A year ago  I asked whether they were any true examples of brutalist architecture in Paris. The example I eventually found in the 13th arrondissement was positively gentle alongside this multi-story car park in the suburb of Nogent sur Marne! It was no surprise to discover that this rather impressive structure is condemned today and [...]

This month I went to Glou in the Marais, which makes the kind of clean food I miss. They offer a two-course formule for 15 euros: appetizer and plat, or plat and dessert. The starter of guacamole with toast and red pepper coulis looked great on the plate but taste wise was underwhelming and a [...]

I take people on extravagant shopping trips in Paris. The kind of trips destined to furnish a Lake Tahoe country house or decorate a New York City flat. I’ve even helped native Parisians find that “perfect” piece. My clients may be book collectors or art collectors or fans of art deco. I love the galleries [...]

If you come to Paris, do pay a visit to “Le musée de l’histoire de la médecine” a very interesting museum you can find in the former Medicine Faculty, in the heart of the Latin Quarter. It’s fascinating to see the old instruments, the dummies and the odd tools they have used to cure people [...]

A small chain of convenience stores called Chez Jean have opened around Paris, offering all the essentials from 7am-11pm, seven days a week even Christmas and May 1st. Modeled a bit like the stores at a highway rest stop, they have snacks, sandwiches, salads, and hot dishes served at the counter, tables to sit an [...]

If it has been Armageddon for the art market lately, one upshot is that places are opening for newer artists where one wouldn’t expect. On the rue Guénéguad in the heart of Saint Germain des Prés, you can find African art, design furniture, and fashion-edge photography, but also painter Denis Gérablie, 40, who this spring [...]

Louis Aragon had a long life. Born in 1897, he died in 1982 at the age of 85. ‘Aragon et l’art moderne,’ the exhibition currently on display at the Musée de la Poste is a necessarily selected survey from a long career as a poet, novelist, journalist and long-time friend and collaborator to some of the 20th [...]

From l’apéritif en terrasse to the early-morning croissant on the way home, what’s not to love about the Parisian social life? Moderation: Boire avec modération (drink with moderation) is your mantra for socializing in Paris. France may be one of the biggest wine producers and consumers in the world, but the French pride themselves on [...]

Yesterday, as dinner cooked and the sun set, a group of gypsy performers wandered onto my street coming off thier daily train rounds. I smiled down at them because I’d seen them before – I guess that they live in somewhere in the neighborhood. They waved back up and me and started me a serenade, [...]

I’ve been in France 15 years now, and I think I’ve been to Disneyland Paris at least a dozen times, and I even got to cover the opening of Disney Studios in 2002 for work. I’d go more often but it’s a tad harder to convince Parisians to come with me, especially if it’s cold or wet. [...]