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
I am pleased as punch to have my friend Lisa Anselmo as my guest on A Bite of Paris. Lisa is the founder of Save the Paris Cafe/www.savethepariscafe.com, a website which celebrates the Paris café and the preservation of them, which in recent years has been threatened by rising rents and cultural changes.
We met at a most charming café in the 5th arrondissement across from the Poly Technique University, Les Pipos.
One note about the Les Pipos is that isn’t in the video, is when Woody Allen shot scenes from Midnight in Paris nearby on a hill close to the Pantheon, Les Pipos was his cantine and hangout when shooting the film.
Today is the beginning of my annual posts about Christmas time in Paris.
Galeries Lafayette, hands down, has the best and most creative window displays. A hoard of adorable bees in their beehive has taken over, buzzing inside and out of the grand magasin. The eleven windows feature fourteen characters and scenes such as a Winter Garden and the Queen Bee banquet.
Inside there’s the iconic Christmas tree filling the atrium from floor to ceiling with a stunning display of lights and flowers and the Queen Bee holding court on the top of the tree.
Galeries Lafayette will also have an ice-skating rink on the top floor for the Christmas season, where you can glide and pirouette while viewing the Paris Opera house and the Eiffel Tower.
In my latest A Bite of Paris video, I've taken a break from food tasting to visit my friend Jessica at La Vaissellerie, my favorite tabletop, dish ware, and kitchen shop, located in the Marais.
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.
About 10 years ago I launched Eye Prefer New York Tours with a friend of mine who was going to partner with me to do the same types of tours in New York that I do in Paris. Things did not workout with my friend and I couldn’t find someone else who had the passion and commitment to run the tours. I eventually dissolved the tours and took down the website but in the back of my mind I thought it would have been a great opportunity for the right person.
Fast forward to August of this year, when a friend of mine introduced me to Joseph Cohen, who was launching a New York City tour company doing private tours. Joseph is a native New Yorker like me, and we hit it off immediately. He seemed to have all the essential qualities to be a great tour guide- warm, passionate, friendly, fun, outgoing and most of all he has a true love of New York and the desire to share his great city with others.
To give you a little bit of background about Joseph, he’s an award-winning copywriter and has written five books.
Joseph’s company Extraordinary New York Tourswas launched in late August and his debut tours include Greenwich Village, the Lower East Side, Central Park, Brooklyn Bridge’s Early Morning Magic, and Gilded-Age Mansions and High-Class Gossip (I for sure will do this one next time I go to New York).
The tours are three-hours and the basic tours are priced @ $275 for up to three people.
Much like Eye Prefer Paris Tours, Joseph will show you a New York City you probably haven’t seen before.
I wish Joseph the best of luck and if you plan to go to New York City, please book one of his tours.
Checkout his quirky mascot on his website- a New York City pigeon wearing a yellow diamond necklace. Only in New York would this be possible!
In my latest A Bite of Paris video, I've taken a break from food tasting to visit my friend Jessica at La Vaissellerie, my favorite tabletop, dish ware, and kitchen shop, located in the Marais.
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.
The Royal Opera House of Versailles is premiering for the first time in France a production of The Ghost of Versailles in association with the Glimmerglass Festival from the U.S. Originally commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera House in New York in 1991 for their 100th anniversary, the music is composed by John Corigliano and the librettist was William Hoffman. The plot revolves around the ghosts of Marie-Antoinette and Louis XVI who are waiting in purgatory for writer Beaumarchais to see if he will change their fate in his new play.
Artist Pierre Soulages is turning 100 on December 24 and still paints daily. The Louvre is celebrating this incredible milestone with a retrospective of 20 works. Soulages only paints in black but through a particular technique, the paintings reflect light and color, which he labels outrenoir, “ultrablack” or “beyond black”.
The mega-hit An American in Paris returns for a holiday run. Don’t miss this spectacular production with George Gershwin’s original score with popular classics I’ve Got Rhythm, S’Wonderful, The Man I Love, and But Not for Me.
Vaux Vicomte pulls out all the stops for Christmas with special lights, festive decorations and trees, and holiday music fillingevery room along with crackling fires in every fireplace. The star of the holiday celebration is an eight-minute long illumination show that covers the entire outside of the palace.
Lost in Frenchlation is a terrific organization that screens current French and foreign films with English subtitles. Checkout this link https://www.facebook.com/lostinfrenchlation/ to view films being screened this month.
In my latest A Bite of Paris video, I've taken a break from food tasting to visit my friend Jessica at La Vaissellerie, my favorite tabletop, dish ware, and kitchen shop, located in the Marais.
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.
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays and for the last thirteen years I have published this French Thanksgiving vocabulary list, courtesy of my former New York French teacher, Luc Georges.
Since Thanksgiving is not an official holiday in France, many ex-pats postpone their Thanksgiving dinner for Friday or Saturday, but some are traditionalists and make it on Thursday. The advantage is that if you play your cards right, you may get invited to more than one Thanksgiving meal. This year Vincent is making Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday and we are invited on Saturday to another dinner.
Happy Thanksgiving and be thankful for what you have and for your family and friends. What are you thankful for this year?
I am thankful for my health, my loving and supportive relationship with Vincent (we celebrated our 43d anniversary this year), my family, my friends, living in Paris, Eye Prefer Paris, my rewarding tour business and the wonderful people I meet from all over the world, the opportunity to travel and most important of all, good health.
French Thanksgiving Vocabulary
Thanksgiving le jour de l'action de grâce
autumn, fall l'automne colony une colonie feast un festin, un banquet football le football américain grateful (adj) reconnaissant harvest la récolte horn of plenty la corne d'abondance native (adj) natif (Native American) Indians les Indiens (d'Amérique) November novembre parade un défilé Pilgrims les pèlerins settlers les colons to share partager Thursday jeudi tradition une tradition traditional (adj) traditionnel treaty un traité tribe une tribu
The food served for the Thanksgiving feast varies from home to home, but here are some traditional dishes.
food la nourriture corn le maïs cranberries les canneberges gravy la sauce au jus de viande mashed potatoes la purée pumpkin pie la tarte à la citrouille stuffing la farce sweet potatoes les patates douces
In my latest A Bite of Paris video, I've taken a break from food tasting to visit my friend Jessica at La Vaissellerie, my favorite tabletop, dish ware, and kitchen shop, located in the Marais.
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.
Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with 
