Cristal Room Baccarat
1 Place des États-Unis, Paris
Hours: Every day for lunch and dinner
Reservations: 01.40.22.11.10
The Baccarat Gallery-Museum: Open every day except Christmas and New Year’s Day, 9 – noon, and 2 – 6 p.m.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Eat Among Famous Baccarat Crystal in Paris
Cristal Room Baccarat
1 Place des États-Unis, Paris
Hours: Every day for lunch and dinner
Reservations: 01.40.22.11.10
The Baccarat Gallery-Museum: Open every day except Christmas and New Year’s Day, 9 – noon, and 2 – 6 p.m.
Monday, February 21, 2011
My Favorite London Hotel is playing Host to Kate and Edward ( Royal Wedding)
With only the A-listers invited to the wedding breakfast hosted by the Queen, a less elite celebration is being planned on the other side of the walls of Buckingham Palace at the Goring.. The Goring will to be hosting a garden party for friends and family of the royal couple, whose invitation does not stretch beyond the Westminster Abbey service. The hotel will host Kate Middleton on her last night as a commoner.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Avignon - Venice Of the South Without Water
Historically it is both saintly and wildly secular. There's the savage wind of a winter's day and the crystalline blue skies of the very next one. There's the confused jumble of medieval streets and the stately beauty of the mansions piled into them. There's the quiet of the little squares that dot the ancient city and the raucousness of the Place de l'Horloge. There's also the grandeur of its walls, the elegance of its 16th- and 17th-century facades, and the incredible banality of recent construction.
Avignon is one of my favorite cities in Provence for more years than I care to remember and my feelings about it are also a study in contrasts. For as much charm as the city holds, there's also the baking heat of a midsummer day and the vast frustration of driving to it and into it. My own voice of experience about driving says try not to. Take the train (if coming from Paris) . And if you are driving, head directly for the parking garage underneath the Palais des Papes and leave your car there. Part of the city's appeal is that the vieille ville inside the ancient ramparts is comfortably walkable. And it's the only part of Avignon that's really interesting.
High on the list of contrasts is the Papal Palace itself, the largest single medieval structure in France It still makes an impression, seven hundred years after the popes installed the Holy See in Provence in 1309, the beginning of the papal period that eventually led to competing popes during Western Christianity's Great Schism, which finally ended in the early 15th century. But for seven papal reigns over seven decades, Avignon was the center of the Christian world.
If you do park underneath the Papal Palace, when you climb the stairs to exit you'll emerge into the vast Place that faces the Palace. Pause to grasp the massive scale, and go inside for a tour now or later. The building itself is mostly what you'll see—all 3.7 acres of it, divided into Benedict's Palais Vieux and Clement's Palais Neuf. Warning: don't expect much furniture that one comes to expect in larger Chateaux. There is hardly any!
By the clock
My starting point for wandering around the city is the Place de l'Horloge, the site of the old Roman Forum and still the vital center of the city. The Banque de France sits as sentinel at the upper edge, and along the right-hand side other official buildings line up monumentally—city hall, the municipal theater. But a colorful old merry-go-round lightens the atmosphere and suggests that there's fun to be had, not just a history lesson.
If you have time and inclination, pick a café and order an express. Sit with your guidebooks, get oriented, and enjoy the passing scene. The people-watching is rewarding, especially on a sunny day. (The cafés zip themselves up inside transparent plastic wrap when it's drizzling or the sharp mistral wind whips down the Rhône and lays a Siberian chill over the Provençal plain.)
The 14th-century clock tower that gives the Place de l'Horloge its name is now part of the Hôtel de Ville, which was once a cardinal's residence. The long noisy square and the showcase rue de la République that leads directly into it offer a kind of natural divide between workaday Avignon in a welter of streets to the east, and the antique and specialty shops to the west. Don't miss either section as you wander.
Leading west from the Place, you'll find the rue Molière and the rue Corneille—statues of those great playwrights in front of the theater serve as effective street markers, guiding you to the city's elegant antique shops, high-end boutiques, intimate restaurants, grand hotels and two of the city's most important museums—the Musée Calvet and the Lambert Collection of contemporary art.
