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Here are some of my most “liked” photos from my three Instagram accounts from May and June.
If you still haven’t followed me on Instagram yet, here are my handles.
Green door
JR mural at Hotel Paradiso Paris
Place de la Concorde
House in Etretat
Etretat
Paris rooftops
Paris cafes reopen
NYC Apple store 59th street
While I was preparing for the Lupin tour for Facebook, I snapped photos of the charming houses and gardens in Etretat. The climbing rosebushes were doing a great job of decorating the facades of the houses and the lush shrubs and bushes blanketed the front and side yards. I also loved the various materials and details of the houses such as thatched roofs, brick, and half-timber.
CLICK HERE to watch the Lupin 2 video from Etretat, in case you missed it.
I am taking a blogging break this week and have asked friends to write guest posts for Eye Prefer Paris during my absence. Today Meredith Mullins is writing about a very special show of her photos.
Welcome back to “In A Paris Moment,” a photography exhibit by Meredith Mullins, where Eye Prefer Paris readers are being given an exclusive preview of the images.
Today, we look at the two remaining themes of the show—the graceful and gravity defying artistry of Paris circuses and the magic of free-spirited children at the Atelier des Lumières as they dance with their shadowed selves and discover creative ways to enter magical dimensions.
Meredith’s exhibit, “In A Paris Moment,” will be at the Pacific Grove Art Center in Pacific Grove, California from July 2 through August 26. The exhibit will also be online beginning July 9, so that lovers of Paris everywhere can enjoy the photographs. To see more of Meredith’s work, visit www.meredithmullins.artspan.com and, for purchase information, contact her directly at [email protected].
I am taking a blogging break this week and have asked friends to write guest posts for Eye Prefer Paris during my absence. Today and this coming Thursday, Meredith Mullins is writing about a very special show of her photos.
How do you choose the most powerful images from the past eight years of your visual life? How do you tell a story so that people can see and feel what seized your senses and made you stop to capture that moment in time?
It is not an easy task.
I have been given the honor of a solo exhibit in California in July and August. After deciding the show would center on my Paris life, I faced the challenge of choosing 70 images from the thousands of photographs I have taken over the past years.
Since we were still in a pandemically confined rhythm in Paris throughout the spring (no cafés, no museums, no nonessential travel), I had endless time to take a visual journey through this world of “decisive moments.” It was rewarding to reminisce. And without planning or intent, four themes emerged.
During Richard’s vacation this week, he has given me the opportunity to provide Eye Prefer Paris readers with an exclusive preview of some of the work.
Today, you’ll see two of the themes. Paris snow—rare, silent, and fleeting—and the secrets of the streets, with unending unfolding stories. Stay tuned for the next post to view the remaining two themes.
Meredith’s exhibit, “In A Paris Moment,” will be at the Pacific Grove Art Center in Pacific Grove, California from July 2 through August 26. The exhibit will also be online beginning July 9, so that lovers of Paris everywhere can enjoy the photographs. To see more of Meredith’s work, visit www.meredithmullins.artspan.com and, for purchase information, contact her directly at [email protected].
I am taking a blogging break this week and have asked friends to write guest posts for Eye Prefer Paris during my absence. Today, Jennifer Burdon, a terrific museum guide and art lover, has written an article about the DIVAS Exhibition at Institut du Monde Arabe.
The golden age of arab music and cinema (1930 -70) produced some spectacular women performers; they are celebrated in the current exhibition at the Arab Institute in Paris.
For anyone who doesn’t know this building, situated on the left bank, South East of Notre Dame cathedral, it is quite a striking sight. Designed by architect Jean Nouvel and opened in 1987, its President is ex-minister of Culture: Jack Lang. The outside façade reproduces an arab ‘moucharabiya’, a lattice-work partition from behind which women would traditionally observe the world.
The women featured in the “Divas” exhibition not only held centre stage, but astonished the world. They came from different backgrounds and origins: Christian, Jewish, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, but had one thing in common: star quality.
