Learning French? French Today is your resource.

If you want to learn French and want a resource-packed website to boot, check out my good colleague Camille Chevalier's website www.frenchtoday.com

Camille lives in France and has been very smart at thinking through how she can both teach students via phone and online and also offer quality educational products. She also invites contributors to her website who post up to date pieces on Paris and French travel.

This is an excellent resource.

New App.. yogoguide for Paris

Yogoguide has created a free, useful and easy to use new Paris website accessible by computer and smartphone. You choose your topic.. dining, lodging, sights and more and scroll over a map to see your options. There is a good list of permanent markets, including the flea markets, book and stamp markets, and overall the information is comprehensive and useful for planning a trip or for checking in on ideas and choices while you are in Paris. Take a look. An app is in the works too.

http://www.yogoguide.com/yogoguide-paris-visitor.php

Le Saotico: New top choice for market fresh French cooking

I was very happy to receive a note from Anne Surcouff telling me that she and her talented chef husband, Hughes Gournay, are back on the Paris dining scene after a hiatus of a couple of years. I used to frequent their intimate Le Reminet in the Latin Quarter and referred lots of clients there as well. The food was always delicious, market-fresh, a little inventive and very fairly priced. Le Reminet is still in business under different owners, but, now this culinary couple has purchased a duplex space at 96 rue de Richelieu (near the Opera Comique and Bourse... not that far from the Louvre and Palais Royal) and they are serving Mondays through Fridays 8-8. The unusual hours are due to this location in a very lively business quarter, but, one that is a bit quieter at night. So dinner is still being worked out but there is already a devoted lunch clientele. I plan to stop for lunch when I am in Paris in late October and will report... with photos! But I know I can recommend this chef and his lovely spouse who creates a warm, sophisticated atmosphere for a good meal, still at a fair price. Check Le Saotico out. The restaurant name by the way is the name for the succulent tiny grey shrimp found off the Normandy coast. That bodes well.

Annual "Days of Patrimony" weekend September 18-19

Once again a full weekend is dedicated to opening up hundreds of public buildings and some private collections not generally accessible to the public. This excellent annual event called Les Journees du Patrimoine will be September 18 and 19 this year. Check out the website www.journeesdupatrimoine.culture and plan your priority visits. Some sites do have long lines... people love this opportunity to get inside glorious spaces and take a look around.

This is an event all over France, not just in Paris. Access to all venues is free. Don't miss this one if you are in France!

It's September & Cultural LIfe Roars Back to Paris!

In early September Paris undergoes a noticeable re-invigoration. Cafes and restaurants open up again, everyone is back from summer vacation. The cultural calendar swells with events of all types…. Major art and antique shows, music of every persuasion. Here are just a few things you might want to note if you are visiting Paris in September.

The blockbuster art show of the season will be a major Monet show at the Grand Palais, September 22 through January 10.

Lovers of antiques and design will not want to miss the Bienniale des Antiquaires, September 15 to 22 at the Grand Palais. This massive event features top quality, often very rare items ranging from furnishings to jewelry to paintings to archaelogical finds. There are 25 new international dealers in this year’s show adding to an already remarkable variety of offerings.

As fall arrives, the Opera en Plein Air season continues. Visit the ground of the Hotel des Invalides to hear Carmen performed from September 7-14. www.operaenpleinair.com

If you love Django Reinhardt’s gypsy jazz check out the Django Dorm concert at the Salle Pleyel on September 30.

And that’s just a start!

Coffee and Cake in Paris, New York Style...

A New York Coffee Shop In Paris!

Just in case you are homesick for coffee cake and coffee “New Yorkaise” when visiting Paris you can stop in at ‘Le Coffee Shop Merce and the Muse’ located at 1 rue Charles Francois Dupuis in the 3rd arrondissement (near Republique). The American owner has modeled his shop on classic Greenwich Village coffee shops. If one more croissant is just too much to contemplate, hard as that is to fathom, keep this one in mind. Just one more good stop to keep in mind when exploring the ‘upper Marais’.

Monet et l'Abstraction at the Marmottan

The Musee Marmottan near the Bois de Boulogne is hosting a gem of a show through September. Much has been written about Monet's later works prefiguring modern abstraction and this show is an excellent opportunity to draw your own conclusions about Monet's impact on modern artists. I saw a similar show at the Thyssen Bornemissa museum in Madrid last April and it was one of the best small shows I had ever seen... provocative and interesting. The Marmottan is featuring 20 of their Monet masterworks and hangs them alongside works by Jackson Pollock, Kandinsky, Richter and others.

If you are in Paris this summer or early September this show should be on your list.

Musée Marmottan Monet: 2, rue Louis-Boilly, 75016, Paris. Métro: Muette. Tel.: 01 42 24 07 02. Open Tuesday, 11am-9pm, Wednesday-Saturday, 11am-6pm. Closed Monday. Admission: €9. Through September 26. www.marmottan.com