Christmas time is coming up and with its usual beautiful picture books. This one “La Belgique des Jardins“, is the fruit of a collaboration between Donatienne de Séjournet, one of the best expert in gardens in Belgium and César Garçon who proved with his “Italian gardens” book (2015), that he knows garden architecture well. Some are the classical ornaments of … Read More
In Veules-les-Roses, a wedding, a banquet of oysters, and the smallest fleuve in France.
One of the last weddings before they were all cancelled, took place in a charming lost hamlet of Normandy, in the middle of blue linen fields and it gave me the opportunity to spend some time in Veules-les-Roses, a sea side village with the shortest fleuve in France. A fleuve is a river which ends in the sea. This particular … Read More
In Compiègne, Eugénie is the topic of a new book and a costume show
Château de Compiègne is a sleeping beauty which is slowly being awakened by the senior curator Rodolphe Rapetti and at the moment, a modest exhibition of costumes worn by Empress Eugénie, Napoléon III’s wife, is matched by a brilliant book written by Laure Chabanne with photographs by Gustave Le Gray, paintings and watercolors by Eugène Lami, and numerous artifacts which give … Read More
Villa Ephrussi, a wedding place and a garden
Across the bay from Villa Kérylos, stands Villa Ephrussi in St Jean Cap Ferrat. Built by Béatrice de Rothschild and Maurice Ephrussi (an uncle of Fanny Thérèse Kann’s, married to Théodore Reinach), the Italian Renaissance house is not as interesting architecturally, but its gardens designed by Achille Duchêne and Harold Peto, are both refreshing and quite extraordinary for this part … Read More
In Calais, a surprise adventure with Jeanne Thil and much more on the way
Many of us drive through the north of France to reach Southern England through the Chunnel and why do we never stop on the way? Calais has two museums which are worth looking at. To reach this sadly famous city, in perfect temperatures, I drove around the Baie de Somme, admired its lovely pré salé lambs, raised on salted grass … Read More
Mount Fuji is celebrated at Musée Guimet and contemporary artist Ru Xiao Fan enchanted me
It was a lovely relief to visit Musée Guimet this week in the middle of the heat wave. Not only because, like all museums, it is air conditioned, but mostly because the present exhibition is devoted to Mount Fuji and snow! The seventy amazing prints by Kawabata, Kawase, Utagawa and the famous Katsuchika Hokusai , were selected in the collection of … Read More
Driving North into Flanders
After my successful tour of Brittany I decided to join a friend in Abbeville and explore the multiple museums of the north. Lille is well known for its Arts Museum and diverse peripheral curiosities like Robert Mallet Stevens’ Villa Cavrois, La Piscine in Roubaix and Villeneuve d’Ascq’s Museum of Modern Art. But I have a weakness for Cassel, a little … Read More
Wandering around precious Brittany
There is nothing I love more than getting into my small car and driving around France, stopping over at dear friend’s houses. The Bottin Mondain (social register) started a new addition of castles listed by area, and it would be tempting to just try and tour France according to this list but I have not dared it yet. I just … Read More