All Roads Lead to Quiet Corners in Rome: Book Event Today

The die is cast: our meet & greet at the main Rizzoli bookstore in New York City happens tonight, from 5:30-7pm (57th St between 5/6th Aves).

Be there or be off the square -- that dreamy piazza in Rome you remember from your last trip to the Eternal City of Millennial Cliches and Endless Fascination.

Why all the capital letters? Easy: Rome deserves the attention. Its device since the time of the Caesars is SPQR: Senatus Populusque Romanus.

Yes, you are right: to Italians in most of the rest of Italy, SPQR also stands for Sono porci questi romani -- these Romans are pigs!

But as we prove in Quiet Corners of Rome, if the Romans are pigs, they live in a pretty amazing sty. Here's the beginning of the bumph from the publisher's website, below.

Remember: you're invited! Please come to our event this evening at Rizzoli books in NYC!

QUIET CORNERS OF ROME

Climb a staircase clinging to one of the Seven Hills or pass through a majestic stone archway to discover more than sixty of the most beautiful, tranquil, and sometimes wonderfully unknown places in Rome. Lose yourself in the grounds of the Villa Borghese before finding the walled garden of a sculptor’s-studio-turned-museum, where few tourists set foot. You’ll find courtyards where mossy fountains splash; cool, quiet cloisters; exquisite gardens scented by boxwood and bay trees; pocket-sized piazzas filled with archaeological details dating to the days of Caesar. Some are secret enclaves that even the most sophisticated Romans haven’t wandered into. The text may recall the history of a locale, a literary reference that brings the setting to life—and always the perfect time to visit each place to see it at its most atmospheric.

This charming guidebook celebrates over fifty of the most beautiful, tranquil, and often hidden places in the Eternal City. Some of Rome’s quiet corners boast breathtaking views, while others are filled with archaeological or architectural details, from crumbling aqueducts or majestic stone archways, to Renaissance garden follies, frescoed walls, and Baroque fountains. Enter a maze of alleys near the open market at Campo de’ Fiori, for instance, and discover leafy Romanesque courtyards where cats laze amid Vespas and potted palms, or lose yourself in any number of verdant parks and gardens that provide a cool and shadowy refuge....

Paris, Paris on Longitude Books website: Pere Lachaise

Longitude Books, the great travel book website and blog, is currently run a short piece I wrote for them about one of my favorite places in the world: Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris. Here's the first line or so, and a link to the whole piece.

Hilly, wooded, with winding paths knotted around crumbling tombs, the cemetery of Père-Lachaise in Paris’s 20th arrondissement is just possibly the best-loved monumental city of the dead in Europe. Long ago I became a Père-Lachaise habitué, drawn by the serpentine landscaping, the keyhole views from twisting lanes and the blissful freedom from cars...

Our book tour schedule, again: Paris, Paris and Quiet Corners of Rome

We're now traveling for our US book tour, beating the drum about our pair of newborn books: “Quiet Corners of Rome” (April 25, 2011) and “Paris, Paris: Journey into the City of Light” (April 5, 2011). The covers, if you please!

The schedule follows, below.

Please consult www.davidddownie.com for details about the books, and links to our favorite book sellers, my Facebook and Twitter accounts, and my other blog dedicated to our custom walking tours.

To reach us while we're traveling, please email dddownie@gmail.com or ameredithharris@gmail.com.







Also featured on our tour and already available for purchase: Food Wine Burgundy, Food Wine Rome, Food Wine Italian Riviera & Genoa, and Cooking the Roman Way (the new e-book version).



What's on the playbill? We'll be showing slides (actually, Alison will do a PowerPoint presentation), talking, chatting, interacting via riveting Q&As, giving live radio interviews (most are still to be scheduled), and generally performing all the other tricks and great things writers and photographers do on book tours. Singing, dancing, walking tight ropes, jumping through hoops...


First off: I've done the first of a series of live radio interviews (on Sunday April 17) and will do the second on Sunday April 24. In theory I'll follow up with two more interviews on two Sundays in May. Interviewing me: Pierre Wolfe, host extraordinaire of "America's Dining and Travel Guide and The World A La Carte" on Business Talk Radio Network, 3-5pm Eastern Time. Click here to find your local station -- the show is broadcast nationwide.

Other radio interviews--on KGO in SF, and NPR--are noted below, or will be pre-recorded and broadcast at a later date. I'll post the dates when I have them.

Crucial dates: We will be in New York from April 20-30.

NYC

Thursday, April 28, 5:30 - 7 pm
Rizzoli Bookstore, 31 West 57th St (5th-6th Ave.s)
Meet & Greet + Reading, Talk

We will be in the SF Bay Area/wine country May 1-18. We will be back in Paris on May 19 and operational on the 20th.

SF BAY AREA & Wine Country


Monday, May 2, 7 PM
Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd, Corte Madera
Reading, Talk and slide show.

