Terrace weather is here and having a drink at a strategically placed people-watching café is one of the pleasures of Paris. Here are some tips on some of France’s favorite after-six drinks. Continue reading “Tasty Tips…French Aperitifs”
Loire Plein Air Painting Workshop
Treat yourself to a week of water color painting taught by Paul George (May 27-June 3, 2023) while discovering the magical troglodyte village of Trôo. Perched above the river Loire in the northern Loire Valley this remarkable village features unique cave houses dug into the hillside that provide stunning views over the village, river and valley. Continue reading “Loire Plein Air Painting Workshop”
The Latin Quarter Revisited
Discovering the 5 & 6th district
Romantic myths of Left Bank intelligentsia which date back seven centuries are brutally shattered on today’s busy bd St-Michel, the main artery of the Latin Quarter, where the 5th and 6th arrondissements meet.
The venerable Sorbonne, the quarter’s historic seat of intellectual life, is still there, but these days the forlorn chime of its chapel bell, which has punctuated the studies of generations of scholars, is drowned out by the din of passing traffic. Indeed most people who stream past the place de la Sorbonne seldom notice its beautiful 17th century chapel with its graceful dome. Continue reading “The Latin Quarter Revisited”
Paris by it’s Writers
Much of Paris’ romantic patina comes from tales told by writers who have lived here. Balzac in Passy, Proust in the Monceau plain, Colette in the Palais-Royal, Hemingway in Montparnasse, Sartre and Beauvoir in Saint-Germain-des-Prés… A new bilingual book “Paris by it’s Writers,” written by Francoise Besse (published by Parisgramme) describes the lives of twenty Paris legendary authors and how the city is woven into their novels. Continue reading “Paris by it’s Writers”
Paris 17th district
Of all the 8 new arrondissements incorporated into Paris in January 1860 (13th to 20th), the 17th is Baron Haussmann’s creation par excellence; for, despite the ‘deep chasm’ that seprated north from west, no arrodissement was as true to the new middle-class spirit of the Second Empire (and later the Third Republic) or promoted the values it stood for to the same degree. Continue reading “Paris 17th district”