It’s my annual edition of the Paris window boxes. For 2021, I concentrated mostly on the window boxes in my neighborhood, Le Marais. Do you have some favorites?
Eye Prefer Paris 16th Anniversary
I want to thank the following people for generously donating to Eye Prefer Paris so I can continue my subscription service. Your donations exceeded my initial request of $540 and I will apply the extra funds towards a second year. I also want to thank you for your kind notes you included in the donation.
Nancy S., Judith R., Chris K., Kathy G., Carol P., Judy H., Barbara E., Susan S., Liz S., John K., Monique VD., Angela LV., John H,. Edward N., Jan L., Richard B., Kathy M., Dr. J., Joanie S., Leann R., Mary Lynn C., Diane S., Barbara L., Carmen C., Debbie H., Bonnie F., Judy S., Cheryl M., Virginia G., Jerry F., Russ R., Cheryl T., Pete K., Jeanie T., Carolyn A., Michael H., Allan VF., Diane K., Annie P.,Brunie F., Susie F., Peggy and Jim B, and Linda S.
My apologies if I have forgotten anyone.
Here’s the 2023 edition of my Paris window boxes. I have scoured almost every arrondissement in Paris to find the prettiest window boxes. Do you have some favorites?
Please check out my latest article about two terrific Italian restaurants in Paris on Travel Agent Central.
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I am always inspired to take photos after seeing great photo exhibitions. After viewing the Thomas Demand exhibition at the Jeu de Paume last week, I exited to the Tuileries, raring to go. The elevated part of the Tuileries just behind the museum, is one of my favorite spots in the gardens, overlooking the gardens, with great views of the Place de la Concorde and the Eiffel Tower.
It was a pleasant, sunny day and most of the chairs and benches were occupied by people wanting to catch some rays, enjoy their take-out food, read, or just relax. I decided to capture them from behind, which would be more interesting composition wise. A few years ago, I posted a similar series of bench photos in the Palais Royal, which received a lot of positive response. (CLICK HERE to view).
A few minutes later, I captured the leave formations and still bare branches on the trees and the architectural shadows they produced.
Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are walking tours I personally lead. Eye Prefer Paris Tours include many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes, food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks and gardens and much more. In addition to my specialty Marais Tour, I also lead tours of Montmartre, St. Germain, Latin Quarter, in addition to Shopping Tours, Gay Tours, Food Tours, Flea Market Tours, Paris Highlights Tours, and Chocolate & Pastry tours.
Tours start at 250 euros for up to 3 people, and 85 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.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com
Click here to watch a video of our famous Marais tour
I was in the Tuileries yesterday and I couldn’t resist taking more flower and tree photos. The park was in full bloom, bursting with tulips, cherry blossoms, irises, horse chestnut trees, and white daffodils, which I have never seen before.
No matter how many times I visit Giverny, I always find something to photograph I haven’t before. I’ve been there every month it's open, April through October, and it’s always a joy.
I took clients yesterday morning when it was pouring rain in Paris and the forecast for Giverny was 100% rain for the day. I believe in miracles, and low and behold, the rain stopped for the entire few hours we were in Giverny, plus even the sun made an appearance for a nanosecond.
Even though the sky was overcast, the colors of the plants, trees, and flowers were even more brilliant. The tulips took center stage, and the color combinations were just gorgeous.
Although it’s been unusually chilly in Paris this April, with temperatures barely breaking 50 degrees most days, the flowers and trees still bloom in spite of the cold. In the past weeks during my tours, I’ve had the good fortune of encountering divine cherry blossoms, tulips, daffodils, and wisteria all around town. Enjoy!
Le Marais
Montmartre
Palais Royal
Luxmebourg Gardens
Le Marais
Luxembourg Gardens
Luxembourg Gardens
Montmartre
Le Marais
Le Marais
Le Marais
Le Marais
Le Marais
I’ve only been to the top of Sacre Coeur once, about 14 years ago with a tour client, and recently returned to it because I wanted to take photos of the views. In 2020 I started a photo series with views of Paris from some of the highest points in the city and this is a continuation of the series. I went with my friend, Bill O ‘Such, another avid photographer, and we climbed 300 steps to the top, with winding, narrow stairways which almost made us dizzy, but we managed to get to the top in one piece. Once we got to the top, the passage around the dome is super narrow, fitting only one person width-wise. There wasn’t much of a crowd, but we still had to brush closely against one another in order to pass through. It was a bit of a hazy day but on the plus side it was sunny, and the 360-degree views were spectacular. We both shot dozens of photos and below are my results.
On another note, did you know you can spend the night at Sacre Coeur? Titled One Night of Adoration on the Sacre Coeur website, the program starts at 8;30, where you are welcomed into the basilica to settle into your room or dorm. At 9 pm is the spiritual introduction to the evening mass, followed by the choir singing at 9:30 and then mass from 10 pm to 11 pm. After 11 pm, guests can retire to their living spaces or continue praying, but they must be silent. The next morning, the first mass is at 7 am in the Chapel of the Virgin, followed by continental breakfast from 7:30 am to 8:30 am for 4€ per person. Room rates start at 10€ for a dormitory room, 25€ per person for a shared room, and 30€ per person for a private room.
