Below we round up five holiday options which highlight how much further your 36,940 pennies can go – where your window view will be slightly more impressive than the industrial edgelands of Crewe or Milton Keynes, and where your dining... Read more
Three decades can go by in a flash. Today (April 12) marks a precise 30 years since the opening of Disneyland Paris (disneylandparis.com) – the French-accented off-shoot of the American Dream that has become a bright dot on the Gallic... Read more
At the close of the 19th century, Britain went wild for music halls. In 1888, Parliament recorded 473 in London alone. Comic ditties were their bread and butter, though clog-dancers, flying children and strong-jawed ladies were equally likely fare. Initially... Read more
Maybe you are struggling to find reasons to be cheerful at the moment. But take heart. We may be going through a spasm of chaos as airlines and airports try to adjust to a surge in passengers and shortage of... Read more
From Patras, holiday options are numerous and include the Ionian islands themselves, such as Corfu, Kefalonia and Ithaca. On the mainland, head to Olympia, sail through the Corinth Canal, consult the oracle at Delphi, go rugged on the Mani Peninsula,... Read more
Bonjour, my gorgeous darlings. We’re watching Joanna Lumley’s Great Cities of the World (ITV), and this first episode is in Paris. Oh, it’s heavenly. Divine. Just look at the fabulous architecture, the beautiful people, the scrumptious food. Smell the romance!... Read more
The Eiffel Tower has grown. Thanks to a new antenna, the Parisian landmark is now 330 metres tall – six more than it was last week. Interestingly (kind of), this is actually the fifth time the pinnacle height of the... Read more
“Strong sex”, declares the British Board of Film Classification in their verdict on Jacques Audiard’s latest. And I’d have to agree: the sex here really is rather impressive. This shimmering romantic drama, shot on the eve of the second 2020... Read more
As a child, Julie Manet – the only daughter of the impressionist painter Berthe Morisot and the sole niece of Édouard Manet – counted Renoir, Degas, Pissarro and Monet among her closest friends. They painted her, taught her to draw... Read more
French police fired tear gas at demonstrators on the Champs-Elysees avenue and other places in Paris on Saturday after a “Freedom Convoy” protesting against Covid-19 restrictions made it into the capital. Vehicles carrying protesters managed to get through police checkpoints... Read more
But he has claimed he discarded his suicide vest and fled the French capital in the chaotic aftermath of the bloodshed, eluding an intense manhunt to return to Molenbeek, the Brussels district where he grew up. He told the court... Read more
The rules: No Covid rules. Just bring your walking boots, spare socks and Scrabble. Book it: Canopy and Stars has a range of wonderful glamping options in the UK with availability over Valentine’s Day; there is rare availability at the... Read more
The rules: No Covid rules. Just bring your walking boots, spare socks and Scrabble. Book it: Canopy and Stars has a range of wonderful glamping options in the UK with availability over Valentine’s Day; there is rare availability at the... Read more
Things have come to a pretty pass when the chief Paris arts fair, FIAC, held in its present form for almost half a century, gets kicked out by the Swiss. Art Basel, now owned by a conglomerate, won a surprise... Read more
Reverend Richard Coles: ‘One of the lowest moments of my life was being pushed into a pond in Paris’
I found a cheap hotel in the least salubrious arrondissement in Paris, Barbès-Rochechouart. The hotel was basically a knocking shop and a rickety, dirty place that smelt really acrid and distinctly unpleasant. I rented a squalid room with thin walls... Read more
This spring promises to be an exciting time to visit Paris. After two years of lockdown and reopening, or what was known here as ‘confinement’ and ‘déconfinement’, there is a real buzz in the air, and plenty of culture to... Read more
It’s little wonder that some three million of us used to come each year. Reminders of our intertwined lives are everywhere, from the Hermès Birkin to restaurants that shaped Orwell’s memoirs and the Seine-scapes that inspired some of Turner’s most... Read more
When it comes to retail therapy, there is surely no greater joy than that of unearthing a rare find tucked away on a rail in a thrift shop; wondering what previous life, or lives, it led, revelling in the simple... Read more
Not long after I’d first seen the Fragonard Room at the Frick in New York, I was trying to describe the four great canvases of The Progress of Love to a friend. I found that the narrative itself had blurred;... Read more
Soon after the opening of the Pompidou Centre in 1977, Richard Rogers, who died at the weekend aged 88, was standing outside, looking up at the spaghetti tangle of blue pipes that cascade down its facade. A small, elderly woman... Read more
As I keep telling my children, homework is important. And so, when asked to review the second series of Emily in Paris (Netflix), I felt duty bound to watch the first series, which I had managed to avoid until now.... Read more
To travel over Yule is to take advantage of “free holiday”, a dead time when no one actually notices whether one is working or not. The truly sensible would jump ship around December 15 to re-emerge mid-January, and I swear... Read more
When I ask Jeanne Damas for her tips on how to look sexy, there’s a baffled pause on the other end of the line. After a moment of silence, she says, “Bah, just be yourself. I mean, being sexy is... Read more
How do you manage a site – and a sight – as vast as Versailles? The palace alone has 2,300 rooms. And there are two more châteaux – the Petit and Grand Trianon – in the grounds. Add to that... Read more
How do you manage a site – and a sight – as vast as Versailles? The palace alone has 2,300 rooms. And there are two more châteaux – the Petit and Grand Trianon – in the grounds. Add to that... Read more