Armelle Tardy-Joubert, Atout France's new Director for Canada
Mélanie Paul-Hus, Canadian contributor to FranceGuide
Transat's Nancy Jackson, looking forward to another great year to France
Happy Birthday! Atout France's annual guide turns 10 this year
Ah, to be French. To take a simple event and make it so stylish.
Mind you it’s easy when you have such great ingredients. For the Toronto celebration of the 10th birthday of FranceGuide - the annual guide to all that’s touristic in France - officials from Atout France, the tourist board, chose a barebones bakery/café in the city’s trendy Queen St. West neighbourhood and mixed in a combination of travel folks.
They then added imaginative finger food (canapés of fig and brie or plump scallops topped with crushed pistachio nuts) served by waitresses in fashionable grey flannel walking shorts. And some delicious wine. But of course.
The evening was more than a 10th birthday party: It also heralded the first YYZ visit of Armelle Tardy-Joubert, the new Director for Canada of Atout France. “I have been here only since January 4, so I have not been homesick yet,” she told us. “But I may just have to go home for the 25th anniversary of the Musée d’Orsay [the stunning art museum set in a 1900 Paris railway station]…or to eat some cheese!”
Things are looking good for travel to France from Canada this year. Tardy-Joubert is bullish about traffic, citing a good exchange rate and the huge number of special events this year. AC’s Anna Buchnea is also excited about this year, stating that business to France last year was good and commenting that “People are really travelling again.”
The stylish FranceGuide is being distributed free to certain subscribers of The Toronto Star and The Vancouver Sun and is live online as of now, complete with lots more info than could fit into the printed edition (www.franceguide.com).
Happy reading, and remember that France is always full of surprising experiences, like tonight’s pretty chocolates with an unorthodox centre of…Roquefort cheese. The crowd’s verdict? “Wow. Unexpected. But delicious.”
