Paris | France Revisited

1 2 3 4 5

Johanna Gullichsen in her shop on rue du Cherche Midi. Photo: GLK.

Liza Pastor (Luisa), Geraldine Larrosa (Inez), and cast in Zorro, Le Musical. Photo: Brinkhoff/Mögenburg (c) ZLL

Buren's Columns, Palais Royal. Photo GLK

The author's room at the Hotel Aviatic

August Macke, Young Girl with Fish in a Glass Bowl, 1914 (c) Von der Heyde-Museum Wuppertal

Johanna Gullichsen, Textile Craft & Design

Shopping on Rue du Cherche-Midi

Now here’s an inviting little shop on rue du Cherche Midi, I thought as I walked by one afternoon.

Not that I had any particular interest in bags, purses, vanity cases, table linens, cushion covers, or bolts of fabric that day, but one look at the deceptive simplicity and natural coloring of the offerings in the window and I wanted to walk in to touch things. I’m like that.

Zorro, Le Musical

A review by Gary Lee Kraut

Paris, February 2010—I get a thrill whenever I walk into the Folies Bergères, past its Art Deco façade and into its kitsch lobby that looks like something out of Dr. Seuss. Then to the seating at the first balcony that still has the old iron, wood, and velour feel of an authentic Paris music hall—preferably to the privileged box seats, front row. Or better still, to the higher comfort of the orchestra seating where, before the show starts, it’s easy to imagine that I’m awaiting the arrival of Josephine Baker or Mistinguett or Maurice Chevalier.

Something Old, Something New: Culture in the Court of Honor

By Gary Lee Kraut

Across the street from the Louvre, the Palais Royal, its court of honor and garden, and their surroundings are a stunning microcosm of culture in Paris: its history a background for its present, its present a dialogue with its past, its future clearly in need of change, but gently, please.

A Night in the Hotel Aviatic in the 6th Arrondissement

A hotel review and 3-minute-radius guide by Gary Lee Kraut

I crossed the city by bike one late afternoon and checked into the Hotel Aviatic so as to test the hotel and investigate the surrounding neighborhood. Within 10 minutes I sensed that the Aviatic could hold its head high in its category, that of the 3-star Left Bank charmer. First there was the warmth of the welcome. Then the fact that the receptionist took my unusual request for a safe place to keep my bike for the night seriously and immediately sought a solution (the kitchen, until the luggage storage room could be rearranged).

A Brilliant Obsession: Color at the Marmottan Monet, Black at the Pompidou

By Gary Lee Kraut

The Marmottan Monet Museum is one of the undervisited glories of the museumscape of Paris, no doubt due to its location toward the western edge of the city. The museum, formerly the home of Paul Marmottan, originally paid full homage to Marmottan’s passion for collecting art, furniture, and bronzes from the Napoleonic/Empire era of the early 19th century. But following a donation in 1957, the museum began to assert itself as an important recipient for Impressionist, near-Impressionist, and post-Impressionists works.


Zorro, Le Musical Paris, February 2010—I get a thrill whenever I walk into the Folies Bergères, past its Art Deco façade and into its kitsch lobby that looks like something out of Dr. Seuss. Then to the seating at the first balcony that still has the old iron, wood, and velour feel of an authentic Paris music hall—preferably to the privileged box seats, front row. Or better still, to the higher comfort of the orchestra seating where, before the show starts, it’s easy to imagine that I’m awaiting the arrival of Josephine Baker or Mistinguett or Maurice Chevalier. Read More
Something Old, Something New: Culture in the Court of Honor Across the street from the Louvre, the Palais Royal, its court of honor and garden, and their surroundings are a stunning microcosm of culture in Paris: its history a background for its present, its present a dialogue with its past, its future clearly in need of change, but gently, please. Read More
A Night in the Hotel Aviatic in the 6th Arrondissement I crossed the city by bike one late afternoon and checked into the Hotel Aviatic so as to test the hotel and investigate the surrounding neighborhood. Within 10 minutes I sensed that the Aviatic could hold its head high in its category, that of the 3-star Left Bank charmer. First there was the warmth of the welcome. Then the fact that the receptionist took my unusual request for a safe place to keep my bike for the night seriously and immediately sought a solution (the kitchen, until the luggage storage room could be rearranged). Read More
A Brilliant Obsession: Color at the Marmottan Monet, Black at the Pompidou The Marmottan Monet Museum is one of the undervisited glories of the museumscape of Paris, no doubt due to its location toward the western edge of the city. The museum, formerly the home of Paul Marmottan, originally paid full homage to Marmottan’s passion for collecting art, furniture, and bronzes from the Napoleonic/Empire era of the early 19th century. But following a donation in 1957, the museum began to assert itself as an important recipient for Impressionist, near-Impressionist, and post-Impressionists works. Read More
City Hall Says Paris Nightlife Can't Be Dead, We Just Launched It Parisians of the partying kind have long lamented the decline of the city’s nightlife. Those over 45 date the good ole days to the 1980s, those over 30 manage to cite a couple of highlights of the 90s, and those in their 20s simply criticize Paris for not being New York or Madrid. Read More
Patricia’s Casual Cooking Class in the Town of Versailles The Town of Versailles is often ignored by those visiting the Palace of Versailles. That’s understandable in that the palace, the gardens, and the Trianons in the park can keep a visitor well occupied for most of a day. Yet the town, as a planned adjunct to the palace, merits a visit as both an uncrowded extension of the royal domain and, for all its 17th-18th-centuriness, a welcome bit of contemporary, local French life during a visit otherwise devoted to historical and monumental France. Read More