East of the Place de l'Horloge, a tangle of streets not sorted out since the days of the popes leads mazelike toward the Place des Carmes, the sumptuous houses off the rue Banasterie, the Place Pie and the central market with its strange, plant-covered vegetal wall. If your wanderings are truly rewarded, you'll happen upon the quiet, sun-dappled rue des Teinturiers. Lined with plane trees, it's only a few blocks long, and the abandoned boutiques and restaurants speak sadly of ideas that didn't quite work.
The rue des Teinturiers was once awash in dye works and textile manufacture. It parallels a short stretch of the Sorgue, the river that now runs mostly underneath the city before flowing into the Rhône. Its water now serves chiefly to keep the ancient plane trees vibrant, but once upon a time the river powered the textile mills. Four paddle wheels, rusty in their decrepitude, are vestiges of the score of print works that once brought wealth to factory owners and jobs to the working class. . The Provençal fabrics that now bear such labels as Souleiado and Les Olivades are other vestiges of that once potent industry.
None of the cardinals' mansions were as grand as the Papal Palace, but many were grand indeed. In French they are called "livrées cardinalices"—and there's a choice of explanations for the term. Perhaps it was used because in the beginning the mansions were "liberated" from their owners. Or because they were livrée—delivered—to cardinals by supplicants in an early example of lobbying. Or—still another explanation, one with great metonymic flourish—because their servants were in livrée, or livery, the whole ensemble came to be known as livrées. Whatever the explanation, today's McMansions don't hold a votive candle to them.
The most striking of the residences and the most accessible is the Petit Palais, an expansive building situated next to the Papal Palace and now Avignon's major museum. Among its best treasures is an important collection of 13th- to 16th-century French and Italian paintings and sculpture.
The Hôtel de Ville was another of the livrées. You can walk inside during office hours and read the historical explanations, but it's just City Hall now and it gives no sense of medieval splendor. Any of the popular tourist guides can take you to other livrées that are still standing, like the Livrée Ceccano, which now houses a médiathèque, or multipurpose media library. Facing it, the Musée Angladon offers a collection that includes Manet, Cézanne, Derain, Picasso and Les Wagons de Chemin de Fer, the only Van Gogh left in Provence. Like other significant sites, these are marked and well explained, in French, by signs posted all over town.
My starting point for wandering around the city is the Place de l'Horloge, the site of the old Roman Forum and still the vital center of the city. The Banque de France sits as sentinel at the upper edge, and along the right-hand side other official buildings line up monumentally—city hall, the municipal theater. But a colorful old merry-go-round lightens the atmosphere and suggests that there's fun to be had, not just a history lesson.
If you have time and inclination, pick a café and order an express. Sit with your guidebooks, get oriented, and enjoy the passing scene. The people-watching is rewarding, especially on a sunny day. (The cafés zip themselves up inside transparent plastic wrap when it's drizzling or the sharp mistral wind whips down the Rhône and lays a Siberian chill over the Provençal plain.)
The 14th-century clock tower that gives the Place de l'Horloge its name is now part of the Hôtel de Ville, which was once a cardinal's residence. The long noisy square and the showcase rue de la République that leads directly into it offer a kind of natural divide between workaday Avignon in a welter of streets to the east, and the antique and specialty shops to the west. Don't miss either section as you wander.
Leading west from the Place, you'll find the rue Molière and the rue Corneille—statues of those great playwrights in front of the theater serve as effective street markers, guiding you to the city's elegant antique shops, high-end boutiques, intimate restaurants, grand hotels and two of the city's most important museums—the Musée Calvet and the Lambert Collection of contemporary art.
East of the Place de l'Horloge, a tangle of streets not sorted out since the days of the popes leads mazelike toward the Place des Carmes, the sumptuous houses off the rue Banasterie, the Place Pie and the central market with its strange, plant-covered vegetal wall. If your wanderings are truly rewarded, you'll happen upon the quiet, sun-dappled rue des Teinturiers. Lined with plane trees, it's only a few blocks long, and the abandoned boutiques and restaurants speak sadly of ideas that didn't quite work.
