Unlike his younger colleague Rousseau (whom he couldn’t stand), the great French writer and philosopher François Marie Arouet (1694-1778), better known by his pen name Voltaire, was not born in Geneva. He was born in Paris but lived much of his life in exile because of various controversial books he Read More …
If you owned a newly-renovated 48-room hotel in the Latin Quarter of Paris and wanted to give it a catchy name that would ensure a full house all year round, would you call it “French Theory”? Really? I wouldn’t, but perhaps that just shows my lack of marketing savvy. Of Read More …
The French word Gaîté means cheerfulness or happiness, and this historic theatre was certainly a cheerful place in the middle-to-late 1870s, when several of Jacques Offenbach’s comical operettas were performed here. Offenbach himself was the theatre’s director and impresario for two years, but he was not so happy with the Read More …
Salle Pleyel is an Art Deco concert hall that was originally built in 1927 by the Pleyel piano company. For decades it was a leading classical music venue in Paris, even though the acoustics and appearance of the building suffered from a series of botched renovation projects over the years. Read More …
Victor Hugo was 35 in the year 1837, when this bust was sculpted by his friend David d’Angers. By that time, Hugo had already published his novel Notre-Dame de Paris (known in English as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame), as well as several volumes of poetry and plays such as Hernani Read More …
In 1840 the great French novelist Victor Hugo, author of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and later Les Misérables, spent three days in Bacharach and wrote an enthusiastic description in his book Le Rhin (The Rhine), first published in 1842. “I have spent three days in Bacharach, a sort of Beggars’ Headquarters Read More …
For nearly four decades in the 17th and 18th centuries, this inconspicuous building on Rue des Tournelles in the Marais district was the home of a remarkable lady called Ninon de Lenclos, a courtesan who in her younger years had had numerous affairs with some of the most prominent men Read More …
The town of Friedrichsdorf (= “Friedrich’s village”), Germany, was founded in 1687 by Huguenots, French Protestants who had fled to escape religious prosecution in France. They were invited to settle here by the local ruler, Friedrich II (1633-1708), who at the time was the Landgraf of a small, impoverished and Read More …
In June 2012 I stayed at a small hotel in rue Lally Tollendal in the 19th arrondissement, in the northeast corner of Paris. At first I thought it was a bit far from the center, but after I knew the way it only took me 22 minutes by Vélib’ bike Read More …
In 2013 I went to Paris four times, in May, July, August and October. Each time I stayed in a different part of the city (in the 14th, 13th, 8th and 10th arrondissements) and each time I booked a seven-day Vélib’ subscription, which at that time cost eight Euros (it Read More …