Heidi Ellison
Ghosts of Saint-Michel
Saints Meet Sinners in City of Light
In his new thriller/murder mystery, Ghosts of Saint-Michel (St. Martin’s Minotaur), Jake Lamar, an American writer living in Paris, has used the sculptures on the city’s Saint-Michel Fountain, which vividly depict a triumphant Saint Michael vanquishing Satan’s forces, as both … Read More
Bed & breakfasts
Staying Chez l’Habitant The city’s new manual for bed & breakfasts. May 11, 2005; updated July 19, 2006 Paris is rich in hotels (with 75,000 rooms) but poor in bed and breakfasts (only 300 rooms). This isn’t surprising, since the … Read More
Changement d’Adresse
Moving Lovers
Changement d’Adresse literally begins with postcards of Paris as its hero (Emmanuel Mouret), a young French horn player freshly arrived from the provinces, examines racks of postcards depicting his new hometown. Once he meets the film’s heroine, Anne (brilliantly played … Read More
Château de Malmaison
Faded Roses The Salon Doré in the Château Malmaison. Photo: Thierry Vidal Known as Rose until Napoleon gave her the new first name that would follow his empress into history, Josephine (née Marie-Joseph-Rose de Tascher de la Pagerie) loved her … Read More
Musée du Quai Branly
New Parisian Monument Opens
The rest of the collection more than lives up to this highly promising beginning. France’s wealth of magnificent pieces from various cultures of Oceania, Africa, Asia and the Americas – formerly hidden away in the still-existing Musée de l’Homme and … Read More
Mini-guide to Avignon
Pont, Popes and Plays Tourists admiring the architecture of Avignon. Avignon, dominated by the imposing 14th-century Gothic fortress of the Palais des Papes and the adjacent golden-statue-topped Notre-Dame des Doms Cathedral next to it, is best known to the world … Read More
Institut National de l’Audiovisuel
Now Showing on Your Home Computer Screen May 1968 as seen on French television. © INA. While politicians and the entertainment industry argue about the right to download music and videos from the Web, France’s Institut National de l’Audiovisuel has … Read More
Dans la Peau de Jacques Chirac
Gueule d’Amour
In Dans la Peau de Jacques Chirac (Being Jacques Chirac), French television personality Karl Zéro and his collaborator Michel Royer have made a mock autobiography of Jacques Chirac by stringing together actual film clips from the French president’s 40-year political … Read More
Hotel Amour
Coolness Credentials High, Prices Low The room decorated by the artist André in the Hotel Amour. It is not true, as the French press has reported, that the new Hôtel Amour is the Parisian version of Japanese Love Hotels, where … Read More
Musée de l’Orangerie
Sistine Chapel of Impressionism Reopens
The facade of the rectangular building known as the “Sistine Chapel of Impressionism,” located on the Seine side of the Tuileries Garden (and the near-twin of the Jeu de Paume on the north side), has been left intact, but the … Read More