Author Archives: Parisian Fields

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About Parisian Fields

Parisian Fields is the blog of two Toronto writers who love Paris. When we can't be there, we can write about it. We're interested in everything from its history and architecture to its graffiti and street furniture. We welcome comments, suggestions, corrections, and musings from all readers.

The genius of the opera-ballet

On July 10, 2011, the world of dance lost Roland Petit, a brilliant and original French choreographer. His best-known works were not the pretty-pretty ballets of fairies and swans in white fluffy tutus, but human dramas of passion, violence, elation, … Continue reading

Posted in Paris dance, Paris music | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Beauty and the bridge

I love bridges and cannot imagine Paris without them. In Paris I gaze at them, linger on them, and take photographs. At home I remember them fondly. But of them all is there one that I love the most? Oh … Continue reading

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Unreliable memories

Memory is a slippery thing. It depends a lot upon what you notice at the time. (Norman: I wonder who owns that yellow Lamborghini parked down the street. Me: There’s a Lamborghini parked on our street?) It also depends upon … Continue reading

Posted in Paris film | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Tall tales and some Paris-Marseille rivalry

Tall tales abound in every culture. When Philippa and I set out to explore our new neighbourhood in May, we never suspected that we would learn more about tall tales in France. On the nearby Rond-Point des Champs Elysées, a … Continue reading

Posted in Paris history, Paris popular culture, Paris postcards | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The collectors

Before our last trip to Paris, a friend and fellow Francophile lent me a book to read on the plane: The Hare with the Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal. I highly recommend this absorbing family saga, imaginatively told through … Continue reading

Posted in Paris gardens, Paris history, Paris museums | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

French advertising postcards (I’ll drink to that)

With our flat only steps away from the Garden of the Champs Elysées near Avenue Gabriel, it was inevitable that we would meet. How could I resist colour so wonderfully lurid in a science-fiction/absinthe sort of way? My eyes didn’t … Continue reading

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Guessing games

A little shop that we often visit is Tumbleweed on the rue de Turenne. As its name suggests, the owner is American, and the tiny boutique features everything from puzzles to children’s shoes to wonderful bags printed with images of … Continue reading

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Learning French at Monoprix

When French is not your first language, every visit to a French supermarket is like walking into a three-dimensional visual dictionary. Even though we have bilingual labelling here in Canada, we still learn new vocabulary each time we go shopping … Continue reading

Posted in Paris food, Paris shops | Tagged , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Knock knock

Visits to Paris flats or offices often begin with the ubiquitous buzzer and intercom, or the guarded keypad entry code, followed by the click and release of an electrically operated door lock. Mail goes into small boxes in the lobby. … Continue reading

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The invisible woman

As the saying goes, “Behind every great man stands a woman, rolling her eyes.” In the case of the Modernist architect Le Corbusier, that woman was probably Charlotte Perriand, his colleague and co-creator in the 1930s. Only she was probably … Continue reading

Posted in Paris art, Paris museums | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments