NWP recommends a memoir for those intrigued with French history and daily court life. Francois du Plexsix Gray has written a love story based on the liason between Marie Antoinette and Swedish aristrocat Count Axel von Fersen. An amusing passage from “The Queen’s Lover” describing the lack of hygiene at Versailles: “Marie-Therese, legal wife of…

Emerging from the metro at Place de Rhin et Danube, you may wonder if you missed a stop or three and wound up in the country a hundred miles from Paris. Seven streets join on a quiet hilltop. Go south on a slight ascent on Rue de la Fraternite to begin a tour of Quartier…

Panache in faux fur, seamed stockings or orange go-go boots. Style can be spotted most everywhere, from the Raspail metro to the morning commute at the Bastille roundabout.

The Marche au Puces St. Ouen originated with enterprising “rag-pickers” in 1885, who laid out their scavenged wares for sale near the Porte de Clignancourt. More reverently called “moon fishermen,” these street salesmen over the years built storefronts in alleyways and cubicles in warehouses. Les Puces today is largest flea market-slash-antique store in the world,…