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Le Griffon d’Or, Bourg-en-Bresse (Ain, France)
Back in the early 1700s, patrons would arrive at the Hotel Griffon d’Or on Tuesday nights in time for market. They would leave their horses in the hotel’s lower floor and spend the night, perhaps...
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Le Chateau d’Origny, Ouches (Loire, France)
Every once in a while, a girl’s got to stay in a castle. And her room has to be the size of a small restaurant, with a jacuzzi in the bathroom. And that pretty much describes the Chateau d’Origny. It’s...
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Two Artists of Montbrison, France
“A piece of jewelry is the most useless thing.” These surprising words come from master jeweler and artist Philippe Tournaire. They’re highly unexpected from someone who makes an excellent living from...
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Les Cygnes, Evian (France)
There’s an evocative phrase in French – les pieds dans l’eau. It means literally ‘feet in the water’ and is used to describe a property or place that is right up along the shore. The Hotel Les Cygnes,...
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Georges Blanc: Man, Village or Empire?
It isn’t just a restaurant – it’s an entire gourmet village. Chefs with tall white toques hustle across the narrow streets of Vonnas, a tiny French town famous for one thing only: the empire of...
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Anatomy of a Tuscan Cooking Class
These may be the strangest words ever to come out of the mouth of an Italian chef. “Good morning. My name is Sunshine.” The name fit like a snug sweater, his smile infectious and every ripple visible....
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Les Halles in Lyon: Saucisson, Snails and Sea Urchins
There’s a certain thrill about uncovering a new market, new to me at least, a place others rave about so much I’m sure to be disappointed. A shiver of anticipation rushes down my spine when I feel I’m...
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Villa Aimée, Vals-les-Bains (Ardèche, France)
There’s nothing like a private en suite jacuzzi to make you fall in love with a bathroom. At the Villa Aimée in the French spa town of Vals-les-Bains, it was love at first sight. Vals-les-Bains is a...
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Jetwing Lighthouse’s Green Machine
When I was traipsing across rural Africa as a journalist, I made it a point to stay in a luxury hotel at least once a month – powerful hot showers, buffet breakfasts, clean sheets… the works. I’ve just...
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Rose and Pepper, Wine and Weather
What do you do in the Beaujolais region if you don’t drink wine? You scrub grapes all over your body, that’s what. At least that’s what Nathalie Jacquet suggests: she manages a French line of...
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