Bonjour Colorado

Oh Château Life!

A Perfect French Summer Scene: Colza Fields Blanketing the Château de la Motte d'Usseau Landscape

If you’ve caught any coverage of the Tour de France, you’ve seen some glorious shots of the French countryside dotted with fairy tale-looking castles and elegant manor houses.  Families still live in most of these impressive dwellings, many of whom have lived there for centuries.  And even better, some of these families of long lineage open up their stately residences to visitors on a nightly or even weekly basis. (Yes, you can easily rent your own château in France for your destination wedding, family reunion or other exciting event.)

Château du Fraisse, A Grand Property Near Limoges

But how do you go about connecting with these people, some of whom may be just familiarizing themselves with the Internet?  Enter Diane Ohanian, French château expert par excellence.  Diane created au Château some ten years ago, a company and e-newsletter that dials Americans into château life in France.  In my Travel Fun interview with Diane (and through her au Château Web site and newsletter), I’ve found her to be an incredible resource on French châteaux and on French life in general.  As an ardent Francophile for more than two decades, Diane has made it her mission to suss out some of the most glorious and welcoming abodes in the gallic land.  Indeed au Château is a great English-language resource for travelers looking to stay in historic places.

Room with a View at Château Sallandrouze and Many Other Châteaux

Click on the play button below to hear what Diane has to say about château life in France, French hosts and what she appreciates most about life in France.  Hint:  it has nothing to do with traffic jams and fast food.
 

Three châteaux have been featured in the above images including Château de la Motte d’Usseau, Château du Fraisse and Château Sallandrouze.  (For Château Sallandrouze, please check with Diane directly at inquiry@au-chateau.com for this property’s availability.)  Note that au Château boasts nearly eighty members on their site, so you have a variety of experiences to chose from in every corner of France.

Diane (on the left) with One of Her Hosts

Diane on the French as Hosts

“They’re excellent hosts, warm and friendly.  The nobility is nice, too.  Not at all condescending.  I hope it’s not a disappointment when they (travelers) find out that they (the noble families) are like everyone else.”

Book Pick

“The Paris Neighborhood Cookbook:  Danyel Couet’s Guide to the City’s Ethnic Cuisines,” by Danyel Couet and David Loftus

Listen to what Diane has to say about this book in the above interview.

Tour Mania Versus Zee Segway

The Segway Peloton of Paris

I’ve been thinking about whizzing around Paris these days.

It’s July and I’m consumed with The Tour. I’m referring to the Tour de France, as I’m sure you might have guessed.

I love watching the undulating ribbon of the peloton weave its way through France, but it’s in Paris on the last day of this epic bike race that this colorful procession mystifies me the most. I think it’s because Paris is so familiar to me: I’ve walked the great length of the Champs-Elysées countless times, wended my way around the expansive place de la Concorde, strolled beneath the arcades of the rue de Rivoli from Concorde to Palais Royal. Seeing the Tour de France posse (caravan, cyclists, team cars, press and officials) dominate this familiar terrain mesmerizes me the most. How incredibly fitting it is to have some of the world’s finest athletes power over the same routes reserved for royalty and heads of state.

If you’re not able to be in the City of Light on the final day of this great race, I encourage you to at least catch part of the last stage on T.V. Even the lively commentary of the sportscasters can’t drone out the pack’s thunderous rumble over the cobbles, the resounding swoosh and whir as they travel along Paris’s centuries-old streets.

If you’re at all like me, you’ll also be envious of the racers having the streets of Paris to themselves. Quel bonheur! Can you imagine how great that feels, pedaling through these historic streets at lightening speed?

There’s nothing like experiencing a place from a bicycle or I suppose, even a Segway. I’m reminded of this every time I hop on a bike but it really hit home recently when a friend told me about how he breezed around Paris standing head and shoulders above the masses. He had taken a Segway tour and visited a good number of Paris’s best-loved sites and monuments in a flash, without the inconveniences of sore feet or having to get on and off a bus a ton of times.

“You mean one of those goofy looking motorized vehicles that has you riding around town perfectly upright?” I asked.

“You betcha,” my friend replied. “They’re really cool. And comfortable, too.”

