The Blog
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This is where we work it out: routes and rhythms, the ethics of a cheap flight, the right way to miss a train. If it lands, Mise en Place is the same voice once a month, and the My Life in Burgundy waitlist is open.
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Southern Burgundy: The Churches, the Chardonnay, and the Charolais.
(17 minute read)
Southern Burgundy is the department of Saône-et-Loire, an hour south of Beaune and a fraction of the price. A full guide: some 250 Romanesque buildings including Cluny, Tournus and Paray-le-Monial, Mâconnais Chardonnay and Côte Chalonnaise reds bought at the cellar door, Charolais beef and Bresse chicken, where to base yourself, how many nights you need, the best months to come, and how to arrive by TGV.
The Apéro Scale
(5 minute read)
In France, the word apéro covers everything from a glass of rosé before dinner to fifty people in a garden at midnight. Here is a Beaufort-style scale for telling them apart by what is on the table, what is in the glass, and whether anyone has plugged in a grill. Plus the Burgundy spread of gougères and jambon persillé, the three cassis drinks, and a word on the pace.
The Two Weeks Burgundy Goes to Work
(9 minute read)
The vendange is the two or three weeks when Burgundy stops being a wine region and becomes a farm racing the clock. We picked Pinot Noir for a Givry domaine in 2025: the clippers, the hills, the long lunch, the paulée at the end. Here is what the harvest involves, why premier cru is still cut by hand, and what it means for anyone visiting Burgundy in September.
Take the Blue Bike
(6 minute read)
Three days and sixty kilometers on a Vélib'. What the passes actually cost in 2026, why the electric bike is the whole point, the per-trip minutes trap that catches everyone, and what a backwards saddle is trying to tell you. From people who live here.
Trains Are Romantic. Missing One Is Not.
(8 minute read)
A rail regular's guide to the small European train rules that trip people up: ticket types, when a seat reservation is mandatory (and when a pass still leaves you standing), the validation and railcard traps that get you fined, honest connection buffers, and the two habits that prevent most disasters.
A Field Guide to France's Train Stations: Vibes, Snacks, and Mild Existential Dread
(7 minute read)
A frequent rail traveler's honest, firsthand field guide to the French train stations we actually use, from Paris Gare de Lyon and Marseille Saint-Charles to Lyon's two, Dijon, Bordeaux, Pau, and the tiny rural halts. Where to be stranded, where to build in buffer, and which one to leave for the mall across the street.
Anthropology in Aisle Seven
(9 minute read)
What a French supermarket teaches you about the country, from someone who shops them in rural Burgundy: the multi-store circuit, the etiquette that trips up Americans, the butcher who knows you, the dairy wall, and a picnic blueprint.
Christmas in France, Like a Local
(10 minute read)
What Christmas in France is really like, from a France specialist living in Burgundy: the réveillon table, the truth about midnight mass in rural parishes, the Alsace markets, Provençal santons, and the galette des rois that carries the season to Epiphany.
The Best Times to Visit Paris Museums: A Day-by-Day Guide
(8 minute read)
A day-by-day guide to visiting Paris museums with fewer crowds: Louvre late nights, Thursday Orsay, Orangerie at opening, plus closures, last-entry times, and timed-ticket rules.
A Totally Subjective Guide to French Pastries That Could Ruin You (In a Good Way)
(6 minute read)
A biased, bakery-fed love letter to France's best pastries, from croissants and chou à la crème to gougères and the humble chausson aux pommes, written from a village in Burgundy.
Do Not Disturb: It’s August in France
(4 minute read)
An American who moved to France on what actually closes in August, what stays open, the crowd surprise nobody expects, and why you should still come. Plan around it instead of canceling.
Manual Labor: The Real Rules of Driving in France
(5 minute read)
My 1992 Peugeot is banned from central Lyon. How France's low-emission zones, autoroute tolls, speed cameras, and the priorité à droite rule really work, from someone who drives here every day.
You Will Never Blend In
(7 minute read)
You will be spotted in your first sentence, and it costs you nothing. What actually matters: the bonjour rule, when la bise happens (rarely, to travelers), the single principle behind cutting cheese, and why the French correct you with their face.
An Incomplete and Biased Guide to French Toilets
(6 minute read)
What toilets in France actually cost, why Paris street toilets are free and fully accessible, what a squat toilet really demands of you, and why the staircase, not the fixture, is the real problem. Written by someone who lives here.
The Corsica Trip We'd Never Plan for You
(17 minute read)
August 2022: an overnight ferry we were too cheap to sleep on, a village festival we found on a wall, and a hike we began at 11:30 in August. The founding trip of our agency, and why we'd redo half of it.
Knead to Know: Somebody Has to Get the Bread
(7 minute read)
There are no shops in our village, so somebody drives to the boulangerie every morning, and it is usually me. Two years of getting it wrong: the salt-free Italian loaf, the Thursday closure I never remember, the tradition versus the ordinary baguette, and the flour sack that feeds horses.
The Best Thing We Ever Did in Paris Was Have No Plan
(7 minute read)
Two travel planners argue against the Paris itinerary. Aimless walking that takes twenty minutes to stop feeling like a waste, the café as a pause rather than a destination, and the night a shopkeeper in the 20th locked up at midnight and took us dancing. Plus what spontaneity costs.
Can I Go?
(11 minute read)
Jonas's story, in his words. A conversion van in Texas, years in the back of band vans, an accidental career building sets for Broadway and the Rolling Stones, and the three words that kept opening doors: can I go? How a musician from Dallas ended up planning trips from a village in Burgundy.
Becoming Tripologiste
(9 minute read)
Paul's story, in his words. A Burgundian childhood spent half in Texas, a cycling pilgrimage retracing his grandfather's route, an unplanned week in Corsica that changed how we plan everything, and the first clients who turned a passion into a company. Where leaving space for magic came from.