Around Mont Blanc – White Mountains at Sunset
Mont Blanc, the white mountain, rises out of the Alps to claim the title of the highest peak in Western Europe. I’ve been lucky enough to..
Mont Blanc, the white mountain, rises out of the Alps to claim the title of the highest peak in Western Europe. I’ve been lucky enough to..
FRENCH FRIDAYS
A shiny pink intestine sits on the Charles-de-Fitte Avenue in Toulouse, reaching out of the ground to an overpowering height. I’ve always had the feeling that the museum curators don’t call it the intestine, but Toulousains certainly do.
It’s a handy landmark for giving directions – and it symbolizes the entrance to Toulouse’s museum [...]
Every country seems to have a slightly different hygiene fetish. France, meanwhile, forces men to pay to wear a stranger’s moist speedos. All in the name of hygiene.
Biarritz has a name that should mark it out for greatness. Instead of playboys in woollen bathing suits, Biarritz greeted me with
France does not claim steak tartare as its own…
Southwest France proclaims itself as the family home of cassoulet, even if the towns bicker over who thought of it first like relatives at Christmas.
Its peaks reach up to 3000 metres and waterfall jets breed across its splintered surfaces, forming rainbow haloes against the snow.
To avoid disappointment, let me state right now that I am not a sports journalist. However, build up enough atmosphere, enough history, enough daring and enough personal flair and I’m hooked…
“Whatever you do, don’t miss the bridges.”
That’s a phrase I’ve never heard before.
Cuisses de grenouilles – the dish so popular that it gave an entire nation its nickname. It comes as something of a disappointment, therefore, to discover that most French people pull a contorted or confused face at the mention of the humble amphibian.
If I could only use one word to describe my trip around the Basque country it would be colour.
For years, this greyish dome claimed the record of Europe’s highest stargazing site, in the days before the Hubble Space Telescope made mountain peaks the grandads of astronomy.
Place du Capitole, or Place Cap to the locals, is the beating heart of Toulouse and…
A tiny street squeezes around the edge of Fermat’s Lycée and onto Les Jacobins – a rather forlorn, unimpressive pathway for such a grandiose monument.
-The Etiquette for Leaving a Party
No matter how informal the get together, no matter how young (ahem) you are, you must say goodbye to everyone. That means touring the room and kissing each partygoer on at least both cheeks. To do otherwise invites accusations of filer à l’anglaise. This translates to leaving like an Englishman, [...]
The hexagon’s southwest corner brandishes a particularly rich menu: foie gras, duck breast, Roquefort cheese….all dishes to be eaten in moderation, one might think.
Not necessarily.
People scrambled to safety, crying “the end of the world is nigh!”
Oh, alright, that was me. An apocalyptic drama was unfolding, and I wanted to fit in.
Huddled on the battlements of Le Château de Foix, I finally realise why this area of France specialises in such hearty food:
In France, the bank holiday falls on May 1st, whereas England grants the first Monday in May to ensure a long weekend. But the differences run deeper than that….
The legend caramalises down to this. A rushed and harassed sister, baking in Paris at the Hotel Tatin, around 1898
Montmartre is a village, my mother used to say; an island rising out of the Paris fog.
Vianne Rocher, The Lollipop Shoes by Joanne Harris
The Lollipop Shoes delivers a thriller, wrapped in the shiny foil and sugar-dusted facade of a tale about a chocolate shop.
Marseilles seems proud of its bad-boy image. As a sailor’s city, the Old Port’s promenade is awash with fresh blue paint and a salty breeze. Its reputation is formidable, its spirit rebellious. Above all, Marseilles is a city to be heard.
If you get given lemons, make lemonade.
A young shepherd from Roquefort took this idea and expanded it. Or rather, given that his version happened hundreds of years ago, invented it.