All stories about "Lauren Elkin"

Every so often a book is published that makes you ask yourself: how much weight did the author put on researching it? Jamie Cahill, author of the recently published Pâtisseries of Paris, has compiled the city's best pastry shops, bakeries, ice cream shops, chocolatiers, and salons de thé. Many of them happen to be concentrated in Saint-Germain, which has a sort of cruel irony to it, as this former intellectual nerve center of Paris has undergone a transformation in the last 10 years to become the center of a very expensive, very chic fashion scene, putting the Rive Gauche in YSL. But it's time you learned the sublime tension of consuming millefeuilles while not gaining mille poids. Cahill's publicist, by the way, reassures us that even after four years of this research, plus a professional pâtissier's course, plus two children, Cahill has managed to stay a size 2. "But that's another story," we are told. So, Jamie? What's the story? We'd love to know.

Popular legend has it that the couple in the famous Robert Doisneau photograph (you know, the one everyone had up in their dorm rooms in college) didn't' even know each other. He's just back from the war and they're really glad the Allies won. That's the story, anyway, but it's not true. (It was actually taken in 1950, when the two were lovers.) But that doesn't mean Paris isn't a really great place for kissing someone you just met. If you don't have a regular snogging partner, that doesn't mean you should go un-snogged! Not when there are plenty of single (and not-so-single) dragueurs out there in the thick Parisian night just waiting to make out with a stranger in a bar. Why shouldn't it be you?

For the fainter of heart, those not quite up for a sexual sauna or a club échangiste, may we suggest the following establishments as surefire spots to score a little PG-13 action.

The Parisian in-crowd has decided it's glamorous to be earth-friendly. Notorious for their crusade against generically modified food, the French have increasingly lent their inimitable style and panache to the pursuit of an organic lifestyle. Over here this sort of thing is called bio, and it's pronounced bee-oh, like what happens when you don't wear enough organic deodorant.

This week, Paris will host its first exposition entirely dedicated to sustainable consumption and all that that entails: Planète Durable runs from April 10-13 at the Porte de Versaille (Hall 4). 1€ of each entrance fee will be donated to the NGP Planete Urgence, an initiative based in Indonesia, where a tree will be planted for each euro they receive, in order to reduce global warming. The Salon will feature a "green dance floor" -- where dancers stomp on the floor to create energy which will then be transformed into electricity to provide music and light.

The dollar may have hit 1.58 to the euro in recent days, but it's spring and we're feeling like fashion. Until the dollar strengthens or we get a raise, what's a materialist in Paris to do? Skip the old standbys and pricey boutiques and check out this list of places to shop on the cheap. (If you're specifically interested in vintage and consignment shopping, go here.)

Perhaps your only idea of Paris is that it's nice in the springtime and that "in the rain the pavement shines like silver." Or perhaps you've already hung out "here in the slums of St Michel" and "on an island in the river." Whether you're a Paris newbie or an old hand, just for you, O Musical Theater Maven, we've mapped the most musically memorable spots in the city. The only rule is that the source musical has to have played on Broadway (thus the distinction between Musical Theater and Musical Comedy, which is an important one). If we've missed any, let us know, and we'll do a follow-up. (If you're looking for An American in Paris on the list, we already covered it here.)

Yesterday the Guardian featured a few of Paris's best art bloggers in an article on art blogging in Europe. It's a great piece, except that we don't think Benji bothered to do much research for it -- the only actual blogger he mentions (the worthy IVY Paris), he already featured on his first bloggy visit , when he tried to pass off four bloggers as representative of the whole Paris blogging scene. The other two "blogs" he mentions -- GoGo Paris and Paris Update-- are not blogs at all, but rather examples of that antiquated relic called a "website."

Everyone wants to get "off the beaten path" when they come to Paris, or indeed to any city, but "off the beaten path," as a concept, is awfully vague. If the Parisian beaten path leads to the Eiffel Tower and the Mona Lisa, that leaves many, many other paths unbeaten. Short of wandering haphazardly around the city-- which is a great approach for a day or so-- what's the newcomer to Paris to do?

What goes together better than food and drink? Why, food, drink, and literature! It seems appropriate that in Paris, some intelligent soul thought not only to sell coffee alongside the books, but booze and snacks. Perhaps it's a leftover legacy from the days when "literary café" referred to a place where existentialists and avant-garde writers hung out. Sadly, those dancing days are gone -- though the myth lives on in guidebooks propelling droves of tourists to Les Deux Magots and Brasserie Lipp (it is kind of -- but only just -- still OK to go to the Flore, where today's literary crowd tends to hide on the second floor and badboy author Frédéric Beigbeder awards an annual Prix de Flore to a French writer). But the literary-minded still need a low-key place to get a cup of joe, so here's the lowdown on some of today's bookish joints where you can read or buy a book with your brew.

