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 We recently interviewed Tom Reeves of Discover Paris about his book Paris Insights: An Anthology. Published in January, this book takes you on a tour of Paris and reveals some of the city's amazing secrets.
PM: First and foremost, congratulations on your book! I really enjoyed it. I’d like to ask you: What inspired you to put together this anthology?
TR: Monique and I began writing a monthly newsletter called Paris Insights in February 2000 to draw attention to our travel planning service. At first, we only had a feature article about some aspect of culture, history, or contemporary life of Paris, but later we added a restaurant review, and then a short article entitled Paris, Past and Present.
After a number of years of producing the newsletter, my brother remarked that I had enough material for a book. So, we selected a representative sample of our newsletters and assembled them into an anthology (some of our favorites and some of our readers’ favorites), hence the name Paris Insights – An Anthology.
PM: Would you like to talk a little about the book’s production? I understand that you did most of it by yourself?
TR: One of the factors that convinced us to produce the book ourselves was the existence of a new self-publishing program offered by a company called Blurb. The program gives you the flexibility to choose your own layout, the quality of the paper, and so forth. After the book is formatted, you set a price and upload it to the Blurb Web site. The most difficult part for us was creating an index. After having gone through that experience, we understand why there are professionals who specialize in indexing!
The Blurb edition is in color with photographs printed on sky-blue paper. (Its price reflects this.) We recently decided to produce a less-expensive black-and-white version through Lightning Source, another printing house that works with self-publishers. To format the book, we engaged the services of a specialist, rather than trying to do it ourselves, as we had with Blurb.
After the black-and-white version was published, we decided to produce an electronic version. For this, we turned to a programmer who specializes in formatting books for Kindle, the Amazon e-book reader.
Thus, we now have three editions of Paris Insights – An Anthology for readers to enjoy: the Premium edition (color), the Travelers’ edition (black-and-white), and the Kindle edition (e-book).
PM: I enjoyed all the different sections, especially “Americans in Paris”. Do any of the American writers in Paris inspire you? Do you ever find yourself hanging out in Hemingway’s old haunts?
TR: Hemingway’s book A Movable Feast inspired us to seek out many of his old haunts. By following his descriptions, we were able to find a little-known passageway that he used to get from his apartment on rue Notre Dame des Champs to boulevard du Montparnasse. We wrote a short article about it (the article doesn’t appear in the book) called “Hemingway’s Secret Passage.”
Also, we live near the area in the 5th arrondissement where Hemingway lived for a while.
PM: In “Photographing The Da Vinci Code” you mention Dan Brown’s novel of course. Does Discover Paris still offer these tours and are clients still interesting in it?
TR: We offer a downloadable, self-guided itinerary on our Web site under the rubric “DP! Walks.” Travelers can download this, print it out, and follow it step-by-step. The frenzy over The Da Vinci Code has long died down, and we no longer get requests for guided tours.
PM: Churches and Cathedrals-Wow. This blew me away because I love discovering all the churches and cathedrals that France and especially Paris, have to offer. Is this one of your passions as well and if so, why? Do you offer a tour based this? It could be amazing…and if you already offer it, I’m sure it is.
TR: We have been fascinated with the churches of Paris for a number of reasons. For one thing, the history of the city is revealed by studying the history of its churches. For another, these venerable structures are a living testament to the artistic and architectural creativity of the people who built them. Finally, as the article “Christian Churches in Paris” reveals, Christianity has many more faces in Paris that one might imagine. We could create a tour around this theme, if requested.
PM: I know Monique wrote a fabulous cookbook (Food for the Soul) that my mom still uses today, so I’m sure you guys had lots of fun on the Tasty Treats section. I think the “Dining in Paris” article should be standard reading for anyone who comes to Paris! Did this article stem from your own initial experiences?
TR: Yes, it did! It took us a while to adapt to French dining customs, especially their practice of starting dinner after 7:00 p.m. After a time, we began to appreciate, and even prefer, the French dining experience. We like, for example, the practice of clearing the plates from the table only after the last person has finished the dish. In the United States, waiters have been trained to snatch a plate away quickly, almost before one has had a chance to set the fork down! The managers of these restaurants are trying to turn the tables rapidly, and don’t care to have customers who want to linger in conversation over a meal.
PM: When reading your book I get the impression that you’re not only brilliant at what you do at Discover Paris, but that you are a true historian at heart as well. “La Guillotine” was such a treat for me, having minored in History myself. (I’m going over to Le Caveau des Oubliettes (fitting name?) to get a look at this device too.) Is this something you enjoy? I mean, some could argue that you need to be a bit of a history buff for your job in particular, but is this also another passion for you?
TR: Yes, one has to have an appreciation of history in order to be able to present Paris in a meaningful way. But it is also our passion! We’re fascinated by the history of Paris and of France and are constantly reading books or attending lectures on various topics to learn as much as we can. I often find that I am the only American at the numerous conferences that are given in French. I love the learning process, as well as the subject matter. This is true for Monique as well.
PM: Also in the same section (Paris, Past and Present) you write about the vélib’ (rented bike), La Fontaine des Innocents, and the dragon that once graced the Jardin des Plantes. Do you still get surprised here? Do you still find yourself discovering things, OR have you been here long enough to not take things for granted, but let’s say, become accustomed to Paris and all its wonders?
TR: There are surprises almost every day! For example, I recently learned that a disused warehouse has been transformed into a cultural center. I will be attending a conference given by the architects who renovated it this coming weekend. I want to learn about their experiences so that I can write about it for my Paris Insights newsletter or for my blog.
PM: The photographs you use in the book are truly wonderful—I love that they’re in black and white. Do you often go out taking photos yourself? You tour, you write, so I’d guess that perhaps you enjoy this aspect of “feeling” and seeing Paris as well?
TR: We take most of the photos ourselves. We have made it a habit to carry a small digital camera with us all the time. I have a bigger camera that I use to take the photos of the chefs that I write about each month in the Bon Goût feature of Paris Insights.
PM: This anthology was so delightful that I have to ask the obvious question—will there be more? Can we hope to collect these one day? And in the meantime, where can readers find your latest articles on Paris?
TR: We continue to write our monthly newsletter Paris Insights. It contains three articles: a feature article about some aspect of the history, culture, and contemporary life of Paris; a restaurant review entitled Le Bon Goût, for which we interview the chef; and a short article, entitled Paris, Past and Present, which is usually related in some way to the feature article. Readers can find the newsletter (available by paid subscription) at the following link: http://www.discoverparis.net/newsletter.
We also write a daily Facebook entry, a blog, and a free weekly restaurant review.
PM: Is there anything else you’d like to add?
TR: It is a great pleasure to live in Paris and to explore the innumerable facets of its history and culture. We hope that upon reading our book, newsletters, and restaurant reviews, our readers will be as enthusiastic about Paris as we are!
Bonus: Discover Paris is offering a photo-illustrated e-document of a beautiful garden walk as a prize to the first person to identify by name the location at which this photograph was taken. Email your response to
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.
Priscilla Lalisse-Jespersen moved to Paris from New York City in 1999. In addition to being the Editor and Founder of Prissy Mag, she is the author of the novel STOCKDALE. For her complete bio, please click here .
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