I Prefer Paris

Swans and Boats on the Seine

While looking for boats to photograph, I came across a flock of swans floating on the Seine earlier this month. I had seen a few swans individually here and there on the sides of the Seine, but I had never seen a full flock like this before. 

Do you have some favorites here? 

If you would like a photo print of any of these images below is a size and price list. Please email me at r.nahem@gmail.com to order. 

·   11 X 14 inches Price $95 

·    16 X 20 inches Price $125 

·   20x30 inches Price $175

·    Shipping in the U. S. by U.S. Mail is $13 per order 

·    Photos are printed Fuji Archival paper 

Arc De Triomphe Wrapped by Christo

There’s been high anticipation for the unveiling of the Arc De Triomphe Wrapped by Christo, as 1200 workers have been working non-stop, seven days a week for the last month for it to open on time for September 18. 

I went twice, first on Friday night, when it was dramatically bathed in white light, and early on Saturday morning, when the pleated fabric contrasted with the sharp red cord stood out against the combination of clouds and patches of blue sky. The image was quite striking. 

Although the wrapping of the Arc De Triomphe is a triumph, it’s bittersweet because Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude are not here to witness their final project being realized after 60 years. It wasn’t their first foray into Paris; in 1985 the Pont Neuf and 44 lamp posts were covered in 450,000 square feet in a neutral color fabric for two weeks, attracting three million viewers. 

The arch is wrapped in 270,000 square feet of silver and blue shimmery fabric, polypropylene, which is recyclable and then tied with almost two miles of shiny red cord. 

I noticed that the volunteers were wearing cool uniforms of black, pleated pants, with a bright blue vest and a red belt and accessories. I asked one of them about the outfit, and she said it was designed by Issaye Miyake who was friends with Christo. At one point the volunteer asked me if I would like a piece of the wrapping material, and she handed me a square of fabric, blue on one side, silver on the other. It’s wonderful keepsake to mark the occasion and I have already archived it. 

One of things I most admire and appreciate about Christo’s work is that it’s created for the public. I vividly remember attending the Central Park Gates Project in February of 2005, six months before I moved to Paris. Even though it was a freezing, dreary day, I was uplifted by a sense of pride and community, as New Yorkers shared a moment of wonder and awe simultaneously at the sheer magnitude of the thousands of orange banners enveloping the park. It also came at the right moment, as New York was finally healing from the horror of 9/11.  As I watched the jubilant crowd this morning lining up to cross the Place Etoile to view the arch, I felt the same sense pride and community as I did in New York. After the 18-month scourge and fatigue of Covid, we were able to safely gather and joyously celebrate the stunning results of Christo and Jeanne Claude's swan song. 

Arc De Triomphe Wrapped by Christo is up until October 3. 

Domaine de Primard

I’ve hardly taken a day off this summer but two weeks ago I took a mini break overnight and traveled to Normandy. I was invited to experience the newly opened Domaine de Primard, a five-star hotel and spa just an hour from Paris by train. 

Domaine de Primard is part of a small chain of luxury hotels under the banner of Les Domaines de Fontenille. I had the fortunate experience of visiting Domaine de Fontenille, a vineyard and hotel in the Luberon in Provence last June and enjoyed a fabulous dinner on their terrace. 

I arrived at Domaine de Primard at about 1:30pm at the Bueill train station and waiting on the platform was Diego, a hotel employee who had a sign with my name on it. He escorted me into a van and whisked me to the hotel, which was a short, five-minute ride. As we approached the grounds he shared about the history of the property. The house and the grounds were originally owned by Catherine Deneuve and sits on a 100 acre parcel of bucolic land. After Diego dropped me off just at the entrance, I was once again personally escorted to a golf cart and given a tour of the grounds. We passed a potager (vegetable garden), green meadows, a horse grazing field, a brook, and other picturesque sites before we arrived at the hotel. A former 18^th century chateau, the handsome  limestone building has tall windows framed in periwinkle and vines clinging to the entranceway. A round, stone pond with just a hint of water lilies floating in it is encased in a meticulous box hedge. 