The entrance address is 35, rue du Chevalier de la Barre, 75018
https://www.sacre-coeur-montmartre.com/english/night-adoration/article/one-night-adoration-at-the
Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are walking tours I personally lead. Eye Prefer Paris Tours include many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes, food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks and gardens and much more. In addition to my specialty Marais Tour, I also lead tours of Montmartre, St. Germain, Latin Quarter, in addition to Shopping Tours, Gay Tours, Food Tours, Flea Market Tours, Paris Highlights Tours, and Chocolate & Pastry tours.
My friends Laurie and Blair Pessemier are both painters and also give en plein air painting classes. They used to live in Paris, and they now live in Italy, and still give en plein air classes in the Italian countryside about 40 minutes from Bologna.
They received an art residency for a new art foundation La Maison de Simon, run by Alon, Betsy and Sarah Kasha, who live in Paris but have a country home in Fontaine Sous Jouy, Normandy, where the foundation is also located. The newly finished complex has six artists’ studios (including a ceramics studio), an apartment with two bedrooms, a professional kitchen, a living and dining area, a library, a balcony, and an outdoor gallery space. Laurie and Blair are first artists in residence, arriving early in February and staying approximately a month.
I took a day off on Tuesday to visit them. The closest train station is Vernon/Giverny, about 50 minutes from Paris by train. I hadn’t seen Laurie and Blair since October 2021, so we hugged warmly when they picked me up at the station. The scenic drive to the house and atelier was about a 25-minute and filled with meadows of green grass, cows grazing, and tall, bare trees.
The atelier and apartment, on three levels, was well appointed with crisp white walls, lots of windows and skylights with lovely, natural light pouring through, a large open kitchen with an impressive, gas stove, and decorated mostly in a contemporary style, with a few touches of whimsy, crafts, and artworks.
The studio on the top floor was filled with paintings that were barely dry by Laurie and Blair. Laurie has suddenly become obsessed with Marie Antoinette, and there was an unfinished painting of her hanging on a wood beam.
Laurie made a hearty lunch of choucroute with sauerkraut she had whipped up that morning and we sat around the long wood table catching up from the last year and a half.
It was a lovely, sunny afternoon and we took a long walk on the country lanes near the house. It was one of those pre-spring days where the trees and flowers were just about to burst their blooms but not quite yet. We admired the grassy marshes, the gleaming brooks and creeks with mallards and ducks floating on them, the striking trees, the ancient, petrified wood clumps looking like sculptures, and Normandy style houses with their weather-beaten tiled and thatched roofs and ancient wood beams. I haven’t been out to the countryside in ages and deeply breathing in the truly fresh and crisp air was a welcome relief to my lungs.
Blair drove me back to the station at about 5:30pm and I caught the 6pm train back to Paris, still savoring my perfect day in the country with close friends.
Laurie & Blair's website http://artnotesparis.blogspot.com/
Instagram @maisonsimon.art
Berlino the dog
Continuing with my Christmas in Paris 2022 posts, today is about the wonderful Mini-Mondes Illumination Show at Jardin des Plantes. Throughout the park is a magical world of over 100 gigantic, bugs, insects, snails, dragonflies, plants, centipedes, butterflies, and spiders all lit up in glorious Technicolor.
Mini-Mondes Illumination Show at Jardin des Plantes
Until January 15, 2023
Open 6pm-11pm every night, last entrance 60 minutes before
Here are more photos of the fall foliage in Montmartre and the Saint Vincent Cemetery. CLICK HERE to view the first set of photos I posted last week.
Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are walking tours I personally lead. Eye Prefer Paris Tours include many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes, food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks and gardens and much more. In addition to my specialty Marais Tour, I also lead tours of Montmartre, St. Germain, Latin Quarter, in addition to Shopping Tours, Gay Tours, Food Tours, Flea Market Tours, Paris Highlights Tours, and Chocolate & Pastry tours.
Last week after I finished a tour of Montmartre, it was such a beautiful, sunny fall afternoon I decided to stay in the area. Spotting some open gates just off the Rue Caulaincourt, I wandered inside, discovering a cemetery I had never seen or heard of before. Saint Vincent Cemetery was built in 1831 and contains the graves of mostly artists, artisans, bourgeoisie, and aristocrats who lived and made history in Montmartre. Situated on a small incline on 1.5 acres, it has 124 trees in 17 varieties and 960 tombs.
One of the more elaborate graves was of Michou, a beloved Montmartre legend, who owned and operated the uber successful drag club, Michou Michou, for over 50 years (the club is still open today). He died in 2021 at 88 years young; he was quite the character, with his signature uniform of a blue suit, shirt, tie, and blue tinted sunglasses, and known for strictly drinking Champagne.
The combination of the beautiful late afternoon light, the last vestiges of the foliage, and the fresh flowers planted on the graves was heaven for taking photos.
I am dividing the photos into two blog posts, because there were too many to fit in one post.
Thanks for your comments and feedback about my black and white photos from Monday.
Saint Vincent Cemetery
6 Rue Lucien Gaulard, 75018
Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are walking tours I personally lead. Eye Prefer Paris Tours include many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes, food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks and gardens and much more. In addition to my specialty Marais Tour, I also lead tours of Montmartre, St. Germain, Latin Quarter, in addition to Shopping Tours, Gay Tours, Food Tours, Flea Market Tours, Paris Highlights Tours, and Chocolate & Pastry tours.
