Bonjour/hi!
I start this email (having recovered from a series of winter maladies, merci dieu) with two unusual request/offer!
1: I am one of the researchers for a major travel guide to France — I handle Normandy, which I love, and which reminds me so much of where I am from, in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. If anyone has been recently and wanted to suggest hotels or restaurants they loved — please let me know! I am always looking for great new venues and it can be really transformative for the owners of those venues. Normandy only!!! I ask every time I do it and get a load of recs for Paris that I am personally happy to gobble up for myself but that situation does not benefit anyone but me.
2: Not specifically France related: I am an adult who loves the Hunger Games books so much, but I do not like clutter, and if you would like my brand-new, read-once copy of Sunrise on the Reaping (so good I am obsessed!!!!!), just reply to this email, first one gets it, I’m sorry because this is a clunky way to do it but I don’t have a better idea at present.
Now, the news from France!
1. Lucas Bravo (a.k.a. Emily in Paris‘s Gabriel) has a new, American, celebrity girlfriend! Er, the first comment on this story is: “Yikes! Neither one of them are significant news,” I guess everything is relatif, etc etc.
2. There are a zillion podcasts/Youtubes for French beginners, and a huge media world for advanced French speakers — but for those of us in the middle (i.e. B2/C1)? So little! Which is why I want to recommend French With Panache, which is just two people talking about interesting things (like “Why Do the French Criticize Parisians?”) in a calm way.
3. Parisians have voted in favor of pedestrianizing 500 streets.
4. This is the way — I want to do this!! An American coasting on English after two years in Paris finally integrates by volunteering at her neighborhood, community-run bar.
5. Gordon Ramsay(??) shares his favorite restaurants in Paris.
6. IYKYK: Sisley Paris’s cult-favorite Black Rose Cream Mask is for the moment 50% off at Amazon (though it’s still hella cher).
7. “In Paris, Stylish Women Prefer This Timeless Trend Over Bombers *and* Blazers”
8. An exhibition opening tomorrow at Louvre-Lens investigates how artists dress — including Rosa Bonheur, seen at top in pants — “a rarity for women in 1893.”
9. Lovers of expensive, limited-edition candles will want to know that Diptyque’s Fleur de Cerisier (Cherry Blossom) is in stores, briefly.