I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I decided to go to Saint-Germain-en-Laye, except that there was a castle (and not a very pretty one). However, immediately after stepping off the escalator of the metro, I probably said WOW at least five times. We walked right into the Domaine National de Saint-Germain-en-Laye and there […]

The train rolled into the station and I reached into my pocket, searching for my phone. I was already running late and it was a little drizzly, so I was trying to figure out what exit to take for Belleville. To my dismay, which turned to anxiety, I realised that in my rush to get […]

It was probably around 40 degrees F when I took shelter under the architecture museum at Trocadéro, the morning light just peeking above the trees. A biting wind grazed my ankles, and I was trying not to shiver. Hannah arrived, a flowing pink skirt billowing under an olive coat that didn’t quite reach the knees, […]

If you love France or are planning a trip, download one of my FREE travel guides! OH LA VACHE. Aka, holy cow!!!!!! There will never be enough exclamation points to convey my wonder. A weekend trip to Etretat Normandy was MORE than I dreamt it would be. Usually I go places hyped up on photographs, […]

Black and white has some sort of quality I can’t put my finger on. Maybe it’s nostalgia, because it came before colour film. Maybe it’s simplicity, because shades of grey force you to focus on the shapes and lines; the essence of what something is. Whatever this touch may be, I love it, and I […]

I think this is one of the most sentimental and heartfelt sessions I have ever done. It was a gloriously clear fall day, with the clouds one dreams about in the summer. Warm but not balmy; sun coming in strong; shorter days tempering the harsh high noon. We met on Pont Neuf, right by the […]

It’s all opulence and grandeur at this hôtel particulier on Boulevard Haussmann. The Musée Jacquemart-André is a private art collection with everything that you might expect. Rich, deep red velvet walls; fine Italian Renaissance and Byzantine art; a Fragonard (currently, unfortunately, on loan to an exhibition); an unexpected, but very delightful, run in with Élisabeth […]

My first encounter with Honoré de Balzac, the man (I was obliged to read his literature in school), was at the Musée Rodin, and I will say that the sculptor must not have liked him much, because the rendition is anything but flattering. However, I had also been seeing many posters for the re-opening of […]

This was a lesson in spontaneity. One bitter cold winter afternoon, not long after I’d arrived, I discovered a (new to me) bookshop across from Jardin du Luxembourg called The Red Wheelbarrow that had such a jolly red awning I had to stop in. I ended up picking up a copy of The New Paris, which […]

We took an “early” (8h20) train for a day trip to Rouen, France because I’ve had the desire to see the cathedral, which starred in Monet’s series of paintings on a study of light. To think we stood in the same square as a genius! I can only hope that the photos Cecil and I […]