You will be able to start applying for timed FREE tickets to visit Notre Dame around October and, for the first six months of the reopening (from December 8 th), only individuals and Parisian groups of pilgrims will be allowed. Do not try to buy tickets now because a number of fraudulent sites are selling them… Both Monseigneur Ulrich, archbishop … Read More
The New France and the Olympics
It has been a rule in the past that when Great Britain turns to the Tories, France elects a socialist government (Thatcher/Mitterrand), (Blair/Chirac) (Gordon Brown/ Sarkozy) and in this case, the Labor Sir Keir Starmer, elected in a landslide last Thursday has given us the worst fears as to the future majority of the Front National (Le Pen) over Le … Read More
An aristocratic week end in the Sarthe and the Mayenne
A friend of mine, Sabine de La Rochefoucauld, invited me to the ordination of her son Bernard, a thirty three year old graduate of the ESCP business school and a handsome boy. For the last two months, I was utterly excited to be able to witness this “wedding with God”, which such few men undertake nowadays. And so I planned … Read More
Who’s who this week? A very young golfer, a diplomat and an artist
Three wonderful news this week in the Parisian world: Gérard Araud, 71, former French ambassador to Washington, has been elected President of the powerful association of Les Amis du Louvre, Valentine Delon, 19, and a sophomore at Virginia Tech, has won the French amateur Ladies championship in Lyon. And Eva Jospin is exhibiting her 107 m long embroidered fresco in … Read More
At Chimay, music reigns in the heart of Prince Philippe and Princesse Françoise
I had not been so moved by a concert in a private theater since I heard Natalie Dessay sing “the Queen of the night” aria at Château de Groussay in 2004… Last week, the occasion was the Royal Chamber orchestra of Wallonie performing Salieri, Mozart and Haydn in the ravishing theater of château de Chimay, in the South of Belgium. … Read More
Marie and Felix Bracquemond, Fondation Custodia, ADOR in Versailles… so much to see and so little time
On Tuesday April 30 at 2.30pm, Artcurial is auctioning Marie and Felix Bracquemond‘s drawings, paintings and Gobelins tapestries kept in the family until now. And also various services of plates, made by Creil et Montereau in 1866 and Haviland. This exceptional couple who met at the Louvre, were very close to the Impressionists. While Felix was mostly a printer (I … Read More
Flippers and juke boxes at La Monnaie de Paris, what fun!
“Insert Coin” is the story of two wonderful kids who love flippers and all coin machines. One, Nicolas Galiffi is a marketing consultant, specialized in pop culture, who loves and collects toys and games, the other Jean Baptiste Clais is curator of Asian collections and porcelains at Musée du Louvre. He also has a doctorate in social anthropology, teaches at … Read More
Societies of friends are the new (social) power…
Now that everyone spends their time sending text messages and posting on Instagram, physical social life has virtually disappeared from our lives. I find myself enjoying talking to my baker more and more while buying a baguette! But little by little, “the Friends of…” and “Cercle des Mécènes” have developed and created cultural salons focused on specific themes. In music, … Read More