The Paris Traveler

Try to imagine if you can, getting all jazzed up in your “I am so going out on the town and am going to look amazing” outfit, only to find yourself donning a hard hat, goggles and white painters uniform while being handed a sledge hammer in order to smash walls, closets and bathrooms at one of the finest hotels in Paris.
 That’s exactly what several hundred VIP’s were invited to do at Le Royal Monceau, a five star grande dame of a place to stay just off the Champs Elysée. Needing to give the old gal a face lift,  the …read more

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Enjoy the day!
 

 Le Corburbusier:  the artist’s high-rise, low rent life (timesonline.uk)
 French to shell out over snails (bbc.co.uk)
 Parlez-vous ‘purchasing power’? (iht.com)
 French winemakers abandon the cork (telegraph.co.uk)
 Carla Bruni ‘hurt’ by critics of new album (yahoo.com)

Photo credit:  Ben (enjoys holiday:-)@flickr 
 

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 Bastille Day or “quatorze juillet”–July 14th, much like our Independence Day, is France’s most important national holiday.  It is celebrated in honor of the storming of the high security prison by the same name, Bastille, holding political prisoners whose views and subsequent writings angered the monarchy.  While the historic moment freed only 7 prisoners and destroyed the entire prison,  this event was viewed as a symbolic act of rebellion and solidarity and marked the beginning of the French Revolution.  
In modern times, the day begins with a military parade held along the Champs Elysée, led by the President, followed by …read more

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Friends, lamenting the fact that they paid $4.17 a gallon for gas this past week, generated  a conversation over dinner of how the US, aside from a handful of major urban areas, lacks so significantly in good public transit.  The town I lived in for the last 12 years is so un-pedestrian friendly for both walking and biking, sprawling outward for miles that if you don’t have a car, you are sunk.  Citing my very positive experience with the Paris metro and my girlfriend’s upbringing in Germany, where again, public transportation was available and part of daily life, we tried …read more

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 As you may or may not know, us bloggers have our wily ways of discovering certain things about our blogs:  readership for the day, popular posts, where in the world some of our readers come from and which bloggers have linked to one of our posts in order to make a point or add extra information to their post.  Tuesday, The Paris Traveler was linked to an article and I am going to send you right back there!
Alexander Lobrano is the European correspondent for Gourmet magazine–can you say “dream job”??? Oh my goodness.  Eating my way through Europe and then writing …read more

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 I am a lover of art in all its forms.  When I step inside the Louvre, I stand in the central court and struggle with which wing to enter first.  I know, no one out there is boo-hooing over my dilemma.  Living in Paris allows one the luxury of taking in ancient Egypt one day and Asian art the next.  One rainy afternoon, I focused my visit on sculpture.  Nothing else.  I didn’t allow for other works to distract me and walked away with such an appreciation for how “soft” and sensual…… 
 
or full of motion……
 
marble can become in the right …read more

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 I hold individuals that live life outside the box of what most people’s definition of “normal” might be in high regard.  Those mavericks who listen to their heart and are moved by what it tells them regardless of the judgement of others is a gift.  It may cause them great pain or great delight but they move to their inner voice and only when all is said and done will they be deemed genius or crazy!
Take Ferdinand Cheval.  A French postman, he tripped on a stone one day, admired its shape and started collecting them on his route.  First in …read more

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 For those of you who are foodies and find yourself in the Latin Quarter area, a visit to Rue Mouffetard would and should be the call of the day.  Located in the 5th, this street is a remnant of a Roman road that lead south to Italy and the origin of its outdoor market can be traced back to 1350.  Typical of the middle ages, people still venture here for their daily food shopping which, ahem, I do believe surpasses the other famous foodie street, Rue Cler.  I’m sure that will get a rise out of some people.
 
 
The fruits and …read more

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Happy Sunday reading. 

 Struggle in Bordeaux (chicagotribune.com)
 Jean Nouvel-the architect as artist (timesonline.co.uk)
 French designer Stark mints new euro coins (reuters.com)
 In the French heartland, the franc lives on (iht.com)
 Hidden Gardens of Paris (nytimes.com)

 
Photo credit:  johann.j.m@flickr 
 
 

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More than three centuries after being torn down by revolutionaries, wanting their king’s head, the gates at Versailles have been recreated in all their original splendor.
 This past Monday, officials unveiled these beautiful golden gates that have been painstakingly replicated over the past two years, bringing back to life the Barouque artistry originally created by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, architect to Louis XIV.  It was Hardouin-Mansart who was responsible for creating many of the significant buildings of this period that were meant to convey the king’s wealth and power.
 At a cost of eight million dollars, generated by private donors which is rare in …read more

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