My daughter, 21, just called from the States. We were discussing bargain vintage-shopping at Goodwill, her work at a contemporary art center, the price of antiques, her art history exam, what we’ve been up to since we last saw each other a few weeks ago. The usual mother-daughter transatlantic chit-chat, provided oh-so-cheaply, by Skype.
Then she […]

Those opposing the new Eiffel Tower “hat” can breathe a sigh of relief. The new hat for the Eiffel Tower is a no-go. Not only that, it was never a GO, nor part of a design competition; it was never approved for restructuring the famous landmark. WHO invented THAT story??

I got hit with a nostalgic craving for a good old fashioned kid movie. The weather was gloomy, and I’d been wanting to take the kids to a show. Today was the day. I was in luck, there was a double feature at 5:35 showing on rue Strasburg at L’Archipel for le Ballon Rouge and […]

It’s well known that when La Tour Eiffel was first built for the Universal Exhibition in 1889, Parisians generally seemed to disapprove of it. It was supposed to be a temporary structure but later remained intact. When the sparkling light show was added a few years ago, glittering for 10 minutes every hour on the […]

If you happen to be wandering around the Richelieu and notice, among other things, porcelain cast pigeons painted in iridescent blue defecating all over the stairwell, congratulations; you’ve just been privy to a preview of the Louvre’s upcoming third installment of Counterpoint, their contemporary art installation program. The Louvre has selected Jan Fabre, a contemporary […]

The quality of coffee in Parisian cafés can range from acrid to excellent, but it’s rare that you’ll come across a cup that would make your average New York coffee freak sing. I think it’s an acquired taste. If you are expecting Italian espresso, you’ll be disappointed. But if you are willing to accept your […]

I HATE when they do that. Supermarket giants Carrefour and Monoprix (110 stores in total) have announced a 2.5 ton recall of E-coli contaminated meat.
The thing is, they always wait until most of the meat has already been consumed (unless it was frozen by consumers). In any case, they really are evil.
If you bought packaged […]

This cast-off bidet was sitting on the curb on rue Mayet this afternoon, waiting to get hauled away.
It made me wonder: are more French homeowners ditching their bidets? Are bidets becoming passé?
More pondering: is there some research organization that tracks the bathing habits of the French (and other nations, for that matter)? I suspect that […]

Okay, it wasn’t an original idea, Notre Dame on Easter Sunday. But with our visiting family we made the pilgrimage, hopping on the RER and popping out at the Notre Dame. We saw a huge crowd out front, which I assumed was just passing tourist groups. It turns out that the big crowd all had […]

Marie-Antoinette is the most famous French queen in the world. Most of the people remember her 1) because she was beheaded during the French Revolution - well technically, slightly after - and 2) because she’s supposed to have said “If [people] have no bread, let them eat cake.” I say “supposed” because apparently this quote […]