In a small room of the Hôtel-Dieu, a mannequin nun-nurse in a period habit tends to a patient in a primitive wheelchair—a plain wood chair on tiny casters.  As I regarded him from my modern small-wheeled “companion” chair—designed to be pushed by one’s traveling companion—I wondered how he ever got across the building’s cobbled courtyard. Fortunately, the Hôtel-Dieu has been adapted for wheelers. It also was a high point of a day in Beaune included on the itinerary of a Burgundy Canal barge cruise I took in early May.

Step into Les Bouchons de Lyon where the colourful locals are as brusque and authentic as the 400-year-old recipes. Menu (in English): Ox tongue, tripe, kidneys, intestine sausage, fish and sliced veal head. I wish I’d known that!

When a public works project becomes a work of art, it deserves more than a passing glance. The Viaduct de Millau is just such a marvel.

Many associate Nice with all the glitz and glamour of the red carpet and the neighbouring Cannes Film Festival. But for the majority of us not on a celebrity budget, Nice will glimmer just as brightly for those looking to book a low-cost holiday.

Inspired travel: the Loire Valley offers an amazing long distance cycling trail called Loire à vélo, ideally suited for leisurely biking and discovering the chateaus and rich heritage of the area that was once a playground for French royalty.

A money saving guide featuring the best cheap restaurants, things to do and places to stay which helps you save money on your holiday or weekend city break in Paris.

Ryanair and other low-cost airlines may be the hottest new trend for affordable travel from country to country throughout Europe, but for those of us preferring to keep our weekend travels domestic (and why wouldn’t we—it’s France!), the time-honored and tested high-speed train wins by a landslide for best mode of travel.

There's a move afoot to make the L'église de la Madeleine accessible à tous. I learned about it in May as I sat in my wheelchair gazing up at the official Paris monument's multicolumn neoclassical façade and the famous bronze doors I couldn't enter because of the imposing staircase--28 steps--between me and them. But as it turns out, the project actually began in 2003--two years before France even had an accessibility law.

One of the many pleasures of living in Paris is leaving it – but only for le week-end. And there's no better getaway than Fougères, a town of "art and history" at the confines of Brittany and Normandy, the best-kept travel secret within weekend range of Paris.