Eye Prefer Paris is an ex-New Yorker's insider's guide to Paris. Richard Nahem writes his blog from his fabulous 18th century apartment in the fashionable Marais district of Paris
Happy August everyone! Paris it’s starting to empty as out as locals take their annual holiday. It’s such a delight to stroll the empty streets and boulevards and explore the city.
I did some research about Villa Garnier and there was very little information about it except the location, measurements, and that it was built in 1986. However, there was another listing in Google that says it was a villa that Charles Garnier, the architect of the Opera Garnier, built for his family in western Italy during the Franco-Prussian war, when construction of the opera house was halted because of the war. The original villa inspired perhaps the design of the current Villa Garnier.
Luckily the main gate was open, otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this. The design seemed to be faux Art Deco, with lines and curves reminiscent of the period and the lush gardens and greenery with sand and gravel pathways were more akin to a country villa.
Cylinders shaped towers have ivy climbing up them, softening them to look more attractive. I noticed brick was used a lot, which is an unusual building material in Paris. Check out the last photo of the door, which looks much older than 1986.
Villa Garnier, 75015
Metro: Falguiere
If you love salted butter caramels, please watch my newest A Bite of Parisvideo about Henri Le Roux, the man who actually invented the salted butter caramel.
Please remember to hit the LIKE button if you like it and SUBSCRIBE button to subscribe to my channel.
Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour 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, Girlfriend Tours, Food Tours, Flea Market Tours, Paris Highlights Tours, and Chocolate & Pastry tours.
I’m late in delivering my window box series this year, but better late than never.
For some reason I didn’t find the usual abundance of great window boxes as in the past when I would have dozens of photos to choose from. Perhaps it was the extreme heat this summer that perhaps had people resist installing flower boxes of fear they would not survive.
If you love salted butter caramels, please watch my newest A Bite of Parisvideo about Henri Le Roux, the man who actually invented the salted butter caramel.
Please remember to hit the LIKE button if you like it and SUBSCRIBE button to subscribe to my channel.
Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour 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, Girlfriend Tours, Food Tours, Flea Market Tours, Paris Highlights Tours, and Chocolate & Pastry tours.
Since I published my first series of Shadow Photos a few weeks ago, my eyes have been glued to the ground looking for shadows.
I was in the Tuileries last week just next to the Jeu du Paume Museum. The raised part of the garden is lovely with a great overview of the fountain and Place de la Concorde. It was a beautiful late morning, with abundant sunshine and a cool breeze. I parked myself on one of the classic green metal garden chairs to relax. The lavender fields were in full bloom and the pleasant aroma wafted up to my chair. There were a few empty chairs near me and I noticed the interesting shadows they were casting. Gone was my relaxed mood and now I was on the hunt in the Tuileries for more shadows.
I walked towards the Louvre and when I got to the amusement park and carnival, I hit the jackpot. There was astro turf with palm trees casting shadows with splayed palm tree branches. After I took some cool shots of the shadows from the Tuileries metro station.
Do you have some favorites here? Do you like the color or black and white photos? Thanks for your feedback.
Price Reduction: August in Paris- My Marais Apartment for Rent August 16 to August 28
I am renting my Marais loft from August 16 to August 29 (Dates are flexible). Contrary to popular myth that Paris is closed in August, most shops, restaurants, and attractions are open in Paris, especially in the Marais. The weather is usually beautiful, temperatures in the high 70s to low 80s Fahrenheit during the day, dropping into the mid 60s at night. In case in gets warmer, I have an air conditioner in the bedroom and a large fan in the living area.
Minimum rental period is 7 days/one week, price 1400€ for 7 days/one week, 1800€ for 10 days
Conveniently located by the Saint Paul metro, in the heart of the Marais, the apartment is a spacious one-bedroom 750 sq. ft. loftwith 12 ft. ceilings, decorated in chic Mid-Century Modern furniture and sleeps two people in a Queen size bed. Amenities include washer/dryer, 16" flat screen TV, dishwasher, internet connection/Wifi and free long distance calls to the U.S. The apartment is located on the second floor with a large elevator
If you love salted butter caramels, please watch my newest A Bite of Parisvideo about Henri Le Roux, the man who actually invented the salted butter caramel.
