What a difference a year makes. Just after I arrived in Paris last March for the annual French Affaires’ antiques trip, the French capital was blanketed with a thick layer of snow. Verrrry chilly temperatures accompanied us for days as we zipped around to the various Paris antiques fairs and flea markets. This year, the wintry…

As a good friend of mine in Paris put it this past week, “we are in one of those doldrum periods for art exhibitions.” Many of the big fall art shows have just closed, and Paris is pausing to take a breath before a host of new exhibitions open for the spring and summer of 2014. If you’re…

If you are ever invited to a dinner party in France, what you won’t get is a tour of the home. Whether your French hosts’ abode is un appartement en ville (an apartment in town), une maison à la campagne (a house in the country), or une villa au bord de la mer (a house…

Even with all their gourmet and ultra-gourmet cuisine, the French do have a sandwich culture. They eat sandwiches for many of the same reasons Americans do – they’re quick, they’re portable and sometimes, you just don’t need a full fork-and-knife meal. Still, like so many cultures, the French have their way of doing sandwiches. In last…

If you’re fresh into New Year’s diet resolutions, you may not want to read this week’s post since it’s all about le beurre – that’s right, butter. The French adore butter. They use it to cook. They spread it on toasted baguettes for breakfast. They count on it in pastries and desserts. Simply put, the…

Bonjour, friends! As 2013 draws to a close and 2014 unfolds, I want to thank you for being a part of French Affaires this year. Whether you have joined us for French language classes or the French Cookbook Club or French travel and culture seminars or trips to France or personalized French travel planning or a little armchair travel…

With the winter storm currently blanketing the U.S., I was reminded of an extraordinary cold and misty December day my husband and I spent at the gardens of Eyrignac in southwest France four years ago. For this week’s post, I pulled the following article from the French Affaires’ archives describing this magical, though chilly winter adventure. Enjoy – and…

There’s something about cool temperatures, fires in the fireplace and leaves changing color that makes me want to completely ditch summer ingredients and go all out for fall cooking. That first whiff of smoke in the autumn air brings the hardy flavors of mushrooms, root vegetables, nuts, game birds and other fall favorites to mind….

If you are like most travelers to France, you want everything to be perfect from the moment you set foot on French soil. To that end, this week’s post covers the various ways you can get from Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport into the city. I have used each of them over the years and…