I Prefer Paris

Happy Thanksgiving 2024

Here is my annual Thanksgiving blog, which I've published before. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays and every year I publish this French Thanksgiving vocabulary list, courtesy of my former New York French teacher, Luc Georges.

Since Thanksgiving is not an official holiday in France, many ex-pats postpone their Thanksgiving dinner for Friday or Saturday, but some are traditionalists and make it on Thursday.

Happy Thanksgiving and be thankful for what you have and for your family and friends. What are you thankful for this year? 

French Thanksgiving Vocabulary

Thanksgiving    le jour de l'action de grâce
autumn, fall    l'automne
colony    une colonie
feast    un festin, un banquet
football    le football américain
grateful    (adj)    reconnaissant
harvest    la récolte
horn of plenty    la corne d'abondance
native    (adj)    natif
(Native American) Indians    les Indiens (d'Amérique)
November    novembre
parade    un défilé
Pilgrims    les pèlerins
settlers    les colons
to share    partager
Thursday    jeudi
tradition    une tradition
traditional    (adj)    traditionnel
treaty    un traité
tribe    une tribu
 
The food served for the Thanksgiving feast varies from home to home, but here are some traditional dishes.

EYE PREFER PARIS POSTCARDS FOR HOLIDAY GIFTS

I am offering a holiday sale of free shipping on Eye Prefer Paris Door Postcards. In addition, if you want to send them as a holiday gift, I can handwrite a personalized card for you.

For a set of 18 cards, you will save $12, and for a set of 9 cards, you will save $8.

Just in time for the holidays, the Eye Prefer Paris-Paris Door Collection makes a perfect gift for your Francophile friends and family.

IMPORTANT! You must order your cards before December 10, as I mail them from Paris, and it takes 10 days to 2 weeks to arrive in the U.S.

CLICK HERE to order 18 cards: 3 Red Doors, 3 Blue Doors, 3 Green Doors, 3 Wood Doors, 3 Iron Doors, and 3 Door Knockers. 

Cost: $65 Includes Free Shipping.

CLICK HERE to order 9 postcards: 3 Red Doors, 3 Blue Doors, 3 Green Doors.

Cost: $35 Includes Free shipping

CLICK HERE to order 9 postcards: 3 Wood Doors, 3 Iron Doors, and 3 Door Knockers

Cost: $35 Includes Free shipping 

Postcards are hand-wrapped with love from Paris and mailed in an elegant, French-blue envelope. 

Just in time for the holidays, the Eye Prefer Paris-Paris Door Collection makes a perfect gift for your Francophile friends and family.

Blue Doors

Green Doors

Blue Doors

Metal Doors

Wood Doors

Door Knockers

food    la nourriture
corn    le maïs
cranberries    les canneberges
gravy    la sauce au jus de viande
mashed potatoes    la purée
pumpkin pie    la tarte à la citrouille
stuffing    la farce
sweet potatoes    les patates douces
turkey    la dinde
yam    un igname 

Doors of the Month, November 2024 -Vincennes

Vincennes is a suburb of Paris east of the city, at the end of the # 1 Metro line. It’s best known for the Chateau de Vincennes, a former fortress and chateau built in the mid-1300s, and the Bois Vincennes, the largest park in Paris.

I have never spent much time in Vincennes except to go to the chateau on a few occasions. Last summer, I spent in afternoon in Vincennes, a quiet and primarily residential neighborhood. There’s are many Art Nouveau and arts and crafts houses and building form the early 1900s.

Along the way I discovered a bevy of great doors.

EYE PREFER PARIS POSTCARDS FOR HOLIDAY GIFTS

I am offering a holiday sale of free shipping on Eye Prefer Paris Door Postcards. In addition, if you want to send them as a holiday gift, I can handwrite a personalized card for you.

For a set of 18 cards, you will save $12, and for a set of 9 cards, you will save $8.

Just in time for the holidays, the Eye Prefer Paris-Paris Door Collection makes a perfect gift for your Francophile friends and family.

