Île-de-France Travel Guide

If you like painting and art, plan a lot of time for the visit to Louvre. In fact you can easily spend there a day or two, the collection is very rich and absolutely amazing. Besides famous Mona Lisa which always gathers a crowd, you can find there Venus of Milo and Nike Samothrace and the masterpieces of Leonardo, Bottichelli, Durer, Raphael and...

Last visit April 2014 to the Rue de Rivoli location There are many menu items on Angelina's menu, indeed we saw several people eating sandwiches and salads but my focus for my birthday splurge was two of the menu items that Angelina is famous for, the hot chocolate l'Africain and the Mont Blanc. In the late afternoon we were able to walk in and...

Obviously the main attraction in Versailles is the royal palace. Try to go there early to beat some of the long lines. Upon our arrival at Versailles Rive Gauche train station we first visited the Tourist Information (across the street from the train station) and we bought our tickets there in less than 5’! There are different tickets depending...

Almost as fantastic as the palaces are the miles and miles of gardens of Versailles. the gardens are over 800 hectacres with a large artificial pond in the center in a cross shape. A couple of large monumental fountains sit in the center.

a huge complex mall, with all you need, plus several stores around the perimeter,Auchan hypermarket with gas station at good prices, and link to the disneyland parks. All you need under one roof French style, really.I come by car, but by public transport is easy even from Paris or nearby DisneylandAnd here is the FNAC store with info on the...

wonderful RER and TGV station at Marne la vallée Chessy, just around the corner from Disney Village. Buses takes you to the parks, there are car rentals avis and hertz,and a VEA bus links the airports de Paris.really nice, been there by car and lately by trainthe ile de France region transport site is herehttp://www.transilien.com/web/siteYou can...

a wonderful chaple inside the castle The old church of the monks of Mathurins that were put here by Saint Louis and attached to the castle by François Ier. it was renovated during his reign and that of Henri II, and finished the vault under Henri IV. Baroque style from the Fontainebleau school of the Second Empire. The ceiling has a frescoes...

It is located at 2 Rue de la Paroisse,right at the angle of paroisse and grande rue , near post office and hotel de ville. and easy to it from the garden of Diana in castle of Fontainebleau.Catholic parrish site here in Frenchhttp://polefontainebleau.catholique.fr/-Infos-pratiques-#art10a bit of historyMarie de Médicis, marries Henri IV and ask for...

First by car, the city is at the crossroads of many, A4 Paris/Metz-Nancy has direct link to A1 Paris/Lille A5 Paris/Dijon A104 (call the Francilienne a road encircling Paris) A86 (the beltway around Paris)taking a que from the city of Meaux ,you can have an interactive map of the city to find things and parkings...

One of the first movie houses I went in France was here the native town of my wife. Majestic is still there kicking in city center.The movies of the week http://www.cinema-meaux.com/horaires/We went walking as the house was not far, this is back in 1990, and have come a couple more times after that. Just passing by here again as the family lives in...

At Place Saint-Quiriace not far from Tour César in old town. Church from the 12C ,that has never been finished! This is a site with good info on it in Englishhttp://www.provins.org/English_version/monuments/saint-qu1.htmBrief the church collégiale has a façade from the 12C with a choir from its initial construction, with some panneling from the 17C...

A town long seeing and close to family in dept 77, Seine-et-Marne. My experiences here have been by car. Plenty of parking in town but do look for special events like the Médiévales de Provins.You have parking for free between the church or église Saint-Ayoul, and the cultural center or Centre Culturel et Sportif de Saint-Ayoul. Also plenty more by...

Lying down is Isabelle d'Aragon, wife of Philippe III (the Bold) Poor Isabelle met her death early. Isabelle, who was pregnant at the time, was returning from a crusade when she had the misfortune to die when crossing ford. Her tomb from the late XIIIth century was the beginning of a style of which there are many in the Basilica. Once again, the...

This is what I wanted to see! One I really liked was of Louis XII [1515] and Anne de Bretagne [1514], lying together in a magnificent marble Tomb. Have a good look at their abdomens, for it has been made to look like it has been sewn-up after removing their internal organs. Louis XII was King of France from 1498 to 1515, and Anne was his second...

We were taken to this restaurant by a friend, a very good cook himself, who has eaten at many restaurants in the region & whose judgment we trusted. We were not disappointed. The buffet was very good quality. A diverse range of dishes both hot and cold. Entrees, Mains (hot and cold – meat and fish), salads, cheese, desserts, tea, coffee.For 22 euro...