After viewing the Back Side/ Fashion from Behind Exhibition, I took time to visit the front courtyard and back garden. Bourdelle’s mighty sculptures of warriors, Greek gods and goddesses, horses, and historical figures fill the gardens along with manicured hedges, white hydrangeas, and holy hocks.
AntoineBourdelle was born in 1861, the son of wood craftsman and cabinet maker and left school to assist his father. At age 24 he was admitted to the prestigious Ecole des Beaux Arts.Bourdelle was not only well schooled, studying under Rodin, he later on formed his own school and taught noted sculptors including Matisse and Giacometti. He moved into the current studio in 1885, working there until his death in 1929. The museum contains over 500 of Bourdelle’s works including marble, plaster, and bronze statues, paintings, pastels, fresco sketches along with Bourdelle’s own collection of works by Eugène Carrière, Eugène Delacroix, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Adolphe Joseph Thomas Monticelli, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, and Auguste Rodin.
Price Reduction: August in Paris- My Marais Apartment for Rent August 16 to August 28
I am renting my Marais loft from August 16 to August 29 (Dates are flexible). Contrary to popular myth that Paris is closed in August, most shops, restaurants, and attractions are open in Paris, especially in the Marais. The weather is usually beautiful, temperatures in the high 70s to low 80s Fahrenheit during the day, dropping into the mid 60s at night. In case in gets warmer, I have an air conditioner in the bedroom and a large fan in the living area.
Minimum rental period is 7 days/one week, price 1400€ for 7 days/one week, 1800€ for 10 days
Conveniently located by the Saint Paul metro, in the heart of the Marais, the apartment is a spacious one-bedroom 750 sq. ft. loftwith 12 ft. ceilings, decorated in chic Mid-Century Modern furniture and sleeps two people in a Queen size bed. Amenities include washer/dryer, 16" flat screen TV, dishwasher, internet connection/Wifi and free long distance calls to the U.S. The apartment is located on the second floor with a large elevator
If you love salted butter caramels, please watch my newest A Bite of Parisvideo about Henri Le Roux, the man who actually invented the salted butter caramel.
On the left side of rue de Castiglione walking between rue de Rivoli and Place Vendome, I discovered a new series of colored marble sidewalk panels. It seemed forever that the street was under construction on the former site of the Hotel Lotti. It looks like another hotel will be opening in its place soon but I wasn’t able to find out what hotel it is. Meanwhile, the floor panels are a continuation of the mosaic tile floors lining rue Castiglione and rue de Rivoli. I don’t know much about marble but an educated guess on my part is that it’s imported from Italy. Are there any marble experts out there who would know where the marble comes from?
7 rue de Castiglione, 75001
Metro: Tuileries or Concorde
Price Reduction: August in Paris- My Marais Apartment for Rent August 16 to August 28
I am renting my Marais loft from August 16 to August 29 (Dates are flexible). Contrary to popular myth that Paris is closed in August, most shops, restaurants, and attractions are open in Paris, especially in the Marais. The weather is usually beautiful, temperatures in the high 70s to low 80s Fahrenheit during the day, dropping into the mid 60s at night. In case in gets warmer, I have an air conditioner in the bedroom and a large fan in the living area.
Minimum rental period is 7 days/one week, price 1400€ for 7 days/one week, 1800€ for 10 days
Conveniently located by the Saint Paul metro, in the heart of the Marais, the apartment is a spacious one-bedroom 750 sq. ft. loftwith 12 ft. ceilings, decorated in chic Mid-Century Modern furniture and sleeps two people in a Queen size bed. Amenities include washer/dryer, 16" flat screen TV, dishwasher, internet connection/Wifi and free long distance calls to the U.S. The apartment is located on the second floor with a large elevator
If you love salted butter caramels, please watch my newest A Bite of Parisvideo about Henri Le Roux, the man who actually invented the salted butter caramel.
Jardins, Jardin is the annual garden show held in the Tuileries, devoted to the latest innovations and technologies in gardening. The 16th edition just this last weekend, featured 30 garden installations, 17 exterior design prototypes, and 8 design, landscape, and architecture schools. One hundred vendors displayed flowers, plants, outdoor furniture, planters, books, and many other garden related products.
