I Prefer Paris

Femmes Eternelles at Luxembourg Gardens

 
Every spring along the gates of the Jardin du Luxembourg next to the Senat building there is a photo exhibit usually by a well-know photo journalist. This year it's Femmes Eternelles by Olivier Martel and captures the pain, passion, struggle, and beauty of women on every continent in many contexts and environments. Martel has travelled the globe photographing women for the past 35 years and the 80 photos represent just a fraction of his prodigious output.

“I was able to photograph women, far from fashion clichés. This is to show the woman in her truth, her struggles and her hopes and asserting her dignity. I found grace among farmers in Guatemala, in Khmer dancers or fetishes in the Agni.” Olivier Martel 

Femmes Eternelles
Till June 15
Jardin du Luxembourg, 6th arr.
Metro: Odeon 

 

In addition to my Eye Prefer Paris Tours, we now offer Eye Prefer New York Tours, 3-hour walking tours of New York's best neighborhoods including Soho, Meatpacking/West Village & Tribeca. Tours cost $195 for up to 3 people and $65 for each additional person.Come take a bit of the Big Apple on an Eye Prefer New York Tour!

Come experience my blog ìliveî with my Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I lead. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.Tours cost 195 euros for up to 3 people, and 65 euros for each additional person. I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris. www.eyepreferparistours.com
 

 

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotteís professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday
Minimum of 2 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

Spring Flowers in Paris II

Today is a bonus posting because I couldn't resist sharing with you all the spring flowers and trees blossoming so abundantly all over Paris. I was at the outdoor market on Ave. President Wilson last Saturday and snapped the flower stalls. Yesterday, I was in the 15th arr. and when I exited the metro a barrage of cherry blossom trees greeted me. A few doors down wisteria transformed a mundane modern building into wisteria lane.

 

In addition to my Eye Prefer Paris Tours, we now offer Eye Prefer New York Tours, 3-hour walking tours of New York's best neighborhoods including Soho, Meatpacking/West Village & Tribeca. Tours cost $195 for up to 3 people and $65 for each additional person.Come take a bit of the Big Apple on an Eye Prefer New York Tour!

Come experience my blog ìliveî with my Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I lead. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.Tours cost 195 euros for up to 3 people, and 65 euros for each additional person. I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris. www.eyepreferparistours.com
 

 

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotteís professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday
Minimum of 2 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

La Parisienne at Galeries Lafayette & La Fete du Printemps at Printemps

Who better than French style icon Ines de la Fressange to be the ambassador for La Parisienne, the event at Galeries Lafayette promoting the stylish, urban women of Paris? Former top model and muse to Karl Lagerfeld, Fressange has also had a successful career as a designer, fashion consultant- currently working for Roger Vivier, and author of the bestselling book Parisian Chic: A Style Guide. Fashion items and accessories hand-picked by Fressange throughout the store will have tags marked "Approved by La Parisienne". Windows feature mannequins dressed in the latest Paris spring fashions of the top designers with backgrounds of the different, colorful neighborhoods of the city.  There will also be webcasts with fashion experts like vintage retailer Didier Ludot and designer Vanessa Bruno.

Not to be upstaged, next door at Printemps the windows celebrate the La Fete du Printemps with heads on the mannequins made of flower bouquets along with mammoth swans, ducks, and rabbits made of spring flowers.

Till April 26
La Parisienne
Galeries Lafayette
40 Blvd. Haussmann, 9th arr.
Metro: Chaussee-D'antin
http://www2.galerieslafayette.com/international/goFolder.do?f=home_en&lang=en


Till May 7
La Fete du Printemps
64 Blvd. Haussmann, 9th arr.
Metro: Havre Caumartin
http://departmentstoreparis.printemps.com/?ln=en

 

In addition to my Eye Prefer Paris Tours, we now offer Eye Prefer New York Tours, 3-hour walking tours of New Yorkís best neighborhoods including Soho, Meatpacking/West Village & Tribeca. Tours cost $195 for up to 3 people and $65 for each additional person.Come take a bit of the Big Apple on an Eye Prefer New York Tour!

Come experience my blog ìliveî with my Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I lead. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.Tours cost 195 euros for up to 3 people, and 65 euros for each additional person. I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris. www.eyepreferparistours.com
 

 

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotteís professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday
Minimum of 2 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

Jean Michel Othoniel: My Way

I have always loved the Palais Royal metro kiosk with its colored glass and brushed aluminum globes designed by artist Jean Michel Othoniel. I was introduced to him socially a few years ago by a mutual friend and he is a calm, very down to earth guy and his boyish looks and casual style make him look way younger than his 47 years.  I have followed his work since and have admired his pieces and shows with at various galleries and museums around the city including Emmanuel Perrotin Gallery, Museé de la Chasse, and Manufacture des Gobelins Musée.

My Way is Othoniel's first retrospective and represents his work from 1986 till now. Yes, the title is a reference to the Frank Sinatra song and he considers himself an artistic nomad. His early works are far different than his later works and starting in 1997 in he begins to use Murano glass to make sculptures. He refers to them as "scarring" glass, instructing the glassblowers to wound the glass in the process.

I was privileged to being able to photograph the glass sculptures one morning before the museum opened. The Boat of Tears from 2004 sails in front of the panoramic view of Paris with its mast and frame made of crystal globes in ocean blue and amber brilliantly reflecting off of one another. My Bed from 2003 is a fantasy trip into dreamworld with the outside enveloped in brushed aluminum connected circles, a fake fur bubblegum pink bedspread, and colored globes making the canape. The last room has more freestanding and hanging glass globe sculptures including The Double Knot of Lacan created just for the exhibit.