The rue des Teinturiers was once awash in dye works and textile manufacture. It parallels a short stretch of the Sorgue, the river that now runs mostly underneath the city before flowing into the Rhône. Its water now serves chiefly to keep the ancient plane trees vibrant, but once upon a time the river powered the textile mills. Four paddle wheels, rusty in their decrepitude, are vestiges of the score of print works that once brought wealth to factory owners and jobs to the working class. . The Provençal fabrics that now bear such labels as Souleiado and Les Olivades are other vestiges of that once potent industry.
Cardinal points
The Holy See brought many princes of the Church to Avignon, and each acquired a palace for himself. Later, opponents of Avignon as the Church's HQ blamed the proximity of France as a corrupting influence because it made cardinals imitate the royal court in displays of wealth and grandeur.None of the cardinals' mansions were as grand as the Papal Palace, but many were grand indeed. In French they are called "livrées cardinalices"—and there's a choice of explanations for the term. Perhaps it was used because in the beginning the mansions were "liberated" from their owners. Or because they were livrée—delivered—to cardinals by supplicants in an early example of lobbying. Or—still another explanation, one with great metonymic flourish—because their servants were in livrée, or livery, the whole ensemble came to be known as livrées. Whatever the explanation, today's McMansions don't hold a votive candle to them.
The most striking of the residences and the most accessible is the Petit Palais, an expansive building situated next to the Papal Palace and now Avignon's major museum. Among its best treasures is an important collection of 13th- to 16th-century French and Italian paintings and sculpture.
The Hôtel de Ville was another of the livrées. You can walk inside during office hours and read the historical explanations, but it's just City Hall now and it gives no sense of medieval splendor. Any of the popular tourist guides can take you to other livrées that are still standing, like the Livrée Ceccano, which now houses a médiathèque, or multipurpose media library. Facing it, the Musée Angladon offers a collection that includes Manet, Cézanne, Derain, Picasso and Les Wagons de Chemin de Fer, the only Van Gogh left in Provence. Like other significant sites, these are marked and well explained, in French, by signs posted all over town.
Song and dance
Nowadays Avignon is also famous for its summer theater festival. For three weeks each July the city is chockablock with spectators and spectacle for what is touted as the world's biggest and most important theater festival.
Throughout the rest of the year, the colorful murals that adorn many walls around town bear witness both to famous theatrical performances of the past and the contemporary event that Avignon is best known for. Looking down on the street, the actors are locked forever in a single pose in their trompe l'oeil role playing, which takes fantasy to a high level indeed.
But for a lot of us, more than the Papal Palace and more than the theater festival, it's a song that underlies Avignon's reputation. A song, and the famous bridge, where "l'on y danse, l'on y danse". For centuries the Pont Saint Bénezet has been the archetypical bridge to nowhere, reaching only half way out toward the bucolic Ile de la Barthelasse in the middle of the Rhône.
Once upon a time, before a flood swept away all but four of its original 22 arches, the Pont Saint Bénezet spanned the entire Rhône and led to Villeneuve-lès-Avignon. It was once an international crossing, from papal Avignon to Philip the Fair's France. The tower where the bridge ended still bears Philip's name. He built the tower, according to legend, as a fortress to keep an eye on the goings-on at the Papal Palace.
The song gets it wrong, by the way. Sur le pont d'Avignon, l'on y danse tout en rond — or so we sing. But it wasn't on the bridge, or sur, but under the bridge, sous, that the dancing took place. Under the bridge and on Barthelasse, once known for its guinguettes, or outdoor taverns with music for warm weather dancing.
Do pay the fee and walk out onto the bridge, or dance out if you want—chances are you won't be the only one—just to be able to look back at the medieval skyline imposed by the big palace, the little one, and of course the ramparts. As far as the eye can see it's all battle-worthy crenellations and towers, incongruously topped off by the golden statue of the Virgin above Notre Dame des Doms, the cathedral adjoining the palace complex.
Aside from the palace, the ramparts are Avignon's most visible and striking feature, and one of the best examples of medieval fortification in existence. There were walls when the popes arrived in the early 14th century, but the papacy's presence led to urban sprawl, and the new areas built outside the old walls were under frequent threat from marauding thieves.
