France French Life Paris Tours: Clay Jenkinson France Palais Royal Paris radio interview The Jefferson Hour Thomas Jefferson tours to France Travel Fun
by maribeth
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The Thomas Jefferson Hour in Paris
The Palais Royal Gardens
Palais Royal
Clay Jenkinson as Thomas Jefferson
Mon dieu! My heart is still singing from a whirlwind trip I took to France this past week. I enjoyed six joyous days in Paris and two in the country, in Normandy and Versailles. My spirit remains light with all the love, culture and beauty I soaked up during my stay. I traveled with a dear friend for the marriage of my goddaughter and we had a marvelous time. I will be writing more about impressions, tips and recommendations from that trip within the upcoming month. I’m also posting beaucoup de fabulous photos on social media, so go ahead and follow me on Facebook (and also FB for A Tour of the Heart), Instagram and Twitter for images of an insider’s experience in France. (Remember that I lived in Paris eleven years, so this trip was largely about connecting with old friends.) La bonne cuisine française, wine, French savoir faire and the amelioration of Franco-American relations (translation: lots of talking in French, English and Franglais) dominated the program. C’était merveilleux!
You can transport yourself there in this evening’s Travel Fun, my talk show on travel at 6:30pm MST. I taped an interview with Clay Jenkinson, scholar, writer, historical interpreter and creator of The Thomas Jefferson Hour, a podcast and award-winning NPR program, that features the third president of the United States just before I left Telluride. Mr. Jenkinson portrays Jefferson, a man of the Enlightenment, and answers questions about current affairs with all the intelligence and elegance of this renowned statesman.
Monsieur Jefferson embraced France with great passion and verve, which is why I found it appropriate that I have a conversation with both Clay Jenkinson and Thomas Jefferson about this great man’s time in France.
Tune into KOTO.org at 6:30pm MST tonight to hear the interview I conducted just before I headed to Paris.
Clay Jenkinson
Best of all: You can actually travel to France this fall with Monsieur Jefferson AKA Clay Jenkinson on a trip that takes you to Paris, the Loire Valley, Bordeaux, Dordogne, Provence and Burgundy, un voyage that highlights many of Jefferson’s favorite sites, including vineyards that please American wine aficionados more so than ever centuries later. (Jefferson was surely one of the first big importers of French wine in America.)
There’s also a Canal du Midi add on to this trip, which is currently sold out yet I feel that Clay will be offering it again. Be sure to peruse the program of other trips that Thomas Jefferson, or rather Clay Jenkinson, will be leading this year, too. If they are anything like Jefferson, expect lots of excellent food, drink, conversation, history and culture in incredibly scenic places.
I hope you like my selection of Paris photos that accompany this post. I took them at the Palais Royal gardens. Even though these buildings and gardens date back to the seventeenth century, I imagined Thomas Jefferson strolling here during his time in the French capital toward the latter part of the 1700s. Don’t you?
Les Jardins du Palais Royal
Note that I will try to post this interview here soon as a podcast.
Art & Culture France French Life Paris Telluride: America's original Francophile Clay Jenkinson Jefferson Hour The Thomas Jefferson Hour Thomas Jefferson Paris Thomas Jefferson wine
by maribeth
Comments Off on Jefferson, France, Wine and Radio
Jefferson, France, Wine and Radio
Clay Jenkinson as Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson, America’s founding father, primary author of the Declaration of Independence and third president of the United States, was perhaps America’s first and most devoted Francophile. During his time as minister to France, he lived in Paris five years where he resided in an elegant residence on the Champs-Elysées and entertained his American and French friends with fine food and wine from his newly-adopted land. In Paris, he became truly serious about the pleasures of the table.
Funny how that sounds familiar, since that happens to most of us when we go to France. And wine is always a big part of the equation. Thomas Jefferson was one of the leading figures in facilitating the importation of wine into the U.S. from France and other European countries. Widely recognized as the most knowledgeable wine connoisseur of his day, Jefferson was a staunch advocate of the virtues of wine throughout his life. “No nation is drunken where wine is cheap; and none sober, where the dearness of wine substitutes ardent spirits as the common beverage,” he once argued.
“Here! here!” I say. How true that is–just like a satisfying meal; if it’s delicious, you don’t need to overeat, whereas if you’re not satiated, you’ll likely keep on eating–or drinking–until you are. (I’d say that’s part of the problem in America today.)
I’m thinking a lot about Jefferson these days because I’m in full-on French experience mode, planning a trip to my beloved land where I lived eleven years (in Paris). This devotee of French culture, gastronomy–and the human experience in general–also comes to mind, since Monsieur Jefferson aka Clay Jenkinson is going to be in Telluride, Colorado this Sunday and I plan to go to hear him and say bonjour.
