Saturday, October 4, 2014

Je peux lire en français

Dreamy French Bookstore
Opens in New York
Bonjour, mes amis.
Il y a une nouvelle librairie française à New York.

There's a new French bookstore in New York. 

It's called "Albertine" after a female character in the
 Marcel Proust work, 
In Search of Lost Time.
Last weekend, Richard and I went uptown in search of Albertine and art. Our first stop was the Jewish Museum to see an exhibition of the work of Lee Krasner and Norman Lewis, two painters working in the late forties and early fifties. Lee Krasner was married to Jackson Pollack.

Ms. Krasner's abstract expressionist paintings were wonderful, and after seeing the show, we took a bus down Fifth Avenue to the French Embassy, between 78th and 79th Streets, to explore their beautiful new French and English bookstore, Albertine.
The entrance to the French Embassy
Albertine has 14,000 titles in
French and English.
The French Embassy is
housed in an elegant Stanford White mansion.
The books have been collected from
30 French-speaking countries.
The decor is quite elegant.
Note the green satin ribbon twisted
around the hanging lamp.
The rooms were designed with
the feeling of a grand
private French library.


The pink covered book,
The Little Girl and the Cigarette
by Benoit Duteurtre,
fascinated me.
So stop by when it's open and
experience la vie française
à New York.
It will be our secret, n'est pas?
After la librairie, we saw this
 magnificent display on the
way to our dinner at Cafe Boulud
in the Surrey Hotel.
The chef sent out this scrumptious
chestnut soup.
Such a pretty color.
A souvenir from this summer,
when dining at 18Bay on
Shelter Island.
Photo by Jeanne Markel

To learn more about Albertine,
look here.

À Bientôt!


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