IN PARIS | Jacques Chirac | mayor | Giscard d''Estaing

"Traveling out from Paris is great. You can go to Provence and Bordeaux, and see the wine châteaux. But if you're going to go to spend any time in Paris, you need to go see the Château de Versailles. I had the great pleasure of going to Versailles and having dinner in the Hall of Mirrors. That was magnificent. I was invited to dinner by then-president Giscard d'Estaing, and it was a very formal dinner for the king of Saudi Arabia. The room was lit up with candles and there must have been at least 100 people. It was mag-nificent. Versailles is a part of the French culture that's been writ- ten about, that's been dreamt about, and that is truly magnificent."

ONE ENLIGHTENING SUMMER IN PARIS

"I was working as a producer for French television when they asked me to step in and man one of the Radio Luxembourg talk shows for the summer. When they asked me if I thought I could do it, I said, 'Yes,' like a fool. Because everybody in Paris goes on vacation for the summer, it was the lonely Bracco in August. The show was in French. I always had an accent, but I speak French well. I didn't really 'interview.' I just talked about things in the news, mostly things about rock-and-roll, and I played rock-and-roll music. I interviewed Jacques Chirac when he was the mayor, and he's now the president. I interviewed everybody from Mayor Chirac to Bruce Springsteen to people talking about how the French should use pooper-scoopers - anything. I did the show for about three months. I had always modeled, so everything was always about my appearance, and this was more about what was going on inside of me. That was very good for me, although my audience was probably only the prisoners in French jails. I can honestly say I grew up in Paris. I went as a girl, and left as a woman."

LORRAINE BRACCO'S PARIS ESSENTIALS

LODGING
Hôtel Duc de Saint Simon