IMPORTANT! You must order your cards before December 10, as I mail them from Paris, and it takes 10 days to 2 weeks to arrive in the U.S.

CLICK HERE to order 18 cards: 3 Red Doors, 3 Blue Doors, 3 Green Doors, 3 Wood Doors, 3 Iron Doors, and 3 Door Knockers. 

Cost: $65 Includes Free Shipping.

CLICK HERE to order 9 postcards: 3 Red Doors, 3 Blue Doors, 3 Green Doors.

Cost: $35 Includes Free shipping

CLICK HERE to order 9 postcards: 3 Wood Doors, 3 Iron Doors, and 3 Door Knockers

Cost: $35 Includes Free shipping 

Postcards are hand-wrapped with love from Paris and mailed in an elegant, French-blue envelope. 

Just in time for the holidays, the Eye Prefer Paris-Paris Door Collection makes a perfect gift for your Francophile friends and family.

Blue Doors

Green Doors

Metal Doors

Wood Doors

Door Knockers

 

Hello Dolly at the Lido Paris 2

One of the most beloved and popular American musicals of all time, Hello Dolly, has arrived in Paris. The original production on Broadway, based on the play The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder, with lyrics and music by Jerry Herman, opened in 1964, and became one of the longest running musicals on Broadway. It starred Carol Channing as Dolly, who make the role indelible, performing in it over 5000 times over a four-decade span.

I saw the revival in New York in the mid-1990s with Carol Channing, and she was superb.

The Paris production, celebrating the 60^th anniversary of the Broadway debut, performed in English with French subtitles, gets the flavor and spirit very well, executing the songs, and the book with verve and high energy.

Dolly is played by Caroline O’ Connor, and even though I never heard of her, she has an impressive resumé, having preformed in shows such as Cabaret, Gypsy, Chicago, and Funny Girl, on Broadway, the West End in London, and in Australia. As Dolly, she hits the mark more so with her comedic gestures and funny antics, and the supporting cast backs her up perfectly.

The show is accompanied by an excellent orchestra, who bring out the best of the musical numbers, especially Before the Parade Passes By, with the brass section playing to the hilt.  

Although the stage is small, the production has a much larger presence due to the clever choreography and staging. The costumes are gorgeous and the scene when Dolly walks down the staircase to make her entry into Harmonia Gardens to sing Hello Dolly, accompanied by waiters in cropped red jackets with white shirts and bowties, is a knockout.

Hello Dolly

Until January 5, 2025

Lido 2

https://lido2paris.com/en/upcoming-events/hello-dolly/?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIuryUzIHriQMVI6doCR0U4hqcEAAYASAAEgKhM_D_BwE

EYE PREFER PARIS POSTCARDS FOR HOLIDAY GIFTS

I am offering a holiday sale of free shipping on Eye Prefer Paris Door Postcards. In addition, if you want to send them as a holiday gift, I can handwrite a personalized card for you.

For a set of 18 cards, you will save $12, and for a set of 9 cards, you will save $8.

Just in time for the holidays, the Eye Prefer Paris-Paris Door Collection makes a perfect gift for your Francophile friends and family.

IMPORTANT! You must order your cards before December 10, as I mail them from Paris, and it takes 10 days to 2 weeks to arrive in the U.S.

CLICK HERE to order 18 cards: 3 Red Doors, 3 Blue Doors, 3 Green Doors, 3 Wood Doors, 3 Iron Doors, and 3 Door Knockers. 

Cost: $65 Includes Free Shipping.

CLICK HERE to order 9 postcards: 3 Red Doors, 3 Blue Doors, 3 Green Doors.

Cost: $35 Includes Free shipping

CLICK HERE to order 9 postcards: 3 Wood Doors, 3 Iron Doors, and 3 Door Knockers

Cost: $35 Includes Free shipping 

Postcards are hand-wrapped with love from Paris and mailed in an elegant, French-blue envelope. 

Just in time for the holidays, the Eye Prefer Paris-Paris Door Collection makes a perfect gift for your Francophile friends and family.

