We all know about Normandy with regard to its history, monuments and touristic highlights: Mont St. Michel, the D Day Beaches, its Cathedrals, artists, and charming towns such as Honfleur. Within its very varied topography, there is an area that is unique and unlike the rest. It is not like Normandy ‘s flatlands and pastures. […]
Author Archives: marina.woodson
From July 5th 2017 to January 7th 2018, at the Museum of Decorative Arts The Decorative Arts Museum of Paris is celebrating the contributions of Christian Dior (1905-1957) to the world of fashion, through a retrospective of his creations. It is an occasion to explore the world of the founder while reviewing the legacy of […]
Tucked away in a quiet street (10, rue Villebois Mareuil) in the 17th district of Paris, just north of the avenue des Ternes, you will be delighted to find a haven of refined cuisine, warm hospitality and tranquility. Chef Stephane Duchiron’s approach to classic French cuisine draws on the marriage of complex flavors and textures, […]
Eugene Boudin is a great artist whose creativity has often been damned with faint praise, as in the paean ‘King of the skies.’ He is not usually recognized as a major influence in the evolution of western art and the fact that he has not been the subject of a single retrospective since 1899 is […]
For lovers of art who would like a change of exhibition pace, Paris currently offers something very original—unless you have spent time in England—as well as very appealing: an exhibition of art from Victorian England. Would it be an extension of that era’s morality? The answer, provided by this exhibition of works of English artists […]
I had long heard praise of the culinary talent of chef Alexandre Bourdas, owner of the Michelin twin-starred restaurant Sa Qua Na in Honfleur (and what he calls his canteen/inn, the Pascade, in Paris). Several of my attempts to dine at Sa Qua Na fell victim to his success: fully booked. At last I succeeded […]
I have had the good fortune to visit Bruges six times in as many years, but never during the year end holidays, which I experienced last Dec. 28th. I far preferred the previous visits. There were such dense crowds of tourists drawn to the Bruges Christmas festivities, that they transformed one of the most appealing […]
Despite its warm colors, I will not say that I find its modern décor (à la Jacques Garcia) particularly inviting, and I was not happy being relegated downstairs in the basement (the result of our late booking), but I am happy to say that the welcome, service, cuisine and the wine cellar at this 8th […]
March 10th, 2014 Lovers of Impressionism will find a real treat in the temporary exhibition “Impressionist Works from Private Collections.” It is an opportunity to see 100 works rarely seen by the public, including several true master-pieces, at the Marmottan Museum, 2, rue Louis Boilly, 75016 Paris, until July 6th. This exhibit coincides with […]
During the 25 years since it was inaugurated, I avoided the Bastille Opera. Somehow, it seemed irrelevant, given the alternative of the sumptuous and acoustically exquisite Garnier Opera, the favorite of no less than Maria Callas. I never found the former’s icy metal and glass exterior particularly inviting, and that it launched with serious acoustic […]