My room was on the second floor with a calming view of the moat and the gardens. It had high ceilings and the ceiling fixtures are a set of three, mismatched quirky lanterns with colored paper mâché lampshades. The room was painted in a soothing shade of pale celadon and had a king size bed covered in crisp, white sheets and duvet cover.  A spacious bathroom has a free-standing bathtub and separate shower room with a rain shower nozzle. 

I was famished, as it was way past my regular feeding time, so I headed straight to the restaurant after checking in. The restaurant is located in a separate building from the main hotel, and I walked through a lovely, pebbled garden path with topiaries, and a greenhouse converted into a tearoom. It was a warm sunny day, and the lunch service was outdoors on the lawn with white canvas umbrellas hovering over mint green metal tables and rattan and green metal chairs, a country French setting straight out of a home design magazine. 

The appetizer, a ginormous artichoke hollowed out and filled with a green bean salad with toasted hazelnuts dressed in vinaigrette, was the perfect, refreshing dish for the weather. Roasted chicken served in a cast iron, Staub pot was tender and juicy and served with the smoothest, most buttery mashed potatoes you can imagine. I was so stuffed by the generous portions, I didn’t have room for dessert. For those of you who know me well, I know that is quite a shock. However, I did make up for it at dinner, and had a delicious dessert of warm, roasted Mirabelle plums served with vanilla ice cream.

I had been dreaming all summer of swimming in a pool and relaxing on a chaise lounge reading a book. I fulfilled that dream in spades at the pool of Domaine de Primard and it was heaven. I was so relaxed on the cushy chaise, I fell asleep and had a good, much needed nap. 

After my nap I went back to my room and stood under the rain showerhead for an invigorating shower. The toiletries by Susanne Kaufmann, a luxury brand spa brand from Austria, included glycerin soap and shampoo scented with flowers and alpine herbs. 

I now smelled like a bouquet of flowers (a Good Thing, as Martha Stewart would say) and I took a stroll around the hotel and gardens. At 4pm, the hotel puts out a buffet of tea cakes and pastries such as madeleines and loaf cakes along with tea and coffee service. I had a slice of lemon cake and a chocolate madeleine with espresso and enjoyed them on a table on the back lawn that faced a stream with a view of canoes and kayaks floating on the deep green water. I discovered a noisy gaggle of geese and ducks on a patch of lawn, making their way to the water in the stone moats surrounding the hotel and then I walked through the potager, smelling the fresh herbs. 

I slept well that night and the next morning I had an appointment for a massage. My masseur, Gilles Szafirko, was voted the best hands of 2017 from the Label Spas of France during the French Massage Championship, and hands down (oops! sorry for the pun) they should extend that title to 2021 because his magic hands did wonders to my body. Feeling like a limp noodle after my massage I headed back to the pool to take a last swim and a little lounge time before I had to board my early afternoon train back to Paris. I could have stayed all week if they let me but alas, I had to return home so I could write this blog. 

One of the good things about Domaine de Primard is that you can visit for the day. You can come for lunch, stroll the grounds, and book a spa treatment. The hotel will pick you up and return you to the train station without charge even if you are coming for the day. 

https://www.lesdomainesdefontenille.com/en/domainedeprimard.html

the mushroom room 

 

 

 

Tribute to Christo and Jeanne Claude

In celebration of the upcoming Christo installation on the Arc de Triomphe, I am dedicating this post to Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude, who together created a worldwide art movement. 

As I mentioned a few times before, I regularly take a power walk along the Seine. Last week I noticed an installation of a group of billboards commemorating the various art installations Christo and Jeanne Claude had created over many decades. After looking through them, I was astonished by their prodigious output and feats of marvel, from the orange gates in Central Park (I was there), to the blue umbrellas in the U. S and Japan, to the draping of the Pont Neuf in Paris, to the pink fabric circles surrounding the Key Biscayne Islands in Florida, to the orange fabric colored walkway floating on a lake in Italy. 

Bravo to Christo and Jeanne-Claude and Iam a little sad they aren’t alive to see this longtime project finally come to fruition.

