France Impressions is a blog about my travels throughout France.
Travel is about embarking on journeys, discovering new places, its people, learning from others and in particular, learning about oneself. I believe travel is an art and I like to craft trips and tours around your personality, interests, desires and dreams. I undertake to open for you 'doors that are normally closed" thereby ensuring you gain access to exclusive experiences while introducing you to extraordinary personalities.
The French world of cuisine today is a bit sadden by the passing of Alain Senderens; one of the early proponent and founders of Nouvelle Cuisine. Chef Senderens like his fellow chefs, Paul Bocuse and others, shunt butter and cream -laden dishes, heavy sauces and longer cooking times, they said they would with Nouvelle Cuisine, breathe life into a cuisine that hadn't changed in decades.
BUT For me, as a classicist, today, its a cry from my heart as to the disappearance of the great French sauces. They were banished during the late 20th century when they were found to be guilty of dietary hearsay.
Today if a sauce is present in a dish at all,it is reduced to a few artistic-looking splashes or spots. To my mind, these 'spots' do not allow the sauce to fulfill its function of linking the different elements that make up a dish, where its main mission is to confer unity and heighten flavor. In the wonderful movie ' Who's killing the great chefs of Europe', One of the chefs whose is confronted by someone who is against sauces say "my sauces don't conceal, but reveal'. The superiority of French cooking was ( and is no more) its quest for perfection of flavor, which takes ( in my mind) the priority over a dishes appearance. Its because of the disappearance of the great French sauces that the cuisine today has become banal, save for good French country/regional cooking. I can go into length at what a sorry state of classical French cooking has been for the last few decades, but I'll stop, because I need to keep my blood pressure........... low. The sauce boat as well as the ladle has become a museum piece.
In London, in the St James area ( where I do most of my shopping for clothes) there are a few famous Hidden arcades that house all sorts of men's products. Arcades like The Burlington and Piccadilly. But Paris has its fair share, that most tourists are unaware of. One of my favorites is just behind the Louvre.
The Galerie Vero-Dodat is one of the smaller of the covered passages that remain in Paris, and I think probably the most charming of them all.
It was built in 1826 by Monsieurs Vero et Dodat, two pork butchers from neighboring streets who hoped to profit from the popularity of the nearby Palais Royal. It’s decorated in the neoclassical style, and is only 80 metres long – the impression of depth is given by the diagonal black and white floor tiles and the fact that all the shops have the same facades. It was also one of the first to be lit by gas lamps as soon as it opened, something of a novelty at the time. High end shops and local one of kind shops are found here
Most visitor just drive to the site of Mont Saint-Michael and visit the Abbaye, but why not experience it in a new way; in fact the way the ancient Pilgrims did, by walking across the low tides and sands to the Abbaye. We can offer with a local guide the many ways you can do this. Call us for more information or see www.cheminsdelabaie.com
Back in those days - The Parisian working class put on their Sunday best to swarm out of the capital east to the banks of the Marne for weekend days of eating, drinking, boating and undoubted hanky-panky ( hey, after all.............. this is France!) The epicenter of the shenanigans were the riverside guinguettes ( pronounced - Gen-Get) - restaurants-cum-bars-cum-music ' and dance-halls. The good news is that a few are still around. One of the best is the Ile-du-Martin-Pecheur
That's like asking me which of my cats do I love the best, but when pressed, I will admit..the region of Brittany is my all time favorite and the city of Roscoff, is where I rent a house every year.
Hidden away in Paris near the Gare de Lyon rail station is a haven from the modern world, a place to daydream, to marvel at how enchantment was brought to those who lived in Paris some 200 years ago. The Musee des Arts Forains is a place to be enchanted. Long closed to the general public but what with the success of Woody Allen's, 'Midnight in Paris' which feature this Museum, it is now open ( by appointment only) to use lesser mortals.
You’re a wine tourism enthusiast? You heard about the wine tours in the vineyard? This year, Bordeaux Tourist Office offers you the opportunity to discover a brand new kind of wine tourism inside the city of Bordeaux
Urban Wine Trail allows you to discover the different districts of Bordeaux along its wine bars as they did flourish over the past few years.
Nothing’s more pleasant that meandering through the narrow alleys and enjoying a break at the terrace of a wine bar. Nothing’s easier; a track has been recorded on the application called Cirkwi. You simply have to download it ( on your Iphone or Ipad) before to get started in the city
Streets and then follow the milestones indicated
Each wine bar taking part in the Urban Wine Trail has provided a special offer including wine and some tasty treats.
The town of Etretat ( just 55 minutes drive north of Honfleur) is famous for its three natural arches and white chalk cliffs that tower high over the Atlantic Ocean. Claude Monet and other impressionists famously painted the arches and cliffs in the 19th century. Rather than eat in this very touristy town, do up a picnic lunch and eat in the countryside nearby.
