Living in a painting
After experiencing what I now consider the worst day of my life, I arrived in Giverny France. Upon entering La Musardiere, the hotel I'd be staying at, I was greeted by the nicest staff I have ever met. Being concerned, they sat me down and fed me...
Hall of Mirrors
The Hall of Mirrors is the biggest room in the Palace of Versailles. It owes its name to the 17 mirror arches facing 17 windows overlooking the Park.
Unlikely art: 'beware of words' in Paris
In the Belleville neighborhood of Paris, this wall that would otherwise be nondescript brick is covered in unlikely art, with the caveat: "beware of words." A bit of artistic 3-D in the 20th arrondissement, by the artist Benjamin Vautier.
(To see...
Serenading the dead
We don't know if Chopin, Molière, Colette, Jim Morrison, Édith Piaf, Oscar Wilde, and other famous denizens of Père Lachaise were disturbed by the keening sounds of Bruce Ackley's soprano saxophone on this cold January afternoon. But a security...
Cheeseheads in Heaven
We had only a few nights in Paris, and on the last, we followed Jim Mayer's lead, which he culled from a guidebook that called Restaurant Chez Astier's cheese plate the best in the city. Dinner was great; very traditional. And I remember the wines...
The Famous Montmartre Man
I was wandering the back alleys of Montmartre's touristic Place du Tertre when I spied this restaurant worker taking a break at the back door of this creperie.
At the moment I went to snap the shutter he spied me as well. Although he appeared...
Manicured
Manicured hedges in a hidden garden off of Rue Francs-Bourgeois in the Marais district
