Today is Bastille Day, or so I thought, until Monsieur corrected me this morning. “In France it’s called ‘le quatorze juillet’ or if you have to use the word ‘Bastille’, it’s ‘le jour de la prise de la Bastille’. Otherwise, it’s ‘la Fête Nationale.’ I was confused. ‘So no one calls it ‘le jour de…
Tag: france
One Night in Paris and London
Monsieur trots off to Paris for work. I stay in London. Yesterday morning on the way to the tube, Monsieur and I preview our days ahead. “Darling,” I say, “you’re so lucky. You’re going to Paris for meetings, have a cocktail event in the Louvre tonight, you’re staying in a lovely hotel with very soft beds and really…
Epic postcard moments 4
Some of you have been asking me where this photo was taken. (In case it looks familiar, it’s the one at the top of my blog page). It was taken from a rest-stop between Nice and Monaco on New Year’s Eve last year. We’d been hugging the coast so we could gawp at the views like this and what finer…
Epic postcard moments 2
In January, when Monsieur and I were staying in Cannes, we decided to drive along part of the Route Napoleon. The day had started quite nicely, but by mid-afternoon, it was as if someone had turned off the light. The clouds rolled in off the sea but in spite of threatening major precipitation it didn’t rain on…
Bandes Dessinees weekend 1 – The Case of the Missing Navette
There are too many people in this world who simply don’t understand the fascination of bandes dessinées (otherwise known as graphic novels). Monsieur and I are not among these people. We still read Tintin, raced madly through a series called XIII (Treize, as in ‘thirteen’) which gripped us with political intrigue and Kennedy-esque family, spent last…
A Tale of Two Mexicans in Paris
‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do’, or so they say, but what about ‘when in Paris, eat as the Mexicans do’? Deciding to turn our backs on canard and moules and other typical French fare, Monsieur and I felt like dining on something different. That’s how we came to experience two very different…
Say it in French at Latitude Sud
On the corner of rue des Bernardins in Saint Germain, Paris, there’s a wonderful little boutique full of tee shirts bearing witty French slogans. Suddenly, saying “j’aime pas le matin” (I don’t like mornings) looks chic. Unfortunately, when Monsieur and I spotted this retail gem (named Latitude Sud), it was well past the owner’s bedtime, so we couldn’t…
La Vie en Rose by Jamie Ivey
Having thoroughly enjoyed Extremely Pale Rosé by Jamie Ivey, I was thrilled to find a sequel to quench my thirst for rosé wine in London’s ever-grey winter. La Vie en Rosé does not disappoint. On this occasion, Jamie and Tanya are trying to forge a French life for themselves by test-driving the concept of a rosé wine…
Paris, 75007
For a truly Parisian experience, I love to explore the area surrounding rue Saint-Dominique. The length of this shop-lined street running from Saint Germain, past les Invalides to the Champ de Mars, provides plenty of opportunity to fill up a suitcase without the challenge of the Big Avenue crowds and, if one suitcase proves insufficient, there are a couple of wonderful wholesale…
Epicurienne 