2022
November 19 Harvard - Yale Viewing Party: We watched the Game with our friends from the Harvard Club at the Moose.
November 17 Book Club - The Aleph by Jose Luis Borges: On November 17 we had our seventh Yale Club of France Book Club session. We discussed "The Aleph" by Jose Luis Borges. We had a rich discussion of this book!
October 25 Dinner with the Yale Club: We had an unusual opportunity to hear from Daniel Gross, a top US and international financial and business writer, who has come out with his ninth book, a remarkable biography of famed banker Edmond J. Safra whom former World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn called "the greatest banker of his generation".
Daniel Gross was introduced by Seth Goldschlager, YLS '71, who is advisor to the Edmond J. Safra Foundation that provided the author with exclusive access to Mr. Safra's archives, as well as numerous prior interviews with people who knew him.
We heard not only about the unique story of the youth from Syria who built a banking empire on four continents and became, with his wife Lily, a fixture in social circles in New York, Paris, and Monaco, (including ownership of the Villa Leopolda, one of the most valuable properties on the Cote D'Azur) but also about business and finance today, which Dan continues to cover in articles and booksOctober 22 Yale Paris meet-up: A Yale Paris Meet up on was hosted by Susie Sharpe, physician-artist during her show at Carrousel du Louvre. She is a graduate of Yale Medical School, Yale residency and a practicing physician. She is an internationally known artist and has done shows in Madrid, Brussels, Luxembourg, New York, and Miami since 2021. During the Yale Meet up we enjoyed her artwork.
October 17 Walking tour with the Yale club and the Georgetown Club - Founding Fathers’ Walking Tour of Paris: The Yale Club of France and the Georgetown Club did together a walking tour with Brad Newfield, a French-American guide for Paris Walks.
Jefferson, Franklin and the American Founding Fathers: The tour started on the Concorde square where Benjamin Franklin signed the Treaty of Alliance and France was the first to recognize the independence of the U.S. We walked through the Tuileries Garden and cross the Seine to the statue of Jefferson near one of Jefferson's favorite buildings, the Palace of the Legion of Honor. We continued along the Left Bank and hear stories of Voltaire, Lafayette, Jefferson's favorite artists, the aristocratic salons. We saw the French Institute, the Mint, a house turned into a Masonic Lodge, and one of Jefferson's favorite bookshops. We winded up the tour at the city's oldest café, the Procope, frequented by Franklin and the Enlightenment philosophers.
Brad Newfield, a former Angelino who has lived in Paris since 1994, has a Ph.D in History from UCLA, lectured in History and Communication Studies, and develops walking tours on historical themes in Paris, in order to bring together the city's past and present in untraditional ways.October 09 Walk in the Fontainebleau forest: We did an autumn walk in the beautiful Fontainebleau forest!
Our walk took us through a variety of landscapes and points of interest, including majestic fern-covered woodlands, open shrublands, and an ancient fort. We may even spot a woodpecker!September 22 Book Club - L'Amant by Marguerite Duras: On September 22 we had our sixth Yale Club of France Book Club session. We discussed "L'Amant" by Marguerite Duras. We had a rich discussion of this book!
September 11 Walking tour with the Yale club - St-Germain des Pres: We did a tour of the St-Germain des Pres. The tour started at the Church of St. Sulpice. From there we made our way to the Church of St-Germain-des-Près and the Deux Magots and Café de Flor, then to Place Furstemburg and the art and interior design galeries. We saw the hotel where Oscar Wilde died, the site of the most famous jazz club of the 40s and 50s, Gertrude Stein and Picasso's studios, and the Beat Hotel.
Brad Newfield, a former Angelino who has lived in Paris since 1994, has a Ph.D in History from UCLA, lectured in History and Communication Studies, and develops walking tours on historical themes in Paris, in order to bring together the city's past and present in untraditional ways.July 1 Concert: American Folk Music: Songwriter Cuchulain (TC '13) returned to Paris by popular demand for an intimate acoustic performance to release his new single "Sing In The Shower" as part of an international tour. Cuchulain is a low-voiced songwriter with a wry wit. The NPR Music-featured folk singer released an album of long distance pandemic collaborations called FEAT that was called "an as-yet-unpublished portion of the Great American Songbook." Cuchulain's deep baritone and clever lyrics have drawn comparisons to Randy Newman, Leonard Cohen, and Johnny Cash. His Sing In The Shower single release tour will take him across the US and Europe this summer 2022.
https://www.cuchulainkelly.com/June 30 Book Club - "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury: On March 31 we had our sixth Yale Club of France Book Club session. We discussed "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury. We had a rich discussion of this book!
