Tag: France

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Featured Travel

Five Reasons to Hop on a Plane to Nantes, France this Spring

Nantes Covered Shopping Street

You’ve stood in the two-hour line at the Louvre, you’ve sampled the vineyards in Bordeaux and you’ve even ridden a scooter from Nice to Monaco. What else is left for France? Francophiles seeking a constantly-booming art scene, a good bit of fun and all of the benefits of a classic French city without the pretension may be missing the best part. Here are five good reasons to pencil Nantes in next on your travel list:

  1. The Art

On top of containing a mind-blowing number of galleries, showrooms and community art spaces, the city of Nantes is often turned into a piece of art itself, featuring some of the most groundbreaking street artists in the world. From classic to post-modern to contemporary, there’s art to suit any taste in Nantes.

Nantes Mechanical Elephant

2. The Fun

Nantes is a vibrant, youthful city full of quirks and tongue-in-cheek references to both its past and the world around it. Visit a nearly-unbelievable world of imagination and mechanical mastery in the famed Machines de l’île or take in the newest art installation while shopping for souvenirs at the trendy Hangar À Bananes.

3. The Food

Although Nantes is not a particularly decorated city by the Michelin board, it contains a cuisine that instead focuses on simplicity, local ingredients and the more whimsical aspects of the culinary world. Take in a high-brow meal at the century-old La Cigale or catch up with a friend over a plate of their regionally-concocted crepes – your taste buds will thank you.

Nantes Street Musicians

  1. The Culture

While the thought of French culture may evoke images of cafes, cigarettes, all-black attire and a fierce dedication to fashion, this city offers a more relaxed and multi-cultural atmosphere, in part due to its several universities. Let your guard down in a Spanish taverna, head to an Aussie-themed watering hole or punch your tourist ticket and indulge in all of the classic French cuisines and activities you like.

Nantes Cathedral

  1. The Views

If it’s stunning vistas you’re after, Nantes has something for you as well. From historic castles and cathedrals to modern architecture, classically covered shopping streets and the city’s own island, Nantes does anything but fall short on eye-candy. Be sure to bring your camera!

For more destinations and vacation tips, head to our Travel section.

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Featured Travel

Dîner en Blanc Paris Celebrates 30th Anniversary

Dîner en Blanc

This summer, the Dîner en Blanc Paris is no longer exclusive to Parisians, as they are extending the guest list to anyone around the world. On the occasion of the event’s 30th anniversary, guests are invited from near and far to dine in the City of Lights at a secret locale with nearly twenty thousand other people.

The Dîner en Blanc was started in 1988 by François Pasquier and has grown to be a worldwide event. New York, Los Angeles, and Sydney are just a few of the cities hosting the Dîner en Blanc as well. Four years after the founding, Pasquier wanted to bring his all-white dinner party to Pont des Arts in the heart of Paris. They knew that the local authorities wouldn’t allow this, so they kept the location a secret until the very last minute.

Thus began the tradition of having a fabulous party in the middle of the city, but withholding arguably the most important piece of information. This year, for its 30th anniversary, Pasquier said: “In total, there will be between 20,000 and 30,000 in attendance. There will be some thirty orchestras, as Le Dîner en Blanc includes numerous musicians. For the rest, I can’t give anything else away. The event has to maintain an element of mystery!”

The famous event has been invitation only. This year Dîner en Blanc Paris opened a waitlist for their event on June 3, 2018, available online now. Join thousands of others and enjoy the excitement of this once in a lifetime, extravagant gourmet dining experience to celebrate the big anniversary of Dîner en Blanc, in the exact city it was founded. To emphasize the landmark of inviting people from all over the world, the event exemplifies communal table style. Attendees will have the chance to meet people from every corner of the globe. Dîner en Blanc is the most popular international social gathering.

Photos courtesy of the Dîner en Blanc.

Categories
Europe Featured Travel

Here’s Why You Should Travel To Europe This Summer

Ah, Paris. We’ve been longing to visit the heart of Europe in the summertime when the air is sweet with cherry blossoms and excitement (and the weather is actually warm!). We also wouldn’t mind taking a hop, skip and a jump over to Italy to find out what ‘authentic’ pizza tastes like (probably nothing our favorite Hawaiian from Ray’s!). Spain, too. …Maybe we should just book a month-long cruise around the Mediterranean.