Tuesday, May 3, 7:30 PM
Readers' Books, 130 E Napa St, Sonoma
National treasure Paula Wolfert introduces us.
Reading, Talk.

RADIO INTERVIEW
Saturday, May 7, 11:00 AM (Time may change but it will be between 10 am and 12:30 pm). KGO AM 810, "Dining Around with Gene Burns," Live interview.

Saturday, May 7. 4:00 pm
Mrs. Dalloways Literary & Garden Arts, 2904 College Ave, Berkeley
Info: 510-704-8222
Reading, Talk.

Tuesday, May 10, 6:00 pm
Mechanics' Institute Library, 57 Post Street, San Francisco
Info: 415-393-0114
Reading, Talk and slide show.

Wednesday, May 11, 6:00 - 7:00 pm
Omnivore Books, 3885A Cesar Chavez St, San Francisco
Info: 415-282-4712
Reading, Talk about food and travel writing in France and Italy.

BACK IN PARIS LATE MAY...
Our book event at The Village Voice on Rue Princesse in the Latin Quarter will be held on Tuesday, June 7, from 5pm to 8pm. It's a meet-and-greet -- please join us.


Tuesday, June 7, 5pm to 8pm.
The Village Voice
6 Rue Princesse
Paris, 75006
Tel: 01 46 33 36 47
Meet-and-greet.

Stay tuned, the above will evolve... And please spread the word...

Remember, if you can make it to one of our book events, and you can't be in Paris this spring, you'll always have Paris, Paris -- the book!



If you're looking for our custom tours website and blog, click here.

Emilia and its cooking, in Bon Appetit magazine

Never a dull moment: I'm packing to leave Paris to go on book tour for "Paris, Paris: Journey into the City of Light" and "Quiet Corners of Rome"... and my lead feature for the May issue of Bon Appetit has already hit the stands... and the Internet. Here's a link. The story has many parts, with addresses and recipes listed separately.

The photo that doesn't appear in the story: yours truly making tortellini at the big annual Sagra del Tortellino festival in Castelfranco-Emilia, near Bologna.

Buon appetito! Or perhaps it should be Bon Appetit?

April in Paris, Paris: Full Bloom Ahead

Budding prospects indeed!



Strange spring rites near Saint Gervais. What would the monks say?






If walls could speak... this one would not whisper "wistful" but rather "wisteria."




It's sweet enough to make a stone smile!








Budding prospects department: spring so far is magnificent. In 25 years of living in Paris, Paris I have never experienced so many perfect days in April, a month whose thrills usually rhyme with chills.



Having spent the better part of the last week tramping around town with a group of wonderful Americans and Australians, I am finally able to share a few pics of foliage, flowers, and stern sculptures made soft and sweet by a sniff of spring. I am not waxing lyrical. Just look at that worn head grinning, toothless, as it tries to pick up the scent of daffodils.



Trying valiantly to reach the camelias... la dame aux camelias...




Geepers creepers!






Even the glassy old flowers of yesteryear seem brighter in the spring light.






Another bouquet set not in stone but glass.







We're scrambling to pack and head to New York City for our first book event. For the full schedule -- NYC and SF Bay Area -- click here.

Remember, if you can't make it to one of our book events, and you can't be in Paris this spring, you'll always have Paris, Paris -- the book!



If you're looking for our custom tours website and blog, click here.

Paris, Paris for Breakfast

No, not breakfast at Tiffany's. Breakfast on the Seine, floating with friends... and celebrating the publication of Paris, Paris. Dig in!

April in Paris, Paris: The Leaning Tower of Eiffel

Showing Paris, Paris -- the City of Light-Footed Explorers -- to a wonderful gang from many different cities and continents...

Yesterday we assaulted the Leaning Tower of Eiffel. The wind blew gently, but it was hard enough to cause your intrepid, par-blind photographer to tilt.

No, it was not a fear of heights. I'm on top of the world these days, what with the publication a few days ago of the book you may have heard about by now...

Between the flowering cherries, the sunshine and bizarre, un-Parisian good cheer, you'd almost think April in Paris was as magical as it's said to be... in that old song... da da di da da...


Remember, if you can't make it to one of our book events, and you can't be in Paris this spring, you'll always have Paris, Paris -- the book!



If you're looking for our custom tours website and blog, click here.

On Book Tour from April 20 to May 20 in NYC and SF Bay Area, then Paris at The Village Voice

We're gearing up for our US book tour, to beat the drum about our pair of newborn books: “Quiet Corners of Rome” (April 25, 2011) and “Paris, Paris: Journey into the City of Light” (April 5, 2011). The covers, if you please!



As always, please remember to consult www.davidddownie.com for details about the books, and links to our favorite book sellers, my Facebook and Twitter accounts, and my other blog dedicated to our custom walking tours.

To reach us while we're traveling, please email dddownie@gmail.com or ameredithharris@gmail.com.







