Bonne année à toutes et à tous! Happy New Year to all! As 2016 begins, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you a ‘très belle année 2016’ and thank you warmly for your support, readership and participation in French Affaires’ classes, cultural events and trips to France this past year. It has been a…

Our French culture article for this week will have to wait. We’ll get back to all the wonderful things that make France the beautiful country that it is. But the terrible events in Paris on Friday have left us sad and in shock. Thank you to all those who have called and written – I…

Put a little France in your fall with some of French Affaires’ upcoming events and classes. From “Gourmet Paris” this Monday evening to Beginning French and Intro to French Conversation to the French Vinaigrette Workshop to the French Cookbook Club, there’s something for every Francophile! “Gourmet Paris: A Culinary Tour of the French Capital” on…

How time flies! It’s been 30 years since I first set foot in Aix-en-Provence as a student…

Following our last garden post on the marvelous Bagatelle in Paris, we just have to mention another not-to-miss garden experience in France – the stunning International Garden Festival of Chaumont-sur-Loire. Arguably the best ‘festival des jardins’ in the country (though of course there are many worthy contenders), Chaumont’s yearly garden extravaganza features remarkable landscape and garden…

It all started with a bet. French queen Marie-Antoinette wagered her brother-in-law that he couldn’t build a château on his large property west of Paris in less than three months. Famously, the Comte d’Artois won. Sparing no expense, he had his petit château built in a record 64 days in 1777. To celebrate the completion…

When traveling around France, you can often happen upon the most festive of occasions – weddings. How charming to pass by a wonderful historic church and see a happy couple and wedding guests spilling out into the square! Somehow I get treated to seeing a French mariage nearly every time I am in Arles down in Provence. Whatever my reason for being in…

French cafés are not just a place, they’re a way of life in France. You can drink, eat, converse, read, watch the world go by, even make it your home away from home. For the price of a cup of coffee or glass of wine, your café table and the accompanying cultural panorama belong to…

You may have heard about the heat wave engulfing much of Europe for the past several days. Last Wednesday, Paris hit a near-record high of 39.7 degrees Celsius. That was a sizzling almost 104 degrees Fahrenheit – whew. It was the hottest July 1 recorded there since 1947 when the thermometer reached 40.4 degrees, or…