Improbable Walks

This single block in Montparnasse has it all: history, design, art, writers, photographers, models and World War II heroes... from photographer Lee Miller to Resistance leader Colonel Rol-Tanguy, from abolitionist Schoelcher to writer Anais Nin, and even my own near-miss with philosopher Simone de Beauvoir's apartment. For photos, please check out my website. Thanks as always to Bremner Fletcher for technical expertise and general know-how. The Improbable Walks theme music is performed by David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire. 

For the mad month of March, this episode focuses on a party hosted by writer Alexandre Dumas in 1833. Wine bottles by the hundreds, wall decor by Delacroix... it was a 9th arrondissement costume ball crammed into a small apartment, and it's well worth a walk-by nearly 200 years after the fabulous event. For photos, please check out my website. Thanks as always to Bremner Fletcher for technical expertise and general know-how. The Improbable Walks theme music is performed by David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire. 

In honor of the moody month of February, we visit Ile Saint-Louis, retracing Baudelaire's drug-induced dreams. Our route goes along the central main street, rue de Saint-Louis-en-l'Ile, from West to East.  The first mansion on our route is the Hôtel de Lauzun - where Revolutionary "it girl" Thérésa Cabarrus Tallien lived. For photos, please check out my website. Thanks as always to Bremner Fletcher for technical expertise and general know-how. The Improbable Walks theme music is performed by David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire. 

In this episode, we celebrate the reopening of the Grand Dame of Paris by strolling in the shadow of the great Cathedral Notre Dame, looking at narrow medieval streets on the Island of the City which survived the great upheaval of Haussmann renovations. We talk about rue Chanoinesse--where there is a surprisingly beautiful police garage! And we walk down the unbelievably tiny rue des Chantres. For photos, please check out my website. Thanks as always to Bremner Fletcher for technical expertise and general know-how. The Improbable Walks theme music is performed by David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire. 

In this episode, we check out the atmospheric rue Visconti on the Left Bank, tucked around the corner from chic rue Jacob. This sometimes-maligned little street was home to painter Delacroix (this is where he painted his friend George Sand & her lover Chopin!) and writer Balzac ran a printing press here. For photos, please check out my website. Thanks as always to Bremner Fletcher for technical expertise and general know-how. The Improbable Walks theme music is performed by David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire. 

In this episode, we check out CAMPAGNE-PREMIERE just below boulevard de Montparnasse. The street is barely one block long, but a surprising number artists and writers lived here during the first half of the 20th century, including Man Ray, Lee Miller, Yves Klein, Foujita, Elsa Triolet, and Louis Aragon! If streets are haunted by past creative shades, this is definitely a busy block. For photos, please check out my website. Thanks as always to Bremner Fletcher for technical expertise and general know-how. The Improbable Walks theme music is performed by David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire.   

In this episode, we stroll into a hidden gem behind the well-known streets of Montparnasse: the Villa Seurat. This is a small street described in the famous Diaries of Anais Nin. Villa Seurat also appears in the work of her lover, Henry Miller, although he disguises the identity of the street by calling it “Villa Borghese”. This part of the 14th arrondissement really conjures the neighborhood feel of the 1920s and 30s, when artists and writers from all over the world filled the streets of Montparnasse, dreaming and creating and have emotional epiphanies up and down the block. For photos, please check out my website. Thanks as always to Bremner Fletcher for technical expertise and general know-how. The Improbable Walks theme music is performed by David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire.   

In this episode, we visit a classic Left Bank street, the rue de Verneuil... which has a lively 20th century cultural record: This is where writer James Baldwin first landed in Paris, where singer Juliette Gréco lived, and where songwriter Serge Gainsbourg wrote, loved, smoked, and drank--today, his former home is the location of the Gainsbourg museum. For photos, please check out my website. Thanks as always to Bremner Fletcher for technical expertise and general know-how. The Improbable Walks theme music is performed by David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire.   

In this episode, we visit the "New Athens", a newly-restored neighborhood once inhabited by theatre stars, courtesans, and painters. Find out who Napoleon Bonaparte bought bedroom furniture for, admire some truly lovely 1820s architecture, and admire the decadent visionary artistry of Symbolist painter Gustave Moreau. For photos, please check out my website. Thanks as always to Bremner Fletcher for technical expertise and general know-how. The Improbable Walks theme music is performed by David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire.   

We focus on the Passage des Panoramas & the Passage Jouffroy--two of my favourite covered passageways in Paris today. Back in the 1800s, Parisians window-shopped, met for pastry and tea, and browsed music stories to find the latest compositions in these arcades, and really, things haven't all changed that much. This episode includes the story of the Panoramas (virtual reality before that was a thing!) as well as writer & painter Marie Bashkirtseff, and La Montansier, theatre impresario extraordinaire. For photos, check out my website! Thanks as always to Bremner Fletcher for technical expertise, and general know-how. The Improbable Walks theme music is performed by David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire. 

In this episode, we continue our stroll along the Grands Boulevards, exploring some wild stories, literati, and even an assassination attempt that resulted in the brand new Garnier Opera house being built. And I get to chat about some of my favourite Parisians from the past, including General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, the Revolutionary hero & father of writer Alexandre Dumas. For photos, check out my website! Thanks as always to Bremner Fletcher for technical expertise, and general know-how. The Improbable Walks theme music is performed by David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire. 

In this episode, we celebrate the holidays with a stroll past the Opera Garnier. Bright department store windows, glittering performances, and even cinema lights: the Grands Boulevards has it all. This is where the Lumiere Brothers introduced film to Paris audiences, and where Nadar ran his 19th-century photography studio. As always, for more info, links, and photos, check out my website! Thanks as always to Bremner Fletcher for technical expertise, and general know-how. The Improbable Walks theme music is performed by David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire. 

Today's podcast visits the French President's palace, L'Élysée.  The 365-room mansion has a history that oozes personality: once the home of Madame de Pompadour, Napoleon Bonaparte's sister Caroline also lived here for a few years. Caroline was described as "having the body of Venus and the brain of Machiavelli", which was probably not intended as a compliment, and yet, I'm sort of impressed. Visit my website for some images of the history we discuss. As always, Improbable Walks is grateful to the technical expertise of Bremner Fletcher and to David Symons, the New Orleans accordion player who performs the Improbable Walks theme music. (And yes, for you regular listeners, I have a darn November cold, so I do sound a little congested... sorry!)

Visit the street where New Yorker writer Janet Flanner lived, where the Beaux Arts school still stands, and of course, where de Beauvoir and Sartre once held court... The rue Bonaparte is a Left Bank Saint-Germain classic. For photos, check out my website! Thanks as always to Bremner Fletcher for technical expertise, and general know-how. The Improbable Walks theme music is performed by David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire. 

Writer Emile Zola was once so poor, he pawned all his clothes and kept only a single bedsheet to sleep in. But by the time he moved into the quiet rue de Bruxelles below Place de Clichy, he had become a respected member of the middle class, a well-known journalist and a prolific novelist. Paris-born, Zola was a complicated man, and in this podcast, we talk about why he had two apartments simultaneously in this neighborhood, as well as his brave stance for justice. His defense of Captain Dreyfus led to his temporary exile--and possibly to his murder. Visit my website for some images to give you a better feel for the history here. As always, Improbable Walks is grateful to the technical expertise of Bremner Fletcher and to David Symons, the New Orleans accordion player who performs the Improbable Walks theme music.  

In this episode, we visit the American Library in Paris, on the easily-overlooked little  street of General Camou. This is a very short street, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, and it's worth visiting both for the library, if you're an English-language reader, and for the architecture--both extremes of the 20th century are represented within one block, from Art Nouveau madness to stiff-upper-lip Minimalism. As always, for more info, links, and photos, check out my website! Thanks as always to Bremner Fletcher for technical expertise, and general know-how. The Improbable Walks theme music is performed by David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire. 

In this episode, we start in front of the beautiful Sorbonne and walk down the single block of rue Champollion. Named for the man who first successfully translated Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics, this street includes a movie theatre that's now an historical monument. For film times (!) and extra info about rue Champollion  check out my website! Thanks as always to Bremner Fletcher for technical expertise, and general know-how. The Improbable Walks theme music is performed by David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire. 