So the popes built new walls, and those are basically what encircles Avignon today—stone walls 2.5 miles long and 30 feet high, with ports of entry in a number of the square towers. Originally there were 35 tall towers and 50 smaller ones, with a dozen gates. But restoration projects over the centuries have demolished towers and built new ones, and pierced new entries too. The moats that once provided additional security have long since been filled in, although there is a proposal to reconstruct them—a project that won't cheer anyone looking for a space in the extra-muros parking lots surrounding the city.
Although there's now a charge for the Pont Bénezet, most of the visual pleasure of Avignon requires no entrance fee.
I think of Avignon as Venice without water. The streets are as tangled and meandering as Venice's calle, and little leafy squares relieve the traffic. In your wanderings don't miss the Promenade des Papes, which circles the palace and leads through the Place Maria Casarès. There in a building known as the Manutention—which once supplied food and medicine for a military barracks nearby—a sort of artisans' colony has sprung up, with ateliers for an art restorer, a glass engraver, a sculptor and a photographer. A movie theater in the square specializes in foreign films, all presented in their original languages. And there's a café, of course, with the golden image of the Virgin hovering high above.
Nowadays Avignon is also famous for its summer theater festival. For three weeks each July the city is chockablock with spectators and spectacle for what is touted as the world's biggest and most important theater festival.
Throughout the rest of the year, the colorful murals that adorn many walls around town bear witness both to famous theatrical performances of the past and the contemporary event that Avignon is best known for. Looking down on the street, the actors are locked forever in a single pose in their trompe l'oeil role playing, which takes fantasy to a high level indeed.
But for a lot of us, more than the Papal Palace and more than the theater festival, it's a song that underlies Avignon's reputation. A song, and the famous bridge, where "l'on y danse, l'on y danse". For centuries the Pont Saint Bénezet has been the archetypical bridge to nowhere, reaching only half way out toward the bucolic Ile de la Barthelasse in the middle of the Rhône.
Once upon a time, before a flood swept away all but four of its original 22 arches, the Pont Saint Bénezet spanned the entire Rhône and led to Villeneuve-lès-Avignon. It was once an international crossing, from papal Avignon to Philip the Fair's France. The tower where the bridge ended still bears Philip's name. He built the tower, according to legend, as a fortress to keep an eye on the goings-on at the Papal Palace.
The song gets it wrong, by the way. Sur le pont d'Avignon, l'on y danse tout en rond — or so we sing. But it wasn't on the bridge, or sur, but under the bridge, sous, that the dancing took place. Under the bridge and on Barthelasse, once known for its guinguettes, or outdoor taverns with music for warm weather dancing.
Do pay the fee and walk out onto the bridge, or dance out if you want—chances are you won't be the only one—just to be able to look back at the medieval skyline imposed by the big palace, the little one, and of course the ramparts. As far as the eye can see it's all battle-worthy crenellations and towers, incongruously topped off by the golden statue of the Virgin above Notre Dame des Doms, the cathedral adjoining the palace complex.
Aside from the palace, the ramparts are Avignon's most visible and striking feature, and one of the best examples of medieval fortification in existence. There were walls when the popes arrived in the early 14th century, but the papacy's presence led to urban sprawl, and the new areas built outside the old walls were under frequent threat from marauding thieves.
So the popes built new walls, and those are basically what encircles Avignon today—stone walls 2.5 miles long and 30 feet high, with ports of entry in a number of the square towers. Originally there were 35 tall towers and 50 smaller ones, with a dozen gates. But restoration projects over the centuries have demolished towers and built new ones, and pierced new entries too. The moats that once provided additional security have long since been filled in, although there is a proposal to reconstruct them—a project that won't cheer anyone looking for a space in the extra-muros parking lots surrounding the city.
Although there's now a charge for the Pont Bénezet, most of the visual pleasure of Avignon requires no entrance fee.
I think of Avignon as Venice without water. The streets are as tangled and meandering as Venice's calle, and little leafy squares relieve the traffic. In your wanderings don't miss the Promenade des Papes, which circles the palace and leads through the Place Maria Casarès. There in a building known as the Manutention—which once supplied food and medicine for a military barracks nearby—a sort of artisans' colony has sprung up, with ateliers for an art restorer, a glass engraver, a sculptor and a photographer. A movie theater in the square specializes in foreign films, all presented in their original languages. And there's a café, of course, with the golden image of the Virgin hovering high above.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
Champagne - Enjoy The Moment
I drink Champagne when I'm happy and when I'm sad," said Madame Bollinger, one of the grandes dames of Champagne. "Sometimes I drink it when I'm alone. When I have company, I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I'm not hungry and drink it when I am. Otherwise, I never touch it - unless I'm thirsty."