The highlight of Jardins, Jardin was a special installation, Dans le Serres de Chanel/From the Greenhouses of Chanel. In southwest France, the house of Chanel grows white camellias on an exclusive 12-acre farm, for use in its skincare products. On a 200 square meter plot in the Tuileries, Chanel has created a miniature version of their camellia greenhouses from the foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains.
Upon entering the exhibition, a genial guide, shared in concise detail about the growing, care, and polyfractioning process by which the camellias are turned from flowers into a tailor-made active ingredient in their cosmetics. The guide also shared about how the camellia became the iconic emblem of Chanel, when Coco Chanel used a white camellia early in her career to adorn the clothes of her first collections in the 1920s, and how it also became her lucky charm. A journalist once asked Coco Chanel “What is the first thing you eat in the morning and the last thing you, eat at night and she replied “ A camellia in the morning and an orchid at night”. A video showed the gentle handling of the camellias from the garden to the factory and there were rows of camellia plants displaying their perfect, symmetrical white flowers. At the end, there was a greenhouse with glass beakers and test tubes, showing how the process by which the camellia flowers are extracted in to precious oils. The guide pumped a tiny dot of two of the extracts on my hand, which had the wonderful perfume of the camellias. At the very end I received of Hydra Beauty Micro serum.
After the my Chanel sensory experience, I visited the rest of the Jardins, Jardin exhibit, checking out the latest garden innovations along with stalls overflowing with the most beautiful late spring blooms.
August in Paris- My Marais Apartment for Rent August 16 to August 29
I am renting my Marais loft from August 16 to August 29 (Dates are flexible). Contrary to popular myth that Paris is closed in August, most shops, restaurants, and attractions are open in Paris, especially in the Marais. The weather is usually beautiful, temperatures in the high 70s to low 80s Fahrenheit during the day, dropping into the mid 60s at night. In case in gets warmer, I have an air conditioner in the bedroom and a large fan in the living area.
Minimum rental period is 7 days/one week, price 1500€ for 7 days/one week, 2900€ for 14 days/2 weeks.
Conveniently located by the Saint Paul metro, in the heart of the Marais, the apartment is a spacious one-bedroom 750 sq. ft. loftwith 12 ft. ceilings, decorated in chic Mid-Century Modern furniture and sleeps two people in a Queen size bed. Amenities include washer/dryer, 16" flat screen TV, dishwasher, internet connection/Wifi and free long distance calls to the U.S. The apartment is located on the second floor with a large elevator
If you love salted butter caramels, please watch my newest A Bite of Parisvideo about Henri Le Roux, the man who actually invented the salted butter caramel.
Last week I took a spontaneous trip from Paris to see the Princess Grace Exhibit in Granville, Normandy.
It was a bit of a long day trip, 3 hours and fifteen minutes each way from Gare Montparnasse.
I arrived about noon and it was a blustery day, with the sun teasing in and out of the thick clouds overhead.
The Christian Dior Museum is the home where Christian Dior grew up in the early 1900s. In his memoir, “ Christian Dior et Moi”, he states, "I have most tender and amazed memories... of my childhood home. I would even say that my life and my style owe almost everything to its site and architecture." Named Villa Les Rhumbs, Dior’s parents bought the house in 1905, but in 1932 his father had to sell the house because of financial ruin in The Great Depression. The town of Granville purchased the villa, and the garden was open to the public starting in 1938. In 1997 the house was converted into the Christian Dior Museum, and now features temporary exhibits of the great couturier.
In the fairy tale story of the American movie star falling for Prince Charming, Grace Kelly meets Prince Rainier III of Monaco during the Cannes Film Festival in May 6, 1955, while presenting the Alfred Hitchcock film The Perfect Crime. She’s seduced by his charms and six months later the couple announce their engagement at her family home in Philadelphia. The next day she wears a strapless gown decorated with flowers by Christian Dior. This starts the longtime loyalty to the House of Dior and from 1961 to 1989, Marc Bohan, the head designer, exclusively dresses her.
