Heidi Ellison
Maison Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau in front of his house in Milly-la-Forêt on July 24, 1963. © KEYSTONE-FRANCE/Keystone/Eyedea Presse Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) is a slippery character. It’s hard to get a grip on who he was and what he did, partly because he … Read More
L’Illusioniste
It’s a dream-team concept: Sylvain Chomet, the creator of the marvelous animated film Les Triplettes de Belleville, has made a new animated movie based on an unfinished script by the late, great French director and actor Jacques Tati, L’Illusioniste (The … Read More
Parc de Billancourt & Jardin de l’Ile Seguin
Poetic Park and Island on the Seine
The global economy may still be reeling, but you’d never know it from a visit to the Paris suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt, where a small building boom is underway as part of the Ile Seguin-Rives de Seine redevelopment project, which … Read More
Claude Colliot
Whelks and clams in a celeriac-based sauce at Claude Colliot’s new restaurant in the Marais. Having read some hearty praise of Claude Colliot’s new restaurant in Paris’s Marais, I had high expectations for our dinner there and convinced my dining … Read More
Méroé, un Empire sur le Nil & La Collection Motais de Narbonne
Cylinder decorated with festive ritual scenes, 1st century. © 2010 Musée du Louvre/Georges Poncet The Louvre often holds small temporary exhibitions that complement its own collections. While they don’t get as much attention in the press as the blockbuster shows, … Read More
Dreamlands
Kader Attia’s “Untitled (Skyline),” 2007. © Colin Davison The Centre Pompidou is currently holding one of those “multidisciplinary” (read “popular”?) shows that it says are part of its mission. “Dreamlands” certainly has something for everyone, from … Favorite
Americophilia in Paris restaurants
The salade pastilla de poulet at the Café du Marché on the Rue de Bretagne in the Upper Marais. A wave of Americophilia seems to have hit Paris lately. Every restaurant popular with thirtyish trendies now has a hamburger (pronounced … Read More
Banke Hotel
As befits its name, former function and setting in Paris’s historic banking district near the Opéra Garnier, the recently opened Banke Hotel has all the grandeur and opulence that financial institutions used to have before small branch offices (not known … Read More
Festival International des Jardins
A psychedelic vineyard by artists Anne and Patrick Poirier at the International Festival of Gardens in Chaumont sur Loire. The annual International Garden Festival at the Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire has become a regular pilgrimage for many Parisians, but visitors who … Read More
Centre Pompidou-Metz
The new Centre Pompidou-Metz. © Shigeru Ban Architects Europe and Jean de Gastines Architectes / Metz Métropole / Centre Pompidou-Metz / Photo: Roland Halbe When you step out of the back of the Metz train station today, you are treated … Read More