May 21st, 2012 at 10:00AM:
Reading Gadling's marvelous Museum Month posts has reminded me of a trip I made two decades ago to Paris. I had fallen in love with that exhilarating city in the mid-1970s, when I lived there for two successive summers, first after my junior year in college and then after graduation. I returned in 1988 to celebrate the city, and as part of that celebration, I wanted to write an essay about the ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
france posts
Encountering Monet At The Musee d'Orsay
May 21st, 2012 at 10:00AM:
Reading Gadling's marvelous Museum Month posts has reminded me of a trip I made two decades ago to Paris. I had fallen in love with that exhilarating city in the mid-1970s, when I lived there for two successive summers, first after my junior year in college and then after graduation. I returned in 1988 to celebrate the city, and as part of that celebration, I wanted to write an essay about the ...10 Extraordinary Islands To Visit On Your Next Vacation
May 10th, 2012 at 10:00AM:
Summer is the time of island vacations. It is time to put as much distance between you and the real world as possible. It is time to stand outside of your everyday life and to see how it all looks from a paradise perspective. Here is a collection of islands for escape – places to recharge, gain perspective and explore. From an island in the land of the gods to a tropical Amsterdam at ...Travel For The Inexplicable Human Connection
May 1st, 2012 at 2:30PM:
Editing a contribution to the site from Jill Paris the other day I was reviewing her bio at the end of the article and took note of the reason why she travels: "for the inexplicable human connection."
Those connections affect all of us when we travel, whether we know it or not, and it's a big part of what makes the journey so special. For me, personally, I have wonderful stories of meeting ...
Video: Bones And Art In The Paris Catacombs
Apr 26th, 2012 at 8:00AM:
You've probably seen videos or photos of the famous Paris Catacombs, with their miles of ossuaries holding the bones of some six million Parisians. The catacombs were created in the 18th century from existing underground quarries, and these quarries, tunnels, and other mysterious underground spaces create a network under Paris measuring more than 180 miles. It's truly a city under the city, ...
Fact vs Fiction: The Eiffel Tower in Paris, France
Apr 10th, 2012 at 10:00AM:
Warm days in Paris can bring out the crowds, especially in the parks near the foot of the Eiffel Tower. While lines can be long year round, they get the worst around Bastille Day (July 14) when the picture on the right was taken. And once you get to the top, well, expect more congestion.
Next: The Acropolis in Athens, Greece >>
[flickr images via nickboos, subpop77, and joybot] ...Photo of the Day: Stops along the way
Mar 27th, 2012 at 7:00PM:
A simple stop along a bicycle route is captured in today's Photo of the Day from Flickr user Kurt Schmidt. The image, taken with a Canon EOS 7D, depicts a quiet street scene with a vintage pink bicycle parked outside a cheerful cafe. One can imagine the rider ordering an espresso then sitting with a croissant and a newspaper before continuing along her way.
Does your travel snapshot belong ...Sustainable or just plain weird? Accor hotels sell their used furniture on eBay
Feb 17th, 2012 at 4:00PM:
This week French hotel brand Accor launched
reBorn, an online store through eBay that will sell the hotel giant's used furniture.
What can you snag? Everything from Luis XVI bedside tables to bronze chandeliers to 1980s wing armchairs, minibar furniture and even safes. About 2,500 items are on the site in total, with prices listed in Euros.
"The reBorn project satisfies a current ...Flying a dream: Urban Side
Feb 13th, 2012 at 7:30AM:
In this flying video we see Jean-Baptiste Chandelier who has been a paraglidiing pilot since 2004 and wants to inspire us all.
"My goal is to share my paragliding universe with my videos, for make everyone dream of flying," says Chandelier on his website.
Specializing in acro flight, Chandelier flys through Peru, France and Chile using a variety of aero-acrobatic maneuvers and ...
Infamous French prankster arrested for impersonating a traffic camera
Feb 7th, 2012 at 4:00PM:
While it's probably safe to say that most people think traffic cameras are pretty annoying, infamous French prankster Rémi Gaillard has brought harassing drivers to a whole new level. In this video, he impersonates a traffic camera, literally flashing lights at commuters and then chasing them while dressed in a cardboard costume. While many people have found the joke to be out-of-line, ...
Paris postcard: Savoring the subversively seductive splendors of the Marais
Jan 31st, 2012 at 11:00AM:
French star architect Jean Nouvel once gave me a ride home from his studio in Paris' edgy 11th arrondissement. I chuckled to discover that the guru of transparency, glass and steel lives around the corner from me in a 1600s building on the Rue des Francs Bourgeois, the spinal column of the Marais. Old is better?