I will post photos of the Arc de Triomphe wrapping next week. 

Paris Blue, A New Memoir by Julie Scolnik

I am excited about having my new friend, Julie Scolnik, an American flutist, share this news about her new book, which is a love letter to Paris. Please welcome Julie to Eye Prefer Paris and read her personal message to you below. I will be posting a give-away of Paris Blue on October 5, the day the book is released. 

Hello All!

Thank you to Richard for letting me share this with you! 

I have been working on a memoir, Paris Blue, on and off for forty years. It is a story that has lingered in the corridors of my psyche, and I always knew that one day I would have to tell it. 

I don’t need to tell you how thrilled and moved I am that it will be published by Koehler Books on October 5, and is now available for pre-order  on Amazon,  Barnes and Noble, and through all independent booksellers.  All info at www.JulieScolnik.com. Here is a 1-minute book trailer.

PARIS, 1976: Twenty-year-old American student Julie Scolnik had just arrived in the City of Light to study the flute when, from across a sea of faces in the chorus of the Orchestre de Paris, she is drawn to Luc, a striking (married) French lawyer in the bass section.  This moving tale of an ebullient young American and a reserved Frenchman will transport readers to the cafés, streets, and concert halls of Paris in the late seventies, and, spanning three decades, evolves from deep romance to sudden heartbreak, and finally to a lifelong quest for answers to release hidden immutable grief.

Against a magical backdrop of Paris and classical music, Paris Blue is true fairy-tale memoir (with a dark underbelly) about the tenacious grip of first love. 

A few of the endorsements I received from other authors:

“Not every true story is like a good novel, but this one is. Not every memoir of first love has a satisfying ending, but this one does. The confluence of first love with becoming an artist makes this memoir special.” John Irving

“Julie Scolnik’s beautiful page turner of a memoir captures with beauty and rare insight the power of music, words, and Paris to drive love to madness. To read her pitch perfect writing is to relive the exhilarations and vulnerabilities of one’s twenties.” — Judith Coffin, author of Sex, Love, and Letters: Writing Simone de Beauvoir

"Paris Blue gives melody to our common fancy: that Paris is where all great romances play out. Julie Scolnik’s memoir, recalling for us the myopia of innocence, returns us to our own first loves while establishing itself as a riveting tale both unique and universal.”   —Gregory Maguire, novelist, and author of Wicked

“Paris Blue, Julie Scolnik’s memoir of first love in Paris, is written with the tender romanticism of Wordsworth and the devastating realism of Flaubert. Her lyrical writing about music transforms these discordant halves into a compelling whole, creating a dazzling love letter to a life lived in music.” Linda Katherine Cutting, author of  Memory Slips

“The haunting impact of our first true and deep love stays with us the remainder of our lives, and all of us struggle in some way to put those emotions - the exultation, the revelries of passion and belonging, and the ultimate scars of loss - into a workable context.  This book explores the process, including the barriers, the relapses and the ultimate conclusion that one's life needs to find its own forms.”  Greg Fields, author of Arc of the Comet and Through the Waters and the Wild

"Paris Blue could speak to anyone who's ever yearned for closure that never came. But Julie Scolnik's memoir doesn't simply try to make sense of a bewildering romance; through telling the story she manages to bless the past, in all its complexity, while giving herself fully to the present. - Leah Hager Cohen, author of Strangers and Cousins and The Grief of Others

“Nothing burns hotter than young love, and Julie Scolnik captures that singular fervor in ‘Paris Blue.’ But her memoir is more than that: it’s a deeply felt, bittersweet reflection on how youthful passion changes you and clings to you, forever.”  Howard Reich, author “The Art of Inventing Hope: Intimate Conversations with Elie Wiesel”

Julie Scolnik's memoir, Paris Blue, brings full spectrum color to a love affair with Paris, music, and a man whose limited vision couldn't keep her from shining. Filled with sensuousness, sound, and light, as well as the hard edge of truth, this story of first love grips the reader tight.  —Jennifer Rosner, author of The Yellow Bird Sings