I Prefer Paris

60th Anniversary of the Paris Historic Association

The Paris Historic Association is celebrating its 60^th anniversary this year.

In the early 1960s, the 17th-century palaces and mansions in the Marais were either in shambles, in disrepair, derelict, or abandoned, and there was a great chance that they would be torn down because they were beyond repair. Luckily the minister of culture at the time, Andre Malraux was aware that these buildings were in danger of disappearing and that they needed to remain standing and safeguarded. The Malraux law was passed in 1962, which meant that all the hotel particuliers/palaces were now historically protected, and the owners were responsible for maintaining and upgrading them. Since then, many of these buildings have been beautifully and meticulously restored, and I show clients some of them on my Marais tour.

On rue de Rivoli, close to Hotel de Ville, there’s a series of photos with before and after photos of 12 historic buildings that have been restored in recent years. It’s amazing to see the transformation.

The offices for the Paris Historic Association are at 44-46 rue Francois Miron. They sell books about the history of the Marais and provide information about the history and architecture of the Marais.  https://www.paris-historique.org

 

 

Jacques Garcia Timeless Auction at Sotheby’s

I am posting a bonus blog today.

Jacques Garcia is one of the most successful and prolific interior designers in the world. Not only has he done home interiors for countless celebrities and dozens of luxury hotels and restaurants around the globe, he’s also decorated rooms at Versailles and 40 galleries in the Louvre. (He decorated the Villa Elena, which was featured in season two of The White Lotus).

Garcia’s most prized possession is Champ de Bataille, a glorious, 17th-century chateau once owned by Count Alexandre de Créqui and designed by Louis le Vau, the architect who designed Versailles and Vaux-le-Vicomte. He purchased Champ de Bataille in 1992 and has tirelessly and relentlessly worked over 30 years to restore the chateau to its original splendor. A collection of 20 gardens on the property, inspired by Andre LeNotre’s designs, makes it the largest private garden in France: Garcia has planted thousands of trees plus added twenty fountains.

Also an avid collector, Garcia has amassed an enormous collection of the finest 17th-century and 18th-century antiques including furniture, rugs, tapestries, and porcelain, much of it from royal heritage.

At 75 years old, Garcia has poured much of his life’s savings, resources, and time into the chateau, and wants to guarantee that the legacy of the chateau is carried through to the next generation. He decided to auction off 75 pieces from his extensive collection to fund the future of Champ de Bataille. Sotheby’s Paris has been put in charge of the auction and the public exhibition of the collection started today and goes until May 15.

I had a chance to visit yesterday, and the collection was exquisite. The lineage was impressive, with pieces that used to belong to Kings Louis XV and Louis XVI, Queens Marie Leszczynska and Marie-Antoinette, King William III and Queen Mary II of England, Scotland and Ireland, the Count of Provence and the Dukes of Penthièvre, Hamilton and Lorraine.

If you go, make sure you watch the fascinating video interview with Jacques Garcia along with montages of the chateau and the gardens.

Jacques Garcia, Intemporel

Public Exhibition

May 12, 13, 14, & 15

Check link below for hours

Sotheby’s Paris

76 rue Faubourg Saint Honoré, 75008

https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2023/jacques-garcia-intemporel

Hotel de la Marine

The inside of a gorgeous, neo-classical, Baroque building on Place de la Concorde was closed to the public until last year. The Hotel de la Marine, across the street from an identical building which is the Crillon Hotel, was designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel, the chief architect under King Louis XV, and constructed between 1757 and 1774. It was originally named Garde-Meuble and it was used to hold, store and display the furniture collection of the king.

In 1789 during the French Revolution, the building was repurposed and became the naval headquarters of France. After more than 200 years, the naval headquarters moved out in 2015 and it was given to the Centre des Monuments Nationale, a government organization that manages and operates over 150 monuments including chateaus, forts, churches, and other historic sites throughout France.

Centre des Monuments National took on of its largest and ambitious projects by restoring the former apartments of the intendants(stewards) of the original Garde-Meuble. The painstaking renovation and restoration took 36 months, involved more than 40 firms, cost 130 million € and 500 pieces of furniture were fully restored. For the drapes, wallpaper, and fabrics for the furniture, they sought out crimson damasks, brocades and other materials from dealers and auctions as authentically as close to the originals.

