Six days ago we left the Paris of the 11th Arrondissement, which today again was the Paris of Terror. In the deadliest day in the city since World War II, seven decades ago, far more than 100 people were killed in six terror attacks, four of which occurred inside the 11th we stayed in for […]

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A characteristic of weather in the UAE, and this part of the world, is that it is relentlessly hot in the summer — as well as the four extra “shoulder” months, two before and two after summer, proper. It was every-single-day, uniformly hot from, let’s say, mid-April, until today, when it the high temperature did […]

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Got to love airline upgrades. We had enough points with Qatar Airway‘s alliance that we could afford one upgrade from economy to business on the QR40 flight from Paris to Doha in the A380 super jumbo. It is like moving from squalor — among the 400-plus economy customers packed elbow to elbow on the lower […]

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France is approximately the size of Texas, so it takes a while to get wherever it is you’re not. Planning is key. Detailed, to-the-minute scenarios involving four people, a Westie and four forms of conveyance. What could go wrong? All sorts of things. In annoying, embarrassing, silly ways. Here are 12.

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What happens after you have been to Paris more than a few times … you no longer have the same plan of attack. The Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, Sacre-Coeur … you’ve done them, and probably more than once. Instead, you might take a look at a Paris activity you missed the first “x” number of […]

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Champagne is a beverage many of us will happily go out of our way to sample. Yesterday, we went about 100 miles east, to Epernay, one of the capitals of the Champagne wine region, to taste some of the local bubbly and admire a tidy little town built by the manufacture of sparkling wine.

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The bistro historically has been the backbone of the Paris dining experience. Smallish, usually unpretentious, serving traditional French food in all its glorious buttery/caloric majesty. Some believe the bistro is in trouble, and numerous stories along these lines have been written over the past decade. Here is one from 2006. Here is another, from 2010. […]

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Paris has a fine transportation system. Bus lines, the Metro, and the RER rail lines crisscross the city, significantly reducing the need for a personal car or an expensive cab. The bus-Metro-RER troika was inadequate in one significant sense: They sent spokes out into the city, and then the suburbs, but there was no “wheel” […]

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  Paris must be the global epicenter of this — the enormous exhibit for marvelous food and drink. Four years ago, we were here at the same time as the salon of independent wine producers, and wandering through that was a kick in the pants. Later in 2011, we visited the Salon Saveurs food fair, […]

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This is something I love about France, and Paris, in particular. The bakeries. A trip to the boulangerie is a treat.

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