In my mind I had a hard time getting past the Sci Fi look of these two-wheeled vehicles. My otherworldly impressions of these personal transporters were further reinforced when my friend told me that you lean forward to go forward, backward to go backward.

Hmmmm. I instantly visualized my friend to-ing and fro-ing through the streets of Paris. This image was juxtaposed with a flash of the peloton rounding the top of the Champs-Elysées in a sort of hairpin turn fashion requiring the riders to lean into the turn in order to maintain balance on the bike.

“Sounds revolutionary,” I remarked, half jokingly. Yet I became truly intrigued when I learned that these Segways are driven by electric motors, a greener alternative to other personal transportation devices such as mopeds and motorcycles, both of which occupy a good amount of Paris road space along with its usual clog of motorized vehicles.

Cycling around Paris has become increasingly alluring to me, especially with the city emerging as a more biker friendly metropolis. But now I have Segways to consider. I suddenly feel intrigued, especially by the contrast of this Modern World transportation in Old World Paris.

I can’t help wondering what the Tour de France riders might think of the Segways. Cancel that thought. Fun is fun.

I made a mental note to check out these zippy personal transporters next time I’m in the French capital. For now though I’m really looking forward to cruising around Paris with the guys from the Tour on Sunday, July 25th. What a beautiful sight indeed!

Fat Tire Bike Tours Paris, FatTireBikeTours.com/Paris

City Segway Tours Paris, CitySegwayTours.com/Paris

Note that these above companies operate bike, Segway and walking tours in other major cities and tourist destinations around the world.  Do check them out!

If you’re a Tour de France fan, be sure to listen to my interview with Graham Watson, renowned photographer of the Tour.  You can also read about it and see some of his stunning images here.

Ready, Get Set, Go!

The French Will Always Have Monet and Much More

One of Monet's Views of Rouen

I’ve been thinking lately about a couple of major gatherings I attended for the tourism industry last fall.  Both of my beloved lands were covered:  France and Colorado.  The French event, entitled French Affairs ’09, put on by Atout France (also known as the French Government Tourist Office and Maison de la France), took place in New York City.  I attended one full day and evening of this grand gathering of largely travel suppliers and tourism representatives, many of whom had traveled from as far away as France and Tahiti to promote their products and destinations to some of the most attentive travel experts in the U.S.  It was a whirlwind day, marked by fine wine and cuisine, tons of networking and colorful multi-media presentations of some of the most alluring regions of France and many other exotic French-y locales, such as Guadeloupe and Saint Bart’s.  (Some of our favorite island get-ways also fall beneath the umbrella of the French Tourism Office, hence the name Atout France, which I interpreted as a play on words of sorts meaning all of France although the exact translation of atout is asset.  Are you confused yet? )

Now that this year’s tourism season is well underway in France, I’m thinking about how it seems to be shaping up, especially in view of the somewhat jittery feelings that were echoed last fall as the French travel experts touted their products and services.  The elephant in the room—the world’s bad economy—was not dwelled upon too much and instead most everyone projected a wistful c’est la vie attitude.  Perhaps it was the copious amounts of French wine served at the luncheon, the farewell cocktail and the closing dinner, that contributed to such elevated spirits amid so much recessionary doom and gloom.  But I think it had more to do with the fact that the French have seen hard times before and with such extraordinary tourism destinations as Paris, Burgundy, the Côte d’Azur, Saint-Martin and much more, worrying doesn’t make much sense anyway.

So here we are with the euro at a four-year low against the dollar.  Who could think of a better time to visit France?  Sure, there might be a few concerns about flight cancellations due to ongoing eruptions from Eyjafjallajokull, Iceland’s troublesome volcano.  But at least lately glittering images from Cannes have overshadowed that news.  No, it seems as though there are more reasons for going to France in these upcoming months than what we’ve registered in a while.  Here are a few of my favorites:

Paris

Don’t miss the Yves Saint Laurent exhibition at the Petit Palais, the first-ever retrospective of this revolutionary French fashion designer.  You have until 29 August to view this much-talked-about show.

