The Avenue des Champs-Élysées, for so long a flashy strip of cinemas and fast food eateries, is living up to its former glory thanks to a recent succession of glamorous openings. The grand street can trace its history back to 1670, when the famed gardener André le Nôtre (of Versailles fame), after having beautified the […]

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South Australian-based Jane Paech might reside half a world away from Paris these days, but she knows the City of Light more than most — having lived à la parisienne for six years, she has been a regular visitor to her spirit city ever since. Her knowledge of and passion for Paris are beautifully, eloquently […]

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A caryatid is a column craved in the draped form of a female (and occasional male). Popular in Ancient Greece, the most famous example from that time is the porch of the Erechtheion on the Athens Acropolis. Caryatids came to Paris during the French Renaissance, when everything classical became new again. The first Parisian caryatids, […]

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If you’re lucky enough to find yourself in Paris on July 14, you might be tempted to greet a local with a cheery ‘Bonne Bastille.’ Best not to. In France, Bastille Day is formally known as ‘La fête nationale,’ or, more casually, ‘Le quatorze juillet’ — so throw around a merry ‘Bonne fête nationale’ or […]

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