On January 4, 1960—exactly fifty years ago—Albert Camus had a train ticket to Paris in his pocket. But he chose to travel with a friend who drove a Facel-Vega, a car so luxurious and high-powered its ads boasted it was "For the Few Who Own the Finest."

Last Updated ( Friday, 22 January 2010 )

In Paris and Her Remarkable Women, Lorraine Liscio profiles sixteen women closely associated with Paris.

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 25 November 2009 )

The insecurity of man during times of war or peacekeeping came home to my family when we recently received the news that one of our own family was lost keeping the peace in a distant land.

Last Updated ( Saturday, 19 December 2009 )

To live in Paris is to live intimately with its history.  Paris has been the stage for many of humanity’s greatest achievements; it has also been the setting for unspeakable tragedy. The Mémorial de la Shoah serves as a reminder of the most horrific of this second category of history, a history difficult to confront:  that of France under German occupation during WWII. Through January 31, 2010, the museum dedicates a temporary exhibition to the works and life of Holocaust victim Benjamin Fondane, Romanian poet, essayist, playwright, filmmaker, and philosopher.

Last Updated ( Sunday, 08 November 2009 )

When we think of 1920’s music, New Orleans comes to mind as do the Jazz clubs of New York and Chicago. But to understand the impact this music had on the world after WWI we have to look at Paris and the flowering of American music in this post war city.

Last Updated ( Friday, 03 July 2009 )

The French always do them well, especially the milestone commemorations every five years of the liberation of their country from Nazi occupation during World War II. But this year, on June 6th, the ceremonies marking the 65th anniversary of the 1944 Allied D-Day landings on the beaches of Normandy that began that liberation will have special and touching significance.

Last Updated ( Friday, 03 July 2009 )

The most mouth-watering surprise so far this year is Le Gaigne, a postage-stamp bistro in the Marais. It's the type of place you couldn't make up, opposite a tabac and a seedy looking joint called Gerry's Place, one way street you wouldn't want to walk down alone at night. Chef/Owner of Le Gaigne is Mickael Gaignon, who trained with Gagnaire (it's all the G's to-day). “He knows I'm here, wish he'd come, I've heard he goes to Gerry's!” sighs Gaignon. PG, if you're out there ze boy's got talentl. Last Updated ( Wednesday, 03 September 2008 )

I am worried about the French.  I am worried because they are talking about Eliot Spitzer, talking endlessly.  It makes no sense at all.  We are told that he was sleeping with someone who was not his wife.  So?  Since when do the French care about that?  And, I wonder, how many people ever heard of Spitzer before he became tabloid cover art?  He is, or was, the governor of New York, not a position the French care about or even know about.  No doubt many businessmen had heard about him when he was putting the fear of jail into pirates on Wall Street, but that is a small part of the population.

 

Last Updated ( Monday, 30 March 2009 )

Few heroes of French history are as obscure as Eugène-Réné Poubelle, yet not one—not Joan of Arc, not Napoléon, not Charles de Gaulle—has as many monuments named in his memory.  It is impossible to walk anywhere in Paris, or other French cities and towns for that matter, and not daily come across one of these shrines.  It is true that they are not treated well, are not revered, and buses do not come from miles around loaded with tourists panting to have their pictures taken in front of one of them.  As a matter of fact, people habitually throw nasty things in, or at, them.  But the monuments, if not truly the memory of M. Poubelle, endure.

 

Last Updated ( Monday, 08 June 2009 )