Avignon is full of independent hotels so we took a chance and picked one off one of the main squares, Hôtel de l’Horlage. Though we usually shy away from such central locations, equating them with tour groups and sub-par food, Avignon is so small that to be away from the scrum would mean stuck outside […]
Tag Archives | France
Pont St-Bénézet, or Pont d’Avignon, Avignon, France
If I were French, I would know this bridge from a famous nursery rhyme, “Sur le Pont d’Avignon.” Since I was raised in the U.S., though, the only bridge I know from childhood songs is London Bridge. However, my lack of familiarity didn’t stop me from admiring Pont d’Avignon, or, rather, its remains. This bridge […]
Cathédral Notre Dame des Doms d’Avignon, Avignon, France
It makes sense that a city that the pope once called home would have a 4.5-ton gilded Virgin Mary looming over it. Avignon’s Cathédrale Notre Dame des Doms likely existed as early as the 4th century, but the structure we see today was built in phases from the 12th century. During the French Revolution, the […]
Man on a Clock Tower
This was the view from my hotel room’s balcony. Heights don’t bother me, but I’m not sure I’d want this job!
Le Palais des Papes, Avignon, France
Europe’s largest Gothic palace was built in the 14th century when Pope Clement V fled politically tumultuous Rome for peaceful Avignon. Along with the papal relocation came, of course, that of the center of the Catholic world. It was quite a score for little Avignon! The town grew quickly around the massive palace, whose size […]
Avignon, France
Approaching Avignon, one of Provence’s main cities, I felt like a displaced medieval warrior. Though I was in a modern car on an equally modern four-lane road, the only view I had was of 14th-century stone ramparts fully encircling the city, high enough to conceal all but the very tops of the requisite medieval cluster: […]
Marathon de Paris
How would the Champs-Élysées look with 50,000 people, shoulder-to-shoulder? Well, I found out when I joined 49,999 other people to run the Marathon de Paris. The course begins and ends near the Arc de Triomphe, stretching along the Right Bank, past Place de la Concorde and Bastille and encircling the Bois de Vincennes and Bois […]
E. Dehillerin, Paris, France
E. Dehillerin is the place to buy traditional French cookware in Paris. I emphasize traditional, because there are also many popular shops that sell things like cupcake tins and Oxo products, which are nothing new to Americans, but are still a novelty for French cooks. This family-operated shop has been in operation since 1820. It […]
La Maison de Balzac, Paris, France
Though I love to visit writers’ houses, I only recently trekked out to Western Paris to the neighborhood that was once a smaller village, Passy, to visit La Maison de Balzac. Balzac moved into this house in 1840 under a pseudonym, Monsieur de Breugnol, in order to evade creditors. It sort of feels like it. […]
Around Lille’s Place du General de Gaulle
Lille’s main square, Place du General de Gaulle, house the city’s most magnificent buildings. The Vieille Bourse was built in the 17th century to rival the exchanges of other great cities. It contains 24 individual houses set around an interior courtyard. The Renaissance façade reflects the architect, Julien Destrée’s, expertise as a wood sculptor. Garlands, […]