 The result of the renovation and restoration is stunning. Upon entering the majestic courtyard with the meticulously restored limestone, I knew I was in for a treat. At the entrance you are given headphones to guide you through the two floors, with settings for each room. The exquisite craftsmanship, the sumptuous fabrics, the fantastic architectural details, and the rich colors were front and center and each room presented a gorgeous glimpse into the past.

 Another addition to the museum is a café and a restaurant. Café Laperouse Concorde is an outpost of Laperouse restaurant on the Left Bank, known for its private dining rooms, and the outdoor terrace in the courtyard is chicly decorated. The casual menu includes a breakfast menu with pastries, egg dishes, house made granola, and avocado toast and for lunch and snacks there’s croques, salads, burgers, and a lobster roll. Going full tilt American, they serve frozen yogurt with toppings. Mimosa is the more formal restaurant with award winning chef Jean-François Piège at the helm.

Hotel de la Marine

2 Pl. de la Concorde, 75008

https://www.hotel-de-la-marine.paris/en 

Eye Prefer Paris Postcards with the Doors of Paris. 

I am excited to launch a new series of Eye Prefer Paris Postcards with the Doors of Paris. 

The limited-edition series of Eye Prefer Paris Door Collection Postcards are available three different ways.

18 cards: 3 Red Doors, 3 Blue Doors, 3 Green Doors, 3 Wood Doors, 3 Iron Doors, and 3 Door Knockers. 

Cost: $65- Free shipping 

9 postcards: 3 Red Doors, 3 Blue Doors, 3 Green Doors.

Cost: $35 plus $5 shipping 

9 postcards: 3 Wood Doors, 3 Iron Doors, and 3 Door Knockers

Cost: $35 plus $5 shipping 

Each postcard is printed on thick matte coated card stock, similar to traditional vintage postcard stock, that enhances the vibrancy of each image. Eye Prefer Paris Postcards come in classic postcard size (6”x 4.25”), perfect for collecting, framing, or sending to that special someone. 

Each order is specially hand wrapped with love from Paris and mailed in an elegant, French blue envelope. Postcards take about 4- 7 days to arrive in the U.S. 

Just in time for the holidays, the Eye Prefer Paris-Paris Door Collection make a perfect gift for your Francophile friends and family, and I can write a handwritten note for you and include it in the envelope. 

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- Free shipping 

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

Cost: $35 plus $5 shipping 

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

Cost: $35 plus $5 shipping 

Green Doors

Blue Doors

Metal Doors

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 Rooftop Views: Tour Saint Jacques

I am christening a new photo series today, Rooftop Views. I have specifically chosen rooftop sites around Paris to take photos from. The first in the series is from Tour Saint Jacques, which is on the rue de Rivoli just by Chatelet. 

The Saint Jacques Church was built at the end of the 12^th century, funded in part by the butcher’s guild, and named Saint-Jacques de Boucherie/the church of the butchers. The old tower was replaced and rebuilt in 1522 and during the French Revolution the church was dismantled, and the stone was auctioned off. However, there was a clause in the deed of sale that the belltower couldn’t be destroyed. In 1862 the tower was declared an historical monument and in 2001, the city of Paris in partnership with the conservation of Historic Monuments undertook the restoration. It was finally completed in 2009 and reopened to the public in 2013. 

You must book tickets online and they only let about 15 people at a time because the area surrounding the top of the tower is minuscule. There was a genial guide who shared the history of the tower at the base, and he talked for about 15 minutes before the group was allowed inside the tower. There are 300 spiral steps going up and I bravely took them on last Sunday, a warm, humid day with the temperature at about 82 F. I certainly got my cardio workout that day, but it was worth it because the 360-degree, unobstructed views were spectacular, as my camera clicked away. My I-phone takes such good quality photos, that my regular camera has been collecting dust and feeling lonely. I dusted it off and attached the tele-photo lens, so I could get some sharper photos, so here are the results. 

I would love to get your feedback. More in this series coming soon. If you have any suggestions of more obscure places in Paris that have extended views of the city, please email me @ [email protected] or leave a comment. 