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
HOLLYWOOD’S FRANCE
MOST STYLISH
To Catch a Thief Alfred Hitchcock, 1955 Former jewel thief John Robie's retirement is disturbed when a series of robberies imitating his distinctive style occur on the French Riviera. Determined to unmask the copycat, he mingles with the wealthy tourists and soon finds himself pursued by a rich and beautiful American woman fascinated by his reputation. Cary Grant is Robie, Grace Kelly is the elegant Frances, the 1950s Côte d'Azur is the setting. France was never more glamorous.
MOST PARISIAN
Funny Face Stanley Donen, 1957 In this endearing musical loosely based on George Gershwin's Broadway show, three New Yorkers come to Paris for a photo shoot. The high-powered fashion editor (Kay Thompson) wants to visit the designers' boutiques, the shopgirl-turned-model (Audrey Hepburn) dreams of joining the intellectual crowd in Montparnasse and the photographer (Fred Astaire) is fascinated by the architecture. The song Bonjour Paris! brings them together at the top of the Eiffel tower and love ensues.
MOST TWISTED – My all time favorite!
Charade Stanley Donen, 1963 Reggie Lampert (Audrey Hepburn) returns to Paris from a vacation trip to discover that her husband has been murdered—and that he was a thief. Three men follow her around Paris to recover the money he had stolen, although she knows nothing about it. Feeling lost and alone, she turns to an unknown man she met on her arrival (Cary Grant)—a man who is not who he says he is. Donen's Charade was filmed entirely in Paris; in 2002 Jonathan Demme directed a remake, The Truth About Charlie, starring Mark Walhberg.
MOST HITCHCOCKIAN
Frantic Roman Polanski, 1988 When Dr. Walker (Harrison Ford) attends a medical convention in Paris, his beloved wife disappears from their hotel room without a trace while he is in the shower. The police refuse to take the matter seriously, so Walker embarks on a search complicated by the language barrier, until he finds a beautiful French girl (Emmanuelle Seigner) willing to help him. Frantic's final sequence takes place by the replica of the Statue of Liberty near Paris's Pont de Grenelle, symbolically uniting French and American thriller's traditions.
MOST ACCURATE
Le Divorce James Ivory, 2003 Isabel (Kate Hudson), the archetypal California blonde, flies to Paris to visit her pregnant sister Roxy (Naomi Watts) who has just broken up with her well-to-do French husband. Isabel discovers France and the French, and soon embarks on an affair with a married man. A witty satire, Le Divorce explores the complexity of French and American culture and lifestyles, and their widely divergent attitudes toward sex, food, fashion and the pursuit of happiness.
Others, among many...
A Woman of Paris Charlie Chaplin, 1923 (Melodrama)
Trouble in Paradise Ernst Lubitsch, 1932 (Comedy)
The Razor's Edge Edmund Goulding, 1946 (Drama)
An American in Paris Vincente Minnelli, 1951 (Musical)
French Kiss Lawrence Kasdan, 1995 (Romantic comedy)
Everybody Say I Love You Woody Allen, 1996 (Comedy)
Ronin John Frankenheimer, 1998 (Thriller)
Femme Fatale Brian De Palma, 2002 (Thriller)
Before Sunset Richard Linklater, 2004 (Romantic comedy)
Munich Steven Spielberg, 2005 (Thriller)
The Da Vinci Code Ron Howard, 2006 (Thriller)
Ratatouille Brad Bird, 2007 (Animation) - Lovely!! I Love it!
Monday, February 7, 2011
Fondue and Raclette Fun .......................Once Again
Oyster Quartet - A Kiss From The Sea
Anyone who knows me; knows that first upon landing in Paris and my last day in Paris before I leave, I always have a few dozen oysters at one of my many favorite Fish-and-Oyster houses around the city. I am happy to report today, that a favortie that had fallen on hard times, has been bought and restored once again to a good destination for serious seafood lovers. The 4 restaurants that make up this mini-chain is called LE BAR A HUITRES. The menu has been revamped and offers a wonderful array of pedigreed bivales and the fish is not farmed rasied by wild and the taste proves that.
