Bonjour Reader!

Welcome to New Newsletter! For sometime now, I've wanted to relaunch the newsletter with an updated look and some better content. Here we are at long last!

What's New?

First, the look is a little bit cleaner and hopefully a bit more chic!

But more importantly, I wanted to start fresh with what's included in the PGB newsletter:

• Monthly updates on Paris history and travel
• What's new with the PGB Blog & Podcast
• The Paris Tips, Tricks, & Trivia Corner
• The stories behind the stories
• And more!

For the time being, the newsletter will be monthly as I focus on creating more content. This way I actually have something to share each month!

To thank you for your patience this year, I want to share with you the PDF Guide I created for new subscribers: The Medieval Churches of Paris. A little bon-bon to tide us over while we wait for Notre Dame. Grab your copy below!

Without further ado, let's get this started!

Paris History & Travel

As summer bears down upon us, we have several cool exhibits and events coming up in the City of Light:

Éternal Mucha:

I am very excited for this! A fully immersive experience, it is billed as "A rediscovery of the master of Art Nouveau, an artist and philosopher and the source of inspiration for modern creation."

Similar to the Van Gogh immersive exhibit that toured around, you will be surrounded by Mucha as you journey through his lifetime and lasting influence. The Mucha exhibit, however, also has an olefactory experience. That I hope is a pleasantly floral scent and not of Belle Epoque Paris. Trés Francais!

Personally, I will always take Mucha over Van Gogh—Alphonse is one of my favorite artists!

Éternal Mucha takes place at the Grand Palais Immersif in the 12th. Find out more and buy tickets here.

€16-€20. Runs now through November 5. Closed on Tuesdays.

Marie Antoinette & Louis XVI - The Revolution

Technically called, "Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette and the Revolution: The Royal Family at the Tuileries (1789-1792)" this is a free exhibit at the National Archives in the Marais. It is the complete opposite of the Mucha experience. This is a more traditional exhibit of artifacts focused on the key Revolutionary period of 1789-1792 (before the beheadings in 1793).

What interests me the most are Louis XVI's diary (which plays a fairly prominent role in the recent PBS/BBC/Canal+ series) and some of the letters between Marie Antoinette and her possible/probable lover Count Axel von Fersen. It looks like the exhibit will be predominently in French, so be prepared.

It is free and running from now through July 3 and then returns August 30–November 6. Even French exhibits take summers off!

But not only do we get to see such intriguing artifacts, we get a chance to go into the National Archives building! I've only been in the courtyard so far. This will be one step closer to my bucket list item of doing actual research in the archive library there!

Nuit Blanche 2023

Speaking of that courtyard, the one time I saw it was for Nuit Blanche way back in October 2009. For 2023, Nuit Blanche has been moved to June 3—breaking with the October tradition for the first time since it began in 2002!

Nuit Blanche is a night of arts, entertainment, and culture on a grand scale. Museums are open late, arts events take place in all sorts of public spaces, and you never know what will be on display. Which is how dear brother and I ended up in the National Archives courtyard, trying to figure out what to make of a giant floating purple donut. What's your take?

A few years ago, I went again and had a much more low-key evening at Les Invalides. It is definitely a choose-your-own-adventure type of night!

Fete de la Musique

June is going to be a busy month! At the solstice, on June 21, the annual musical festival will return. Music is everywhere! Amateurs and professionals alike use Paris as their stage. If you love music or just letting your hair down, this one's for you!

Paris Tips, Tricks, & Trivia

One of the pleasures of France is of course the bread! Last week, the annual Grand Prix de la Baguette contest was held and this year's winner is Tharshan Selvarajah and his bakery "Au levain des Pyrénées". He'll receive a cash prize and, more importantly, the honor of supplying the Élysée Palace (France's White House) with baguettes for a year.

And, for the first time in the 30 year history of the contest, the winner is also the annual official supplier of baguettes to the Hotel de la Ville. I'm pretty sure Denver's City & County building doesn't receive fresh baked baguettes every day!

The boulangerie is a bit off the beaten path, in the 20th. But if you would like to taste the same bread that President Macron or Mayor Hildago are enjoying, then check it out!

If you are just interested in a good baguette, check out this year's Top Ten for more tasty options:

1. Tharshan Selvarajah - “Levain des Pyrénées” 44 rue des Pyrénées (20th)
2. Thierry Guyot “Guyot bakery and pastry shop” - 28 rue Monge (5th)
3. Jocelyn Lohezic “House Lohezic” - 143 rue de Courcelles (17th)
4. Benjamin Turenne “All Around Bread” - 134 rue de Turenne (3rd)
5. Florian Bleas “Aux Délices de Vaugirard” 48 rue Madame (6th)
6. Frank Tombarel "Félix's Attic" - 64 avenue Félix Faure (15th)
7. Kilani Ounissi “Kilani Bakery” - 191 rue du faubourg Saint-Antoine (11th)
8. Maxime Julien "The Flavors of Lévis" - 41 rue de Lévis (17th)
9. Mohkam Karoui "The Time of a Gourmandise" - 94 boulevard de Port-Royal (5th)
10. Kouni Elayeb “The Delight of Bagnolet” - 42 boulevard Mortier (20th)

And if you would like to learn more about the contest and practice your French, check out this podcast episode from Duolingo French.

Coming Soon

Now that I finally have the newsletter relaunch done (whew!), stay tuned for more podcast episodes and blog posts coming soon!

Have a topic you would like me to cover? Drop me a line and let me know!

À bientôt!

Michelle

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