Here’s the link to purchase tickets. 

https://www.desmotsetdesarts.com/visites-guidees/visites-guidees-paris/visite-de-la-tour-saint-jacques

 

 

Loire Valley Château Week: Chateau La Ferté-Saint-Aubin

I am ending this series of Loire chateaux with La Ferté-Saint-Aubin. It’s my favorite of the three, not so much because of the chateau itself, although it’s beautiful, but because of the young, energetic owner, Lancelot Guyot (is that not the perfect name for an owner of a 17^th century chateau?). 

Before I say more about Lancelot, here’s a brief history of the chateau. Although there is a history of the family from the Middle Ages, the current chateau was constructed in the late 17^th century for Henri de Saint-Nectaire, who was a general and a diplomat. The chateau was later sold to different owners over the next three centuries, and in 1987, Jacques Guyot bought the chateau from his brother Michel, and opened it to the public to help fund the restoration and renovation. 

Fast forward to 2016, when his son Lancelot, who had gone to business school and started a web company, became bored and wanted a more challenging career. He bought the chateau from his father with the desire to do something innovative, rather than just retain the chateau as an historic monument. 

I met the dashing Lancelot, who I believe is in his early 30s, with sandy blond hair and blue eyes, as he was busily setting up the chateau for a live rock concert that night. As busy as he was, Lancelot was kind enough to personally give me a tour of the chateau and share his vision for the future of it. His desire is to transform the chateau experience, which usually caters to an older visitor, into a living, breathing place, which young people and children can also enjoy. His ideas (some of which are already in place) include fun activities visitors can participate in. 

On site games are a big part of the activities, taking place inside the chateau and the in the gardens and forest. They include the Escape Game, where a team of guests are locked in the chateau and have 60 minutes to escape while finding clues and solving puzzles, and the Poison Trail, which dates back from 1682, when there was a rash of poisonings of the royals and the aristocracy under the reign of King Louis XIV, and participants have two hours to either to create their own poison or choose to solve the mystery of poisoner. Every year the chateau sponsors a giant murder mystery where participants try and solve a murder in the chateau and for 2021, the name of the hunt is The Case of the Suitors.

Sir Lancelot

May I take a nap? 

The inside of the chateau has fifteen, sumptuously decorated rooms open to the public. Unlike most other chateaus which have the rooms roped off, many of the rooms of Chateau La Ferté-Saint-Aubin are unencumbered and embrace people using the furniture and using the rooms. When Lancelot explained that to me, I jokingly said “May I take a nap” on the four-poster bed in front of me, and he replied “Why not? On the second floor is a large game room where guests are invited to stay and play. The attic rooms, which were once the servant’s quarters, now have tools and ancient industrial objects from local artisans. 

Chateau La Ferté-Saint-Aubin also likes to make use of its kitchen and in summer a specialty of the chateau, Madeleines with honey, are baked in the oven, while visitors can learn how the old kitchen operated and they can also participate in a Madeleine making lesson, where they receive a copy of the secret recipe.  

Pavillon de Cerfs (serfs’ quarters) is an historic building on the property turned into a cottage for rent with five bedrooms, kitchen, living room, dining room, and three bathrooms. The chateau also has a beautifully decorated space for wedding receptions. 

CLICK HERE to watch the video on Facebook I did for Atout France last month that includes footage of my interview with Lancelot. 

Did you like Loire Valley Château Week?

https://www.chateau-ferte.com/fr/ 

Looks very Downton Abbey 

Game room
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Loire Valley Château Week : Château de Villesavin

Continuing with Loire Valley Château Week, today I am writing about Château de Villesavin, which is located on the Sologne region of the Loire on the Beuvron River. Originally a manor house was constructed on the site in the 14^th century, but the present-day building was built by Jean La Breton, Lord of Villandry, (he also owned Chateau Villandry) who was the finance minister under the reign of King Francois I. Breton oversaw the construction of the extravagant Chateau de Chambord and taking a cue from it, he used the same French and Italian architects and craftsmen. The chateau was purchased in 1937 by Count and Countess de Sparre, and their direct descendants Lars and Véronique de Sparre own and run it today. 

The main part of the handsome chateau is horse show shaped along with two other buildings on each side with similar architectural. The structure on the right side had an enormous tree in the middle, creating much needed shaded for the warm weather. 

