Fiat Motor Village Revs Up Paris

Designed as “a theatre for our times,” the just-opened Fiat Motor Village is parked on the legendary rond-point of the Champs Elysées. The Village sports five floors of the Italian dolce vita, an image evoked by Fiat’s fabulous automobile brands through the decades. The innovative architecture comes from one of France’s leading designers and includes a transparent glass front that creates the illusion of inside-out space, two restaurants (the NoLita serving fine Italian cuisine, and a café, La Terrazza), and a gallery showcasing the art of young up-and-coming artists. The galleries and restaurant flow around a huge glass “cylinder” which contains the Fiat car models, from the earliest to the latest, while an Italian soundtrack plays throughout the various exhibit halls and public spaces. While the Village is ultimately a temple for Fiat and its brands, this isn’t exactly a stop at the corner car lot... For visitors who crave to experience the latest and greatest in Paris' conceptual trends, this is a whole new level of “wow!”

Reminder! Online Eiffel Tower Reservations

More than seven million people visit the Eiffel Tower each year. Just a reminder that online reservations are open for business and travelers can avoid the ordeal of waiting in the once inevitable long lines.

Here’s how it works:
• Visitors can make reservations up to one day prior to their visit.
• Create an account with basic information (similar to ordering theater or concert tickets)
• Choose date, time slot, number of visitors, and ages (for prices)
• Tickets are designated for visits EITHER to the Second Floor OR the Top
• Payment is made online (via secure server)
• Ticket must be downloaded and printed out. OR, download the bar code onto cell phone for presentation.
• Visitors with e-tickets simply go to the designated area at the Tower, according to time and date.
• NOTE: Visitors who wish to climb the stairs to the top do not need to pre-purchase tickets.

EIFFEL TOWER RESERVATION WEB SITE:
www.tour-eiffel.fr/teiffel/uk/index.html

The Grand Palais Reopens the Mini

Not only can visitors submerge their visual senses in the Monet exhibition now at the Grand Palais, but they can also indulge their culinary taste buds at the newly reopened, and visually stunning, Mini-Palais restaurant. Tucked into left wing of the recently renovated early 20th-century building, le Mini-Palais blends an airy contemporary design with a nouvelle French and Asian-infused cuisine. For lunch, guests can enjoy terrace dining beneath the colonnades, in full view of the Seine and the fabled Pont Alexandre III, Paris’ opulent and most beloved bridge. Stars of the menu, which does vary seasonally, include a duck breast and foie gras “hamburger” and fish roasted with bay leaves and eggplant caviar. Since the restaurant is open from noon until midnight, Le Mini Palais offers a perfect afternoon respite for a lovely glass of wine and small specialty plate, or tea and fig tarte, among the fabulous desserts...

Details:
Le Mini-Palais, at Le Grand Palais
Where: Avenue Winston Churchill (Champs Elysées-Clemenceau metro)
Hours: daily, noon until midnight
Tel. 01-42-56-42-42

Versailles’ Fragrance Conservatory

Unique in the world, the Osmothèque is a veritable monument to perfumes both contemporary and those that reach back in time. Remember: scent is our earliest memory! Like a library of precious volumes, the Osmothèque (the name derives from the Greek osmo, smell, and theke, a place of storage) is an amazing collection of most of the existing fine fragrances. From them forgotten classic scents are recreated so that visitors can actually smell perfumes that once scented the hands and napes of kings, queens, and famous historical personalities, from as far back as the 19th century. An underground vault preserves historic fragrances no longer made, and a fascinating exhibit hall showcases ancient scent “recipes.” There are also dozens of documents recounting the history of famous perfume houses, a collection of vials and bottles, and all kinds of scent-extracting paraphernalia. For those looking for an “extra-sensory” indulgence, the Osmothèque (now in its 20th year) offers the nose an ultimately French experience.

Details:
Where: Osmothèque, 36 rue du Parc de Clagny, Versailles
Hours: Wednesdays, 2:30 – 5 p.m; first Saturday of the month, 2:30 – 5 p.m.; second and third Saturdays of the month, 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Admission: 15 €
Tel: 01.39.55.46.99

Images Light Up Le Baux in Provence

Hailed as “one of the most beautiful villages” in France, Le Baux is perched high above the Provence countryside with views of Arles, the Camargue, and the Alpilles Mountains. Only 500 residents make their home here and visitors arrive solely on foot. Meticulous restoration showcases Le Baux’s storied past and 22 architectural wonders are on the list of “Historic Monouments.” The History Museum and the fabulous Citadelle at the peak of the town are not to be missed.

