The Secret Rooftop Farms you can Visit above Parisian Department Stores

In the early hours of the morning at Galeries Lafayette in Paris, the elevator doors open on the ground floor and out march a team of country bumpkins lugging crates of plump tomatoes, strawberries, fresh herbs and edible floIMG_0438wers, through the perfumery section, past the gleaming cosmetic counters and out the front entrance. They’re met…

So Matisse, Chagall, and the Headless Horseman Walk into a Church…

Tucked along New York’s Hudson River is the town of Sleepy Hollow, where old carriage roads can still be walked, and the woodlands feel just a bit darker than they should. It’s also home to the Union Church of Pocantico Hills, a gothic style church built in 1921 by the Rockefellers. Oh, and it happens to…

Forget the Met Ball, Discover New York’s Secret Fashion Paradise

Nestled into a hilltop of northern Manhattan hides a veritable medieval oasis, older than the United States itself. A labyrinth of ancient French archways, turrets, and Gothic chapels that travelled across the Atlantic to find a new home here, it is known simply as “the Cloisters” to locals. The cavernous site could pass as a…

The French Sex Cult from Outer Space

One of France’s most fascinating imports of late is also one of its most controversial: the world’s largest UFO religion of Raëlism, which decrees that life on Earth was scientifically created by a species of extraterrestrials. Founded in 1974, a reported 70,000 members reportedly follow the order today, which enjoys tax-exempt status in the US while…

Meet the Fallen Queen of the Moulin Rouge

The world knew her as la Goulue — literally, “the Glutton” — because her appetite for mischief was bar-none in Belle Epoque Paris. It was a nickname she earned in high-kicks and unmatched can-can skills, but it was won at a high price. Today, her rise to the top as “the Queen of Montmartre” has become…

MADE IN PARIS: The Statue of Liberty 1877-1885

A lot of us, even the French, tend to forget that one of America’s most iconic symbols was a gift from France as a memorial to their independence, 100 years after the American Revolution. The statue was built in Paris and fully funded by the French people– everyone from wealthy businessmen to schoolchildren chipped in…

Art, But Make it Hot

The 18th century saw a decadent sexual revolution for the privileged, where the old-world pressures of church and state behaviour waned and the floodgates to libertine perversity opened. And Rococo art was this era’s erotic entertainment. Sexually charged painting and erotic literature were abundant, encouraged and consumed en-masse by all: from tacky prints and scratchy…

Stargazing for Aliens, not Celebrities, on the French Riviera

As it turns out, the French Riviera caters to more than a few of our favourite holiday past-times: channeling Brigitte Bardot, building sand castles at the beach and … tracking down aliens? About an hour north of the seaside city of Nice, into the mountainous terrain where Provence meets the Cote d’Azur; at the end of a…

French Folk Costume or Next Season’s Haute Couture?

French fashion designers have long been at the forefront of avant-garde style and Paris has long been considered the birth city of fashion – the ultimate fountain of sophistication, glamorous muses and endless inspiration. But let’s turn back the clocks and leave the capital for the villages of provincial France where a part of French fashion…

The Legend of the Sun King’s Perfume Bath at Versailles

We’ve taken a bath in front of the Eiffel Tower, in the middle of a desert, and even seen a bath tub on wheels. But for all our apparent interest in unconventional bathing, we’d never heard about Louis XIV’s luxurious perfume bath. In a ritual so over the top– even for the French Sun King– Louis…