There are two museums in the chateau. What began as a collection of globes has blossomed into The Marriage Museum which now has over 1500 objects related to weddings. Vitrines with reimagined wedding settings between 1890 and 1950 proliferate the museum along with other significant wedding souvenirs and memorabilia. The second museum exhibits a collection of antique horse drawn buggies and carriages. 

One standout feature is a dovecote, which is a tower used to house pigeons or doves, and the one at Château de Villesavin can hold up to 1500 birds. Inside the tower are hundreds of perches for the birds to collect. 

There’s 27 acres of forest and open meadows surrounding the estate and there’s a small farm tailored for children where children could feed and play with goats, sheep, cows, rabbits, chickens, and donkeys. Another offering for children is a hunt to find the ghost that’s haunting the chateau and on Halloween they offer a special hunt. 

https://www.chateau-de-villesavin.fr/

CLICK HERE to watch the video on Facebook I did for Atout France last month that includes footage of the chateau, which includes the inside of the dovecote.

 

Jacqueline Ngo MPII and Little Africa

Jacqueline Ngo MPII is on a mission which I greatly admire. 

Her company, Little Africa, is dedicated to all things African in Paris. In the last five years Jacqueline has tirelessly been promoting the rich culture of the African community in Paris. She has accomplished this in numerous ways, first by creating a Little Africa tour, which is called La Goutte D’or in the 18^th arrondissement just below Montmartre, and she shares the vivacious, colorful, neighborhood, that very few tourists know about. 

To further her mission, she wrote and published an Africa in Paris Guidebook, a curation of all the best sites, shops, restaurants, and cafes in Little Africa. Next Jacqueline really stepped her dream commitment by taking over a two-story space in La Goutte D’or. The multi-use space, Little Africa 2.0: A Parisian Village, will serve as a center, meeting place, gallery, and event space to extend the cultural conversation, and educate tourists about the neighborhood. Little Africa mounted a successful Indiegogo campaign earlier this year, raising over $43,000 to raise money to build and sustain the Little Africa 2.0: A Parisian Village space.

 Little Africa also has an online shop with local merchandise from shops and vendors in the community. 

I met Jacqueline and her strategic brand advisor Patrick Banks at Café La Goutte d'Or. 

Jacqueline arrived first and she was warm and soft spoken, and Patrick, who is American, came a few minutes later. We spoke at length about her plans and dreams for her company and how Patrick was going to implement them with his practical and strategic skills. 

After we left the cafe, Jacqueline was kind enough to give me a mini-tour. She showed me the many fabric shops that provide the African women with dazzling print fabrics they use for their skirts and turbans, and she also explained how the fabrics were made and where they are imported from. There were also a few tailor and design shops that made custom outfits with the fabric for men and women. Next up was the Institut des Cultures d’Islam, a cultural Islamic center with an art gallery, restaurant, and performance space. She also pointed out some local restaurants she recommended and because she was running out of time, directed me to the lively food shop streets. 

The Little Africa website lists two tours, the Made in Goutte d’or- African Fashions and history tour, where you visit fashion, design and African spice shops and meet artisans, tailors and designers, and the second tour, a Taste of Africa Tour where you explore the African food shops and markets, and includes a two course lunch at a nearby restaurant.  

https://littleafrica.fr/en/

Jacqueline's way cool sneakers 

 

It’s holiday gift time, and what could be better than the gift of Paris. Most people were denied the joy of visiting Paris this year with the travel restrictions, so what better way to remind you or people on your gift list of the city than a great photo. 

I have updated my Etsy shop with 15 new photos in addition to my other classic photos from before. In addition, I can make a print of almost every photo you see on Eye Prefer Paris.

Below are sizes and prices.

10x13 inches $60

11x14 inches $80

16x20 inches $115

I am offering free shipping- a $14 savings- on any photo order until December 18, 2020.

Click here to go to my Etsy shop. 

Photos are printed on Fuji crystal Archive metallic paper with rich satin gloss finish and is unframed.

Prints are printed in N.J. and sent by USPS. Delivery time is 2-5 days.

If you have any questions about the photos, please email me at [email protected]

Thanks in advance for your support.

Click here to go to my Etsy shop. 

Below are some of my new photos I’ve posted in my Etsy shop.