Blue Doors

Green Doors

Blue Doors

Metal Doors

Wood Doors

Door Knockers

 

Art Nouveau at Musée d’Orsay

 

As many of you know, I am a huge Art Nouveau fan, and in fact, I made a special trip to Brussels in August of 2023 for a year long celebration of Art Nouveau.CLICK HERE to read about my Brussels experience.

I had read several years ago that the Musée d’Orsay had a major collection of Art Nouveau furniture and objets, but I never got around to see it.

Last week, I attempted to see the Caillebotte exhibition at the Orsay, but it was so packed, that I couldn’t see the paintings. Exiting the exhibition and perhaps seeing it another time, I remembered to go to the second floor to see the Art Nouveau exhibition rooms.

The collection was exceptional, with the finest examples of the period from Belgium, Nancy, and Paris. Most of the pieces came from the Musée du Luxembourg and Musée National d'Art Moderne. The works are from the most noted designers and architects of the era including Hector Guimard, Victor Horta, works from the Nancy School by Louis Majorelle, Emile Gallé, by Adolf Loos, Gustave Serrurier-Bovy Frank Lloyd Wright, Otto Wagner, Josef Hoffmann and Henry Van de Velde.

The collection is on the second floor of the Orsay.

 EYE PREFER PARIS POSTCARDS FOR HOLIDAY GIFTS

I am offering a holiday sale of free shipping on Eye Prefer Paris Door Postcards. In addition, if you want to send them as a holiday gift, I can handwrite a personalized card for you.

For a set of 18 cards, you will save $12, and for a set of 9 cards, you will save $8.

Just in time for the holidays, the Eye Prefer Paris-Paris Door Collection makes a perfect gift for your Francophile friends and family.

IMPORTANT! You must order your cards before December 10, as I mail them from Paris, and it takes 10 days to 2 weeks to arrive in the U.S.

CLICK HERE to order 18 cards: 3 Red Doors, 3 Blue Doors, 3 Green Doors, 3 Wood Doors, 3 Iron Doors, and 3 Door Knockers. 

Cost: $65 Includes Free Shipping.

CLICK HERE to order 9 postcards: 3 Red Doors, 3 Blue Doors, 3 Green Doors.

Cost: $35 Includes Free shipping

CLICK HERE to order 9 postcards: 3 Wood Doors, 3 Iron Doors, and 3 Door Knockers

Cost: $35 Includes Free shipping 

Postcards are hand-wrapped with love from Paris and mailed in an elegant, French-blue envelope. 

Just in time for the holidays, the Eye Prefer Paris-Paris Door Collection makes a perfect gift for your Francophile friends and family.

Blue Doors

Green Doors

Blue Doors

Metal Doors

Wood Doors

Door Knockers

Book Giveaway: The French Ingredient by Jane Bertch

My friend, Jane Berch, owner of La Cuisine Cooking School, recently wrote the book The French Ingredient- Making a Life in Paris One Lesson at a Time, a memoir. Jane has generously offered to give away a copy of The French Ingredient to an Eye Prefer Paris reader.

Here’s a synopsis:

When Jane Bertch was seventeen, her mother took her on a graduation trip to Paris. Thrilled to use her high school French, Jane found her halting attempts greeted with withering condescension by every waiter and shopkeeper she encountered. At the end of the trip, she vowed she would never return.

Yet a decade later she found herself back in Paris, transferred there by the American bank she worked for. She became fluent in the language and excelled in her new position. But she had a different dream: to start a cooking school for foreigners like her, who wanted to take a few classes in French cuisine in a friendly setting, then bring their new skills to their kitchens back home. Predictably, Jane faced the skeptical French—how dare an American banker start a cooking school in Paris?—as well as real-estate nightmares, and a long struggle to find and attract clients.

Thanks to Jane’s perseverance, La Cuisine Paris opened in 2009. Now the school is thriving, welcoming international visitors to come in and knead dough, whisk bechamel, whip meringue, and learn the care, precision, patience, and beauty involved in French cooking.

