• Villeneuve-d'Ascq. It was the summer of 'Joe le taxi' & my first trip to France with a school exchange to Villeneuve-d'Ascq, northern France's equivalent to Milton Keynes.
    France

    Villeneuve-d’Ascq

    My first real taste of France was a school French exchange trip. I found myself paired with Dorothé, a fearless, Amazonian girl of the same age from Villeneuve-d’Ascq, a new town in northern France. Infinitely more sophisticated than me, Dorothé…

  • With the memory span of a goldfish and an aversion to school French, I'm learning to parlez Francais all over again.
    French

    Learning French (again)

    Here I am learning French (again). I’ll start by saying that even though I possess a GCSE in French I have the memory span of a goldfish. I remember very little of the French I learned in school other than…

  • Henry Miller & Juicy Couture in Clichy. How sometimes there's no such thing as a free trip to Paris.
    Paris

    Henry Miller & Juicy Couture in Clichy

    Part of my Montmartre preparation involves reading anything and everything vaguely related to Paris. This week has somehow managed to throw Henry Miller & Juicy Couture in Clichy into the mix. Paris & a Hair Cut The book I finished…

  • Rue Ordener. The view from Le nord sud
    Monmartre

    Rue Ordener

    With it’s cobbled streets Monmartre conjures images of the Moulin Rouge, Pigalle, sex shops, windmills, theatres, the Sacre Coeur, artists, writers and bohemia. Rue Ordener is none of these things. Instead, you’ll find an unassuming, quiet little street tucked away…