Frankreich

"From the low heights of Satory we get a complete view of the plains of Versailles-the woods, the town and the sumptuous chateau. The palace on its dais rules the scene. The village and ornamental environment have been constructed to augment its majesty. Even the soil has been "molded into new forms" at a monarch's caprice. Versailles is the expression of monarchy, as conceived by Louis XIV. It is the only epic produced in his reign-a reign so fertile in the other forms of poetry, and in talent of all kinds. What epic ever chronicled the destiny of an epoch in a manner more brilliant and complete? In this poem of stone the manners of heroic and familiar life mingle at every step."

Georges Ohnet (1848, in Paris - 1918) was a French novelist and man of letters. After the Franco-Prussian War he became editor of the Pays and the Constitutionnel in succession. He then began a series of novels, Les Batailles de la vie, of a simple and idealistic character, which were very popular. The series included Serge Panine (1881) which was crowned by the Academy; Le Maître de Forges (1882), La Grande Marnière (1885), Volonté (1888), Dernier Amour (1891). Many of his novels have been dramatized with great success, Le Maître de forges, produced at the Gymnase in 1883, holding the stage for a whole year. His later publications include Le Crépuscule (1902), Le Marchand de Poison (1903), La Conquérante (1905), La Dixième Muse (1906).

THE ENTERTAINING AND HEARTWARMING SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER.<BR><BR>Like many couples, Dick and Angel had long dreamed of living in France, but where others might settle for a modest bolthole in the French countryside, the Strawbridges fell in love with a 19th-century fairytale château, complete with 45 rooms, seven outbuildings, 12 acres of land and its own moat.<BR><BR>Throwing caution to the wind, Dick and Angel swapped their two-bedroom flat in East London for an abandoned and derelict castle in the heart of the Loire valley and embarked on the adventure of a lifetime with their two young children Arthur and Dorothy.<BR><BR>Sharing their full journey for the first time, A Year at the Château follows Dick and Angel from when they first moved to France in the depths of winter and found bedrooms infested with flies, turrets inhabited by bats, the wind rattling through cracked windows, and just one working toilet, which flushed into the moat, through to the monumental efforts that went into readying the château for their unforgettable wedding and their incredibly special first Christmas.<BR><BR>Along the way we'll read glorious descriptions of rural life in France, with charming characters, delicious food and wonderful seasonal produce, together with the extraordinary list of renovations and restorations Dick and Angel completed, many of which were never shown on TV.<BR><BR>As warm and entertaining as their much-loved show, A Year at the Château is a truly irresistible story of adventure and heart, epic ambitions and a huge amount of hard graft.

John Stevens Cabot Abbott (1805-1877), an American historian, pastor, and pedagogical writer, was born in Brunswick, Maine to Jacob and Betsey Abbott. Owing to the success of his work, The Mother at Home, he devoted himself from 1844 onwards, to literature. He was a voluminous writer of books on Christian ethics, and of popular histories, which were credited with cultivating a popular interest in history. He is best known as the author of the widely popular History of Napoleon Bonaparte (1855), in which the various elements and episodes in Napoleon's career are described. Abbott takes a very favourable view towards his subject throughout.

Slip into an artist's studio set in a château, discover chapels built into a thousand-year-old tree, pour Calvados into a tomb in the village of Camembert, meditate on a site where the Virgin Mary has appeared twenty times, decipher the alchemical decorations in the Hôtel d'Escoville in Caen, examine a historic swimming pool designed to clean horses, flush out a Freemason architect in Rouen cathedral...Far from the usual crowds and clichés, Normandy still has some well-hidden treasures that it can only reveal to its inhabitants and to travellers who know how to get off the beaten track.An essential guide for those who think they know Normandy well, or for those who want to discover a different face of the region.

Step off the beaten track with this fascinating Stockholm travel guidebook, filled with well-hidden treasures. Ideal for locals and curious travellers alike, the book features more than 140 secret and unusual locations.Take a break in a parish library with a time-warp interior and a unique collection of detective novels, discover the functioning dragon fountain in the foyer of an opulent 1930s cinema turned storage facility, visit the bizarre 1921 archaeologist's grave, built in the style of stone-age megalith tombs, discover the gigantic metal eye on the back of the brutalist Swedish Film Institute that pokes fun at the Swedish military in the neighbouring building. Find the mysterious medieval plaque hidden in an Old Town stairway, grab a bite at the French bakery on the ground floor of a socialist utopian-functionalist communal housing project, where a food lift sends croissants and onion soup to the apartments above. Get off the metro at a station with grotesque sculptures and a unique ecosystem featuring tiny spiders and a previously unknown fungus.There's all this and more in an essential travel guide for those who think they know the Swedish capital well, or for those who want to discover its concealed gems.

Getting lost in a sublime secret garden in the heart of the Marais, the bistro of your dreams, spending the night in the capital's most charming hotels, a day in Montmartre without the crowds, night visits to museums, where to buy the best baguette in Paris, a techno club like in Berlin, a truly hidden bar, the city's most romantic sunset stroll, watching a film in an armchair for two, stargazing in the heart of the city, exploring a secret library, a night praying at the Sacré-Coeur, a super-elegant boutique, an unforgettable sandwich ...<BR><BR>30 exceptional experiences in Paris that will allow you to escape the hordes of tourists who swarm through the French capital.

The packed audiences of darkened cinema rooms are no more. People are gradually drifting backhome to lounge in front of a multitude of online platforms, far less expensive than a trip to thepicture palace. Habits have changed... the cinema is no longer a world of magic.Movie theatres have lost their splendour, often pushed into the suburbs and choked left and right byfast-food chains as if they were ashamed to exist at all.However, some of this fabulous heritage dedicated to the stuff of dreams which cinemas once werestill exists, especially in France. This is one of the few countries left where theatres are still beingbuilt, sometimes with audacious architecture. Also, France is a place where their demise is ferventlydenied.Sometimes, on a street corner, a forgotten but flamboyant façade recalls past glories. It's there toremind everyone that cinema is immortal.Simon Edelstein, whether in search of decaying or completely abandoned historic cinemas, orexploring lovingly restored or spectacular contemporary buildings, has scoured the roads of Francefor over 10 years, in cities and countryside, to seek out this exceptional heritage.