Jardin des Plantes is a destination which is often underused and until March 11 th, the 7 th Festival of orchids is taking place in the Grandes Serres. Four institutions are represented here and four commercial shops have a booth where you can buy your own very special plant. There are 600 species at the Museum and you will … Read More
Leonardo da Vinci, five hundred years later in the Loire valley
1519 is the year when Leonardo da Vinci died on May 2, at château du Clos Lucé near Amboise. He had been called to the court of France at 65 and had brought paintings, writings, drawings and projects for new inventions. It is the year when Château de Chambord was built and the year Catherine de Medicis was born in … Read More
At Château d’Ecouen, witness the birth of Renaissance theatre
The birth of theater in the French Renaissance can only be tracked down thanks to writings and a few sketches of religious “Mysteries” played outdoors. Many representations in markets and other public places were linked to stages of Christ’s passion. These were set in different cities like Bourges in 1536, Valenciennes in 1547, Troyes, Chateaudun or Romans, which were very … Read More
At Malmaison, furniture has its secrets
Château de la Malmaison is the small but very refined house where Joséphine Bonaparte retired when the emperor divorced her in 1809. She had acquired the house in 1799 and redecorated it with the help of architects Percier and Fontaine. It is full of charm, drama and its impeccable decor illustrates a little bit of the huge luxury with which … Read More
A private photo collection at Caillebotte’s house in Yerres
La Maison Caillebotte was inaugurated in Yerres, 20 kms South East of Paris in June 2017. It used to be the famous painter’s house and Valérie Dupont-Aignan, a lawyer by training, has patiently redecorated it for the municipality. The result is superb and in the modern galleries, a collection of photographs belonging to Sondra Gilman and Celso Gonzalez-Falla is shown until … Read More
Musée de Montmartre and Artists’ studios
There is nothing more pleasant than going up and down the hill of Montmartre in search of its historical painters and studios. Musée de Montmartre which is now run by a dynamic young lady, Fanny de Lépinau (who spent ten years at Musée du quai Branly), is trying to surf on the wave of mass tourism around the place du … Read More
Sicily, an enchanted island, again and again…
My holidays in Sicily did not start well. If you have read “A Summer’s lease“, the hilarious John Mortimer novel on an English family who rents a house in Tuscany and never gets water because the owner has not paid the bill, you will understand what we went through. I was getting ready to make a wonderful potato purée in … Read More
At Chantilly, plants always reign
What I love about the Journées des Plantes de Chantilly (formerly Courson) is that authenticity and creativity always win. And for the third time a charming lady from Les Jardins d’Ecoute s’il pleut (gardens of listen if it rains!) near La Rochelle, won a prize for its very robust and yet thinly sculpted Arachniodes standishii, a very special fern. A … Read More