Of the constellation of formerly royal towns that now stand for genteel living in the western suburbs of Paris, Versailles naturally grabs the lion’s share of attention due to its chateau. But Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Versailles’s predecessor [...]
After nearly 20 years of travel writing in France, I’m happy to say that there are plenty of notable towns and villages and landscapes I’ve never visited. Why happy? Because after all these years I [...]
Annabel Simms’ “An Hour from Paris” is an eye-opening guide to lesser known towns and villages within an easy train ride of Paris. Before getting down to reviewing the updated version of the book, I chose a [...]
Far less known than the Sainte Chapelle in Paris is France’s other great Sainte Chapelle of France, the royal chapel at the Chateau de Vincennes, which reopened on May 13, 2009, after nine years of restoration.
Amiens is unlikely to appear in the top 10 of any objective lists of daytrips from Paris, but who ever said that a traveler had to be objective? You know the joke about the researchers [...]
Versailles, for all its reflection of historical French grandeur, authority, nobility, art, craftsmanship, and etiquette, is also a reflection of American power. Versailles may well be the French monument that most symbolizes American power, after the Statue of Liberty that is.
I’m not sure when my transformation from dread of Versailles to curiosity occurred—while listening to our guide, while visiting the Little Theater, while strolling through the bucolic Hamlet, while having an enjoyable lunch at La [...]
Part I: Marie-Antoinette’s Versailles Featuring Lolly Winston Until recently I’d cringe when visiting friends would ask me to take them to Versailles. Too crowded, too baroque, too empty of furniture, too bold and muddled at the [...]
The French electorate doesn’t necessarily vote according to its relative wealth, yet relative wealth is a pretty good indicator of voting strength, particularly in Paris and more dramatically in its surrounding region. There, generally speaking, [...]
