Happy St David’s Day

March 1st is the feast day of St David, the patron saint of Wales, my homeland. Paris does not have many red dragons (the country’s heraldic emblem) or even, at this time of year, many leeks (the traditional emblem of Wales). But earlier today I saw this sunny little patch of Narcissus ‘February Gold’ by [...]

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A nursery for Le Nôtre

In the 8th arrondissement is a street called rue de la Pépinière, literally the street of the plant nursery. Today it is a busy commercial thoroughfare, with a dedicated Hello Kitty store and a big Starbucks. But that name suggests its previous history. For centuries this area to the northeast of Paris was open land [...]

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