Each year from the beginning of April to the beginning of November some 250,000 people come to the village of Auvers-sur-Oise. Some come bearing a bouquet of flowers: mostly these are yellow – sunflowers. These, they will lay on a grave. The grave, against a wall and covered in ivy, is nothing extravagant: two men […]
I wrote a piece about this Paris street on the following two sites: English Informer in France and English Informer in the UK In a townhouse on this street a serial killer had slaughtered hundreds. Tweet #MarilynZTomlins
Every day, and every night, women and men are being paid for sex here in Paris. This is because the April 14 2016 law which fines those that pay for sex, is not working. “I am the owner of my apartment,” one female prostitute says, “so let the law prove that a man having […]
Say ‘Paris’ to folks and they think … Think what? Garlicky snails: oh how horrible? The Can-Can: rather vulgar? The Eiffel Tower: oh how wonderful? And then there are those who think: paintings … sculptures … For paintings there are the museums of the Louvre, Orsay, Montmartre etc etc etc. For sculptures, there […]
Walking through the Louvre museum I always come to a halt when a thought comes into my head. The thought is a calculation. I always try to imagine the combined value of the works of art around me. I never can: there are not enough numbers in my head to do such a calculation. On […]
You’ve been to the Château of Versailles, and you still want to see another chateau. In that case, the Château of Fontainebleau is the answer. In fact, very many of those who visit it think that this château is much more beautiful than that of Versailles. I thought so too, now I wonder whether […]
It is not possible, you will say, to steal the Mona Lisa from the Louvre. Well it is … it was! As you will discover when you read what I’ve written here. The streets of Paris were already hot but still silent on this summer morning just before eight. It was Monday, August 21. The […]
I’ve started to paint. Paint pictures that is and not walls. I wrote an article about it which you can read here on the site English Informer in the UK and here on the site English Informer in France . This is how I start the article: For some years I’ve wanted to paint. I mean […]
On Monday 16 May – five days from the day I am writing these words – the first of three major sporting events which Paris will host this summer is to start. This is the French Tennis Open Championship: what we call here in France ‘Roland Garros’ because the court where the matches will be […]
Just 9 kilometres (6 miles) from central Paris is the Domaine of Sceaux, pronounced So – the Park of Sceaux with its castle (chateau). It is an excellent place for a day’s outing. I wrote about it on the site – English Informer in France – and I am sure that reading my article you […]
There is no sweet story to write about the childhood of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to hang in Britain. Even the reminiscences of her sister, Muriel Jakubait, in her 2005 book, Ruth Ellis: My Sister’s Secret Life, could not pretend that the first years of the life of her little sister, six years her […]
This nun – Saint Catherine Laboure – died 140 years ago this year (2016) but her body is perfectly preserved. I wrote an article about her and her miraculous medal and her chapel in Paris which you can read here or here Are you in need of a miracle? Then do read. […]
This is when the French say Oh la la! Yesterday, the French parliament voted a new law which makes ‘buying the sexual act’ illegal! Nice way of putting it, don’t you think? The French have always had a very liberal view of prostitution. I mean the French capital has its Pigalle – or as the […]
Today is Good Friday. This day is a bank (public) holiday in many Christian countries . This is the day, as legend or history has it, that the young man named Jesus of Nazareth was crucified. There are different explanations now of why he was crucified and by whom. Was it because he had called […]
Are you an architect? If so, visiting the Villa Savoye is for you. Its architect – Le Corbusier, real name Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris – designed the villa in 1931 for a couple named Savoye. That was 85 years ago and the house’s design was revolutionary. The house is in the town of Poissy, 23.8 kms […]
