Chantilly is one of my favorite towns to visit. Just an hour outside Paris (faster by train), surrounded by lush forests, Chantilly is one of the country’s most prestigious equestrian towns, hosting jumping and flat racing events throughout the season at the historic Chantilly Hippodrome. There are also a few Ladies’ Days such as the [...]
The Jardin de Ruisseau, a well-kept secret, is a little haven of peace and quiet blossoms quietly under a bridge by a disused railway in the Porte de Clignancourt area. Far from the madding crowds, gardenless Parisians will be pleased to be able to retreat to a pretty oasis of blooming flowers and local cultural [...]
Last weekend, nearly two million city dwellers crammed together on the Champs-Elysées to see such foreign marvels as goats and tomato plants as part of “Nature Capitale,” an outdoor exhibition organized by the farming union Jeunes Agriculteurs (Young Farmers). It was an attempt to introduce Parisiens to the delights of the country — and to [...]
I know you think this is a Photoshop edit, but it’s not! During the night of Saturday to Sunday, hundreds of French farmers brought dirt, plants and a few farm animals to Les Champs Elysées to turn them into a giant field. It’s not a demonstration, but a PR event called Nature Capitale to remind the Parisians [...]
Nature Capitale, a project by Gad Weil, is transforming the Champs Elysees into a gigantic garden this weekend to celebrate World Day of Biodiversity. Much like a Christo undertaking, the world’s most famous and commercial boulevard will have over 150 varieties of trees, plants, and forestry and most important of all, sans car traffic. Here [...]
Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoe announced plans to convert two kilometers of fast car lanes along the Seine into pedestrian walkways! More space for people, less for automobiles. Here are some artists renditions of what it might look like. >more pix
The weather has been completely unpredictable of late: cool, warm, sunny, gray, rainy, and dry, sometimes all in the space of an hour. Yesterday, I emerged from the subway at Place de la Concorde and confronted this insane sky. It was clear blue and absolutely sunny to the west, dark and ominous to the east. [...]
Don’t let the famous gardens of Paris’s past overshadow its contemporary rivals. The city is home to renowned green design that has been setting trends around the world. La Promenade Plantée, in the 12th Arrondissement, is the world’s first elevated garden path. It was created on the site of 19th-century train tracks leading from Bastille [...]
The last time I was in snow ecstasy was in February. The photography gods were thoughtful enough to shake me awake at 5 am, and I went forth into the darkness, camera in hand, to capture the spirit of the snow. That morning, as I wandered alone in the silence, I understood the meaning of [...]
Misty morning in the Bois de Boulogne Patterns on the water; these leaves in the basin of a fountain were swirling in a circle, almost hypnotically. Hydrangeas in the garden of the Musee de la Vie Romantique
