Barry Frangipane's Blog, page 2

Stravinsky Fountain Reopens in Paris

Copyright Clément Dorval / Ville de Paris

In 1983 when artists Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint Phalle created the Stravinsky Fountain just outside the Centre Pompidou, I wasn’t sure what to think. Neither was anyone else. After all, it was only a few years earlier that Beaubourg (Centre Pompidou) was unveiled.

Photo by Julio Wolf on Unsplash

This center for the arts appeared to be built inside out, with all the pipes for water and ventilation running up the outside of the building, painted in brig...

The Mask Maker

It was 2001 when I first met Giorgio at the Italian pavilion in EPCOT Center Orlando. He was painting a mask, just like the ones I had seen in Venice. In fact, the tag on the mask said “Balocoloc Venezia”, identical to the one my wife wore during Carnevale the year before. Giorgio explained that the woman from whom we purchased our masks in Venice was Silvana Martin, his mother!

The Venetian tradition of Carnevale started in the 1100s and was quite popular during the renaissance. In the days of t...

Learning a Language in Reverse

When I started learning French at l’Alliance Française Paris in 1979, I had no idea how backwards my language skills were. Literally. At 21 years of age, I had arrived in Paris with scant knowledge of the language. Most days I would sit in Luxembourg Gardens with other foreign students, and we would fumble through the language together. After a few months, we were able to communicate in French. But when having conversations with native French students in the cafés, it still seemed impossible to ...

Ride a Gondola in Venice for 2 Euro

Abxbay, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Looking across the Grand Canal toward the Rialto fish market, I could see my wife standing in the center of the gondola holding a full sack of groceries in each hand, with our dog standing by her side. The fifty cents she paid for herself and fifty cents for the dog were well worth the price. With only three bridges crossing the canal, it would have been a long walk home otherwise.

Six Venetians and two dogs disembarked at Campo Santa Sofia. I took the ...

World’s Largest Bookstore Shuts Down for the Olympics

Photo by Barry Frangipane

It has been called the only bookstore to have a river run through it. As early as 1559 there were royal decrees attempting to shut down these booksellers along the banks of the Seine in Paris. But the desire for knowledge has always won out. By 1620 there were already eighty of the mobile bookstalls in downtown Paris. It wasn’t until 1859 that the “Bouquinistes” would be permitted to put their dark green boxes in a fixed location on the sidewalks along the river. There a...

The Teacher

It was obvious when she walked in the room that she was a force to be reckoned with. Standing at only 5’2” and in her late fifties, she marched to the chalkboard and wrote, Lorette Ankaoua. Turning toward us, she said “Welcome to the Alliance Française Paris. I will be your teacher for this three month study of the French language.”

A Canadian student leaned over to ask a classmate what Madame Ankaoua had said. In a stern voice, the professor responded. “No. This is a French class, and we will NO...

Notre Dame Update

Photo by Nivenn Lanos on Unsplash

“Notre Dame on fire”, said the message on my phone. Sitting at the dinner table at a friend’s house in northern Italy, I hid my tears as the live video unfolded before my eyes. Soon the spire came crashing down through the cathedral’s roof. It was April 15, 2019.

The tragedy was plastered on the front page of newspapers around the world the next day. And to make it even worse, no one knew why it had caught fire. Sylvia Whitman, of Shakespeare and Company bookstore...

Eating Your Way Through Venice

There are many places to get a bad, overpriced meal in Venice. Fortunately, these tourist traps are easy to spot – menus with photographs of each plate followed by descriptions in at least three languages are posted on a board just outside the entrance. Sometimes they can be identified by the dishes they serve, such as chicken parmesan or spaghetti and meatballs, neither of which are either Venetian or even Italian creations.

Why not eat like a Venetian? The most common way to eat well in Venice ...

The Puppets of Luxembourg Gardens

Photo by Barry Frangipane

The lake at Luxembourg Gardens was almost devoid of children on a Saturday morning. But where were they?

Walking through the trees beyond the lake, I saw a large crowd under the trees. Children waited in line with great anticipation. As I got closer, I saw the sign on a building almost hidden behind the trees. The words Théâtre du Luxembourg were written on the side of the building, along with pictures of puppets. I had happened upon the largest marionnette theater in Fra...

Monet is Back in Monaco!

One hundred forty years ago Claude Monet, the father of Impressionism, visited the Riviera. He loved the bright sun and the golden reflections he found at Bordighera (near our home), Dolceacqua, Antibes, and Monaco. Monet continued to paint our glorious coastline from 1883 through 1888.

“What I bring back from here will be sweetness itself, white, pink, and blue, all enveloped in this magical air.”

Now through September 3, 2023 the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco has brought Monet back to Monte Carlo in ...