There are now four locations, 2 on the Left Bank.
Below is a menu to temp you on your next visit to Paris and you might be seeing me there.
http://www.lebarahuitres.com/pdf/carte_en.pdf
Rainbows In Champagne - The Town Of Troyes
The town of Troyes ( prounced Trwa) just a bit south of the Champagne country always takes visitor - French as well as foreigners - by surprise. This lively town of narrow cobbled streets, half timbered houses in ochre, pink and yellow was once the capitol of the counts of Champagne. Today’s it's an unspoiled treasure trove of art and architecture, a thriving modern city that wears its past with elegance and charm.Walking in the old quarter whisks you straight into the world the of the 'Three Musketeers.'
It’s an unvisited city by most tourists and after seeing it, one can only exclaim “C’est Epoustouflant!”….”it’s staggering.
Be sure to have lunch at Le Valentino restaurant, set in a 16th Century serving excellent French food at reasonable prices.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Marks & Sparks comes back to Paris.................The Brit's Are Coming...Again..
That most British of chain stores is reported to be about to take over a prime site on the Champs Elysées, a decade after it closed its emporium opposite Galeries Lafayette, the grand department store on the Boulevard Haussmann. The news, not yet confirmed by the group, emerged from staff at Esprit, the fashion brand, which is leaving the site. They have been told that they can switch to employment with Marks & Sparks, according to today's Le Parisien, which opened its Paris section with the news.
The group never made a profit from its 18 stores in France, which first opened in 1976, but they were a success with a certain type of Parisian. The fashion was drab and the shop was mundane, but some of the products conveyed that flavour of Britishness that Parisians find chic. This included the woolens, sensible tweed and Barbour-style outdoor jackets and especially the food. The marmalade, English cheese, salt-and-vinegar crisps (chip for Americans), chutney and mustard were popular. The English-style sandwiches were a huge success, effectively introducing Paris to such delicacies as egg and cress or Tandoori chicken wedges Since those days, the triangular sandwich has become a Paris lunch-bar staple.
Back in 2001, fans of the Haussmann store lamented the closure. They filled condolence books with appeals such as "Brits, please, do not leave us" and "where can I buy my Cheddar now?". A few British food stores opened in Paris to fill the vacuum and Galeries Lafayette expanded a British section on its gourmet food floor, offering exotic and over-priced staples such as baked beans and Coleman's mustard as well as loads of Indian sauces and spices. No date has been set for the re-opening. Le Parisien puts that down to "la discrétion toute britannique" of Marc Bolland, the new boss of M & S. The paper says "le come-back" is set for September.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Air France Les Cars & Paris: A Bus for All Reasons
Details:
•TO PARIS (from Charles de Gaulle):
The coaches departing CDG leave from four different stops:
Terminal 1 - Exit 34 (Arrivals level)
Terminal 2A-2C – Exit C2
Terminal 2D-2B – Exit B1
Terminal 2E-2F – Gallery level, Exit 3
WHEN: Every half hour from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
•FROM PARIS to Charles de Gaulle:
The coaches depart from:
Place de l’Etoile, Porte Maillot, Gare de Lyon, Gare Montparnasse
WHEN: Every 30 minutes from 5:45 a.m. to 11 p.m.
•TO/FROM ORLY AIRPORT:
Coaches leave from both Orly-Sud and Orly-Ouest with stops/pick-up at:
Place del'Etoile, Porte d'Orleans, Gare Montparnasse, Les Invalides.
WHEN: Every 30 minutes from 6 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.
•COST: From 11.50 – 18 € for adults; From 5.50 – 8 € for children
•HOW: Book online or call the reservations center in the US: 1-866-996-9727
www.lescarsairfrance.com OR www.linkparis.com/air-france-buses.htm
The only draw back is from downtown Paris station you need to taxi then to your hotel.Thus we always recommend for a family, you hire a limo ( though us of course :) and go from the airport direct to your hotel.