It’s time again to tell you my latest rants about some news from France. An eventful post in my blog that I have enjoyed together with you for the last 12 years now!! And for those non Roman CCCLXVIII is 368 ! , another dandy round of news of my belle France , of course, chosen by me; there are many others. We are coming to the end of Summer ,and temps already back to normal range , cooler rainy so perfect for a glass of wine,,,anything, and we continue eating out in our veranda porch , grand! Hope you enjoy the post as I.
The Paris bike operators Lime, Dott and Tier have recorded a number of journeys never seen in the city since the start of the summer. The mass return of tourists has something to do with it, but also the enthusiasm of Île-de-France region residents for these micromobilities. And it’s not over. The cycle path along the Quai Branly, (7éme) has change in ten years, it’s crazy how Paris has changed, with all these cycle paths! When for example you arrived near the Eiffel Tower, place your three bicycles on the arches. The trip from the Opera district will have cost only 15€. So more bikes, more trotinettes and less cars good for business,,,,,,,,,time will tell but already many are leaving Paris.
For your bicycle breakdowns the SNCF sets up a free bicycle repair workshop. From May 20, 2022, it is at the Rosa Parks station on line RER E that you will be able to take care of your little worries. According to ActuParis, the SNCF is setting up 269 bicycle repair workshops in several stations in Île-de-France region. So if you have a problem head to Rosa Parks Station, September 9 and 23, and October 13 to get your bike back to new!
The monumental clock “The Defender of Time” returns to Paris, will soon find its place in the quariter or neighborhood of L’Horloge in Paris, not far from the Pompidou Center. The Quartier de l’Horloge is a group of buildings in the 3éme arrondissement located between rue Saint-Martin , rue Rambuteau , rue du Grenier-Saint-Lazare , and rue Beaubourg next to the Centre Georges-Pompidou. The six or seven-story buildings evoke the earlier medieval parcel grid. One of the buildings bearing the inscription “Le Piazza Beaubourg”, located at 156 rue Saint-Martin is described during the sale of its apartments as a “Millionaire’s Row in the heart of Paris”, At the intersection of the Rue Rambuteau and Rue Brantôme features a work by Max Ernst, Le Grand Assistant. The maintenance being the responsibility of the condominium associations. Originally occupied by restaurants and luxury shops, there is currently the big Leroy Merlin of Paris Centre, and reprography workshops.The routes within the neighborhood are: Impasse Beaubourg; rue Bernard-de-Clairvaux, which begins rue Brantôme and ends at no. 172 rue Saint-Martin, passage Brantôme, which begins rue Rambuteau and ends rue Brantôme, rue Brantôme, which begins at no. 46 rue Rambuteau and ends at no. 11 rue du Grenier-Saint-Lazare, passage du Maure, which begins at no. 33 rue Beaubourg and ends rue Brantôme, passage des Ménétriers, which starts at no. 23 rue Beaubourg and ends rue Brantôme, Wonderful walks indeed !