The 90 designs show a wide range of suits, gowns, day dresses, casual clothes, and accessories. Many are timeless and some seem dated, clothes that were better suited to the time they were worn in, but don’t seem relevant in the present day. Others, while not the most sexy or chicest of looks, are appropriate representations of what a woman of her stature and social standing wore in those times and places.
The well-curated exhibit in addition to showing various fashions, also chronicled the very public life she led, displaying magazine covers, portraits, photos, and artifacts over the decades. One room has the baby clothes she asked Dior to design for her children, thus launching Dior Baby. Of course there were many evening gowns, mostly in chiffon and muted colors, but there was a surprise splash of red and purple thrown in. Every year Princess Grace would throw a gala theme party at the royal palace, the hotly contested event of the year, drawing an international crowd. She would have designers and artists design the lavish backgrounds and sets for the ball and would have a gown designed to match. One of the most iconic gowns was a shear, ombre chiffon caftan, with colors graduating from yellow to orange to red, and jeweled neckline.
After the viewing the exhibition, I strolled through the lovely gardens, admiring the tulips, rhododendrons, poppies, forsythia, and other spring flowers. I sipped soothing mint tea in the outdoor café with wisteria festooning white wood trellises, relaxing in the tranquil setting. One area of the gardens featured a bust of Dior’s head with a blue mosaic fountain and another spot had a view of the turquoise sea in a frame of ivy.
Tomorrow I will write about the rest of my day in Granville. Stay tuned.
Grace de Monaco, ¨Princesse en Dior"
Until November 17, 2019
Christian Dior Museum, 1 rue d’Estouteville, Villa Les Rhumbs 50400 Granville
August in Paris- My Marais Apartment for Rent August 16 to August 29
I am renting my Marais loft from August 16 to August 29 (Dates are flexible). Contrary to popular myth that Paris is closed in August, most shops, restaurants, and attractions are open in Paris, especially in the Marais. The weather is usually beautiful, temperatures in the high 70s to low 80s Fahrenheit during the day, dropping into the mid 60s at night. In case in gets warmer, I have an air conditioner in the bedroom and a large fan in the living area.
Minimum rental period is 7 days/one week, price 1500€ for 7 days/one week, 2900€ for 14 days/2 weeks.
Conveniently located by the Saint Paul metro, in the heart of the Marais, the apartment is a spacious one-bedroom 750 sq. ft. loftwith 12 ft. ceilings, decorated in chic Mid-Century Modern furniture and sleeps two people in a Queen size bed. Amenities include washer/dryer, 16" flat screen TV, dishwasher, internet connection/Wifi and free long distance calls to the U.S. The apartment is located on the second floor with a large elevator
If you love salted butter caramels, please watch my newest A Bite of Parisvideo about Henri Le Roux, the man who actually invented the salted butter caramel.
Besides the big thrill of spotting Brigitte Macron at Giverny last week, a minor thrill was seeing wisteria in full bloom. I was excited to witness the wisteria cascading their dark and light purple blooms on ancient farmhouses, and stone walls throughout the village of Giverny, because where I grew up in New York wisteria did not grow.
I have also included some close ups of exquisite tulips and an extraordinary single iris. I wish the scent of the flowers could waft up from your screen as you are reading this and viewing the photos.
August in Paris- My Marais Apartment for Rent August 16 to August 29
I am renting my Marais loft from August 16 to August 29 (Dates are flexible). Contrary to popular myth that Paris is closed in August, most shops, restaurants, and attractions are open in Paris, especially in the Marais. The weather is usually beautiful, temperatures in the high 70s to low 80s Fahrenheit during the day, dropping into the mid 60s at night. In case in gets warmer, I have an air conditioner in the bedroom and a large fan in the living area.
Minimum rental period is 7 days/one week, price 1500€ for 7 days/one week, 2900€ for 14 days/2 weeks.
Conveniently located by the Saint Paul metro, in the heart of the Marais, the apartment is a spacious one-bedroom 750 sq. ft. loftwith 12 ft. ceilings, decorated in chic Mid-Century Modern furniture and sleeps two people in a Queen size bed. Amenities include washer/dryer, 16" flat screen TV, dishwasher, internet connection/Wifi and free long distance calls to the U.S. The apartment is located on the second floor with a large elevator
If you love salted butter caramels, please watch my newest A Bite of Parisvideo about Henri Le Roux, the man who actually invented the salted butter caramel.
