Affordable Seats at the Paris Opera - French Culture
Tickets to an opera or ballet performance entitle their holder to a red velvet seat within a grandiose espace. Reflecting on expectations for your evening before purchasing billets will ensure a pleasurable experience. Set your evening in the ... [... more]
Bella Online |
Tout est Possible - A New President for France - French ...
As Nicholas Sarkozy, once deemed the conservative candidate of change, now proudly owning the title president of the French republic, addressed his countrymen, he described what was lying behind his promise "everything is possible." With a [... more]
Bella Online |
Paris Winter Fashion - French Culture
Lugged out after a summer's hibernation amid bottles of wine and dusty furniture, cartons of heavy winter garments are aired of their mustiness before joining cramped closet quarters. As winter winds frost windowpanes and tree canopies become ... [... more]
Bella Online |
Art, Chocolate and Taxidermy on Rue du Bac - French Culture
An impressionist painting of a bather's rear enticed me to attend another of the Musée Maillol's openings without any prior knowledge of Jules Pascin's work. More than the subject itself, not far from the way I perceive my rumpled reflection ... [... more]
Bella Online |
A Coastal Franco-American Wedding - French Culture
I woke up early, before most of the guests had stirred from their beds, and began fashioning myself into the bride I'd spent my life envisioning. After coiffing my locks into soft starlet waves and slipping into courthouse frock, I paused to look ... [... more]
Bella Online |
History in a Portrait - French Culture
I take pleasure in rifling through the contents of dusty old boxes, sifting treasure from trash. I've come to know family I've never met through photographs. Some I've rescued from curbside trash piles, the black and white images gazing back at ... [... more]
Bella Online |
Once Upon a Tart - French Culture
Sounds like a fairytale and on sunnier days my life in France does seem to resemble one. But in the midst of another long winter all I want to do is curl up near the radiator. As an alternative to hibernating during these winter months, I suggest ... [... more]
Bella Online |
Museums of the Jardin de Tuileries - French Culture
In order to appreciate the beauty of a moment, sometimes one must take a step outside the picture. This separation provides the observer a clean palate from which to take things in. Paris, as presented from the vantage point of a worn green lawn ... [... more]
Bella Online |
Walt Disney at the Grand Palais - French Culture
Tapping a common vein between savant and popular culture, the exhibit Il Etait Une Fois Walt Disney presents the different layers of artistic influence lying behind animation. Age is irrelevant to enjoyment in peering through the kaleidoscope of ... [... more]
Bella Online |
The Privilege of Driving in France - French Culture
Arrive with your rental car reservation and a valid permit and keys are happily handed over to you, no questions asked. Decide to set up residence and the day your shiny carte de séjour, the visa that extends your stay beyond 3 months, arrives ... [... more]
Bella Online |
This is Paris - Children's Book Review - French Culture
Originally published in 1959, Miroslav Sasek's This is Paris is a leisurely tour through the city's avenues that stops to take in landmarks, caress street cats and say bonjours to a café garcon, apartment concierge, street painter, policeman, ... [... more]
Bella Online |
Cave Paintings of Lascaux - French Culture
Nicknamed "Perigord's Sistine Chapel," the Grotte de Lascaux - or Cave of Lascaux - is, unfortunately, now closed to the public. Though the cave has been in existence for millions of years and recent Carbon-14 samples have shown the paintings .. [... more]
Bella Online |