Of the most famous four, Oum Kalthoum is a legend. When she died in 1975, aged approximately 77, she was given a magnificent state funeral (visible on Youtube). Two million Egyptians turned out onto the streets of Cairo to say farewell to their favorite artiste. Her songs sometimes lasted over an hour, as she improvised, singing of love and pain and abandonment. Regularly, and for 27 years, starting in 1934, she gave concerts on Radio Cairo. Her 2 concerts in Paris, at the Olympia concert hall, in 1967, were the only ones she gave outside of the arab world.
Several of the dresses worn by the Divas are on display, along with their jewelry. Here is Oum Khaltoum with some of her accessories.
Warda El Djezairia (Rose of Algeria)
Warda (1939-2012) carried on Oum’s heritage, performing ten years later at the Olympia concert hall in Paris. She was presented to the public by Charles Aznavour.
Warda was born in Paris, of an Algerian father and Lebanese mother. She started singing aged nine in the family cabaret: the TAM TAM (which stood for Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco).
In 1956 her family was forced into exile in Beirut when the cabaret was suspected of harbouring weapons for the FLN (Algerian National Liberation Front). On Algeria’s independence in 1962, she came back there, then married a man who demanded that she give up her career. Later, having divorced him, Warda returned to the stage by special request to perform for Algerian President Boumedienne at the celebrations at the ten year anniversary of Algeria’s independence. Her career was relaunched in Egypt where she married Egyptian composer Baligh Hamdi. Warda represented the unity of the arab world, continuing the heritage of Oum Kalthoum, but incorporating sounds from the Mahgreb.
The third very famous singer, born in 1935 in Beirut, is Fayrouz. Her name means Turquoise. She was given it by the director of Radio Lebanon in 1947. Fayrouz has sung everything, from Lebanese folk songs to Western rhythms and operettas. She has become a living icon, proclaiming tolerance and love through her songs, often tragic, after the nightmare of civil war in Lebanon.
Dalida (original name Yolanda Gigliotti), born in Egypt of an Italian family was elected ‘Miss Egypt’ in 1954, wearing an ocelot bikini! She enjoyed huge success as a singer in Europe, especially in France and Italy, despite a tragic life which ended in suicide.
The highpoint of her film career was in the role of Saddika, laundress, in Youssef Chahine’s film ‘ The Sixth Day’ (1986). Dalida’s grave, in Montmartre cemetery, is one of the most visited; its powerful statue reflects her glamorous career.
Many other amazing women are represented in the exhibition. The liberty and fame they achieved seems incredible nowadays. Their beauty and their voices have become legends.
Asmahan (meaning ‘sublime’), was a great beauty and film star, married a Syrian prince, entranced audiences with her melancholy songs, led a turbulent life, and died in mysterious circumstances in a car crash, possibly involved in espionnage, at 31 years of age.
Faten Hamama (1931-2015) was an icon of Egyptian cinema for 50 years. Starring with Omar Sharif in ‘Sky of Hell’ in 1954, they became a legendary pair of lovers.
Tahiyya Carioca (1919-1999) ran away from home at twelve years old and made a career as an oriental dancer, sensual and slow. Her temperament however was volcanic. Her marriages numbered fourteen! In 1953 she was imprisoned for 3 months, for her Communist activities. In her career, she made over 120 films, often playing a seductress.
Such women became icons and also symbols of emancipation.
Civil wars, petrol crises and the death of Egyptian President Nasser in 1970 brought to an end the golden era.
The exhibition takes us through these heady years, allowing us to hear the voices and see several film clips of the great Divas.
Contemporary art looks back to these women, as it seeks to redefine the place of women in society.
An art installation, specially created by Lamia Ziadé for the show, is a transposition of her novel “Oh Night, Oh My Eyes”. It transports us into the fantasy world of these performers, as if we were entering into one of their dressing rooms.
The exhibition runs until the 26th of September.
Open Tuesday to Friday 1pm to 6pm.
Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 10am to 7pm
After visiting the village of Ansouis, which I posted about yesterday, we went to La Tour d’Aigues. Outdoor cafes and restaurants had just reopened in France the week before, so we had lunch at a sweet outdoor café and enjoyed some fresh salads. Across the street from the café was the ruins of the Chateau La Tour d’Aigues, a Renaissance architectural wonder from the 16th century which was influenced by the triumphal arches of Roman Antiquity. The chateau has been repurposed since 1985 as a concert and event venue. Next up was a stroll through the village of Mirabeau, where the popular French movie Manon des Sources was filmed in 1985, which was followed by Jean de Florette.
This is my last post in the Return to the Luberon series. Did you enjoy it and is there a favorite village you liked?
Another lovely village we visited in the Luberon was Ansouis. Officially named one of the most beautiful villages in France, Ansouis is the Luberon at its best.
The population is just over 1,000 people, and the residents take much pride in the upkeep of limestone facades of their ancient homes by maintaining beautiful vines, plants and flowerpots.
Two other highlights of Ansouis is the impressive 12th century chateau and the Saint Martin Church.
I want to thank everyone for watching my live Lupin 2 tour yesterday and also for your generous tips to my PayPal account. I'm sorry I couldn't thank all of you individually, but know I really appreciate it. CLICK HERE to watch the video and CLICK HERE if you would like to leave a tip in my PayPal account (you don’t have to have a PayPal account), which I would greatly appreciate, as I do these tours free of charge for France.fr Enjoy!
I arrived in Etertat on Tuesday morning, a day early to prepare for my Lupin 2 Facebook live tour on Wednesday. The last time I was in Etretat was July 2016 and upon returning after a five-year absence, I remembered why I loved it so much. I arrived at about 10:30am and quickly checked into my hotel and headed straight to the beach. Again, like before, the view of the cliffs and the water was astounding, but this time around there was an added treat. There was a fog covering the tops of the cliffs and the tide was low, which exposed the white boulders and stones covered in seaweed, which gave it a whole new dimension. This new discovery was a feast for my camera “eye”, and I snapped away as you can see below.
I can see why Monet would paint the same landscapes at different times of the day and year, especially in Etretat, because of the variation of light and other natural element changes.
If you missed watching my Lupin 2 tour yesterday, CLICK HERE to watch, so you can experience the stunning cliffs and charming village of Etretat. Next Monday I will do another post about Etretat. CLICK HERE if you would like to make a Paypal donation for the tour.
Last summer I wrote about my trip to the Luberon area in Provence, where I was invited to a friend’s house to stay for a week. Our friends were generous enough to invite us again this year at the end of May instead of the end of July, which worked out great. We enjoyed beautiful weather, with sunny, warm, and clear days, with temperatures in the mid to high 70sF, and the evenings and early mornings were crisp and little cool.
The highlight of the trip last year and again this year was visiting and discovering the nearby villages. Last year we visited and loved Lauris, Lourmarin, and Cucuron. This year we traveled up winding roads to discover Bonnieux, Lacoste, Ansouis, Gourdes, Mirabeau, and La Tour dAigues.
I captured some great images in the towns listed above and sharing them with you in a few blog posts. Today I am focusing on Bonnieux and Lacoste, two ancient, mountaintop villages.
Bonnieux, is a lovely, ancient hamlet with spectacular views of the Lourmarin Valley. We climbed up a steep passageway and came to the site of the 13th century church. On the small main street there were a number of galleries, a café, and a few restaurants with terraces overhanging the cliffs with drop dead views.
I strolled through another narrow street with old, stone homes with lush vegetation, trees, flowers and vines, and flowerpots. There was a much wider variety of flowers and plants blooming this year than last, including climbing roses, and Jasmin, which had a delightful perfume. I also loved the flowers sprouting from the rock cliffs.