The draw of Moret-sur-Loing isn't any particular sight or museum, it's the lovely setting alongside the Loing River. Unless you already have a guide to the town, stop by the tourism office at the entrance to the old part of the town near the Porte de Samois and they can give you a map of the sights throughout town. Moret-sur-Loing isn't very big,...

The huge Palais de Justice (law courts) occupies more than 4 hectares, 1/3 of the island.As French justice is rendered before public (bar childrens’ trials) and everyone is free to attend, the place attracts lots of people (about 15 000 a day). The visitors' access (common with Sainte Chapelle) is strictly controlled and you can get long queues.The...

An address known by all cinema goers,TV watchers and mystery novels readers in France : The Quai des Orfèvres hosts, in a huge 19th century building, the headquarters of the criminal police (Police Judiciaire) and has become the nickname of the french Scotland Yard or FBI equivalent.The first film featuring it was Henri Georges Clouzot’s Quai des...

Situated on a wall of the Tour de l'horloge (at the corner Boulevard du Palais/Quai de l'horloge), is the oldest public clock in Paris.The first clock set here in 1370 (created by a german arist : Henri de Vic, ordered by Charles V), it was replced under Henri III by the one you can see now.The clock was restaured in 1852 and is still working fine.

Vaux le Vicomte was the home of Nicolas Fouquet, that is until the nefarious machinations of Colbert who whispered into the ear of King Louis XIV that Fouquet was guilty of theft to cover up his complicity in the accumulation of wealth amassed, mostly by unscurpulous means, by Cardinal Mazarin to whom he served as a personal servent. After...

on our 1st night in Melun we headed back into town from our hotel on the edge of town and found La Creperie on a quiet street in town. There was an outdoor sitting area but it was a little chilly to be outdoors so we ate inside in the small dining room I had a savory crepe that was made out of buckwheat flour and a dessert crepe, both were OK but...

another nice Church in an upscale district just outside Paris in Hauts de Seine dept 92, this is Neuilly sur Seine and the Church of St Peter.http://www.saintpierredeneuilly.com/http://www.neuillysurseine.fr/cultesCity site with map for the Churchhttp://www.neuillysurseine.fr/les-edifices-remarquables?BATI_NUM=17A nice scenary in my travels in the...

well this is not a danger nor a warning but its an emergency when in the area of Paris and need English speaking staff , certified by American hosp assoc then this is it for years here....It is located at 63 Boulevard Victor Hugo, 92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine, and you get there by metro line 13 Anatole France or Pont de Levallois. you can come by car...

At the northwest corner of the castle compound, at the corner of Avenue de Général de Gaulle and Avenue de Paris, stands this statue of Saint Louis, who in his lifetime was of course not yet a saint but simply King Louis IX (=the Ninth) of France. He was born in 1214 and was crowned in Reims at age 12 after the death of his father.As befits a...

The French word donjon means the massive inner tower of a fortress. It is related to the English word dungeon, and this donjon was indeed used as a prison in the 18th and 19th centuries, but originally it was intended as a safe residence for the king, particularly King Charles V of France, who lived from 1338 to 1380. The displays inside the donjon...

Half of La Defense is actually part of Puteaux. This is the commerical district of outer Paris and is where all the big corporates have their head office in France. The picture shows Tour Ariane. One of the first towers to be put up as you can see from its fading outer shell, but still in there! Offices for Societe Generale, Marsh Mercer MMC and...

Puteaux has a wealth of small shops and restaurants. There is very little external influence and most of the shops are privately owned boutiques. So you wont see many Starbucks or Pizza huts here. A very safe district to shop in and certainly worth visiting. Shopping high street and surrunding areas include everything from fashion , jewellery to...

Our grandson was only a novice cyclist and we had not ridden for over 2 decades so this four wheeled vehicle best served our purpose in the Bois. (The three of us pedaled when we were not taking pictures). Even some of the park police used bicycles. When we were leaving the Bois we encountered at the parking these entrepreneurs working from a van....

Not only is there the chateau to visit but there is the Parc Floral de Paris, a modest sized Zoo and play activities and cycling (and places to eat or drink) enough to make any child happy. That is why we visited and it was a smart choice. This was long ago (1992) and enormous improvements have occurred since then. Here is what we experienced. (The...

The flower gardens are one of the development features of the Bois. It has been much expanded since we were there but the features remains the same lots of growing flower arrangements, a small lake with water lilies and lotus, fountains and at the edge an extensive children's area (see Separate Tip). I assum you can still use cycles to go through...