It’s been a long-held ambition of ours to do a canal boat cruise in Europe, preferably in France. Recently, we bit the bullet, burnt our bridges and booked the boat. In late September, we set off for France, and the Locaboat depot. We traveled via Bordeaux and the Gironde region, a beautiful wine-growing region full [...]
Archive for the ‘France’ Category
A Trip on the Canal du Midi
Posted in France, Travel, tagged Canal Boating, Canal du Midi, Carcassonne on April 2, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
France in the Frame
Posted in Art and Photography, France, Travel, tagged France-The French Way, Group Tours, John Reese, Renoir on March 19, 2013 | 1 Comment »
French travel specialist John Reese has invested two decades in changing the way Kiwis feel about France, he tells Cameron Williamson of the Dominion Post Wellington (NZ) To sit in the garden of Renoir’s house, sketching 1000 year old olive trees and hearing the stories of the land, is John Reese’s kind of travel. Twenty [...]
A New President
Posted in France, Travel, tagged Francois Hollande, French Elections, Nicholas Sarkozy on May 7, 2012 | 3 Comments »
It’s been quite a weekend for Europe. A new president for France, and electoral upheaval in Greece, adding to the risks of an unsettled Euro zone. But for Francois Hollande things couldn’t be better. A man who would be equally comfortable living as a butcher in a rural French village, has now ascended to the [...]
The Louvre – Forbidden Love
Posted in France, Holiday, Tourism, Travel, tagged Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson, Atala, Chactas, Louvre on December 12, 2011 | 11 Comments »
Lessons from the Louvre – Part 3 This is the third part of my series on paintings in the Louvre. This is my attempt to cure those suffering from MLS syndrome, and opening your eyes to art highlights other than the Mona Lisa! Over the next month there will be weekly articles on my highlights, [...]
The Louvre – Kim Kardashian creates havoc?
Posted in Art and Photography, France, Holiday, Tourism, Travel, tagged Henri IV, L'Apotheose d'Henri IV, Louis X111, Louvre, Marie de Medici, Mona Lisa, Paul Rubens, Richelieu on December 7, 2011 | 19 Comments »
Lessons from the Louvre – Part 2: This is the second part of my series on paintings in the Louvre. This is my attempt to cure those suffering from MLS syndrome, and opening your eyes to art highlights other than the Mona Lisa! Over the next month there will be weekly articles on my highlights, [...]
Isle sur la Sorgue – Market in Provence
Posted in France, Holiday, Tourism, Travel, tagged Avignon, Carpentras, House Rentals, Isle sur la Sorgue, Le Jardin du Quai, Le Vivier, Markets on November 10, 2011 | 29 Comments »
Sunday morning and it’s market day in L’Isle sur la Sorgue, and you will soon see why so many people travel here ! Isle sur la Sorgue is situated 30 minutes to the east of Avignon (Provence), just at the entrance to the Luberon Valley. It is essentially, as its name suggests, an island on the [...]
Edith Piaf – The Sparrow and the Rose
Posted in France, News, Paris, Tourism, Travel, tagged Edith Piaf, James Blunt, Je Ne Regrette Rien, Jim McIntosh, La Vie en Rose, Louis Leplee, Montmartre, Non, Oscar Wilde, Pere Lachaise, Place des Abbesses on November 3, 2011 | 27 Comments »
I sit on a bench on Place des Abbesses in Paris. There is a colourful merry-go-round in the centre of this autumn- leaf covered square in the heart of Montmartre, Paris. A young Parisian is sitting on the steps of the nearby church strumming on his guitar with his cap waiting hopefully on the footpath [...]
Toussaint – Don’t get the flowers wrong!
Posted in France, Holiday, Tourism, Travel, tagged All Saints Day, All Souls Day, chrysanthemums, toussaint on October 31, 2011 | 5 Comments »
Within the next few days no-one can avoid the 1st November. In France this day is known as La Toussaint (All Saints Day), a day when one celebrates the lives of all the saints. Equally important as 1 November is the 2 November, which is known as the Fete des Morts (Festival of the Dead). [...]
Hitler’s morning off in Paris.
Posted in France, Holiday, News, Paris, Travel, tagged Albert Speer, Arc de Triomphe, Charles Mangin, Edith Cavell, Eiffel Tower, Hans Spiedel, Hitler, Opera House Garnier, Palais de Chaillot, Paris occupation, Place de la Concorde, Richard Maddox on October 26, 2011 | 22 Comments »
It is early morning on 23rd June 1940. Paris has been occupied for over a week. An armistice was signed in the same railway carriage, at the same spot in the Forest of Compiègne where Foch had imposed terms on the German delegation in 1918. At Le Bourget the light catches a military transport aircraft [...]
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