The Independent (25 Nov 2006) has another of its French blitzes this time with an excellent guide to the best museums in Paris and beyond and a guide to the French wine regions.
A useful and new reference is the Centre des Monuments Nationaux a collection of nearly 250 important monuments, many of them cathedrals, castles and museums. The collection includes famous names such as Mont-Saint-Michel, Notre Dame, the Arc de Triomphe and the Panthéon, as well as things like the ramparts around the medieval town of Aigues-Mortes.
Another discovery is the Maxim's museum (see image above) where Pierre Cardin has recreated the rooms of a renowned courtesan in 1900 - 12 rooms furnished with articles and fine furniture by Tiffany, Majorel, Galle and others - all in the Art Nouveau style.
On the wine front there is a good set of links to the wine regions of France: " Everyone has heard of French wine, particularly the reds of Bordeaux and Burgundy and the whites of the Loire Valley, but few people really know "wine France". Just as there are wines for every occasion - champagne for a celebration, fortified Pineau des Charentes for an apéritif, smooth Armagnac to end a meal - so France's 17 wine regions, from Alsace to Corsica, all have something different to offer." See www.independent.co.uk