In this episode, we walk along the medieval rue de l'Ecole de Medecine, the Street of the School of Medicine, on the edge of the Latin Quarter. This street was also the birthplace of the Divine actress Sarah Bernhardt, and extremely important to the Revolutionaries like Marat & Danton. Our inspiration comes from an 1866 photograph taken by fascinating 19th-century photographer Charles Marville --check out my website to see the photo, and other relevant images. As always, heartfelt thanks to my tiny podcast team: Bremner Fletcher for technical expertise, and general know-how, and David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire, who plays my theme music. 

In this episode, we focus on architecture & successful new approaches to urban design, from the Haussmann era's Square des Batignolles, up to the brand new street named for cellist Mstislav Rostropovitch. This route includes gorgeous Art Nouveau apartment buildings, the surprisingly lovely, brand-spanking-new, Tour Unic by Yansong Ma, and a secret relic from the Orient Express. For more info & images, check out my website. Thanks as always to Bremner Fletcher for technical expertise, and general know-how. The Improbable Walks theme music is performed by David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire. 

In this episode, meet the 18th-century insomniac writer & printer, Restif de la Bretonne. Paris is chilly in January, so it seems appropriate to walk along the rue de la Bûcherie, where logs were once unloaded from boats on the Seine, back in the days when Parisians heated their apartments with wood-burning fires. This is the Left Bank street where 20th century icon Simone de Beauvoir wrote some of her greatest work. Plus, here you can visit the famous bookshop, Shakespeare & Company.  For a fantastic image of Restif de la Bretonne, check out my website! Thanks as always to Bremner Fletcher for technical expertise, and general know-how. The Improbable Walks theme music is performed by David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire. 

In this episode, I chat with Heather Stimmler about the Quartier de l'Horloge, in the 3rd arrodissement beside the Pompidou Center. We visit restored automaton, admire its music, and discuss whether a breathing dragon would make a reassuring clock... Happy New Year from everyone here at Improbable Walks, and big thanks to Heather! Check out her Secrets of Paris for all sorts of insider news about the City of Light.  As always, my website has extra links & images to accompany this podcast. Thanks to Bremner Fletcher for technical expertise, and general know-how. The Improbable Walks theme music is performed by David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire. 

Today, let's visit a flower market on Ile de la Cité, right in the middle of Paris. Two good reasons to check this area out now: first, the Marché aux fleurs is due to be renovated, and second, back in 2014, the market was named for Queen Elizabeth II--this is highly unusual, in France. We'll talk about why. We'll also discuss Mad King Louis (or, more respectfully, Louis IX) and raise a glass to Inspector Maigret.  Visit my website for images.  As always, Improbable Walks is grateful to the technical expertise of Bremner Fletcher and to David Symons, the wonderful New Orleans accordion player who performs the Improbable Walks theme music.  

This Latin Quarter episode begins at Place Émile Mâle and features the strange story of the disappearing Roman arena. We also talk about the discrete author of The Story of O, and the wonderful botanist, Bernard de Jussieu, who is responsible for my all-time favourite tree. This episode wraps up in the lush Jardin des Plantes, where so many Parisians took refuge in the shade during this past excessively hot summer.  Remember to visit my website for extra links & images. As always, thanks to Bremner Fletcher for technical expertise. The Improbable Walks theme music is performed by David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire. 

Today, we're walking along a small street near the Louvre that's packed with history. Let's talk about Catherine de Medici's personal astrologer, the 1940s Resistance fighters of Les Halles, and talk about successful vaccines of the 1700s.  Visit my website for images. I am using a new microphone for this episode - if you have any thoughts about whether it is better or worse than the old one, let me know! (you can contact me through my website) As always, Improbable Walks is grateful to the technical expertise of Bremner Fletcher and to David Symons, the wonderful New Orleans accordion player who performs the Improbable Walks theme music.  

