The crowd lined the quais in silence as daylight turned to dusk and the spire of Notre-Dame de Paris, engulfed in flames, teetered, and fell.

When you spend a lot of time in a place, people want to talk to you about it. Especially when that place is Paris. People want to talk to me about Paris all the time. I fret about being a one-horse show, but then realize that what are many conversations for me, is just one for someone else. And it so happens that often these conversations illuminate…

I’ve been thinking lately about what lies in the miss. The what? It’s an idea that has taken up residence in my head ever since I read about a trip in which all expectations were cast to the wind because… 

I’m in love. With love**. This is a story about a piece of street art. The way it makes my heart sing, the way it makes me smile.

Paris has a lively street art scene. It dates back…

Here we are at the end of summer. A time of year that always stirs me. Maybe that’s the legacy of so many years in academia: I still get a rush from the smell of new, freshly sharpened pencils. 

The French call this…

People often ask what’s my favorite thing to do in Paris. Without hesitating, I always answer: I love to get lost. But what does that mean, actually? There are lots of ways to get lost. You can…

Did you know Paris originally had only 12 arrondissements? Yep. At one time Montmartre, which feels like a village, and the 16ème, as tony as New York’s Upper East Side, were in the sticks! Today there are 20 districts that curl around the Seine like a snail, each with its own mayor and unique personality.

A little background. Paris is my passion. When I’m not in Paris, I love thinking and talking about it. But what I love about Paris may not be what you expect. In fact, when I started Paris Off Script, my husband said, Well, you certainly have something to offer because you have a unique way of seeing the city. That comment, by the way, did not start an argument!