Click here for information on the French Riviera Mini Cooper Driving Adventure!
1) Residents of the United States need only a valid passport and a valid state driver’s license to drive legally in France. An international driver’s license is not necessary.
2) French police can impose an on the spot fine for driving violations and payments must be made in cash.
3) When pulling into a roundabout always Continue reading
Le Stuff’s Definitive Location Guide to Alfred Hitchcock’ s Classic Film
Series Post #5
At the end of post # 4 the police were fast approaching Robie’s villa just outside the village of St Jeannet.
The police enter the house and ask the former jewel thief to accompany them to the station for questioning. He agrees, but asks if they will first allow him to change into something a bit more formal. While changing in his bedroom he fools the police into thinking he has escaped by car. And so begins the famous chase scene that takes viewers through some of the most picturesque villages in the south of France (apparently this was was also one of the first cinematic sequences filmed from a helicopter).
The Chase:
The first town we see is Le Bar sur Loup. Le Bar is a picturesque, working class village that looks pretty much the same today as it does in the movie, with its dramatic, fourteenth century chateau dominating the town center. Notice the old railroad bridge at the edge of town. Continue reading
Alec Harvey, Features Editor for The Birmingham News, has been kind enough to submit Le Stuff”s very first Guest Post. For those of you who are regular Le Stuff readers, you may remember I posted a story in July about the, um, transmission problems Alec encountered early on during a Spring 2007 trip to France. I really do hate to mention it again, but honestly it’s just too difficult for me to let it go.
So thanks Alec for your contribution, and I very much look forward to our next adventure. I encourage everyone to pick up a copy of The Birmingham News, one of the nation’s most respected newspapers, and to check out City Scene, found in the Entertainment section every Friday. There’s no better way for hipsters like you and me to get a handle on the goings on in The Magic City. Finally, “Alec Harvey’s blog and column” (does this guy ever sleep?) can be read at http://blog.al.com/aharvey.
Sincerely,
Le Stuff
Two years ago, I fell in love with France .
I had visited Paris the summer after I graduated from college, and I probably fell in love then, too, but the nearly 25 years that had passed had dimmed that affection. What remained were memories of good food and a little too much good wine, but not much about the people and places I encountered.
This time, I don’t expect the love affair to end. Visiting the countryside of France is much different from the hustle and bustle of one of the world’s greatest cities. The villages have a quaintness that Paris can never duplicate, and their charm – and that of the people that inhabit them – is not likely to fade.
If you’re planning a trip to the South of France Continue reading
Le Stuff 