Tips for traveling on French trains.

Our recent experience with French trains was mixed.  We traveled from Gare de Lyon in Paris to Avignon in first class and everything was great.   But the return trip in 2nd class was really stressful.

Since we were visiting the Riviera during the Cannes Film Festival, we made reservations and purchased our tickets about six weeks in advance.  By then, many of the least expensive advance-purchase fares for the TGV were already sold out.

Bastille antique and brocante market in Paris.

One of the largest antique markets in France opened this week near the Place de la Bastille in Paris.   The Salon d'Antiquites Brocante Place de la Bastille takes place twice each year, in the spring and fall.  More than 350 dealers exhibit under a big tent and in booths on both sides of the Arsenal basin. 

This is the 57th Bastille antique fair, and the theme for this one is basketry, so you’ll find lots of antique wicker furniture, fishing creels, and straw crafts, in addition to a vast assortment of paintings, jewelry, decorative objects, furniture, and more.  

Paris bakeries compete for best baguette award. And the winner is…

Parisians like to bestow awards, particularly in endeavors they take seriously.  And they take nothing more seriously than the baguette, that crispy, chewy baton of perfection we all know and love.

The Grand Prix de la Baguette de la Ville de Paris is a hotly contested competition with more than 150 contestants.  For some bakeries, the prize is a one-way ticket from obscurity to celebrity.  Last year’s winner, Le Grenier de Felix, was not well known outside the 15^th arrondissement, where it is located.