On June 6th, 1944, over 150,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day. The battle to liberate Nazi-occupied Europe had begun, but the liberation of Paris wasn’t part of the original plan. The Allies wanted to reach Berlin as quickly as possible, and therefore Paris was seen as an unnecessary detour. The …
The difficulty of navigating French bureaucracy is legendary. Every time I think I finally have a handle on it, something else arrives in the mail that requires my attention. Cue several months of back and forth communication with various government agencies and/or utility providers in an attempt to solve the problem. I’ve asked around, and …
If you find yourself walking through Paris one day, be sure to look closely at the buildings around you. Yes, they are beautiful, but they are also home to a vibrant culture of street art. Countless urban artists work in every neighbourhood of Paris, decorating the city with murals, paintings, and sculptures. One of these …
There are a lot of famous women in the history of France. Marie Antoinette. Joan of Arc. Catherine de Medici. Marie Curie. Coco Chanel. Chances are you’ve probably heard one or two or even all of those names before, as these women are famous throughout the world. However, they are not the only French women …
As much as I love my job, sometimes I need a vacation to rest and recharge. When I started working as a tour guide, I discovered that it was usually around mid-July that I would start to feel the need for a holiday. By that point the guiding season would be well into the busy …