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Vichy: Not That Vichy, This Vichy For many people, both French and foreign, something uncomfortable lurks in the name Vichy.
Vichy calls to mind first and foremost the provisional French government of the years 1940-1944 that collaborated with the Nazi Germany occupation of France. Or as an American I met upon returning to Paris from a two-day stay in the town Vichy put it, “Didn’t something bad happen there?”
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Picnicking on the Pont des Arts Over the past ten years Parisians and visitors alike have gotten into dinnertime picnicking as a way of enjoying the nonchalant beauty of Paris in spring and summer.
What had previously been isolated Seine-side clusters devoted more to afternoon sunbathing than to evening picnicking, has now developed into a popular ritual whereby, picnickers both French and foreign congregate at various choice setting in the capital.
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Lafayette and the American Flag: The Fourth of July Ceremony “Lafayette, we are here!”
Those words are often attributed to U.S. General John Pershing when, on July 4, 1917, having arrived in France with the American Expeditionary Force upon the U.S. entrance into WWI, he visited Lafayette’s tomb at Picpus Cemetery in Paris. They were actually spoken by Pershing’s aide, Colonel Charles E. Stanton, but no matter, the Americans had indeed arrived to pay homage to the French hero of the American Revolution.
They still do.
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Music video: She Walked Along the River (The T-Shirt Song) France Revisited is thrilled to announce the release of our first travel music video, She Walked Along the River (The T-Shirt Song). The song (Rated-R) was inspired by a ride along the Seine and a part of Canal Saint-Martin that I took on a Canauxrama boat in the company of young filmmaker Thibault Perois.
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Tumbleweed: Playthings for the Whimsical Shopper To watch Lynn Rovida demonstrate the whimsical selection of handcrafted toys, finely cut puzzles, inlaid puzzle boxes, and animated sculptures available in her little shop in the Marais, you’d think that she was more intent on playing with her wares than on selling them.
You might also think that she was off her rocker. She’ll laugh wildly as she turns the handle of a wooden automaton whose mechanism causes the blue elephant to jump when the mouse appears.
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Fancy Tiles and the King's Virginity I was headed to the Hôtel de Beauvais, one of the grand mansions in the Marais, former home of Catherine de Beauvais, thinking that I'd complement my series of articles about Versailles with mention of the woman who is said to have been Louis XIV’s first lover. It's a good story.
Catherine de Beauvais was a premier lady in waiting and confidante to Anne of Austria, Louis XIV’s mother and regent during his minority. Some historians claim the queen mother put Catherine up to a seductive encounter in the stairwell of the Louvre.
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