Travel

Travel

Rome advice for families 2015

They also do combo upgrades where for an extra 12 Euros, you can include either Coliseum (regular price 9.5)) or Vatican Museum/Sistine Chapel skip the line tickets.

...Other stuff: We took the 7 Euro elevator to the top of the Vittorio Emmanuele II monument and “Altare della Patria.” (the BIG thing at the end of the Via del Corso) where you have a great view of all of Rome and the Forum.

Architecture and Design, General, Tours and visites, Travel, Travel with Kids, Un peu différent, Walking (tours and promenades)

Canal Saint Martin is a walk in the Park of Paris

Another little surprise, from Parc de Villette, rediscovering Canal St. Martin by walking from Parc de Villette to Bastille. The neighborhoods along the way are so lively, especially during the summer months, when Paris Plage is going on.  All of the activities here beat the Paris Plage by the Seine.   Canal St. Martin, is a 4.5 km long and connects…read more
Apartment - 39 rue de Vaugirard - short term rental, Apartment neighborhood, Architecture and Design, Tours and visites, Travel, Travel with Kids

Jardin du Luxumbourg named one of the 60 greatest places in the world

Image via Wikipedia I'm consistently awestruck every time we visit our 'Jardin.'  We're so lucky to have le Jardin du Luxumbourg as our backyard.   Even after more than a decade and a half of coming to this lovely city each year, I have always found this park and its gardens magical.  Lately, I've found myself reading more about the planning…read more
In the News, Travel, Un peu différent

French air enthusiasts hope to restart Concorde engines

Though I know post 9/11 and a cratering air travel market didn't help, the Concorde flew without incident for 30 years before tarmac debris brought the first one down. ... I hope that despite the claim that they only want to see the Concorde roll on it's own power on the Le Bourget tarmac, that someone has a plan to get the bird back in the air. It's nice to think that technological marvels of the space age could still come back, and in finding the past, we could sew the seeds to a more hopeful future. LE BOURGET, France — A French aeronautics association Saturday examined the engines of a Concorde passenger jet at an air museum outside Paris to determine if they could be used again. "The objective is not to get it (Concorde) to fly again but to get the engines working again, hoping one day to see it taxi on the tarmac for the pleasure of visitors to the museum," said Frederic Pinlet, head of Olympus 593, named after the Rolls Royce/Snecma engines used on the aircraft.

Food, Restaurants, Travel, Understand France and the French

A Moveable Feast

Newly launched, The Paris Supper Club promises to replace both outdated guidebooks and raves from nostalgic friends when it comes to searching out some of the best and truest places to eat in the French capital. The club is a project of former Gourmet European correspondent Alexander Lobrano, author of a book and blog called "Hungry for Paris" (hungryforparis.com), and…read more
Culture, For tourists only, Museums and Monuments, Travel, Travel with Kids, Understand France and the French

France Miniature

Our friend Patrick Mikla always surprises us with 'inside' discoveries of Paris and France. From the time we met him some 15 year ago, I can remember each and every one of our adventures. The latest is France Miniature. He took the day off and took us Élancourt, a town about an hour drive outside of Paris, where this miniature…read more
Culture, Food, Restaurants, Travel

Chez Michel

What a find. Our friends Jean-Jacques and Jane, my husband and I had a dinner out at Chez Michel, in the 10th arrondisement. Cuisine is Breton, and the atmosphere breezy. According to our discriminating friend Jean-Jacques, Chez Michel is one of the top 10 traditional bistros in Paris, and indeed, I think it lives up to its status. My fish…read more
Travel

Heat wave in Paris – temperatures in France up 104 degrees (40 C)

We leave on Sunday for Paris, so I'm hoping we'll be cruising into Fall weather by then. It's slightly cooler in Paris, but pretty unbearable in a city with almost no air conditioning. In Paris, where temperatures reached 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) on Wednesday, crowds kept cool by splashing and relaxing in the Trocadero fountains near the Eiffel Tower.

Books, Books on France, Culture, Museums and Monuments, Travel, Understand France and the French

Mona Lisa in Camelot

Two ladies in Camelot..... Who knew... Just read in the Vanity Fair article of how the 1963 American exhibition of the Mona Lisa in New York City and Washington, D.C., was America's first blockbuster art show. The writer Davids recounts in numbing detail the negotiations, preparations, flummoxes and successes of the exhibit. The exhibition was masterminded by the diplomatically savvy…read more