From the publishers behind Markets of Paris and Literary Paris (as well as many more gorgeous Francophile-friendly guides) comes Paris Chic & Trendy, a guide to up-and-coming designers' studios, hip boutiques, and vintage shops. Written by Adrienne Ribes-Tiphaine, a writer for French Vogue and Elle, and featuring stunning photography by Sandrine Alouf, this is one shopping guide to Paris that would ooze chic, if chic ever condescended to ooze.

"You're going to Paris?" says Bubbe, her voice raised to a pitch normally reserved for heckling your grandfather. "They beat up little Jewish boys on the Champs-Elysées! Why are you going to Paris? Spend your money somewhere else!" Oh Bubbe, you're so 2002. We're not going to tell you there's no problem these days, because there certainly is, but we also can't let you ignore all the Jewcy goodness going on in the French capital. It's not all Shoah, all the time! It's also shopping, eating, drinking, and hooking up in bars with members of the tribe.

Picture this: You're strolling down the Boulevard Saint Germain, peering in the windows of all the design shops and antiques dealers, wishing you could take that sectional sofa home with you. But you're horrified at the shipping cost, and that Louis XIV chair won't fit in your suitcase. What's a home design maven on a budget to do? Consider taking just a little bit of Paris home with you, carefully wrapped in your suitcase. All of the following homewares stores will wrap your purchases for transport, if you ask nicely. Just request papier bulle.

Paris is a playground for the mystically minded. After all, this is where the Philosopher's Stone was created by local son Nicolas Flamel in the 15th century. Astrologers, palm readers, Grail seekers, seers, wiccans, faith healers, and the alchemically curious -- we know you're out there. We're feeling your vibes. Here's a guide to getting to know Paris on a more mysterious level, far from the fictional locales of The Da Vinci Code.

"Father has a business, strictly secondhand / Everything from toothpicks to a baby grand ..." But certain boutiques in Paris take you beyond the toothpicks to some truly fabulous accessories and home furnishings. "Secondhand Rose" France is awash with first-rate secondhand goods -- you just have to know where to look. You probably already know about the legendary flea market at St. Ouen and maybe the less-known one at Vanves. In addition to the Puces du Design and the Brocantes, here's a guide to the best secondhand boutique shopping in Paris.

You don't have to have a degree in philosophy to get embroiled in a weighty conversation over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine with friends in a Parisian cafe, questioning the nature of life, love, and existence. And you always arrive at the same conclusions, and move uncomfortably on to a less substantial topic. But wouldn't it be great if you had a bunch of professional philosophers around to help you break out of your hermeneutic circle? Here is a roundup of some of Paris' more reputable cafés philo, along with some institutions which sponsor conferences, debates, and lectures to get those wheels turning.

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, Germany and the Allies signed an armistice in a railway car in Compiègne, France. And every year since 1922, the French have made it a jour férié: businesses are closed, and the President of the Republic drives down the Champs-Elysées to salute the tombeau du soldat inconnu, where the remains of an unidentified solider fallen at Verdun were laid in 1920. It's a more somber celebration than the 14th of July, but flags are still waved and the cavalry come out to play their musical instruments on horseback. In case you missed this past weekend's actual celebrations, here's our guide to getting in on French patriotic pride year round.

It's that time of year, boys and girls, when the leaves change from green to orange and litter the paths along the Seine, the scent from chimneys fills the crisp air, and best of all, it's finally cold enough to get back to eating thick, fatty food! You know, the kind of wonderful melted food invented to keep your bones warm in the Alps -- fondue and raclette -- as well as those other melted-cheese-on-bread combinations the French are so good at: flammenkuchen, tartiflette, and crêpes. But don't worry about your figure. Even if you can't ski off the raclette, you can always Vélib' home!

New Yorkers may still be dreaming of the High Line, but since 1993, Parisians have had their own elevated garden on a former railway track. A few stories above the Avenue Daumesnil in the 12th arrondissement, there's a long stretch of 19th-century viaduct, which until 1969 served traffic between Bastille and St. Maur. Today, the garden stretches along the site of the tracks, while under the vaults of the viaduct there's a series of boutiques, cafes, galleries, ateliers, and incredibly diverse and imaginative artisan workshops -- carvers of ebony, restorers of antique lace and textiles, bookbinders, even a luthier. Here, a selection of our favorite spots around the Viaduc des Arts and the Promenade Plantée.

Paris' 13th arrondissement has become justly famous in recent years for its blossoming contemporary art scene, its participation in Mitterrand's grands projets, and its quaint nooks and crannies. But no one would ever call the 13th a destination for fashionistas and the metrosexuals who love them. We certainly wouldn't. But for the creative shopper, the adventurous shopper, the seeker of bargains, the lover of the obscure, the 13th is a treasure trove of unusual and compelling boutiques and emporiums.