Antibes Juan les Pins

The celebrated Jazz à Juan festival marks its 50th anniversary this July.  As the longest running jazz festival in Europe, it promises to be steamy hot with a lineup that includes George Benson, Diana Krall and Maceo Parker.  There’s nothing like being serenaded by world-class jazz as a cool breeze blows through the nearby palm trees.

Normandy

The Impressionists drew inspiration from the many varied subjects of this beloved region of France, including its verdant countryside, its ports and its major sites.  (Claude Monet captured the many different allures of the Rouen Cathedral in more than thirty paintings.)  This year the region of Normandy pays homage to the indelible mark left by the Impressionists by launching the Normandy Impressionist Festival that runs through September.  Expect lots of culture, fun events and great restaurant and lodging packages both in Rouen and throughout the region.

These happenings and more were highlighted at this French travel industry event.  Find out about others—islands included—at FranceGuide.com, the French Government Tourist Office’s official site.  There you’ll also find links to some attractive travel deals.

We’re ramping up for the summer season in Colorado now.  It’s still pretty bleak here in the mountains but that should all change by mid June.  I’ll report on the Colorado tourism industry event and how the season is shaping up in an upcoming posting.  As you know, spring is the time to be in France.  Here, it’s still mud season and snow remains in the forecast for the mountains the next couple of days. Tant pis, c’est la vie.

Thank you to Catherine Lancien et Carole Loisel, the Musée des Beaux Arts de Rouen and Rouen Tourisme for the use of the above image.

Talking Travel and Style with Kate Betts

Travel and style go together like form and functionality.  I had fun chatting about both and much more recently during a Travel Fun interview with Kate Betts, fashion and style editor extraordinare.  Kate has worked as the driving force at illustrious publications including Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.  She has also written about fashion and style for the New York Times and is currently contributing editor at TIME Magazine. Kate and I met many, many years ago in Paris when she was an intern at the International Herald Tribune and I was operating Chic Promenade, a shopping service I had created in France. We share many interests, mutual French friends and a passion for France (although we do love to chuckle together about some of our pet peeves about la mentalité française!)

I was happy to snatch her for an interview during her March trip to Telluride.  Click on the play button below to hear what Kate has to say about style and travel.  As Kate says, “It matters what you look like, how you feel about yourself, how you present yourself.”  She provides beauty and packing tips that she uses on all her travels whether she’s off to the fashion shows in Milan or heading out to the Rockies for a ski vacation. I loved what she shared about visualization and I’ve already picked up her favorite all-purpose moisturizing cream that’s her special secret.

Listen to what she has to say about fashion editors.  I had to ask her if they’re all hung up on what they wear!  You’ll enjoy hearing her response along with her explanation about the difference between fashion and style.  People obsessed with fashion follow the crowd whereas style setters follow their own beat.

Kate’s latest project has been the researching and writing of a book about Michelle Obama, entitled “Everyday Icon:  Michelle Obama and The Power of Style.” “The way she has used style to set the tone has been very powerful for women,” Kate says.  ”Her voice has been her style.  She is the quintessential American woman.”  I felt lucky to get the scoop on all this since mine was the first interview Kate conducted about the book, to be published February 2011 by Clarkson Potter.  In our chat, Kate also talks about her impressions of our first lady and her charismatic husband.

Throughout our conversation, Kate refers many times to the French, especially in terms of their sense of style.  ”Style is something you have within you,” Kate says. I guess that’s why I often say that French women are born with the knowledge of how to tie a scarf.  They know how to properly apply their make up as well, being careful never to over do it, just like in Telluride.  Kate and I commented that we rarely do ourselves up in T-ride but we both smiled about having touched ourselves up a bit for our radio interview.  As Kate says, it does matter how you look, how you feel about yourself and how you present yourself, no matter where you are, right?

Click on the play button to hear lots more good stuff from Kate.

Listen to Graham Watson Talk the Tour

2010 Tour de France Route

The 2010 Tour de France route was posted just over a month ago which means that hotels along the course are booking up fast.  There’s still time, however, to plan a trip to take in some of this renowned bike race next July.  Renowned Tour photographer, Graham Watson, will tell you how.  Read about what I wrote about Graham and his book, “Graham Watson’s Tour de France Travel Guide,” here.  You can also listen to Graham speak about the Tour and more  by clicking on the play button here: