All About Paris

The Founding of Paris Long before it became the “City of Light,” Paris began as a humble settlement founded by the Celtic Parisii around the 3rd century BC on the marshy banks of the Seine. Centuries of strife with Roman legions led to Julius Caesar’s conquest in 52 BC, embedding the fledgling city—then called Lutetia—firmly…

A chronicle of our day tour from Paris to Caen and the Normandy beaches Hail had hit Paris the night before my trip to Normandy, and the morning dawned cold.  It was April, so I don’t even want to think about what February was like that year.   I was wearing a long coat, turtleneck, a…

A Century as France’s Royal Residence The Palace of Versailles served as the royal residence of France for more than a century, from 1682 until the French Revolution in 1789. It began humbly in 1624, when Louis XIII built a small hunting lodge in the village of Versailles, just outside Paris. That modest structure would…

A journey to discover the best food in France Most of Europe lives on bread, cheese and some form of ham and sausage. They are the staples of the continent. So why then is it all so fantastic in France?  Why is France above the rest?  Pipe down, Italians, you know it’s true (even though I’ve…

Why not spend a week or two in France?  Or more?  There is a lot to see. It’s the biggest country in Europe, besides Russia and Ukraine of course.   With mountains (the Alps), amazing coastlines (the Mediterranean and the Atlantic), rivers (the Seine and Saone among many) and rolling hills of picturesque castles, farmland and…