Category Archives: Tourism

CULTURE: FRANCE-AMÉRIQUE MAGAZINE – DECEMBER 2023

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France-Amérique Magazine – December 1, 2023 –  The new issue features the foundations that are keeping the French-American friendship alive, from New Orleans to Washington D.C. to Paris, and pay a visit to the newly renovated Cartier Mansion – the Fifth Avenue palace where Pierre Cartier mingled with celebrities, titans of industry, and U.S. presidents. Also in this issue, read about the success of Rémy Martin in America as the iconic Cognac house is turning 300, and discover why, since the pandemic, so many Americans are putting up the “For Sale” sign and hopping on a plane to Paris, Lyon, or Marseille!

AU REVOIR, AMERICA

Is the Grass Greener on the Other Side of the Atlantic?

For ideological, financial, or health care reasons, more and more Americans are moving to France (12,200 first-time residence granted in 2022, up 9,214 on 2021). But la vie is not always en rose.

By Anthony Bulger

RÉMY MARTIN

A French-American Heritage

Three hundred years after it was founded, the Cognac house renowned for its flagship Louis XIII sells half its bottles in America while continuing to uphold its tradition of excellence.

By Benoît Georges

THE FOUNDATIONS – of French-American Friendship

From Washington D.C. to New York City and from New Orleans to Paris, many philanthropic organizations continue to nurture the bonds connecting France and the United States through history, politics, economics, language, and culture.

By Roland Flamini

PIERRE CARTIER – The Man Who Made Jewelry for American Presidents

In the early 20th century, the three grandsons of the founder of Cartier were busy building their family name. Louis was in Paris, Jacques in London, and Pierre in New York City. To sell his jewelry in the United States, the latter sibling mingled with celebrities, titans of industry, and presidents, and created a network of alliances.

By Diane de Vignemont

Travel Tours: Prague – “Instagram Vs. Reality”

DW Travel (November 26, 2023) – With its old town center, its castle and numerous romantic bridges, the city of Prague is a veritable tourist magnet. That’s why you’ll always find so many amazing photos of the Czech capital on Instagram – and it all looks soooooo gorgeous.

Video timeline: 00:00 Intro 00:42 Hradčany, Prague’s castle district 02:33 Charles Bridge 03:28 Trdelník 04:11 Old Town Square 05:30 Conclusion

But do these images reflect the true face of Prague? And is the city really worth visiting?

Prague, capital city of the Czech Republic, is bisected by the Vltava River. Nicknamed “the City of a Hundred Spires,” it’s known for its Old Town Square, the heart of its historic core, with colorful baroque buildings, Gothic churches and the medieval Astronomical Clock, which gives an animated hourly show. Completed in 1402, pedestrian Charles Bridge is lined with statues of Catholic saints. 

Northwest Passage Tour: Greenland Through The Canadian Arctic To Alaska

Allison Anderson Films (November 15, 2023) – A three-week cruise aboard the Seabourn Venture from Greenland, through the Canadian Arctic to Nome, Alaska.

Video timeline: 00:00 Intro 00:28 What is the Northwest Passage? 01:17 Ilulissat, Greenland 02:16 Karrat Fjord, Greenland 03:00 The View of a Lifetime 03:45 What are Expedition Voyages? 04:20 Walruses 04:49 Polar Bears 06:32 Arctic History and Culture 07:13 Seasonal Changes 07:43 Life Onboard the Seabourn Venture 08:18 The Northern Lights and Nome, Alaska 09:07 My Thoughts on the Northwest Passage

For centuries the search for the Northwest Passage lured the most intrepid explorers, but it wasn’t until 1906 that Roald Amundsen finally completed the first sea voyage across the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.

Travel: Historic Châteaux Of The Loire Valley, France

Harry Mateman Films (November 15, 2023) – The châteaux of the Loire Valley are part of the architectural heritage of the historic towns of  AmboiseAngersBloisChinonMontsoreauOrléansSaumur, and  Tours along the river Loire in France. They illustrate  Renaissance  ideals of design in France.

The châteaux of the Loire Valley number over three hundred, including Chenonceau, Chissay and Chambord, that range from practical  fortified  castles from the 10th century to splendid residences built half a millennium later. When the French kings began constructing their huge châteaux in the Loire Valley, the nobility, drawn to the seat of power, followed suit, attracting the finest architects and landscape designers.

The châteaux and their surrounding gardens are cultural monuments which embody the ideals of the  Renaissance  and  Enlightenment. Many of the châteaux were built on hilltops, such as the  Château d’Amboise, while the only one built in the riverbed is the  Château de Montsoreau. Many had exquisite churches on the grounds or within the château.

France Travel & Culture: Alpine Lake Annecy Tour

FRANCE 24 Films (November 13, 2023) – Nestled at an altitude of 400 metres in the heart of the Alps, France’s Lake Annecy is considered the purest lake in Europe. On its shores, the medieval old town of Annecy is nicknamed the “Venice of the Alps” for its picturesque canals.