Photo: Courtesy of Hotel-agora-paris.com

All budgeting jargon aside, summer is certainly the best time to visit Europe because of the relatively moderate weather. Temperatures in most places remain in the mid to upper 80s throughout the season, with certain countries like Spain, seeing several consecutive days of 100+ degree weather. For those of you that dislike strong summer heat, we suggest heading to Luxembourg or Finland, where temperatures rarely break 80 degrees. Take note of this extra bonus when heading to Finland: in some parts of the country, July and August never experience nighttime; the sun simply doesn’t set. If you’re into the whole ‘up all night’ thing a la One Direction, this is the place for you.

private-tour-luxembourg-and-bastogne-day-trip-from-brussels-in-brussels-147451
Photo: Courtesy of Lonelyplanet.com

No matter where you decide to go, we urge you to cash in those vacation days you’ve been stockpiling and head over the pond for a fabulous (and much deserved) get away….thank us later!

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Dining Events

maman Launches French Marketplace in SoHo

Bonjour Marché maman!  Escape to France, as today marks the opening for the chic café and bakery concept, maman’s new retail space next door to its popular SoHo location.

Photo courtesy of Camila Gutierrez

Founded by Benjamin Sormonte and Elisa Marshall, Marché maman is the duo’s first venture into a retail space — perfectly accommodating their bakery and café brand that already has a few locations in the city, as well as one in Toronto, Canada.

For the first set of vendors in the marketplace, maman has partnered with five American and French independent merchants that fit well within the maman style including Flower Girl NYC, merciBisous, Bastide, Jamini, MilkMade and Ariana Ost.Shop sweet-smelling floral arrangements, fine children’s clothing, artisanal beauty and lifestyle products, handbags, home décor and hand-crafted ice-cream. The merchants will rotate and new ones will be introduced throughout the months.

The trend of combining retail and dining is already prevalent in Europe, with more and more US customers embracing the idea of shopping, strolling around and grabbing a bite to eat too.Once you step inside, you’re sure to instantly get a warm, fuzzy feeling. The space is designed to make you feel at home, just as maman’s café and bakery locations, with an open-plan setting, exposed brick and stripped wooden floors, which in this marketplace location has characteristic remnants of red paint from the previous owners.

The space also includes an open kitchen, where chefs, bloggers and the like will rotate and prepare delicious morsels of food. At a preview on Tuesday night, chefs cooked up recipes from cook and freelance writer Anna Watson Carl, whose book “The Yellow Table: A Celebration of Everyday Gatherings” will be available for purchase in the marketplace as well.

Reaching the back of Marché maman, you’ll venture into a dream-like, garden patio designed by west elm that will surely become your new favorite spot in the city. It’s already ours!
Photo courtesy of west elm

Categories
Culture Events

May 12 to 15: Moustapha Alassane’s Debut North American Retrospective

In collaboration with MoMA, the Cultural Services of the French Embassy is organizing the very first North American retrospective of Moustapha Alassane, a pioneer of populist cinema in newly independent Niger in the 1960s and 1970s. The exhibit will be taking place from May 12 through 15.

A fabulist who sheathed the sharp sting of his political satire within playful stories of water genies, pugilistic frogs, cowboys, and brave fishermen, Alassane parodied colonialist attitudes toward black Africans, the corrupt despotism of local officials, and the shallow materialism of Niger’s youth in a series of animated, fictional, and ethnographic films that remain beloved and influential even today.

Alassane’s earliest animated films were simple projections of cardboard cutouts, but his work quickly matured, leading to friendships and collaborations with the dean of Nigerian movie acting Zalia Souley, the French documentarian Jean Rouch, and the Canadian animator Norman McLaren. His films are vital and imaginative records of Nigerian traditions and rituals. His first feature, 1962’s Aoure, presents the married life of a young Zharma couple on the banks of the Niger River. His 1973 film Shaki documents the ascension of a Yoruban king and the syncretic intermingling of traditional customs and beliefs with those of Islam and Protestantism.

More information on this exhibit can be found on the MOMA website.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZfSyW4duyM

Categories
Business Finance

The Dark Political Clouds That Could Threaten Luxury?

Photo courtesy of Pexels

Photo courtesy of Pexels

Business Of Fashion writer Luca Solca smartly looks at three “dark cloud” scenarios that every luxury executive must heed. The world’s three largest economies — China, the European Union and the United States, of course — “could find themselves embroiled in major trade disputes should the more protectionist factions in the Trump administration get their way.”

Solca’s three main areas of focus are strife between the U.S. and China, the disconnect between the U.S. and the E.U., and the potential breakup of the E.U. with plenty of details given. But it’s not all bleak, per Solca: “French and Italian luxury goods companies should benefit from currency weakness, as they are long dollar plays.”

The full article can be read at http://bit.ly/2nkvEYV.