Today, we're walking along LES CHAMPS ELYSEES, the most famous avenue in the world. From an inclusive coffeeshop to the Guerlain perfume legacy... and most particularly, my favourite steampunk historical fact: in the early 1900s,  inventor Alberto Santos-Dumont used to park his dirigible (yes, a flying machine) outside his apartment on the Champs. Visit my website for images. As always, Improbable Walks is grateful to the technical expertise of Bremner Fletcher and to David Symons, the wonderful New Orleans accordion player who performs the Improbable Walks theme music.  

Once upon a time, the Avenue de Clichy was the place to meet the great Impressionist painters. Why? Because this was the location of the famous CAFE GUERBOIS. In this episode, we check out the place where artist Edouard Manet used to buy his paint supplies, learn about Claude Monet's friends (and how they kept him alive), and stroll through the gorgeous little-known park of Batignolles. Visit my website for some images, to give you a better feel for the history here under our feet. As always, Improbable Walks is grateful to the technical expertise of Bremner Fletcher and to David Symons, the New Orleans accordion player who performs the Improbable Walks theme music.  

Wow, did April ever whoosh past in a blaze of work & sunshine here in Paris! Today, we're walking through a gorgeously historic "passage" near Métro Odéon on the Left Bank--we look at coffee in the 1600s, and brilliant Revolutionaries like the printer Marat and the orator Danton. Visit my website for some images, to give you a better feel for the history here under our feet. As always, Improbable Walks is grateful to the technical expertise of Bremner Fletcher and to David Symons, the New Orleans accordion player who performs the Improbable Walks theme music.  

Artists Sonia Delaunay, Robert Delaunay, and Pablo Picasso all lived on this little Left Bank street. Poet Apollinaire stayed here briefly. And King Louis XIII was crowned right here in the road, when he was just a child! The rue des Grands Augustins is a stroll down memory lane for me, because I lived on this street in the late 90s. As always, Improbable Walks is grateful to the technical expertise of Bremner Fletcher and to David Symons, the New Orleans accordion player who performs the Improbable Walks theme music.  

Today's episode walks into a neighbourhood of wonderful Modernist villas in the chic western residential arrondissement of Paris, the 16th. Welcome to the rue Mallet-Stevens,  designed by the delightful architect, Robert Mallet-Stevens (who I refer to as "RMS" during the podcast, because his name is such a mouthful.) RMS is undeservedly forgotten, unlike his contemporary, Le Corbusier--whose Fondation runs two villas just a few minutes' walk from the rue Mallet-Stevens. So we get to visit both architects' work, in one elegant stroll.  As always, Improbable Walks is grateful to the technical expertise of Bremner Fletcher and to David Symons, the marvellous accordion player who performs the Improbable Walks theme music.   

Today's episode explores the beautiful hidden courtyards of Place Edouard VII, near the Opera Garnier in Paris. We'll talk about the Fragonard Perfume Museum, the gorgeous Athenée Théatre Louis-Jouvet, and we'll discuss why Bertie--Queen Victoria's heir, Edward VII--really preferred the city of Paris. We'll also talk about why I believe Bertie should be commemorated wearing a smoking jacket, not a military uniform. Visit my website for extra links & images. Improbable Walks is grateful to the technical expertise of Bremner Fletcher (though even he couldn't fix my stumble in this episode, where I refer to an ENTIRE BUILDING as a painting. Listen for it, and forgive me. I had a cold while doing this episode, and I was stoned on cough syrup. All better now!) As always, the Improbable Walks theme music is performed by David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire. 

Today's episode walks into the strange history of the Village Suisse. We'll talk about the great battle on the Champs de Mars between the Romans and the Gauls (spoiler alert: local tribe, the Parisi, lost against the colonizing war machine of Caesar.) We'll remember Napoleon Bonaparte when he was just a scared teenager, reading to avoid bullies; and we'll talk about a giant ferris wheel, that eventually became a place to browse through history--because today the Village Suisse is an antiques mall. Visit my website for extra links & images. As always, Improbable Walks theme music is performed by David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire. 