Also featured on our tour and already available for purchase: Food Wine Burgundy, Food Wine Rome, Food Wine Italian Riviera & Genoa, and Cooking the Roman Way (the new e-book version).



What's on the playbill? We'll be showing slides (actually, Alison will do a PowerPoint presentation), talking, chatting, interacting via riveting Q&As, giving live radio interviews (most are still to be scheduled), and generally performing all the other tricks and great things writers and photographers do on book tours. Singing, dancing, walking tight ropes, jumping through hoops...


First off: I'll be doing live radio interviews on Sunday April 17 and 24, and on two Sundays in May tbc, with Pierre Wolfe, host extraordinaire of "America's Dining and Travel Guide and The World A La Carte" on Business Talk Radio Network, 3-5pm Eastern Time. Click here to find your local station -- the show is broadcast nationwide.

Crucial dates: We will be in New York from April 20-30.


NYC

Thursday, April 28, 5:30 - 7 pm
Rizzoli Bookstore, 31 West 57th St (5th-6th Ave.s)
Meet & Greet + Reading, Talk


We will be in the SF Bay Area/wine country May 1-18. We will be back in Paris on May 19 and operational on the 20th.

Our book event at The Village Voice on Rue Princesse in the Latin Quarter will be held on Tuesday, June 7, from 5pm to 8pm. It's a meet-and-greet -- please join us.


SF BAY AREA & Wine Country


Monday, May 2, 7 PM
Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd, Corte Madera
Reading, Talk and slide show.

Tuesday, May 3, 7:30 PM
Readers' Books, 130 E Napa St, Sonoma
National treasure Paula Wolfert introduces us.
Reading, Talk.

RADIO INTERVIEW
Saturday, May 7, 11:00 AM (Time may change but it will be between 10 am and 12:30 pm). KGO AM 810, "Dining Around with Gene Burns," Live interview.

Saturday, May 7. 4:00 pm
Mrs. Dalloways Literary & Garden Arts, 2904 College Ave, Berkeley
Info: 510-704-8222
Reading, Talk.

Tuesday, May 10, 6:00 pm
Mechanics' Institute Library, 57 Post Street, San Francisco
Info: 415-393-0114
Reading, Talk and slide show.

Wednesday, May 11, 6:00 - 7:00 pm
Omnivore Books, 3885A Cesar Chavez St, San Francisco
Info: 415-282-4712
Reading, Talk about food and travel writing in France and Italy.

Tuesday, June 7, 5pm to 8pm.
The Village Voice
6 Rue Princesse
Paris, 75006
Tel: 01 46 33 36 47
Meet-and-greet.

Stay tuned, the above will evolve... And please spread the word...

Remember, if you can make it to one of our book events, and you can't be in Paris this spring, you'll always have Paris, Paris -- the book!



If you're looking for our custom tours website and blog, click here.

April in Paris, Paris: Part One, Cherry Blossoms and a book

The book may be familiar to you by now. Here's an excerpt from the chapter about Paris in the spring.

Il fait beau, c’est le printemps, ran the lusciously enunciated, taped dialogue at the Pompidou Center’s language laboratory. “The weather is beautiful, spring is here,” I repeated, joining my own to a dozen eager voices as snow fell beyond the windows. Wherever I went that first April in Paris—now three decades ago—through sleet, rain, wind and snow, I would cheerfully say my bonjours in grade-school French, adding with a wink c’est le printemps. As if in answer the cloudy sky would blow for a few minutes into a blue expanse shot through with light, brightening the wet tin-and-tile mansard roofs time and again, like pebbles on a beach.
Cynics will remind you that the tune April in Paris got its name because the lyricist needed a two-syllable word for his refrain, and “May” or “June” wouldn’t do... Read more



And here are a few images to whet your appetite for Paris, Paris -- in April or any other month.




Taking time to smell the... cherry blossoms! Not much of a scent, but the trees in the Jardin des Plantes in particular are simply gorgeous.






To bee or not to bee... the shy, retiring author as photographed by his honey, Alison








And what about the pocket-sized park flanking Notre Dame?







Or the Luxembourg Gardens?





















Remember, if you can't make it to one of our book events, and you can't be in Paris this spring, you'll always have Paris, Paris -- the book!





If you're looking for our custom tours website and blog, please click here.

Paris, Paris hits bookstore shelves today

Today's the day! Paris, Paris is out and about... and today's also the 25th anniversary of my arrival in Paris as a permanent resident. It's hard to believe.

Here's the cover and a link to Amazon, though I encourage you to buy the book from your local bookseller. We will miss them when they disappear!

We also hope to see you at one of our book events in NYC or the SF Bay Area. See my blog post for a detailed schedule.



Remember, if you can't make it to one of our book events, and you can't be in Paris this spring, you'll always have Paris, Paris -- the book!


If you're looking for our custom tours website and blog, please click here.