Also see Othoniel's other installation in the Children's Gallery on the mezzanine titled La Réel Merveilleux. Displayed on four shiny dressing tables and based on Othoniel's favorite puppets as a child, it is much smaller in scale with tiny, delicate figures of sea creatures under glass domes. A whimsical fairy tale for young and old.

Don't miss this very special exhibit.

My Way John Michel Othoniel
Till May 23
Pompidou Center
Metro: Hotel de Ville or Rambuteau
http://www.centrepompidou.fr 

 

These are from the installation in the Children's Gallery on the mezzanine titled La Réel Merveilleux

 

 

In addition to my Eye Prefer Paris Tours, we now offer Eye Prefer New York Tours, 3-hour walking tours of New York's best neighborhoods including Soho, Meatpacking/West Village & Tribeca. Tours cost $195 for up to 3 people and $65 for each additional person.Come take a bit of the Big Apple on an Eye Prefer New York Tour!

Come experience my blog ìliveî with my Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I lead. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.Tours cost 195 euros for up to 3 people, and 65 euros for each additional person. I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris. www.eyepreferparistours.com
 

 

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotteís professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday
Minimum of 2 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

Trees in Trouville

I was enjoying the splendor of Trouville almost exactly a year ago during the early spring just when the sleepy town was preparing for the summer influx. I was going through my photos and remembered how striking the bare trees were with their big gnarly knobs. Like out of a crazy sci-fi film, I thought they would attack the inhabitants but luckily they didn't and I am sure they bloomed glorious a few weeks later. They are called plane trees and are native to the northern hemisphere. Certain species in North America are sycamore trees.

Please read the glowing review of my tours by my new friend/BFF Tracey Jackson.

http://www.traceyjacksononline.com/2011/04/eyepreferparis/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+traceyjacksononline%2FQtnO+%28Tracey+Jackson%29

I am very touched by her kind words. Tracey writes a terrific and funny personal blog and just wrote a bestselling book which you must run out and buy immediately, Between a Rock and a Hot Place-Why Fifty is Not the New Thirty. It's about life after 50 and it's LOL funny. I will write a post about our delicious tour later in the month.

Please Note: All of these images are for sale. Please email me at [email protected] for prices and sizes of prints, shipping, etc.

 

In addition to my Eye Prefer Paris Tours, we now offer Eye Prefer New York Tours, 3-hour walking tours of New Yorkís best neighborhoods including Soho, Meatpacking/West Village & Tribeca. Tours cost $195 for up to 3 people and $65 for each additional person.Come take a bit of the Big Apple on an Eye Prefer New York Tour!

Come experience my blog ìliveî with my Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I lead. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.Tours cost 195 euros for up to 3 people, and 65 euros for each additional person. I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris. www.eyepreferparistours.com
 

 

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotteís professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday
Minimum of 2 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

April Eye Need to Do's: Manet, Sweeney Todd, Mme. Grés, Stanley Kubrick, and Richard Prince

 
Madame Grés, Couture at Work
One of the great couturiers of all time, Madame Grés is finally having her first well-deserved retrospective. Trained as a sculptor, it shows in her elegantly draped designs which her couture house was known for, for over 50 years. Eighty of her creations along with 50 photos by top fashion photographers like Avedon and Guy Bourdin and 100 drawings from the Maison Grés archives are shown in the exhibit.

Till July 24
Musée Bourdelle
16 rue Antoine Bourdelle,15th arr.
Metro: Falguiere
Open Tuesday to Saturday 10AM-6PM
www.bourdelle.paris.fr

 
Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd, the demon barber of Fleet Street is making his way to Paris. British director Lee Blakeley directs one of Sondheim's darkest but most beloved musicals with haunting tunes like Joanna and Not While I'm Around.

April 22 to May 21
Theatre du Chatelet
1 Place du Chatelet, 1st. arr.
Metro: Chatelet
http://www.chatelet-theatre.com/

Manet, the Man Who Invented Modern Art
This is the first major exhibit in almost 30 years of Impressionist painter Edouard Manet, who is said to have created modern art. The extensive exhibit of over 80 paintings shows many of Manet's later works.

April 5 to July 3
Musée D'orsay
1 rue de la Légion d'Honneur, 7th arr.
Metro: Solferino
Open Tuesday to Sunday, 9:30AM-6PM, Thursday to 9:45PM
http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en

Richard Prince, American Prayer
American artist Richard Prince is having his first major monographic show in Paris. It a mix of paintings, photographs, and literature from Prince's personal collection.The title, American Prayer, references Jim Morrison's poem.

Till June 26
BNF François Mitterand, Quai François-Mauriac, 13th arr.
Metro: Bibliotheque Francois Mitterand
Tuesday-Saturday, 10am-7pm, Sunday 1-7pm
www.bnf.fr

Stanley Kubrick
Master film director Stanley Kubrick is well remembered with a major tribute at Cinematheque Francais. Two floors are dedicated to the iconoclastic director with photos, costumes, props, and scripts including the masquerade masks from Eyes Wide Shut and the milk-bar set from A Clockwork Orange. There are also screenings of his films including Dr. Strangelove, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, and Lolita.

Till July 31
La Cinematheque Francaise
51 rue de Bercy, 12th arr.
Metro: Bercy
http://www.cinematheque.fr

 

In addition to my Eye Prefer Paris Tours, we now offer Eye Prefer New York Tours, 3-hour walking tours of New York's best neighborhoods including Soho, Meatpacking/West Village & Tribeca. Tours cost $195 for up to 3 people and $65 for each additional person.Come take a bit of the Big Apple on an Eye Prefer New York Tour!

Come experience my blog ìliveî with my Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I lead. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.Tours cost 195 euros for up to 3 people, and 65 euros for each additional person. I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris. www.eyepreferparistours.com
 

 

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotteís professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday
Minimum of 2 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.