Canard & Champagne, a new restaurant in Paris, Occupys the magnificent landmarked former premises of an 18th century stationery shop with black-and-white marble floors and a magnificent carved wooden shop in the moody Passage des Panoramas, this casual convivial place specializes in two of the most quintessentially French products imaginable, duck and Champagne.
Nestled in the picturesque Saint Cloud park outside Paris, the Sèvres factory is a temple to craftsmanship. Some of Europe’s most beautiful ceramics have been made here since 1740. Today, 120 potters use skills and techniques that have been handed down from generation to generation over three centuries
Open to the public in certain areas and a private visit can be arranged in the closed off areas. The place to stay nearby is the very romantic Inn - Les Etanges de Corot in Ville d'Avray
This is my favorite place to get hidden from the hustle of Paris and enjoy long walks, great food and drink, a wine spa and just a beautiful retreat and yet only 15 minutes fromParis.
the Brière Regional Nature Park covers a 49,000 hectare surface area. In the heart of this reserve, the Grande Brière Mottière marsh, which extends over 7,000 hectares, offers a series of canals, reed beds, wetland meadows, peat bogs and islands, among which the Fédrun island. Boat trips are put on to explore the flora and fauna of Brière. From the bell tower of Saint-Lyphard church, there is a panoramic view of the marsh and surrounding area! The Brière area is also unusual in that it is covered with no less than 3,000 thatched cottages!
I love this area and always during my visit, I have lunch at the enchanting La Mare Aux Oiseaux restaurant, located in the heart of the park, the dining room just oozes charm and the cooking of Eric Guerin is not to be missed.
L'Elysee Palace ( The French White House) and I agree that Nicole BARTHELEMY'S cheese shop is one of the best places to go and buy your cheese. It's open 8:30am to 1pm and then 4pm to 7:15pm. Closed Sunday and Monday.
..and one can fly a hot air balloon inside also................. Located about 45 minutes outside of the city of Pau ( next to the French Pyrenees ), it can be visited almost all year.
Follow in the footsteps of the first explorers, accompanied by a qualified caving guide and ardent enthusiast of the La Pierre Saint-Martin cave system. Starting from La Verna, this visit is a good introduction to caving. The narrow passages - where crawling would be required - can be avoided, but the terrain is rough, without paths. The visit takes you upstream all the way to another big cave room:
The Petit train d'Artouste is a narrow gauge tourist railway situated in the French Pyrenees close to the Spanish border, some 55 km (34.2 mi) south of the town of Pau. The line runs high above the headwaters of the Gave d'Ossau, and provides access to the Lac d'Artouste, a semi-artificial lake in the mountains at an altitude of over 6,562 ft The train runs from late May to late September. In July and August it runs from 9:00am to 5:00pm, and until 3:00pm at other times. Advance booking is advisable. To reach the train you take a 10 minute cable car ride from the Lac de Fabrèges.
The train ride takes about 50 minutes and it’s then a short walk to the Lac d’Artouste. Please be aware that in peak season you are only able to stay at the top for about 1 ½ hours.
Considered to be one of the most elegant shellfish in the world, scallops are truly the jewel in the crown of St-Brieuc bay in France.
In France as in other European nations, food is only served in the time that it is in season, unlike America, where you can get any food you want at anytime, even thought its not the best outside of its season. Hurrah for the French! Harvesting this delicious seafood is a veritable race against time, as not only is the scallop-fishing season only open from October to the end of April, but even during the season, fishing is restricted to 45 minutes twice a week, to protect the species. And so the fishing ports of Erquy, Saint-Quay-Portrieux, Loguivy-de-la-Mer and Paimpol take it in turns each year to organised the Fête de la Coquille Saint-Jacques, to mark the closing of this intense fishing season.
Today in France, there are over 400 cheese varieties and the French are the largest consumers of cheese in the world. Not having cheese everyday is like the French saying " A meal without cheese is like a beautiful woman with only one eye,
a Cheese being made is only one part of the a story, from there it needs to be aged properly and that's called Affinage and there are shops that buy the cheese from the producers and then age it and these are the only people to buy from. As far as etiquette, cheese with a meal is always eaten after the email meal and before dessert. One never eats cheese with crackers ( in France) but only with bread, normally dark bread. Also, when cutting cheese there are strict ways of doing it and not, but the most important is when you are faced with a pie-shaped cheese, you never cut the nose off ( the most favorable part) but cut it at an angle so everyone gets a slice that had part of the nose. With soft cheese, the French also eat the rind ( another very favorable part) and with the hard one, most do not, but you'll get points with the locals if you do.
