Paris is the city of lights, of romance, of style and fashion. It’s also the place where modern shopping was born. From the resplendent court of Louis XIV down to the busiest of shopgirls, everyone wanted the latest fashions and lacy accessories. As French flair and sophistication spread all over Europe, the fashion-conscious travelled into […]
Le Bel Air, or how Paris invented Shopping Continue reading
Should you go looking for the prison cell in which Marie-Antoinette spent her last few months, it no longer exists. Imprisoned in the former medieval fortress of the Conciergerie on the Quai d’Horloge in the centre of Paris before her ‘trial’ and death, the dank and dark cell in which she rested, alone, unable even to kiss her children goodbye, was later turned into a memorial. The death of Marie-Antoinette by the sharp blade of the guillotine may have been quick, but her death sentence began well before.
The death of Marie Antoinette Continue reading
When Marie-Antoinette arrived in France she was initially adored for her youth, her beauty, her vitality, her generous nature. The old king Louis XV was especially enamoured with his grandson’s new bride. But the palace of Versailles, steeped in courtly rituals and traditions, was not for the faint-hearted. Would she be strong enough to survive life at the palace?
The life of Queen Marie Antoinette, Part 1 Continue reading