On the occasion of the bicentenary of the Canal de l’Ourcq,(see post) many excursions and cruises are organized to learn the secrets of this canal, which has many surprises in store, Soufflet has therefore sold the land of its mills to a bank named… Meunier. You can’t make it up! to liven up a walk in Pantin along the Canal de l’Ourcq. City of Paris info : https://www.paris.fr/evenements/bicentenaire-du-canal-de-l-ourcq-21454
Among the Most Beautiful Villages of France for 40 years, Gerberoy benefits from tourism, The Most Beautiful Villages of France label celebrates its 40th anniversary this weekend. Gerberoy was one of the first towns to obtain it, in 1982, becoming one of the tourist centers of the Oise (dept 60). A bit more info on the tourist office of Picardie Green : https://gerberoy-picardieverte.com/nos-essentiels/gerberoy/
You love Rimbaud, you will love Charleville-Mézières, The poet was not always kind to his hometown, locals continue to celebrate the author of “A Season in Hell”. The most literate will say Rimbaud, the tormented poet, who was born there in 1854, lived, wrote. The bookstore bears the name of Rimbaud, as does a quay on the Meuse river and the college where the poet studied. The media library has been baptized “Voyelles”, like the poem, the bistros offer the “Cuvée d’Arthur”, a craft beer, etc, The Charleville-Sedan tourist office : https://www.charleville-sedan-tourisme.fr/en/discover-charleville-mezieres/
One hundred years later, Paris is once again hosting the Olympic Games, in 2024. The budget for Paris 2024 is estimated at 6.6 billion euros despite everything, compared to 31 billion for Beijing 2008 or 16.5 billion for Rio de Janeiro 2016. Even if 93% of the sites are already existing, a few new ones will be added to the list. Add to that the Grand Paris Express project … Things are going to change in the city! It is in Seine-Saint-Denis (93) that the new Olympic village will come to nest on 46 hectares, 11,000 apartments, 120,000 m2 of offices, 3,200 m2 of shops, 7 hectares of green spaces… All to accommodate the some 17,000 athletes who will land from July 26 to August 11, 2024 (for the Olympics) and from August 28 to September 8 (for the Paralympic Games). Obviously, the Olympic Village could later be transformed into new housing for the residents of the city. A new Olympic aquatic center will be installed on the Plaine Saulnier, still in Saint-Denis, opposite the Stade de France. The new site will consist of 50 meter long pools and diving spots. The little extra? It will be equipped with 5,000 m2 of solar panels with an economical thermal design, a wooden roof and stands made of plastic recycled from corks. A new room will see the light of day in the Porte de la Chapelle neighborhood in Paris. 20,000 m2, 8,000 seats… It will mainly host wrestling, basketball, handball, etc. events. It will later become the main center of Paris Basketball, or even PSG Handball. The new climbing center at Le Bourget with six indoor and outdoor walls and a large gymnasium, that’s the project. For once, these are temporary facilities, except for the warm-up structure which will be kept. We will be entitled to green courtyards, pedestrianized streets, more developed cycle paths… All within the framework of the “Embellir votre quartier” or beautify your neighborhood project, an approach launched by the City of Paris. Other work is also planned as part of the Grand Paris Express, which should create 4 metro lines, 2 extensions and 60 new stations. This project is however likely not to be fully completed before the arrival of the Olympic Games. The official Paris2024 webpage : https://www.paris2024.org/fr/
The four-star hotel reopens in the hope that the étangs de Corot ponds (see post) will regain their splendor, The establishment and its spa area have just been completed after more than a year and a half of work, Eight spa cabins offer a view of the ponds, to relax facing an exceptional environment. The hotel Les étangs de Corot located in Ville-d’Avray, on the edge of the emblematic ponds immortalized in the 19C by the painter Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, This four-star establishment and its spa area, called Les Bains de Corot, have reopened discreetly their doors this past August. At the beginning of September, it is the turn of its bistro and its one-star restaurant to welcome the public again. Webpage : https://www.lesbainsdecorot.com/en/
At the Palace of Versailles, a little less tourists and a lot less thieves, Thefts recorded near the tourist site decreased by 50% this summer compared to 2019, according to the prefecture of Yvelines. And this, despite the return of foreign visitors …. except Chinese and Russians. The Palace of Versailles remains a safe bet for tourists ! The site attracted 825,000 visitors in July, almost twice as many as last year. It is thus approaching pre-Covid levels. This renewed vigor is correlated with encouraging figures in terms of safety: “only” 25 thefts were recorded there between January and August, according to the prefecture of Yvelines. That is a big improvement as this place has become a lot more touristy than ever !
Other castles in the region produce their wines. The stars Chenonceau and Cheverny, and others, less known, from Indre to Maine-et-Loire.I have written on these castles and their wine is good, took them home each time, Could be source of Wines from France but rather for a touristic point of view will list them here for all to enjoy the castles and the wine bien sûr ! (See posts on the castles in my blog).
The Château de Valençay (Indre 36) ,The castle and the town of the same name gave birth to the Valençay appellation, which covers an area of 2,400 hectares. Specificity of Valençay Indre, in addition to the AOC of wines, it also offers an appellation of cheese, the pyramid of Valençay , and very good, a goat from Berry, At the castle itself, the vineyard extends over 165 hectares, with the main grape varieties gamay, for the reds, and sauvignon, for the whites.
