Theme Week Champagne – Langres

19 March 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Langres © Vassil

Langres © Vassil

Langres is a commune and a subprefecture of the Haute-Marne département. The town is built on a limestone promontory of the same name. This stronghold was originally occupied by the Gauls, and, at a later date the Romans fortified the town belonging to the Celtic tribe the Lingones; Andemantunum the strategic cross-roads of twelve Roman roads. The 1st century Triumphal Gate and the many artefacts exhibited in the museums are witnesses to the Gallo-Roman town.   read more…

Theme Week Champagne – Chaumont

18 March 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Town Hall © Pline/cc-by-sa-3.0

Town Hall © Pline/cc-by-sa-3.0

Chaumont is the capital (or préfecture) of the Haute-Marne department. As of 2013, it has a population of 23,000. The city stands on the Marne River and is situated on the railway linking Paris and Basel, which runs over a 52 m tall and 600 m long viaduct built in 1856.   read more…

The seaside resort of Le Touquet-Paris-Plage

30 January 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

L'Hermitage © AntonyB/cc-by-sa-3.0

L’Hermitage © AntonyB/cc-by-sa-3.0

Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, commonly referred to as Le Touquet, is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. It has a population of 4,500. Le Touquet has a reputation as the most elegant holiday resort of northern France, the playground of rich Parisians, with many luxury hotels.   read more…

La Réunion in the Indian Ocean

28 January 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  7 minutes

Saint-Denis © B.navez/cc-by-sa-3.0

Saint-Denis © B.navez/cc-by-sa-3.0

Réunion (previously Île Bourbon and Île Bonaparte) is a French island with a population of 84,000 inhabitants. The island is located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about 200 kilometres (120 mi) southwest of Mauritius, the nearest island. Réunion, Mauritius and Rodrigues form the Mascarene Islands. The collective title is derived from the Portuguese navigator Pedro Mascarenhas, who first visited them in the early sixteenth century. Bourbon vanilla got its name from the long-term main supplier of vanilla, Île Bourbon/Réunion.   read more…

The Special Military School of Saint-Cyr

25 January 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Universities, Colleges, Academies Reading Time:  4 minutes

Guer - Camp Coëtquidan - Ecoles de Coetquidan © Nitot/cc-by-sa-3.0

Guer – Camp Coëtquidan – Ecoles de Coetquidan © Nitot/cc-by-sa-3.0

The École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr (ESM, literally the “Special Military School of Saint-Cyr”) is the foremost French military academy. It is often referred to as Saint-Cyr. Its motto is “Ils s’instruisent pour vaincre”: literally “They study to vanquish” or “Training for victory”. French cadet officers are named “saint-cyriens”, or “cyrards”. The École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr is located in Coëtquidan in Guer, Morbihan department, Brittany.   read more…

The Paris Beaches

21 December 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Paris / Île-de-France Reading Time:  6 minutes

© flickr.com - Sharat Ganapati/cc-by-2.0

© flickr.com – Sharat Ganapati/cc-by-2.0

Paris-Plages is a plan run by the office of the mayor of Paris that creates temporary artificial beaches each summer along the river Seine in the centre of Paris, and, since 2007, along the Bassin de la Villette in the northeast of Paris. Every July and August, roadways on the banks of the Seine are blocked off and host various activities, including sandy beaches and palm trees. French city-dwellers traditionally escape to the seaside or the countryside during the summer, especially in August. Paris is avoided, as the weather is unpleasantly hot and humid, and the centre is full of tourists. Nevertheless, each summer many residents are obliged to remain in the city, however reluctantly. The Paris-Plages scheme was instigated in 2002 as a haven for relieving the misery of those cooped up in the sweltering city.   read more…

Château Lafite Rothschild and Château Mouton Rothschild in Pauillac

7 December 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon appétit Reading Time:  9 minutes

Chateau Lafite © Ken Case

Chateau Lafite © Ken Case

Château Lafite Rothschild

Château Lafite-Rothschild and Château Mouton Rothschild are legendary wine estates located in the village of Pauillac in the Médoc, 50 km (30 mi) north-west of the city of Bordeaux. Their red wines of the same names are regarded as one of the world’s greatest clarets. Château Lafite-Rothschild was the property of Gombaud de Lafite in 1234. In the 17th century, the property of Château Lafite was purchased by the Ségur family, including the 16th century manor house that still stands. Although vines almost certainly already existed on the site, around 1680, Jacques de Ségur planted the majority of the vineyard. The estate is owned by members of the Rothschild family since the 19th century. The name Lafite comes from the Gascon term “la hite” meaning “small hill”.   read more…

Galeries Lafayette

1 December 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, House of the Month, Paris / Île-de-France, Shopping Reading Time:  6 minutes

Galeries Lafayette Haussmann © flickr.com - zoetnet/cc-by-2.0

Galeries Lafayette Haussmann © flickr.com – zoetnet/cc-by-2.0

The Galeries Lafayette is an upmarket French department store company located on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. In 2011, Galeries Lafayette recorded earnings of 2,957 million euro. It is a part of the company Groupe Galeries Lafayette. In 1895, Théophile Bader and his cousin Alphonse Kahn opened a fashion store in a small haberdasher‘s shop at the corner of rue La Fayette and the Chaussée d’Antin. In 1896, their company purchased the entire building at n°1 rue La Fayette; in 1905 they acquired the buildings at n°38, 40 and 42, boulevard Haussmann and n°15 rue de la Chaussée d’Antin. Bader commissioned the architect Georges Chedanne and his pupil Ferdinand Chanut to design the store at the Haussmann location, where a glass and steel dome and Art Nouveau staircases were finished in 1912.   read more…

Theme Week Marseille – Château d’If off the coast

23 October 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  7 minutes

Château d'If © Philippe Alès/cc-by-sa-3.0

Château d’If © Philippe Alès/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Château d’If is a fortress (later a prison) located on the island of If, the smallest island in the Frioul Archipelago situated in the Mediterranean Sea about a mile offshore in the Bay of Marseille in southeastern France. Île d’If measures 3 hectares (0.03 km2) and is located 3.5 kilometers west of the Vieux Port in Marseille. The entire island is heavily fortified; high ramparts with gun platforms surmount the cliffs that rise steeply from the surrounding ocean. Apart from the fortress, or château as it is ironically called, the island is uninhabited.   read more…

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