Behind the Paris Street Signs-Series 3: Le Quartier de l'Europe

In the beginning of October, I had a doctor’s appointment on the rue de Turin in the eighth arrondissement. Far from the commercial and luxurious side we associate the eighth arrondissement with, which includes the Champs Elysees, the Four Seasons Hotel and other five-star hotels, and designer boutiques on Ave. Montaigne, this particular part of the eighth arrondissement where my doctor’s office is, is a quiet, semi-residential, middle-class neighborhood of Paris. 

The name rue de Turin (Turin means Torino, the city in Italy) is part of a set of streets named after European capitals in an area named Le Quartier de l'Europe. I discovered this quaint area in 2010 and was fascinated by how the area came about historically. I only found some basic facts about the area online, but I was hungry for more details. I asked my friend Thirza Vallois, the historian and author of a series of books about Paris, if she had more information about Le Quartier de l'Europe. Not only did she have more information about it, she generously wrote a comprehensive article about it for Eye Prefer Paris in 2011. After my doctor’s appointment, I took photos of as many of the streets I could find, and I thought it would be fun to feature them as part of my Behind the Paris Street Signs Series. 

One notable change form the last time I was in the area, is the Place d’Europe, an intersection where many of the streets converge, has been renamed Place Simone Veil.  A Jewish concentration camp survivor, Simone Veil became one of the most influential women in France, as a lawyer, human rights advocate, and the Minister of Health of France. Her most significant accomplishment was that she was instrumental in the passing of the bill to legalize abortion in France in 1975. Veil was buried in the Pantheon, after she died in 2017 at the age of 90 and was the fifth woman to have been buried there.  

Here’s a complete list of the streets named after European capitals in the Le Quartier de l'Europe- Rue d’Amsterdam, rue de Bruxelles, rue de Bucarest, rue de Constantinople, rue d'Édimbourg, rue de Florence, rue de Liege, rue de Lisbonne, rue de Londres, rue de Madrid, rue de Milan, rue de Moscou, rue de Naples, rue de Rome, rue de Saint-Petersbourg, rue de Stockholm, rue de Turin, and rue de Vienne. 

Click here to read the original post with the Thirza Vallois article about the Le Quartier de l'Europe. 

Coming Soon: My Emily In Paris Video Tour

I’m excited to tell you I am launching an Emily In Paris Video Tour, starring me, not Emily, next week.

In the 30-minute video I visit the many of the locations where the show was shot and tell you the history plus give you some insider scoops about Paris. I also make my onscreen singing debut in the video, singing a verse from a classic French song. I used to sing sometimes at open mike piano bars when I lived in New York.

If you have been living under a rock, and don’t know what Emily in Paris is, it’s the new hit TV series on Netflix, about a beautiful, smart, young, American woman who is suddenly whisked away to Paris for a new job at a French marketing firm, and her adventures, challenges and mishaps, trying to make her way in the city. Click here to read my review and details about the show.

The price to watch the video will be $12.

 

My Excellent Provence Adventure Planned By Julie Mautner- Part One

When I was in the Luberon in late July, I met Julie Mautner for a coffee in Saint Remy. Julie is a transplanted American who has been living in Saint Remy for over 20 years. She creates custom-designed trips and experiences for the Provence area that can include villa rentals, tours, activities, hotel recommendations and bookings, transfers, and restaurant reservations. 

We had connected a number of years ago online, but we had never met so it was fortuitous that we finally met. Julie lived in NYC for a long time before she moved to Provence, and we discovered we had parallel backgrounds, as she was an editor and writer for a prestigious food magazine at the same time, I was a chef and caterer. We also have similar businesses here in France, plus we both write blogs, and we spoke in length about clients, business, tours, etc. She also told me how she worked with clients and about the various tours and activities she planned for her clients, which all sounded so appealing to me. 

I have only been to Saint Remy and the surrounding area of Provence once over 10 years ago, and I’ve always wanted to explore the area more. With Julie’s enticing description of her tours and the area, I wanted to return, and I asked her if she would organize some tours for me in October, so that I can also write about them here and perhaps for some other publications I write for. 

I told Julie I wanted to spend two full days and a night in Provence, and she sent me an email asking what types of activities and tours I was interested in, and areas of interest such as food, history, hiking, biking, sightseeing, etc. I told her I was interested in food, culture, and historical sites in the area and she followed up with within 24 hours with a suggested itinerary, and it was spot on in terms of what I was interested in. We exchanged a few more emails just to iron out the details and I was now excited about the trip. 

