In 1560, a certain Jean Nicot introduced tobacco to Catherine de Medici, raving about its various healing powers. The queen and her court were soon hooked — and the ambassador would go on to be immortalised in the word nicotine. The backstory of tobacco in France has long infused smoking with an air of nobility; […]
Paris History
The Breezy Glamour of Parisian Guinguettes
Paris created the concept of the café as well as the restaurant, of fine dining along with the picnic, so it’s little surprise that in this city each type of eatery has come to have a fairly set definition. A brasserie is not a bistrot, for example, and a bar another thing altogether. Some distinctions […]
Romantic Paris: Two Exquisite New Exhibitions
Before Paris became a city of romance, where misty-eyed lovers could stroll hand-in-hand along beautiful boulevards or lock lips on the city’s graceful bridges, it was the city of Romanticism. In the first half of the nineteenth century, Paris was not yet the City of Light, but rather a dark place, still medieval in design, […]
May Day in Paris (and a Pretty Perfumed Souvenir)
Labour Day in France, La Fête du Travail, is also known as La Fête du Muguet — lily of the valley being the signature bloom for today. On this much-loved public holiday, it has long been a ritual to give family and friends bouquets of this sweet bell-shaped flower, which is considered a lucky charm. […]