The next stop, just 10 minutes away, was Lacoste, which was even tinier than Bonnieux. We passed through a stone arch with the words Portail de chevre, emblazoned on it. We walked further until we reached the very top where the remains of a 16th century chateau stood. The chateau was inhabited by Louis-Alphonse Donatien, better known as the infamous Marquis de Sade. Right next to the chateau is an intriguing bust by Yasuo Mizui of the Marquis de Sade, imprisoned in a cage (photo above).
I will follow up with additional blog posts about the villages of the Luberon in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.
Here’s an invitation to watch a very special tour. I am doing my first live tour for France.fr outside of Paris and traveling to Etretat, Normandy to film part two The Footsteps of Lupin.
The date is Wednesday, June 9 @10am EST (east coast time), 9am Midwest time, 7am, West coast time, and 4pm Paris time.
CLICK HERE to reserve your place.
As many of you know, I was a chocolatier in New York City in the mid-1980s. I had my own shop called Rich-Treats, on West 55th St. between Fifth Ave. and Ave. of the Americas in Manhattan, and sold my own recipe, chocolate truffles.
After developing, tasting, and selling chocolates for a seven-year period, I developed a refined palate which I still use to taste and discern chocolate today.
At the end of April, I received a press release introducing a new line of vegetal/plant-based chocolate bars, Damyel. Although I am not vegan by any stretch of the imagination, I eat lots of pure fruits and vegetables and not much dairy, and red meat. Also, because I am diabetic, I carefully look at the ingredients before I buy any kind of packaged food.
Plant based desserts and pastries have come a long way in recent years and so greatly improved from the gummy and mostly bland products you would buy in the health food store or have at first generation vegan restaurants. Last year, I wrote about the first plant-based boulangerie Land and Monkeys in Paris, which mostly replicates traditional French breads and pastries such as croissants, pain a chocolate, pain perdu, and millefeuilles without using cream, milk, or butter. At first, I was skeptical, wondering how the heck could they possibly replace the butter in a croissant, and after trying one, I was won over by the taste and flakiness.
Again, I was skeptical when I read about the Damyel chocolate bars. I have bought a few vegetal chocolate bars before and they have been disappointing, tasting waxy with a horrible texture to them.
I asked the publicist if they could send some samples of the chocolate and they generously sent five bars. I liked the simple packaging in appealing robin’s egg blue and vanilla, the elegant but bold typeface, and the green, grosgrain ribbon they were tied with.
When it comes to milk versus dark chocolate, I am kind of in the middle, which is a rarity. During the many chocolate tours I’ve given over the years, I’ve learned people are either staunchly dark chocolate fans or milk chocolate loyalists, and almost never do the two meet. I don’t like my milk chocolate too sweet and for my dark chocolate I prefer it with either added flavor or nuts to offset the bitterness.
The thing I liked most about Damyel was that it perfectly bridged the gap between my two chocolate preferences. The two milk bars, one with toasted almonds and the other with pecans, both with 38% cacao, were delicious without being too sweet or having the sugary aftertaste with my teeth hurting after and the delicate roasting of the nuts was perfect. The Guatemala dark chocolate bar with 75% cacao, had an immediate but subtle coffee flavor, which won me over because I love anything with coffee flavor. There was an overall smoothness to the bar from Venezuela with a slight buttery texture. The only bar I wasn’t too fond of was from Vietnam with a 75% cacao ratio, which was too bitter and dark for my personal palate.
I learned the founder of Damyel, David Uzan, has been producing plant based chocolate for thirty years, and was way ahead of his time until others caught up just recently. He also is anti-sugar, so the chocolate contains almost zero traces of sugar.
Damyel has three shops in Paris and the one in the Marais on rue des Rosiers is also a kosher patisserie and confectionery shop.
46 Rue des Rosiers, 75004
Here’s an invitation to watch a very special tour. I am doing my first live tour for France.fr outside of Paris and traveling to Etretat, Normandy to film part two The Footsteps of Lupin.
The date is Wednesday, June 9 @10am EST (east coast time), 9am Midwest time, 7am, West coast time, and 4pm Paris time.
CLICK HERE to reserve your place.