The 9th person who makes a comment on the link below, will receive a copy of the book. 

https://www.ipreferparis.net/2024/11/-book-giveaway-the-french-ingredient-by-jane-bertch.html

CLICK HERE to order The French Ingredient from Amazon

 EYE PREFER PARIS POSTCARDS FOR HOLIDAY GIFTS

I am offering a holiday sale of free shipping on Eye Prefer Paris Door Postcards. In addition, if you want to send them as a holiday gift, I can handwrite a personalized card for you.

For a set of 18 cards, you will save $12, and for a set of 9 cards, you will save $8.

Just in time for the holidays, the Eye Prefer Paris-Paris Door Collection makes a perfect gift for your Francophile friends and family.

IMPORTANT! You must order your cards before December 10, as I mail them from Paris, and it takes 10 days to 2 weeks to arrive in the U.S.

CLICK HERE to order 18 cards: 3 Red Doors, 3 Blue Doors, 3 Green Doors, 3 Wood Doors, 3 Iron Doors, and 3 Door Knockers. 

Cost: $65 Includes Free Shipping.

CLICK HERE to order 9 postcards: 3 Red Doors, 3 Blue Doors, 3 Green Doors.

Cost: $35 Includes Free shipping

CLICK HERE to order 9 postcards: 3 Wood Doors, 3 Iron Doors, and 3 Door Knockers

Cost: $35 Includes Free shipping 

Postcards are hand-wrapped with love from Paris and mailed in an elegant, French-blue envelope. 

Just in time for the holidays, the Eye Prefer Paris-Paris Door Collection makes a perfect gift for your Francophile friends and family.

Blue Doors

Green Doors

Blue Doors

Metal Doors

Wood Doors

Door Knockers

 

Reopening of The Grand Palais

The Grand Palais was closed for almost 2.5 years for renovations and reopened in time for the Olympics last summer. I was always impressed with the Art Nouveau, architectural details of the enormous structure measuring 775,000 square feet, which was built for the 1900 World’s Fair.

I returned last week to the Grand Palais for Paris Photo. The fair is one of the prestigious photo shows in the world, representing the top photographers working today and vintage photos. Walking through the aisles, I was inspired by the innovative photography, with a desire to go take some new photos. Looking around the Grand Palais, I found my inspiration by looking up at the ceilings, the stairways, and balconies. Do you have some favorites?

I can make a photo print of any of these photos. Email me at [email protected] for sizes and prices. 

 EYE PREFER PARIS POSTCARDS FOR HOLIDAY GIFTS

I am offering a holiday sale of free shipping on Eye Prefer Paris Door Postcards. In addition, if you want to send them as a holiday gift, I can handwrite a personalized card for you.

For a set of 18 cards, you will save $12, and for a set of 9 cards, you will save $8.

Just in time for the holidays, the Eye Prefer Paris-Paris Door Collection makes a perfect gift for your Francophile friends and family.

IMPORTANT! You must order your cards before December 10, as I mail them from Paris, and it takes 10 days to 2 weeks to arrive in the U.S.

CLICK HERE to order 18 cards: 3 Red Doors, 3 Blue Doors, 3 Green Doors, 3 Wood Doors, 3 Iron Doors, and 3 Door Knockers. 

Cost: $65 Includes Free Shipping.

CLICK HERE to order 9 postcards: 3 Red Doors, 3 Blue Doors, 3 Green Doors.

Cost: $35 Includes Free shipping

CLICK HERE to order 9 postcards: 3 Wood Doors, 3 Iron Doors, and 3 Door Knockers

Cost: $35 Includes Free shipping 

Postcards are hand-wrapped with love from Paris and mailed in an elegant, French-blue envelope. 

Just in time for the holidays, the Eye Prefer Paris-Paris Door Collection makes a perfect gift for your Francophile friends and family.

Blue Doors

Green Doors

Blue Doors

Metal Doors

Wood Doors

Door Knockers

Olga de Amaral at Fondation Cartier

Olga de Amaral is one of the world’s most talented textile artists, but strangely, her work is not shown in Europe that much. That has changed now, and de Amaral is having a major retrospective in Paris at the Fondation Cartier with 80 of her pieces from the last 50 years.

