Paris Briefing: Coffee and Stroll with a Local Expert

Originally from Canada, Lily Heise is a freelance travel writer who has been living in Paris since 2000. She holds a Fine Arts Degree from the University of Guelph and has extensive experience in tourism and culture having worked for several French universities, museums, cultural sites and previously in the office of Context Travel. Her writing has been featured on the Huffington Post, Business Insider, CondeNastTraveler.com, Frommer's print guides and online, DK Eyewitness, Fodor's and others. She is also the author of two books on looking for romance in Paris and runs an award-winning blog on Paris, travel and romance, <a href="https://www.jetaimemeneither.com">Je T'Aime, Me Neither</a>.

Rebecca was born and raised in London. She fell in love with Paris as a teenager and cultivated her passion for French culture through a study abroad program as an undergraduate art student. She went on to earn her Master’s Degree in History of Decorative Arts and Design at New York's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, in partnership with Parsons the New School for Design. Her research in French Art Deco brought her back to the City of Light in 2007, where she has lived and worked ever since. She teaches design studies at Parsons Paris, and translates art and design-related texts for publishing houses, museums and cultural organizations in France and the USA. Rebecca is also a singer, performing and recording regularly with her jazz ensemble, The Chamber Jazz Quintet, and with her husband in their electro-pop duo, Wonder Room.

Sandra is an art historian specializing in the link between European art, history and society from the 15th to the 19th centuries. She holds a Master's degree in Art History from the Université La Sorbonne, where she specialized in Italian Renaissance painting and the iconography of the modern European family. Originally from Canada, she also holds an undergraduate degree in Linguistics, with a double specialization in French and Spanish Language Civilization, and has lived in Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, and Rome, before finally settling in Paris. She began guiding in Rome, where she spent over 10 years studying Italian history and art, and guiding groups regularly through the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel, the Borghese Gallery, and the Roman Forum. She loves music, dance, theatre and art in all of its forms and enjoys sharing this passion with visitors and museum-goers of all ages.