I was amused but not surprised: after 40 years of blanket gentrification the ...10 free things to do in Paris, France
Jan 18th, 2012 at 10:00AM: While Paris, France, is not typically thought of as a budget travel destination, with some research and planning it is possible to visit the The City of Lights without spending a fortune. Just add some of these free and fun activities to your itinerary to help you save cash while still exploring the city.
Take a walking tour of the city
While most tours charge a fortune to show you the sites ...Photo of the Day: Paris bakery run
Jan 12th, 2012 at 6:00PM:
You might have been able to guess the location of today's Photo of the Day without a title. Advanced use of scarves? Check. Frou-frou dogs? Check. Delicious-looking loaf of bread? Mais oui, it is Paris. The French have a closer relationship to their bakers than most Americans can understand, picking up a fresh baguette daily. Even with the advent of baguette vending machines, you can be sure ...Four top treats from my 2011 travels
Dec 31st, 2011 at 11:00AM:
Since I've been a travel writer for three decades, people often ask me if I don't get tired of all the traveling and writing. After all, when you do anything for 30 years, it must get boring, right?
Wrong! I guess that's one of the gifts of this line of work. Every trip, every place, offers something new, even if I've been there a dozen times before. This year I took four big trips -- to ...Chinese tourists chart a new European Grand Tour
Dec 24th, 2011 at 11:00AM: According to BBC Travel and the China Daily, approximately 70 million Chinese nationals traveled abroad in 2011, up from 10 million in 1999. A chunk of this new crop of Chinese tourists is traveling to Europe, but their itinerary veers a little off the trodden path.
BBC Travel outlined some of the historical highlights of the "new" European Grand Tour: cities like Trier, Germany, the birthplace ...Video of the day: Flyboard lets you swim like a dolphin
Dec 18th, 2011 at 4:00PM: The first time I saw this video clip, I thought, "I can't believe Mike Barish hasn't covered this for SkyMall Monday." This was before I realized that unlike, say, Nuddle Blankets, this is a completely impractical (but totally for-reals) product. The $5,000-plus price tag also makes it a tad inaccessible for most of us, but it's still on my holiday wish list.
French pro jet skier Franky Zapata ...
Things you won't see in Paris this holiday season: beggars
Dec 14th, 2011 at 3:30PM:
As tourists window shop in Paris this holiday season, they won't find any more homeless people asking for change around some of the city's most popular areas; the French government has issued a series of decrees that ban begging around Paris' most popular tourist and Christmas shopping spots. According to the Guardian, the Champs Elyssés was the first Paris landmark to fall under the ...Photo of the day - Skies above Paris
Dec 2nd, 2011 at 5:00PM:
Oh, the skies above Paris...
There's a reason so many people love Paris. The city itself seems to be bathed in a special light. It's a place of tempestuous moods and lovers' quarrels. It's like one big all-encompassing set for a film about the glory or tragedy of love.
Concurrently, it's just a city. But what a grand city it is. Flickr user Aypho captures the City of Light's basic ...The Gadling young family travel gift guide
Dec 2nd, 2011 at 10:00AM: If you are traveling with a baby over the holidays, visiting with children on your next trip, or just hoping to convince a new parent that you don't have to hand in your passport once the new addition arrives, we've compiled a gift guide for families traveling with babies. Traveling light is the best advice you can follow when traveling with a baby (even without a baby, it's just good sense) but ...Kids travel gift: Junior "crumpled" city maps
Nov 26th, 2011 at 9:00AM:
Last year we reported on Italian designer Emanuele Pizzolorusso's crumpled city maps, a delightful series of maps made out of tough waterproof material. Pizzolorusso's maps can withstand crumpling and crushing. They fit in a little pouch and are easily transportable. They are a wonderfully fanciful yet solidly utilitarian tool for tourists.
Pizzolorusso, working with Berlin-based ...Walking on the wild side of Paris
Nov 22nd, 2011 at 10:00AM:
The good news is Paris' kaleidoscopic, multiple-choice future is playing today not in a theater near you but in the Oberkampf, Ménilmontant and Belleville neighborhoods. That's where Algiers meets Caracas and Istanbul via Zanzibar. Despite occasional intrusions by fanatics, the inhabitants here and in Paris' many other ethnic enclaves seem to get along like traditional French peas in ...