June 26 Walking tour with the Yale club - World War II in Paris: Hear how the Parisians survived the dark years of the Occupation from 1940-44 on this walk in the area of the rue St. Honoré, the Concorde Square and the Champs Elysées, with stories of daily life, the Gestapo, the Resistance and the Liberation. We will see the traces of the last street battle on rue de Rivoli and the Hotel Meurice where General Von Choltitz surrendered the German forces. See the Jeu de Paume Museum, where Rose Valland's heroic endeavors saved priceless artworks from Nazi plunder. We contrast instances of collaboration with accounts of magnificent courage displayed by French and foreigners alike in the face of arrest and deportation. We probed the murky activities of Coco Chanel and why Edith Piaf was arrested at the Liberation. We celebrated with Ernest Hemingway the liberation of the Ritz Hotel, stride with Charles de Gaulle down the Champs Elysées and ask the burning question; "Why wasn't Paris destroyed as Hitler ordered?"
May 6 Concert: Tango and more: Violinist and Yale School of Music alumna Dhyani Gylling MM 18' performed a program of spanish and latin american music by Albeniz, Piazzolla and others with colombian guitarist Sergio Tovar, a graduate of the Paris National Conservatory of Music.
May 12 "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" by Milan Kundera: On March 31 we had our sixth Yale Club of France Book Club session. We discussed "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" by Milan Kundera. We had a rich discussion of this book!
March 31 Book Club - One hundred years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez: On March 31 we had our sixth Yale Club of France Book Club session. We discussed "One hundred years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez We had a rich discussion of this book!
March 20 Walking tour - The Two Islands: Yale Club of France joined Brad Newfield, a French-American guide for Paris Walks. This time we explored the Two Islands. We discovered the heart of Paris along the Seine and explore 2000 years of its history on Ile de la Cité and Ile St. Louis. We hear the colorful stories of the aristocrats who first settled Ile St. Louis and built their extravagant mansions and discover the bohemian lives of artists, writers, and composers (Camille Claudel, Hemingway, Baudelaire, Chopin etc.) who also frequented the island and gave it its unique character. On the Ile de la Cité, we saw the impressive outside architecture of Notre Dame, and follow its rebuilding after the tragic fire of 2019.
Brad Newfield, a former Angelino who has lived in Paris since 1994, has a Ph.D in History from UCLA, lectured in History and Communication Studies, and develops walking tours on historical themes in Paris, in order to bring together the city's past and present in untraditional ways. On January 13 the Yale Club of France took a private tour of the Al Thani Collection exhibition at l’Hôtel de la Marine. Emilie Foyer (YC '13), Assistant Curator of the collection led the tour.January 13 The Al Thani Collection at the Hôtel de la Marine: On January 13 the Yale Club of France took a private tour of the Al Thani Collection exhibition at l’Hôtel de la Marine. Emilie Foyer (YC '13), Assistant Curator of the collection led the tour.
The Al Thani Collection brings together exceptional works of art from antiquity to modern times, representing a wide range of cultures and civilisations. The approximately 120 works in the opening exhibition, called “Treasures of the Al Thani Collection,” span more than 5,000 years, from the simplicity of a gold pendant — identified as one of the earliest known examples of goldsmithing, dating at least to 3,500 B.C. and possibly earlier — to a large and ornate Mughal decorative bird in gold, lacquer, rubies and emeralds.
We had a wonderful time at the event. Special thanks to Emilie Foyer for treating us to an excellent tour of the impressive exhibition.January 13 Book Club - Demian: On January 13 we had our fifth Yale Club of France Book Club session. We discussed "Demian" by Hermann Hesse. We had a rich discussion of this book!