The Château de Chenonceau (Indre-et-Loire 37) ,The vines and the cellar have always belonged to the most visited private château in France, The vinification of the 10 hectares is nevertheless entrusted to the Caves du Père Auguste, a few km from Chenonceaux (town), in the village of Civray-de-Touraine. The traditional grape varieties are Chenin (white) and Cabernet Franc (red), to which Sauvignon and Côt, or Malbec, have been added. Two cuvées (white and red) are offered in the Touraine-Chenonceaux appellation, which extends over both banks of the Cher, the rest of the wines in AOC Touraine.
The Château de Cheverny (Loir-et-Cher 41), It’s hard to miss the architecture of Cheverny, the inspiration for Moulinsart d’Hergé, The vines that grow a few hundred meters from a château that belongs to the Hurault de Vibraye family: the first half a hectare was planted in 2018. The first harvest, last year, could not be done due to an episode of frost. The grapes (Sauvignon and Chardonnay) will give white Cheverny, vinified by the cooperative cellar of Mont-près-Chambord winegrowers.
The Château de Brissac (Maine-et-Loire 49), The 28 hectares of vines of a château in the town of Brissac-Loire-Aubance, 15 km from Angers, are cultivated by the Caves de la Loire, a cooperative which brings together 180 winegrowers. The cuvées, baptized “Château des Cossé”, named after the owner family since the beginning of the 16C, are made from Chenin in white, and Cabernet Sauvignon and Grolleau in red. They come from multiple appellations: Anjou, Cabernet d’Anjou (exclusively in rosé), Crémant-de-Loire, Anjou-Villages-Brissac…
The Château de Montreuil-Bellay (Maine-et-Loire 49) ,15 km south of Saumur, the château, which combines Renaissance and medieval military architecture, houses 16 hectares of Cabernet Franc, Chenin and Chardonnay. We are here in the Saumur appellation, of course, and the vineyard offers several cuvées, in white and red, without forgetting the bubbles with the essential Crémant-de-Loire.
The Château de Chambord, (Loir et Cher 41), The rebirth of a vineyard, The beautiful heritage vine, replanted on 14 hectares of the estate in 2015, has benefited from a new cellar since July 14 2022. You have to be attentive to notice the vines, planted within sight of the castle. The Chambord vineyard covers 14 hectares. When the young King François I ordered its construction in 1519, there was no vineyard. The same year, by an order of September 6, the King had 80,000 vines planted with white grapes originating from Burgundy at a forty km away, near the castle of his mother, Louise de Savoie. The village, Romorantin (Loir-et-Cher), then gave its name to the grape variety which would become the only reference for the small area of barely fifty hectares with the Cour-Cheverny designation of origin (AOC). This differs from the adjoining appellation, Cheverny, which covers some 600 hectares.
Star chef Mory Sacko will have from this Wednesday, September 7,2022 a new fried chicken restaurant within the Galeries Lafayette in Paris. A second address will open a little later in October, in the 14éme arrondissement, very close to his MoSuke restaurant. The MoSugo, Mory Sacko’s take-out and delivery street-food offer, had already delighted us during the 2020 and 2021 lockdowns, this time focusing on what it does best: fried chicken. On the program: chicken aiguillettes breaded to perfection, sweet potatoes fried or roasted with a delicious Cajun sauce and above all the big expectation of the menu, the fried chicken burger. With its very soft pretzel bread, delicious miso mayonnaise and cucumber pickles ! The first address within Galeries Lafayette will have around sixty seats, while the second, a few meters from the star restaurant MoSuke, will take the form of a counter with a room of fifteen place settings,webpage : https://mosuke-restaurant.com/chef-mory-sacko-2/
There you go folks, another round of my some news from France coming to you freely by the road warrior of this blog. Hope you enjoy the post and do prepare for finishing Summer with a bang and welcoming Fall (here Sept 23rd) , And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 