I recently handed over the reins of my business to my children so I could retire. Originally hailing from New York City, I moved to Paris to experience something I’ve always dreamed of. From a very young age I took French classes and was fluent by thirteen. I had visited France many times before deciding [...]

Today, as usual, the market was full of foreign tourists gawking at the lovely food and product displays. As the vendeuse was cutting the stems and wrapping up the flowers (she gave me some foliage for free), I saw out of the corner of my eye a tall, impatient American man, identifable by his khaki pants and [...]

Did you know that the only hospital outside the U.S. that is fully certified to U.S. standards is here in Paris? The American Hospital was founded almost a hundred years ago for American residents, and built in the leafy, wealthy suburb of Neuilly (if this was London, Neuilly would just be part of the city, [...]

If you live in Paris and are looking to sell a bunch of stuff but don’t want to have to bother with opening an eBay account yourself, you can instead try the services of EncherExpert, an eBay consignment company that – for 10-30% percent of the sale – will take your items, photograph them, write up [...]

After comparing three different Paris-based pastry schools, I decided last November to apply to the international intensive program at Ferrandi. Every program has its pros and cons, but I was swayed by Ferrandi’s internship requirement as well as the additional classes included in the curriculum (boulangerie, traiteur, French, oenology, and art). Ferrandi accepted me in March, but [...]

This fall, I went to my first annual Assemblée Générale des copropriétaires, or General Assembly of Co-owners. We were summoned to this General Assembly meeting by an official convocation. Sounds like the shareholder meeting for Coca Cola, or maybe a third legislative branch, right? Well essentially, it’s a homeowners’ association or condo association meeting. Furthermore, [...]

I was at the organic store Biocoop. My eyes lit up when I saw the word “promotion” on the chocolate mousse. Not only was chocolate mousse exactly what I wanted, but it was on sale. Score! I readied my coins (the French love exact change), but the higher, standard price appeared when the cashier rang it up. [...]

For the past two months, I have been sitting next to the same French woman every time we have class. Often times we will eat lunch together too. I wouldn’t go as far as to say we are friends (we are in France after all), but I did feel that I was starting to know [...]

(Pin by Hexagon Accessories available on Etsy.)

The French police department has been collecting objects for over two hundred years. Every day the objets trouvés (lost and found) receives between 600 and 700 articles. The articles come from Parisian streets, public transportation (except for SNCF!), airports, taxis and all public places. About 150 articles find their owners each day. Since December 22, 2011, [...]