Please remember to hit the LIKE button if you like it and SUBSCRIBE button to subscribe to my channel.
Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour 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, Girlfriend Tours, Food Tours, Flea Market Tours, Paris Highlights Tours, and Chocolate & Pastry tours.
Tours start at 225 euros for up to 3 people, and 75 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.
I have never been to Giverny in April before, and last week I had the opportunity to visit twice with my tour clients.
Last Tuesday was a mostly sunny day and my client and I arrived at Giverny about 11:30AM. We toured the Japanese garden first and as we were walking we came upon a large crowd drawing unusual attention. An entourage of serious men in suits wearing headpieces passed us followed by Brigitte Macron and some Japanese guests. I greeted her guards and asked if I could take a photo and was pleasantly surprised when they said yes. It turns out Brigitte Macron was with the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife Akie, who were here on an official state visit. Claude Monet was fascinated with Japanese art and culture, collecting over Japanese 230 prints in his lifetime, so it was fitting for Abe to visit Giverny.
Since it was April, the palette of flowers and greenery were vastly different from when I had visited in July, August, and September in years past. Rows of tulips dominated the flowerbeds in the most saturated colors of red, pink, yellow, and purple. One specimen of tulips with ragged edges in a specific shade of white that’s only produced in nature, was spectacular in its beauty. Cherry blossoms, azaleas, and lilac branches flourished in the landscape while the tail end of irises and daffodils claimed their last flowers.
I returned on Friday, to a mostly crisp, clear sunny day with much gratitude for being able to experience Giverny twice in one week in all its remarkable glory.
August in Paris- My Marais Apartment for Rent August 16 to August 29
I am renting my Marais loft from August 16 to August 29 (Dates are flexible). Contrary to popular myth that Paris is closed in August, most shops, restaurants, and attractions are open in Paris, especially in the Marais. The weather is usually beautiful, temperatures in the high 70s to low 80s Fahrenheit during the day, dropping into the mid 60s at night. In case in gets warmer, I have an air conditioner in the bedroom and a large fan in the living area.
Minimum rental period is 7 days/one week, price 1500€ for 7 days/one week, 2900€ for 14 days/2 weeks.
Conveniently located by the Saint Paul metro, in the heart of the Marais, the apartment is a spacious one-bedroom 750 sq. ft. loftwith 12 ft. ceilings, decorated in chic Mid-Century Modern furniture and sleeps two people in a Queen size bed. Amenities include washer/dryer, 16" flat screen TV, dishwasher, internet connection/Wifi and free long distance calls to the U.S. The apartment is located on the second floor with a large elevator
If you love salted butter caramels, please watch my newest A Bite of Parisvideo about Henri Le Roux, the man who actually invented the salted butter caramel.
Please remember to hit the LIKE button if you like it and SUBSCRIBE button to subscribe to my channel.
Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour 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, Girlfriend Tours, Food Tours, Flea Market Tours, Paris Highlights Tours, and Chocolate & Pastry tours.
Tours start at 225 euros for up to 3 people, and 75 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.
Late last Saturday morning after relaxing with a café noisette at my favorite Paris café, Les Nemours (a blog about that soon), I strolled into Palais Royal to see if I could find something new to photograph.
It’s funny how things in nature happen so quickly; Just a few days earlier I passed through the Palais Royal and all the trees were bare, nary a bloom. But suddenly out of nowhere, Mother Nature waved her magic wand and had the magnolia trees burst into bloom. Most were in that perfect shade of pink that only nature could produce, but I did spot a few white ones. The wind had strewn many of the leaves onto benches, the tops of shrubs, and on the ground.
The sky was gray with a blue hue, kind of like that weird blue rinse grandmothers use to apply to their hair, which made the pink magnolias pop.
Do you have a favorite from this series?
Last week to see my photo exhibit at Hotel Pont Royal, 5-7 rue Montalembert, 75007 Metro: Rue du Bac
Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour 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, Girlfriend Tours, Food Tours, Flea Market Tours, Paris Highlights Tours, and Chocolate & Pastry tours.