Out on the lake, fishermen catch féra, a delicate fish that Michelin-starred chef Jean Sulpice is particularly fond of working with. The forests that surround the lake are also a source of inspiration for the chef, who never misses an opportunity to stroll through them in search of new flavours.

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Norway Travel: Exploring Fjords From Bergen (2023)

DW Travel (November 12, 2023) – The harbor city of Bergen is also known as “the heart of the fjords.”

Video timeline: 00:00 Intro 00:30 Bryggen 01:37 Mini-cruise along the Osterfjord 06:30 Fisketorget food hall

From Norway’s second largest seaport, you can go on a boat tour along the Osterfjord – as our reporter Aisha Sharipzhan did. Let her take you right into the stunning landscape of Norway’s fjords!

New Books: ‘Dolce Vita’ – The Italian Way Of Life

Dolce Vita by Cesare Cunaccia - Coffee Table Book | ASSOULINE

Assouline Publishing (November 2023) – Experience the Dolce Vita lifestyle – a blend of beauty, style, and charm, inspired by Federico Fellini’s iconic 1960 film. This Italian way of life transcends time and still graces Italy today. Immerse yourself in its irresistible allure, captured by renowned photographers Ferdinando Scianna and Bruno Barbey, from Emilia-Romagna to Sicily.

Dolce Vita

Meet unforgettable figures like Maria Callas, Sophia Loren, and Marcello Mastroianni. With an enchanting introduction by Cesare Cunaccia and a curated collection of images, this book takes you on a journey through Italy, unveiling the origins of Dolce Vita.

Tourism: Newly Reopened ‘Treehouse’ At Disneyland

Los Angeles Times (November 11, 2023) – A guided tour of the newly reopened Adventureland Treehouse at Disneyland Park, originally opened by Walt Disney and his Imagineers in 1962.

A new family has moved in. Everything is fashioned from found objects, natural resources—and pure ingenuity! Follow the wood rope stairways up, up, up into the boughs and find the mother’s music den, the young sons’ nature room and the teenage daughter’s astronomy loft. Adjacent to the stairway is the home’s iconic waterwheel, which generates the energy needed to power the family’s gadgets and inventions.

Discover Britain Magazine – October/November 2023

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DISCOVER BRITAIN MAGAZINE (OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023 – The latest issue features Eastern delights – From punting in Cambridge to crabbing in Norfolk; Bloody Mary – Where England’s first Queen was proclaimed; London pubs – Perfectly pulled pints; Holkham Hall – Behind the scenes on the vast estate, and more…

The New York Times Style Magazine – Nov 12, 2023

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THE NEW YORK TIMES STYLE MAGAZINE (November 12, 2023) T’S TRAVEL ISSUE features the writer Aatish Taseer embarked on an epic 40,000-mile journey through Bolivia, Mongolia and Iraq. What he learned was less a life-altering revelation and more a lesson in curiosity itself.

The Enduring, Transformational Power of Pilgrimage

Rows of tents and cabins on grassy terrain, next to steep clusters of rocks.
A tourist camp about 50 miles east of Erdene Zuu monastery in Mongolia. Richard Mosse

The writer Aatish Taseer embarked on a journey through Bolivia, Mongolia and Iraq. What he learned was less a life-altering revelation and more a lesson in curiosity itself.

By Hanya Yanagihara

Travel, the movement of people from one place to another, has always existed. But long before we thought to travel for pleasure, we traveled for purpose: for commerce, and for faith.

Even the most casual student of the Silk Road, that fearsome, wondrous network of routes that people began plying in the second century B.C. (and did so for approximately the next 1,600 years) knows that the two — business and God, whoever or whatever your god was — often intermingled. Merchants and adventurers returned with new kinds of goods, but also with new kinds of ideas: of art, of architecture, of ideology, of faith. The Silk Road brought Islam to India, and Buddhism to Japan. It’s why travel has always been both thrilling and dangerous. You never know how a new land is going to change you; it never knows how you’re going to change it.

Behind the Story: How a Writer Prepared for a 40,000-Mile Trip

A few bands of terraced land, descending to a lake. The sky is blue with wide clouds.
The Island of the Sun in Bolivia’s Lake Titicaca, a pilgrimage site since before the Inca Empire.Credit…Stefan Ruiz

The dozens of books that T writer Aatish Taseer read before his journey through Bolivia, Mongolia and Iraq, and what he learned from each pilgrimage.

Eighteen months ago, when the New York-based T writer at large Aatish Taseer began planning his reporting trips for this month’s three-part feature story — an exploration of religious travel in Bolivia, Mongolia and Iraq — he was already well acquainted with the idea of pilgrimage. His first book, the 2009 memoir “Stranger to History,” opens with what is arguably the world’s best-known faith-motivated journey, the hajj to Mecca, and ends with what he describes as a personal pilgrimage to meet his estranged father in Pakistan. In Delhi, India, where Taseer grew up, quick trips for the purpose of worship were commonplace. “People would do a pilgrimage on an ordinary Sunday,” he says, “instead of going to an amusement park.”