This episode features remarkable Montrealer, the soldier-conman Jean-Baptiste LeMoyne, Sieur de Bienville, along with two 19th-century inventors AND a moody proto-surrealist... all crammed into a few small blocks of the rue Vivienne. Meet the founder of New Orleans; discover one of the very earliest sound recordings, made by Scott de Martinville; meet the inventor of the dentist drill (um... Eureka?); and enjoy an angsty moment with the author of the "Contes de Maldoror." Remember to visit my website for extra links & images. As always, Improbable Walks theme music is performed by David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire. 

This episode starts out on a bridge with a view of the Eiffel Tower, then heads over to the Right Bank and glamorous Avenue Montaigne. We'll talk about the Zouave & river flooding, Diana Princess of Wales, the Ballets Russes, and Josephine Baker, star & secret agent. Remember to visit my website for extra links & images. As always, Improbable Walks theme music is performed by David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire. 

Welcome to the very short Left Bank street of Saint-Benoît, which runs from Blvd Saint-Germain to rue Jacob. This episode is mostly dedicated to writers--including Apollinaire, Taras Shevchenko, Marguerite Duras and Ted Joans, plus two literary cafés, two beloved bookshops... and one of my favourite ice cream desserts.Remember to visit my website for extra links & images. As always, Improbable Walks theme music is performed by David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire. 

In this episode, we walk down one of my favourite shortcuts through Montmartre, which goes past the former house of tragic Italian-Egyptian pop diva, Dalida.  I talk about the atmosphere at the famous Bateau Lavoir, around the corner--where Picasso painted Gertrude Stein's portrait, Marie Laurencin painted Apollinaire's, and Cubism was launched on the world. What's more, the first crook of this elbow-shaped little route is always covered in colourful street art. Remember to visit my website for extra links & images.As always, Improbable Walks theme music is performed by David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire. 

I'm posting this walk on Molière's birthday, January 15th (well, the day he was baptized--he may have been born a few days earlier.) We’ll step into the era of the Sun King to talk about the famous French playwright. Molière lived a rather short, exceedingly busy theatrical life (1622 - 1673.) We'll also talk about a dressmaker who worked in this same small street: Madame du Creux designed “robes de chambre” for aristocrats—which means some very elegant 17th-century Haute Couture was sewn here.“Life is a tragedy to those who feel, and a comedy to those who think.” - Molière As always, Improbable Walks theme music is performed by David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire.

In this special new year's episode, I chat with my friend Heather Stimmler, founder of Secrets of Paris. Heather's favourite market street is the rue Mouffetard, a street which goes back to Roman times. This is the neighbourhood described in the first pages of Ernest Hemingway's classic A Moveable Feast--this is where he bought clementines and chestnuts to eat while he wrote. Heather and I talk about bread, beer, and butchers, walking from the Place Conte-Escarpe down the street to SAINT-MEDARD church. As always, the accordion music is played by the wonderful David Symons.

In this episode, we'll stroll down one of the most literary streets on the Left Bank--where Sylvia Beach once ran Shakespeare & Co, opposite Adrienne Monnier's La Maison des Amis des Livres. We'll talk about Hemingway, Janet Flanner, James Joyce, and other friends of the bookshops.

In this episode, we walk along two beautiful quays on Ile Saint-Louis, and visit the address of not one but two Nobel Prize winners! I get to talk about one of my heroines, Marie Curie, and I hypothesize about ghostly conversations in the Pantheon... As always, Improbable Walks theme music is performed by David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire.

In this episode of Improbable Walks, we stroll through a tiny old street where Balzac once lived... Improbable Walks theme music performed by David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire.

In this episode of Improbable Walks, we stroll through the Palais Royal in central Paris, just steps from the Louvre. In this aristocratic garden, we'll talk about the astonishing life of the Chevalier de Saint-George, the Black French composer and internationally-renowned swordsman, who once conducted symphonies here. We'll walk beneath the windows where my favourite French author, Colette, used to write, and peer in the windows of a Directoire-era restaurant... Improbable Walks theme music perfomed by David Symons, New Orleans accordionist extraordinaire.

In this first episode of Improbable Walks, we take a walk down one of my favourite medieval streets, rue de BIEVRE on the Left Bank. When I first moved to Paris, this street was still guarded by gendarmes because former President Mitterand lived here. But this tiny street's history starts at least 800 years ago...