Notre Dame Cathedral has long inspired artists. How should the newest version of Our Lady of Paris be drawn?
Category: France
Slacking the Saint James
Doing the Camino de Santiago Your Way The little nagging fear about embarking on a pilgrimage is, at least in my case, that everyone else on the trail will be a whole lot more religious than I am. So it is with some pleasure that I pick up yet another book about someone walking the…
Day Trip from Geneva to Yvoire, France
Make Time to Go Medieval in a Small French Village From fast-moving and modern Geneva, with its trains and efficiencies, escape for a day to nearby Yvoire, France, a medieval town replete with a castle. Situated on Lake Geneva (also known as Lac Léman), this little town transports visitors to the Middle Ages as they…
Retro Saint-Michel
Will a Half-Century Old Guidebook Help a Tourist View an Attraction Differently? Picking up an old guidebook on Mont Saint-Michel that was published in the 1960s, I flip through to find out what highlights were deemed important 50-plus years ago. In this guidebook, the photos are black and white except for the covers, and the…
Books about the Great Depression: Mont Saint Michel for Changing Times
Looking for a book about the Depression? Roger Vercel’s 1938 novel about the mount still entices What I like about Mont Saint Michel is that the closer you climb to the top of the mount, the farther you are from the touristy crappiness that can accompany any highly popular destination. Ascending the mount in France…
Le Penseur Two Ways
In New York or Paris, Rodin’s Sculpture Charms What sculpture might be as well-known as the Statue of Liberty? Could it be Auguste Rodin’s Le Penseur (The Thinker), accessible at the Musée Rodin in Paris and, with a contemporary twist (Le Penseur avec Smartphone) on the streets of New York City in the form of…
Finding Napoleon beyond France
Enamored with the French Revolution on my visit to Paris, I pay scant attention to Napoleon during my time there. Stopping by at Les Invalides, I focus more on a car show on its grounds than to the tomb of the former emperor inside. It’s not until I visit Moscow and view his cannons that…
Celebrating Louis XVI
Accomplishments besides Marrying Poorly Louis XVI, king of France, was born 261 years ago on August 23, 1754, and what many seem to remember about him is his wife, Marie-Antoinette, originally of Austria, and his general ineffectiveness in leading his country—hence, its revolution in 1789 and his eventual visit to the guillotine in 1793. Yet,…
Wherever I Go, There’s Rochambeau
Recurring Characters in Historical Travels Revered as a hero in the American Revolution, the Comte de Rochambeau’s efforts helping the new country ward off the British are commemorated along the Washington-Rochambeau National Historic Trail—almost 700 miles extending from Massachusetts and Rhode Island south to Virginia. Plaques mark his presence at various points along his historic…
Depressed in Paris?
There are some places on the planet where gloom just doesn’t settle: Key West, Fla.; New Orleans; Paris. Does anyone visiting these destinations ever have a bad time? How could they? So it is surprising to watch a film about an American living in Paris who just can’t get out of his slump, despite a…