I Prefer Paris

Best of Eye Prefer Paris:Paris Window Boxes 3

2013-05-15T07:36:02+02:00

I am taking a blogging break this week to focus on my photo exhibit opening this Thursday. I am reposting a series of gardens to give you a breath of Paris in the spring.

Here is my third edition of the glorious window boxes adorning the terraces of Paris. Take a whiff and a look and enjoy!

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

Tours cost 210 euros for up to 3 people, and 70 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

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte's professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday,Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 2 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

New Eye Prefer Paris Photos for Sale

I am happy to announce the sale of a new set of prints of my Eye Prefer Paris Photos. I am offering 20 of my most popular and iconic images for sale including my doors, architectural details, statues, and monuments. They will make great gifts for all your Francophile friends, relatives, and colleagues but don't forget to buy some for yourself.

Click here to see photos and for full details including sizes, prices, and shipping. Here is a sample of some of the photos.

Best of Eye Prefer Paris:Albert Kahn Gardens

2013-05-14T06:01:00+02:00

I am taking a blogging break this week to focus on my photo exhibit opening this Thursday. I am reposting a series of gardens to give you a breath of Paris in the spring.
I recently discovered a second Japanese garden in Paris besides the one at UNESCO which I wrote about last month. The Albert Kahn Gardens and Museum is located off a busy thoroughfare in Boulougne, right outside of Paris. I crossed the heavily trafficked boulevards when I came out of the metro and wondered how there could be a Japanese garden in the vicinity. Never in a million years would you expect such a peaceful oasis garden next to such a mundane and commercial part of the city. I entered the gardens through the museum which I thought I would get to later but never did because I indulged in the splendor of the gardens for over two hours on a blissful sunny day.

Albert Kahn was a wealthy French banker and philanthropist living in Paris the early 1900s and acquired a sizeable plot of land in the Paris suburb Boulougne-Billancourt. He created a special Japanese garden, which includes an authentic Japanese house and tearoom and also a traditional English garden along with a rose garden. Kahn was also an avid photography collector and sent photographers to over 50 countries to expand his collection to over 72,000 photographs. Unfortunately, Kahn’s fortune was wiped out during the Great Depression in 1929, but luckily the city turned it into a museum with his photos and maintained the gardens.

10-14 rue du Port
Boulogne-Billancourt
Metro: Boulougne- Pont de Saint-Cloud
Open Tuesday to Sunday 11AM-6PM
http://www.albert-kahn.fr/english/

New Eye Prefer Paris Photos for Sale

Click here to see photos and for full details including sizes, prices, and shipping. Here is a sample of some of the photos.

Best of Eye Prefer Paris:Gardens at Hotel Dieu

2013-05-13T06:01:00+02:00

I am taking a blogging break this week to focus on my photo exhibit opening this Thursday. I am reposting a series of gardens to give you a breath of Paris in the spring.

The only time I have been inside the Hotel Dieu, the oldest hospital in Paris, is when I was writhing in excruciating pain from a kidney stone attack and went to the ER. (Cick here to read about my experience). Besides the banal waiting room and the holding room, I don't remember much except for screaming at the top of my lungs for painkillers and moaning that I wish the stone would pass.

A new friend of mine told me there was a beautiful garden inside the hospital. Never one to pass up the opportunity to see an undiscovered garden in Paris, I went last week to check it out. I shuddered at the thought of returning to the scene of the pain but I let it pass.

I arrived with no sign of a kidney attack lurking and sauntered through the serene and lush garden with late August blooms and lots of foliage. I loved the classic swirled shrubs and the bright red and yellow flowers. The fountain, stairways, and archways had more of Venetian architecture but the garden style was pure French.

Hotel Dieu was founded by the Archbishop Saint Landry in 651 and remains the oldest operating hospital in Paris. Before 1908 , care was still given by Augustine sisters. It was destroyed by fires at numerous times and the current buildings are from 1877. The courtyard garden was installed in 1975. The hospital has 349 beds.

To enter the gardens go to the front entrance of the hospital in the square of Notre Dame on the Ile de Cité. Once you enter make a right down the corridor and then a left to the garden entrance. If you go, please let me know if you enjoy it.

New Eye Prefer Paris Photos for Sale

Click here to see photos and for full details including sizes, prices, and shipping. Here is a sample of some of the photos.

A Guide to Discovering the Hidden Side of Paris

2013-05-10T06:01:00+02:00

This is a guest post about hidden Paris

Everyone knows what Paris is famous for: the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and the stunning collection of art that now hangs in the majestic halls of the Bourbon Palace at Le Louvre.

There is no denying that these are truly wonderful things, but there is so much more to see in Paris. If you look around, you can find lesser known sites that really capture the divine, unique character of this wonderful city.

Here is a guide to the hidden attractions of Paris, one of the best city breaks you’re likely to find.

The Graveyards

Paris once led the world when it came to culture, learning and the arts, so it’s little wonder that so many artists and creative geniuses are buried here, including Oscar Wilde, Balzac, Jim Morrison, Isadora Duncan, Marcel Proust, Edith Piaf and Gertrude Stein.

Head to the Père Lachaise and Montparnasse, where you’ll find a labyrinth full of haunting yet exquisite monuments to some of the greatest thinkers, artists, writers, poets and musicians that have shaped the world we inhabit today.

The Catacombs

The Catacombes de Paris is a huge underground ossuary, holding the skeletal remains of around six million people. It's a visual representation to the long and storied history of the largest urban area in Paris and all those who have passed their time here over the centuries.

The catacombs were created out of necessity, when the number of dead became such a problem that it was a threat to city’s collective health. The cemetery ground around the churches became literally saturated by decomposing corpses and those in charge needed a solution, so this was it. But it's not all as ghoulish as it sounds - there are some rather hauntingly artistic arrangements down there, such as a heart-shaped outline, formed with skulls embedded in surrounding tibia. It's worth a look if you are not too faint of heart.

Smaller Museums

When people think of museums in Paris, they think of Le Louvre. However, there are more than 140 museums in total around this great city, with the City Hall of Paris owning 50 alone. Many are tiny, but quaint and unique, with permanent collections that are free to view. You should be able to find them with a little research; there are plenty of websites available that will help you find your way around these little gems.

Guided Food Tours

In a city so famed for is cuisine, it’d be a crime to visit Paris without properly sampling the food. The best way to do this is to embark on one of the city’s many food tours. There are plenty of websites out there which provide the details you need. There are guide-lead affairs, which you can pay for up front, or you can simply consult a best restaurant list and take your pick.

New Eye Prefer Paris Photos for Sale

Click here to see photos and for full details including sizes, prices, and shipping. Here is a sample of some of the photos.

Vocabulary Trainer on Languagecourse.net

2013-05-08T07:57:05+02:00

I am still not entirely fluent in French and every little tool helps.

I was sent a link a month ago from http://www.languagecourse.net about a new online vocabulary trainer. I tried it and it is very easy and effective. You type in the language you want to learn along with the language you speak. You then receive a series of eight words with their meanings by audio and on the page along with an image. The list of words is repeated again, and then another set of seven words appears using the same process. After 28 words, you are given a multiple -choice test to see if you learned the words. The ones that you missed are repeated in the next set of words. There are five thousand words to study. You can also create your own online flashcards.

The site also has an extensive list of over 4,000 language schools worldwide with the lowest price possible guaranteed and the ratings are from students who attended the schools.

http://www.languagecourse.net

Tours cost 210euros for up to 3 people, and 70 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

New Eye Prefer Paris Photos for Sale

Click here to see photos and for full details including sizes, prices, and shipping. Here is a sample of some of the photos.