Just on the edge of town lies a magical place—the Cathédral d’Image—a natural stone theater projection screen which uses the rock walls from regional quarries as photographic canvasses. Created by the photographer Albert Plécy, a journalist and World War II correspondent, the intent was to bring the visitor physically into the photographs. Themed shows are projected daily, with more than 50 projectors lighting huge images against the walls of stone. Beautifully synchronized soundtracks are written for each production and envelope the visitor in a sensory kaleidoscope as you walk “through” the photographs, observing and interpreting the images from different angles.

Current show (Through January 2, 2011):
Terra Australis Incognita (the landscapes of Australia and the culture of the Aborigine people)
Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Each presentation lasts 30 minutes.
Admission: Adults 7.50 €; children 7-17 3.50 €
Physically accessible to all

Monet Graces The Grand Palais

For the first time in thirty years the father of Impressionism is the subject of a magnificent new exhibition opening next week at the splendid Grand Palais. Claude Monet 1840-1926 celebrates the artistic evolution of the “painter of light” over the course of 60 years, through more than 200 works assembled from collections from the Musée d’Orsay to Australia, Brazil, Russia, the USA, the Netherlands and beyond. Landscapes, portraits, and vignettes of daily life reveal Monet’s personal universe of observation and give viewers the chance to revel in the poetic light and shadows that beckon from these exquisite canvases.

Information & Tickets:
Claude Monet 1840-1926
When: September 22, 2010 – January 24, 2011
Where: The Grand Palais (Champs-Élysées in the 8th arrondissement)
Hours: Friday to Monday: 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Wednesday: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. CLOSED TUESDAYS & CHRISTMAS DAY
Admission: 12 €
Reservations: http://www.digitick.com/claude-monet-ile-de-france-css4-rmn-pg5-fi1155.html

Bordeaux’s Women of Wine

Martine, Armelle, Marie-Laure, and Florence are known throughout France as Les Médocaines – four women vintners from four regional wine chateaux. In this autumn season devoted to the grape, the Bordeaux Tourism Office offers three weekend visits to the chateaux with opportunities to join the women of wine for hands-on harvesting, cellar exploration, and, of course, tastings! The four chateaux are: Château Paloumey, Château La Tour de Bessan, Château Le Taillan, and Château Loudenne.

The excursions operate:
Mondays, September 27th and October 4th & 11th
Included:
• Morning transportation from the Bordeaux Tourist Office
• An introduction to the vineyard and on-location grape tasting. Help with the harvest is followed by a wine tasting.
• At 12:30 p.m. there is another tasting, over the course(s) of a winegrowers luncheon.
• The afternoon is filled with visits to the chateaux wine cellars, grape harvest sorting, learning about the various wine-making methods, tasting from the vats, and the grand finale of tastings from the bottled vintage.
• Return transportation to Bordeaux.
Cost per person: 80.00 €
Reservations: www.bordeaux-tourisme.com/pl/visites.pl?lg=uk&id=281&df=2

Celebrating French Heritage

Every year, over the third weekend in September, the entire country of France celebrates it heritage—its history, its arts, its culture—and its people. Les Journée du Patrimoine is an open invitation to citizens and visitors alike to come discover all things, and all personalities, français for free. Almost every museum is open late; many monuments and government buildings admit the public only on this single weekend; and galleries and historic homes offer a wonderful chance to explore both legendary and lesser-known places of interest. Among the Paris hotspots: the Paris Archives, the Palais de l’Elysée (the French President’s residence), the Senate, and the National Assembly. Many locations offer special guided tours.

Chocolatine tip: Special this year is the invitation to wander through the legendary Moulin Rouge, including the private salons and costume rooms backstage.

Journée du Patrimoine
September 18 & 19

Versailles – A Show Fit for a King

During the next three weekends of September, at Versaille's fabled Fountain of Neptune, visitors will be enchanted by the telling of the story, THE ROYAL WEDDING OF LOUIS XIV. The dramatic, lavish performance is narrated, re-enacted and choreographed in true spectacle style, and tells the story of the 22-year-old Sun King and his arduous journey (in 1660) to marry the Infanta of Spain. A fireworks display over Versailles caps off the evening, a fitting grand finale to summer .

Details:
Event: The Royal Wedding Of Louis XIV
Where: Versailles Palace, Fountain of Neptune
Dates: Sept. 3 & 4; 10 & 11; 17 & 18
Time: 9:30 p.m. until midnight
Prices: from 35€ – 85€
Info: www.chateauversailles-spectacles.fr