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Improbable WalksRené Lalique: refreshing glassThis episode focuses on a lovely detail in the grand streetscape of Paris: one specific address in the tony 8th arrondissement, where glass artist René Lalique lived and worked. Lalique mastered not only Art Nouveau jewelry, but Art Deco designs as well. 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. 2025-07-2917 minImprobable WalksThe Paris Hours of the Duc de BerryThis episode explores the medieval manuscript business of Paris; I was inspired by the gorgeous Book of Hours belonging to the Duc de Berry, currently on display in the Paris suburbs. Books by authors like Christine de Pizan were copied and illuminated on rue de la Parcheminerie & rue Boutebrie in the Latin Quarter. 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. 2025-06-3017 minImprobable WalksWriters & War Heroes: rue Victor SchoelcherThis 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. 2025-05-2215 minImprobable WalksAlexandre Dumas hosts a partyFor 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. 2025-03-3011 minImprobable WalksCharles Baudelaire & the Club des HashischinsIn 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. 2025-03-0118 minImprobable WalksIn the Shadow of Notre DameIn 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. 2025-01-3112 minImprobable WalksSublime & Seedy: Delacroix on rue ViscontiIn 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. 2024-11-3014 minImprobable WalksSurrealism, Lee Miller, & BlueIn 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. 2024-10-2920 minImprobable WalksAnais Nin, Henry Miller, & the Villa SeuratIn 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 phot...2024-07-2417 minImprobable WalksPop songs & cigarettes - Serge Gainsbourg on rue de VerneuilIn 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. 2024-07-0218 minImprobable WalksTheatre & Decadence in La Nouvelle AthènesIn 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. 2024-05-3114 minImprobable WalksThe Passage des PanoramasWe 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...2024-03-2818 minImprobable WalksBack to the Grands BoulevardsIn 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. 2024-02-2820 minImprobable WalksBelle Epoque Spectacle: Grands Blvds (part 1)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. 2023-12-2024 minImprobable WalksMme de Pompadour, the French President, and meToday'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 perfo...2023-11-2919 minImprobable WalksRue Bonaparte, a Left Bank classicVisit 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. 2023-09-2912 minImprobable WalksZola's complicated life on rue de BruxellesWriter 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...2023-08-1920 minImprobable WalksThe Library on the Left BankIn 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, N...2023-06-3011 minImprobable WalksThe University of La Nouvelle VagueIn 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. 2023-05-2213 minImprobable WalksMedicine, Monks, and RevolutionariesIn 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 pl...2023-03-2220 min
Improbable WalksArt Nouveau into Nouveau ParisIn 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. 2023-02-2717 minImprobable WalksThe Insomniac on rue de la BûcherieIn 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 Br...2023-01-2915 min