Arriving on Friday morning at about 11am at Avignon TGV station, my guide Marlene Boyer, who Julie booked for me, met me at the station with her car and we drove to Avignon for the first part of the tour. Marlene, who is French and speaks English with a lovely  French lilt, was warm, friendly and enthusiastic, the right combination of qualities you look for in a guide. 

Our first stop was the Les Halles indoor food market in the center of Avignon for lunch at Cuisine Centr'Halles, a café, cooking school, and catering company, owned by chef Jon Chiri from California, another Provence transplant who has been living in the area for over 20 years. It was a few minutes before 12pm, so Jon was prepping lunch. He invited me into the open kitchen and offered me a taste of some tapenade and other spreads he was making for lunch and a glass of wine. Jon  was friendly and generous, and we shared about our experiences in the food world, since I was a chef and caterer in NYC before I moved here. Lunch wasn’t going to be ready for about another 20 minutes, so Marlene took me around the market and introduced me to the various food stall vendors she knew and explained in great detail about their products and backgrounds. 

Lunch started with a continuation of the four spreads I had tasted before, and I now appreciated them more since Jon told me what was in them. My plat was sliced duck (Jon made it a point that the duck was carved from a whole duck rather than a magret) cooked rosé or medium rare, with lavender, roasted potatoes, and ratatouille. The duck was tender and flavorful, and a real treat since I hadn’t had duck in ages. Jon totally spoiled us with two desserts, a super moist honey and spice cake with figs, followed by a tarte Tatin, literally straight out of the oven. 

Happy and stuffed, we made our way back to the car to continue our tour. Next was Les Antiques de Glanum in the Alpilles mountain range, the site of two, well preserved artifacts from the Roman city of Glanum from 200BC, The Mausoleum of the Julii, and the triumphal arch of Glanum. An archeological excavation was led by Pierre de Brun in 1921, which uncovered a good part of the ancient city. 

Van Gogh has long been associated with Saint Remy, and the next stop was the Saint Paul Asylum where Van Gogh self-admitted himself and spent a year in 1889. Van Gogh prolifically painted dozens of canvases from his room which looked out on to fields and from his walks on and nearby the property of the asylum, of olive trees, wheat fields, cypress trees, and lilacs and irises in the gardens. Even though I have extensively studied and read about Van Gogh, since I sometimes lead tours of Auvers-sur-Oise, the last place Van Gogh lived and painted before he died, Marlene shared many new facts I did not know. We toured the church, and I especially  loved the courtyard garden, and the garden field.

 Stimulated by the spirit of Van Gogh, Marlene drove me through the foothills and windy roads of the Alpilles mountains where I was awe inspired by the rugged rock formations of gray stone, and the incredible views of the ancient village of Les Baux de Provence. 

Marlene parked the car just below the center of Les Baux, and we climbed up the hill and through the quaint village. Although Les Baux is a village from the Middle Ages, its foundations date from 6,000 B.C. At one point, Marlene escorted me to an almost hidden perch, where clients can set up a picnic lunch with wine, so they could marvel at the breathtaking view below. 

After Les Baux, Marlene dropped me off to Carrieres de Lumieres, a former quarry which now hosts the incredible light and laser shows, similar to the Atelier de Lumieres in Paris. The current show is about Dali, and the images of Dali’s surrealist works looked great on the massive stone surfaces. 

After the show, Julie picked me up and we had dinner at a popular bistro in Saint Remy. 

I thoroughly enjoyed my day with Marlene and thank you Julie for arranging such a pleasant experience. 

Stay tuned until Thursday, when I write about my fabulous food tour on My Excellent Provence Adventure Planned By Julie Mautner- Part Two. 

Jon Chiri/ Cuisine Centr'Halles  https://www.jonathanchiri.com/

You can view more info about Julie and her services at the two websites below

https://www.provenceposttravel.com

http://whattodoinprovence.com 

Also check out her blog

http://provencepost.com/

Please watch my latest A Bite of Paris video, where I make and bake a Dark, Chocolate, Chestnut Cake.

Click here to watch the video.