For a while now, Frenchified has been Stultified, i.e. on the back burner whilst I’ve been struggling with unprecedented workload and exhaustion. No longer. I miss writing about France, so I’m dusting off the blog and preparing to give it some renewed OOMPH. Thank you for being patient and if things are a bit quiet [...]
Archive for the ‘French Holidays’ Category
The Return of Frenchified
Posted in Art in France, Famous places, Films set in France, France, French Holidays, Paris, Restaurants - France, Restaurants - Paris, Travel, tagged Centre Georges Pompidou, Epicurienne, film locations, France, Frenchified, Kate Hudson, le Divorce, Paris, Paris views, Pompidou Centre, Pompidou Centre restaurant, Restaurant with a view on April 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Ice cream – Paradis sur Mer!
Posted in France, French Holidays, French beaches, French food, French shops, Made in France, Travel, Uncategorized, tagged arlequin ice cream, Fernch food, France, French beach resorts, French Holidays, French ice cream, ice cream merchandising, la guimauve, la Tranche sur Mer, lime ice cream, nutella ice cream, strawberry ice cream on November 2, 2008 | 2 Comments »
La Tranche Sur Mer, on the Atlantic Coast of France, is one of those typically Euro beach destinations: lots of camping grounds, men who think it’s okay to terrify the female public by strutting around in a pair of form-revealing speedos, kids dragging giant inflatable animal-shaped float-aids along the street and lots and lots of ice cream shops. [...]
I could eat a horse! (and often do…)
Posted in France, France in photos, French Holidays, French food, French shops, Made in France, Travel, Uncategorized, tagged Boucherie Chevaline, Fontenay-le-Comte, France, French food, French food shops, French shops, Horse butcher, Horse meat, Vietnamese food on August 27, 2008 | 3 Comments »
This is a photo of a horse-butcher’s shop in Fontenay-le-Comte. I simply had to take a photo. Monsieur didn’t get it, but he didn’t grow up in a country where eating horse would be like eating the family dog. Kiwis just wouldn’t ever consider it. Because of that, for me, seeing horse butchers is half novelty [...]
Sunflowers/ Les Tournesols
Posted in Art in France, France, France in photos, French Holidays, Travel, Vendee, tagged art at auction, fields of sunflowers, flowers, France, les tournesols, sunflowers, Travel, Vendee, Vincent Van Gogh on August 20, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Whenever I see a sunflower, I think of Vincent Van Gogh, that mad (not in a good way) Dutch painter whose dauby impressionist works depicting vases of these yellow flowers have a habit of giving the auction world a nervous twitch whenever one comes up for sale. Van Gogh painted the sunflower series when he [...]
La Venise Verte
Posted in France, French Holidays, Travel, Vendee, tagged Abbaye de Maillezais, Au Chant des Grenouilles restaurant, Boating in France, Boats, Charolais cows, France, French abbey, La Venise Verte, Maillezais, Marais Poitevin, row boats, Travel, Vendee on August 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Monsieur and I jetted off to La Rochelle recently for a long weekend in the Vendée region of France. The first couple of days were so suffocatingly hot that breathing felt like inhaling air directly from a fan heater, but then on the third day we awoke to grey skies, persistent rain and a drop in [...]
Paris, 75007
Posted in A Tale of Two Cities, Famous places, France, French Holidays, French food, Paris, Restaurants - Paris, Travel, tagged 7th arrondissement, Cafe du Marche, Champ de Mars, Champs de Fleurs, confit de canard, Eiffel Tower, France, French food, handbags, l'Esprit du Sud-Ouest, La Fontaine de Mars, La Maison du Jambon, La Tour Eiffel, les Invalides, Paris, Paris 75007, Paris restaurants, Paris shopping, Quai Branly, rue Cler, rue Saint-Dom, rue Saint-Dominique, Saint Germain, Stock-Sacs, Travel on August 3, 2008 | 2 Comments »
For a truly Parisian experience, I love to explore the area surrounding rue Saint-Dominique. The length of this shop-lined street running from Saint Germain, past les Invalides to the Champ de Mars, provides plenty of opportunity to fill up a suitcase without the challenge of the Big Avenue crowds and, if one suitcase proves insufficient, there are a couple of wonderful wholesale [...]
Une Salade Perigourdine
Posted in Dordogne, France, French Holidays, French food, French recipes, Restaurants - France, Travel, tagged Travel, French food, French restaurants, recipe, Salade Perigourdine, perigourdine salad, duck salad, magret de canard fume, smoked duck breast, Perigord, duck giblets, gesiers de canard, Toulouse, Wilson Square, salade terroir, Borough Market, Sauternes, fig chutney, French recipe on July 30, 2008 | 1 Comment »
I’ll never forget the day I first tried a Salade Périgourdine. Monsieur and I were in Toulouse on the way to a wedding in Lot. We had stopped for lunch at a terrace restaurant on Wilson Square and I was struggling to decide what to eat. In the end, I decided to try a the [...]
Winter Grasse
Posted in France, France in photos, French Holidays, French food, Restaurants - France, tagged France, Travel, Grasse, Cannes, Cafe Arnaud, South of France, Salade Nicoise, Salade Perigourdine, Grasse market, Mory Kante, slow restaurant service, Place aux Aires, Longchamps, perfume, duck, Grasse shopping, foie gras, lavender, Nativity scene, Winter animal fair - Grasse on July 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Monsieur and I were in Cannes for New Year but soon decided to leave the heaving Croisette for a little trip elsewhere. In our efforts to do just that we drove stop-start through the labyrinthine streets of France’s answer to Tinseltown trying to find a way out. This took a while but a U-turn and [...]
Institut de Beaute – La Rochelle
Posted in France, France in photos, French Holidays, French chic, Travel, Uncategorized, tagged Beautician, Beauty shop, France, France in photos, French beauty, French grooming, Institut de Beaute, La Rochelle on July 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
This beauty shop in La Rochelle stopped me in my tracks because of the painting hanging in its window. Apologies for not being able to lose more of the reflection on the glass, but if you look closely, you’ll see three topless old women smiling back at you. A better advertisement for booking an appointment [...]
Fifteen in Paris – 2
Posted in France, French Holidays, Paris, Travel, tagged Academie Francaise, Andre Le Notre, Comedie Francaise, French Revolution, Ile de la Cite, L'Opera Paris, le Marais, Le Musee Carnavalet, Louis XIV, Louvre, Napoleon, Notre Dame, Paris, Paris journal, Place des Victoires, Place des Vosges, Place Vendome, Rue St Honore, Sainte Chapelle, Samaritaine, St Germain Auxerrois, teenager's journal, Tour of historic Paris, Travel, Victor Hugo on July 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Here’s day two of my first visit to Paris, from a journal written when I was an awkward fifteen years old. It’s a bit of a history lesson, this entry. Goodness only knows how I managed to take such accurate notes without missing the sights. Anyway, the itinerary is interesting and I’ve created lots of [...]
