virtual America. It’s sort of an America that you recognize. It’s not quite what America is today, but what it could be. I wanted it to feel like it was just around the corner.”
Oliver Stone Discusses “Nixon”
Oliver Stone is on the campaign trail: a one-day stop in Paris in late February, en route from Berlin, where “Nixon” was shown in competition at the film festival, before returning to America, where the film received four Oscar nominations. Stone, who speaks fluent French, has more than casual ties to France. His parents met in Paris when his father, Lou, was stationed here as a GI. Stone often credits his initial love of film to his French mother, Jacqueline, an avid moviegoer. Continue reading “Oliver Stone Discusses “Nixon””
Carolyn Carlson Profile
On stage as well as off in her modest apartment opposite the Bois de Vincennes, American choreographer Carolyn Carlson is one of the rare modern dancers who still radiates a penetrating positive energy in everything she does, who dares to express what she calls “dark brightness” in her work and defends simplicity and purity in life and movement that emanate from the fires inside. In between her non-stop wanderings over the past 25 years – touring her solos “Blue Lady” and “Vu d’ici” (premiered last spring at the Théâtre de la Ville), teaching and guest choreographing for Europe’s leading dance companies, such as the Helsinki City Ballet – Paris has been home for Carlson, and she’s back for a few weeks to prepare for the premiere of “Sub Rosa,” her long-awaited piece created for Stockholm’s Cullberg Ballet, opening April 23 at the Théâtre de la Ville.