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france posts
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 ...Lille: Five day trip tips
Nov 17th, 2011 at 10:30AM:
The northeastern, traditionally working-class French city of Lille is known for its rustic cuisine and its position as the capital of the region known as French Flanders. And ever since the TGV and Eurostar high-speed trains began calling at Lille, in 1993 and 1994, respectively, the city has also gotten more attention as a day trip destination. By high-speed train, Lille is 80 minutes from ...Photo of the day - Cours Saleya candy
Oct 29th, 2011 at 5:00PM:
Cours Saleya is a big public market in Nice, France, where all sorts of things, including the bright candy pictured here, can be purchased. I like this image, snapped by Flickr user Kumukulanui, for its bright colors and composition. Plus my teeth ache when I look at it. How often does an image engender such a visceral response?
Upload your images of sweet things to the Gadling Group Pool ...Winery in France mixes art with nature
Oct 19th, 2011 at 11:00AM: The first thing you will notice when driving by Château la Coste winery in Provence, France, is a bright flash of light. At first, you may think you've encountered a UFO. Relax and catch your breath, because what you're really seeing is winery owner Patrick McKillen's artistic and cultural visions coming to life.
According to Lanie Goodman of the New York Time's Style Magazine, some of ...Starry, starry night: Notes on an edible epiphany in Burgundy
Oct 17th, 2011 at 12:00PM:
It all began with the carpaccio. I don't hate carpaccio, but when given another choice on a menu – fermented yak tail, say – I'm likely to choose the alternative. So I wasn't really expecting much when the tuxedo'd waiter ceremoniously placed the plate with a generous disc of raw beef, sliced mushrooms and a confetti of foie gras before me.
And then I put a forkful in my mouth. ...The Way: Martin Sheen treks the Camino de Santiago
Oct 7th, 2011 at 1:30PM: I'm often skeptical when Hollywood forays into the realm of 'travel films'.
Don't get me wrong; there have been some wonderful movies in recent years that capture the true essence of the world of travel & the beauty of venturing on a grand journey: Lost in Translation, Into the Wild, L'Auberge Espagnole, Before Sunrise, Up in the Air, and The Beach (did you really think I wouldn't mention ...Photo of the day - Wine shop window
Sep 30th, 2011 at 5:00PM:
Some things look exactly the way they're supposed to look. Take this wine shop window snapped in the town of Beaune in the heart of Burgundy, France. This is serious wine country, and this wine shop window is straight out of central casting: the row of wine bottles; the various discarded crates; the exterior trim; the cursive stenciled into the window. Flickr user Lobelia48 shot this image in ...In San Francisco, savoring a slice of heaven on France's Cote d'Azur
Sep 27th, 2011 at 10:00AM:
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September 20, 2011 -- I'm sitting on the sun-washed terrace of La Terrasse restaurant in San Francisco's gorgeous green Presidio. It's a spectacular Indian summer day, with the rays warming my bones and the bay sparkling in the distance under a cerulean sky. All around me, California Mission-style buildings – pale yellow walls, curving arches, terra-cotta ...The best "offline" budget hotels in Paris
Sep 22nd, 2011 at 9:30AM:
Hunting down a cheap and central hotel in Paris can be a daunting challenge. It's not hard to find one and two-star hotels for under €75 (about $105) per night, but they're often less-than-inspiring places and frequently located in rather grim neighborhoods.
Fortunately, there are dozens of hotels in Paris' prime neighborhoods that offer rooms at budget rates. However, they can be ...
