English-language magazines and newspapers come and go in Paris. Sometimes they continue online only like the Paris Voice and Irish Eyes), other just disappear completely and leave ghost websites behind (The Paris Times). Of course, the FUSAC has been around for ages, probably because it’s just paid ads and announcements. So it’s nice to see a new magazine that [...]
Like most things that are forbidden, I discovered last night during a trip to the Buddha Bar that absinthe sounds so much better than it actually is. Granted that today’s absinthe is a far cry from the mind-altering crazy juice that fueled many artists and writers in centuries past, my friend and I still thought [...]
Among the enduring innovations of the French revolution was the adoption of the metric system of measurement. Others such as adoption of a new calendar with 10 day weeks barely lasted for 10 years. Interestingly, the last state use of the guillotine was 1981, just before France abolished the death penalty altogether. While the U.S. [...]
If you think you have trouble parallel parking with your car sometimes, think of this. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the first automobile. It was made by Nicolas Joseph Cugnot, a French military engineer in… 1770 and it is now exposed at the Musée des Arts et Metiers museum. Three wheels, a steam engine, all this to [...]
So, you’ve just received an invitation to your first French wedding. Your initial thought (”How exciting!”) is quickly replaced by, “OMG, what am I going to wear??” Fear not, Your American Wedding Planner in Paris is here to guide you. First, you should know that typically, people in France don’t tend to dress up [...]
While most skin-care spas employ architecture and decor suggesting luxury and nature (think built-in waterfalls and fancy flower arrangements), this one in the Marais (on rue aux Ours) takes a different approach. It looks like a giant lightbox for photographers.
With the most famous landmark in Paris as his muse, designer Alexander McQueen reinvents the Eiffel Tower to put a new spin on women’s apparel. The leggings cost 85 euros, the matching top is 125 euros.
Last week I attended a lecture on rhetoric at the Sorbonne where the invited guest said “beauty plus history equals art”. This passé notion made me flinch. I wondered what he would do with all of the artists of the 1970s who self-mutilated on film or in live performance pieces. More importantly, when I reflect [...]
For the second day in a row the Eiffel Tower closed after only a few hours due to workers’ strikes for better pay and working conditions (the private company managing the Eiffel Tower made a considerable profit last year, FYI). People waited in line for over three hours only to be told, “Désolé, we’re closed.” No word on [...]
