Pastries are one of the best parts of visiting Paris. If you’ve never had French pastries fresh from a patisserie, you have no idea what you’re missing. Although some of the best patisseries in Paris will now ship their goodies, nothing can compare with going into one of these beautiful shops and selecting the perfect …
Read more “Paris’s best pastries — a guide to the top patisseries”
Pastries are one of the best parts of visiting Paris. If you’ve never had French pastries fresh from a patisserie, you have no idea what you’re missing. Although some of the best patisseries in Paris will now ship their goodies, nothing can compare with going into one of these beautiful shops and selecting the perfect …
Read more “Paris’s best pastries — a guide to the top patisseries.”
We’ve recently returned from Provence and the French Riviera, and Arles was one of our favorite spots. The city first flourished under Roman rule – and there are several impressive sites dating from Roman times, impressive medieval architecture, and delightful squares where you can enjoy a meal or a glass of wine. Virtually everything is …
Avignon is one of the most interesting cities in France. In 1309, Pope Clement V disliked all the politics in Rome and decided to move the Papacy to Avignon. A couple of subsequent Popes chose to remain in Avignon, and in 1335, Pope Benedict XII began construction of the Palais des Papes, which dominates the …
Everyone knows that the French make incredible red and white wine. But their rose wine is also fantastic, albeit sometimes misunderstood. When I told a friend that we loved the rose wines we drank on our recent trip to France, she turned up her nose and said, “Isn’t that like Kool-Aid?” The truth is that …
Perhaps more than any place in the world, Paris is a city with endless possibilities for eating and drinking well. Whether you’re visiting one of the three-star temples of gastronomy, enjoying choucroute garni in an Art Nouveau brasserie, or sampling the cuisine in one of the “baby bistros” on the Left Bank, you’ll never want …
France has one of the most sophisticated high-speed train networks in the world. It’s possible to reach most of France from Paris in just a few hours. And because the network extends to Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, and Luxembourg, most of the European continent is within easy reach too. If you count the time spent getting …
In America, most bakeries sell both bread and pastries. But in France, the two specialties aren’t always combined. Pastries are sold at pastry shops or patisseries, and bread is sold at bakeries or boulangeries. Breadmaking is truly an art form here and much attention is paid to the yeast, levain, fermentation time and temperature, etc. Many …
Dining out is one of the great pleasures of traveling in France. But Americans are often befuddled or irritated by what they consider to be bad service or rude treatment. With a better understanding of French culture and more realistic expectations, these problems can usually be avoided. So be sure to do a little trip …
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Located between Cannes and Nice on the French Riviera, Juan-les-Pins (Juan of the pines) was first developed in the 1920s. By the 1930s, trend-setters like F. Scott Fitzgerald put Juan-les-Pins on the map, and today, it attracts pretty much everyone. The golden-sand beach is one of the best on the Riviera. And if you base …