A Champagne Diary: 3 Grapes, 3 Lunches, 3 Dinners, a Bit of Chocolate, and...
“Drink the wine, not the label” is both a lofty and a homey approach to wine, and nowhere is that more important than with Champagne, the sparkling wine that we so readily identify with brands, romance, celebration, and money to burn that we sometimes forget that it’s wine at all.
The Borrowed Gun: Sports Shooting in France
Please don’t think that I’m looking to enter the fray of the hot-button topic of gun control in the United States when I tell...
Advice and Itineraries for Visiting the D-Day Landing Zone of Normandy
Reaping the personal rewards of visiting the D-Day Landing Zone and surrounding area of Normandy, whether on a guided D-Day tour or on your...
Destination Brittany, part 1 of 5: Travels with Henri
Destination Brittany, travels with Henri, Part I: Henri and I had never taken a road trip together, so we had no way of knowing how compatible we would be in deciding which towns and sights to visit along the way and where to stop for lunch or coffee or even a pee.
Bonjour Y’All, It’s Equiblues: A Remote French Town Gets Into the Rodeo Spirit
On a typical day nothing about the remote town of Saint-Agrève (pop. 2,600) would allow the rare visitor to imagine that its inhabitants have the slightest interest in Americana. But come mid-August Equiblues transforms this town in to the rodeo capital of France.
Making Peace with Bouillabaisse in Marseille
By James d'Entremont
I recently returned to Marseille for the first time in over four decades, and came away wondering how I could have waited so...
How to Avoid Descending into Rental Car Hell in Europe
International travelers beware: A familiar car rental logo does not necessarily mean that you can expect the same rental experience, agreement or recourse on both sides of the Atlantic. This article provides cautionary tales about rental car companies and voucher companies and provides information that help avoid the pitfalls of overseas rentals. Can companies such as Avis and Europcar be trusted for rentals between the US and France?
La Turballe Sardine Festival
Numerous port towns on Europe's Atlantic coast hold an annual Sardine Festival in July and August, with a large concentration of such events in France in...
Vichy: Not That Vichy, This Vichy
For many people, both French and foreign, something uncomfortable lurks in the name Vichy. Yet come to Vichy in the center of France, just under three hours by train from Paris, and you’ll soon have in mind not the waste and manipulation of war but rather the echo of one of the great pre-war spa towns of Europe.