Maisons-Laffitte in the Île-de-France

11 October 2025 | Author/Destination: | Category: General, Paris / Île-de-France Reading Time:  6 minutes

Juillard property © Lionel Allorge/cc-by-sa-3.0

Juillard property © Lionel Allorge/cc-by-sa-3.0

Maisons-Laffitte is a commune in the Yvelines department in the northern Île-de-France region of France. It is a part of the affluent outer suburbs of northwestern Paris, 18.2 km (11.3 mi) from its centre. Maisons-Laffitte is famous for the Château de Maisons-Laffitte, built by architect François Mansart in the 17th century, and its horse racing track, the Maisons-Laffitte Racecourse. Église Saint-Nicolas was built between 1867 and 1872.   read more…

Ivry-sur-Seine in the Île-de-France region

2 May 2022 | Author/Destination: | Category: General, Paris / Île-de-France Reading Time:  5 minutes

Town hall © flickr.com - Guilhem Vellut/cc-by-2.0

Town hall © flickr.com – Guilhem Vellut/cc-by-2.0

Ivry-sur-Seine is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 5.3 kilometres (4 mi) from the centre of Paris. Paris’s main Asian district, the Quartier Asiatique in the 13th arrondissement, borders the commune and now extends into the northern parts of Ivry. Asian commercial activity, especially Chinese and Vietnamese, has greatly increased in Ivry-sur-Seine during the past two decades. The commune contains one of the highest concentrations of Vietnamese in France, who began settling in the city in the late 1970s after the Vietnam War.   read more…

Saint-Denis in Île-de-France

29 December 2021 | Author/Destination: | Category: General, Paris / Île-de-France Reading Time:  12 minutes

Town hall © Chabe01/cc-by-sa-4.0

Town hall © Chabe01/cc-by-sa-4.0

Saint-Denis is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 9.4 km (5.8 mi) from the centre of Paris. Saint-Denis, which has a population of 112,000, is a subprefecture of the department of Seine-Saint-Denis, being the seat of the arrondissement of Saint-Denis. It is home to France’s national football and rugby stadium, the Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Saint-Denis is a formerly industrial suburb currently changing its economic base. Inhabitants of Saint-Denis are called Dionysiens.   read more…

Sèvres in the Île-de-France region

9 November 2020 | Author/Destination: | Category: General, Paris / Île-de-France Reading Time:  5 minutes

Town hall © Benjism89/cc-by-sa-3.0

Town hall © Benjism89/cc-by-sa-3.0

Sèvres is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 9.9 kilometres (6.2 miles) from the centre of Paris and is in the department of Hauts-de-Seine in the region of Île-de-France. The commune is known for its famous porcelain production at the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres, which was also where the abortive Treaty of Sèvres was signed.   read more…

Boulogne-Billancourt in the Île-de-France region

27 October 2020 | Author/Destination: | Category: General, Paris / Île-de-France Reading Time:  8 minutes

Auditorium of 'La Seine Musicale' © GraphyArchy/cc-by-sa-4.0

Auditorium of ‘La Seine Musicale’ © GraphyArchy/cc-by-sa-4.0

Boulogne-Billancourt, often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine) is a commune in the western suburbs, and 8 km (5 mi) from the centre, of the French capital Paris. Boulogne-Billancourt is a subprefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department and the seat of the Arrondissement of Boulogne-Billancourt. With an average household income in 2013 of €47,592, nearly twice the French average of €25,548, Boulogne-Billancourt is one of the wealthiest cities in France. Boulogne-Billancourt is the most populous suburb of Paris and one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe. Formerly an important industrial site, it has successfully reconverted into business services and is now home to major communication companies headquartered in the Val de Seine business district.   read more…

19th arrondissement of Paris

19 October 2020 | Author/Destination: | Category: General, Paris / Île-de-France Reading Time:  4 minutes

Bassin de la Villette © Myrabella/cc-by-sa-3.0

Bassin de la Villette © Myrabella/cc-by-sa-3.0

The 19th arrondissement of Paris (XIXe arrondissement) is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as dix-neuvième. La petite Jérusalem (Little Jerusalem) is located in the Quartier de la Mouzaïa/Quartier d’Amérique.   read more…

Île-de-France, the Paris Region

28 August 2020 | Author/Destination: | Category: General, Paris / Île-de-France Reading Time:  4 minutes

Eiffel Tower and La Defense business district from the Tour Montparnasse © flickr.com - David McSpadden/cc-by-2.0

Eiffel Tower and La Defense business district from the Tour Montparnasse © flickr.com – David McSpadden/cc-by-2.0

Île-de-France (literally “Island of France”) is the most populous of the 18 regions of France. It is located in the north-central part of the country and often called the Région Parisienne (“Paris Region”) because it includes the city of Paris. Île-de-France is densely populated and economically important: it covers only 12,012 square kilometres (4,638 square miles), about 2% of France’s territory, but has an official estimated population of 12,213,364 (18.2% of the population of France) and accounts for nearly 30% of the French Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Although the modern name Île-de-France literally means “Island of France”, the etymology is in fact unclear. The “island” may refer to the land between the rivers Oise, Marne and Seine, or it may also have been a reference to the Île de la Cité, where the French royal palace and cathedral were located.   read more…

Portrait: Vincent van Gogh, founder of modern art

24 May 2017 | Author/Destination: | Category: Portrait Reading Time:  17 minutes

Vincent van Gogh signature

Vincent van Gogh signature

Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade he created about 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of them in the last two years of his life in France, where he died. They include landscapes, still lifes, portraits and self-portraits, and are characterised by bold colours and dramatic, impulsive and expressive brushwork that contributed to the foundations of modern art. His suicide at 37 followed years of mental illness and poverty.   read more…

Rambouillet in the Île-de-France

11 June 2015 | Author/Destination: | Category: General, Paris / Île-de-France Reading Time:  6 minutes

Château de Rambouillet © Jules78120/cc-by-sa-3.0

Château de Rambouillet © Jules78120/cc-by-sa-3.0

Rambouillet is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France.It is located on the outskirts of Paris, 44.3 km (27.5 mi) southwest from the center. Rambouillet is a sub-prefecture of the department. Rambouillet lies on the edge of the vast Forest of Rambouillet (Forêt de Rambouillet or Forêt de l’Yveline), and is famous for its historical castle, the Château de Rambouillet, which hosted several international summits. Due to its proximity to Paris and Versailles, Rambouillet has long been an occasional seat of government.   read more…

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