Born and still living in Colombia, de Amaral studied at the prestigious Cranbrook Academy in Michigan from 1954 to 1955. She started producing large and intricate fiber sculptures in the 1960s, and she went on to receive many, major awards from some of the top art institutions around the world. Her work can be seen in Tate Modern, MoMA, the Musée d'Art Moderne de la ville de Paris and the Art Institute of Chicago.

The Fondation Cartier is a perfect fit for de Amaral’s large works, with its super tall ceilings and floor to ceiling glass walls on the main floor. On the right side is a series of dramatic textiles, many arranged to look like optical illusions, and some can be viewed on four sides, making them appear to be different on each side.

Downstairs, the pieces, hung with thin string form the ceiling, a appear to be floating from thin air without any support. The texture from the weaved fabrics and vibrant colors, some mixed with gold, were superb.

In a separate gallery on the lower floor, is part of an exquisite series, Estolas/Stars, created in the beginning of 1996, which consists of 70 pieces (only a portion are shown). The stunning gold, rock like sculptures weaved with gold leaf, appears like a shimmering Stonehenge.

Until March 16, 2025

Fondation Cartier 261 Boulevard Raspail, 75014

https://www.fondationcartier.com/en/

November 2024 Eye Need to Do’s: ASVOFF/Film Festival, Hello Dolly, Caillebotte, and Jackson Pollock

PLEASE NOTE:I listed the time for Vincent's film last week, it's starts at 7pm, not 7:30pm on November 8.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO  

ASVOFF 16

Diane Pernet kicks off he 16^th edition A Shaded View on Fashion Film Festival. Screening shorts, full length films, and documentaries about fashion and style, the festival this year has a terrific program including a documentary about Patricia Field, and another about Mary Quant.

My partner Vincent is having the Paris premiere of his short film Untitled (American Story) at the festival on Friday, November 8 @ 7pm. CLICK HERE for more info.

November 7-11

Dover Street Market 35-37 rue des Francs Bourgeois, 75004.

https://www.ashadedviewonfashionfilm.com/asvoff-16 

Hello Dolly

Bonjour Dolly! Dolly Levi finally makes it to Paris for the first time. The legendary musical Hello Dolly with songs and lyrics by Jerry Herman, is premiering in Paris. It has a English cast and performed in English with French subtitles. I bet once the Parisians see the show, Dolly will never go away again.

November 7, 2024, to January 5, 2025

Lido Theatre 116 bis Avenue de Champs Elysees, 75008

https://lido2paris.com/en/upcoming-events/hello-dolly/?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIi6L8n-y9iQMVH6hoCR2EMifxEAAYASAAEgKljPD_BwE

Caillebotte-Painting Men

Gustave Caillebotte was drawn to painting the male form, and he used his inner circle of male acquaintances such as family workers, his brothers, and boating friends as subjects. The exhibition will travel to Los Angeles and Chicago in 2025. The figures include an urban worker, a sportsman, a man on a balcony, and a portrait of a male nude at his 'toilette'.

Until January 19, 2025

Museé d’Orsay

https://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/whats-on/exhibitions/gustave-caillebotte-painting-men

Jackson Pollock

The Picasso Museum is presenting its first Jackson Pollock exhibition. Focusing on the first 14 years of his career 1934-1947, the exhibition is showing paintings, prints, and sculptures.

Until January 19, 2025

Picasso Museum 5 rue de Thorigny, 75003

https://www.museepicassoparis.fr/en

 

SAVE THE DATE: NOV. 8, 2024

You are invited to the Paris premiere of my partner Vincent's new short film UNTITLED (AMERICAN STORY) screening at ASVOFF 16 Film festival on November 8th, 7 PM. I look forward to seeing you there. 

 

CLICK HERE TO BUY A TICKET 

DOVER STREET MARKET PARIS

35-37 RUE DES FRANC BOURGEOIS 75004