Inspiring Travel Writing from Annabel Simms
Annabel Simms is the author of An Hour From Paris (Pallas Athene 2003, revised for January 2008), about daytrips from Paris without a car. A Londoner living in Paris since 1991, she specialises in off-beat destinations easily accessible by train.
She has written travel articles for The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph, The Mail on Sunday, The Financial Times, The Times, Paris Notes, Paris Voice and France Today.
She has written travel articles for The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph, The Mail on Sunday, The Financial Times, The Times, Paris Notes, Paris Voice and France Today.
Articles by Annabel Simms
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Ile Du Martin-Pecheur
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Annabel Simms
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France
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Ile-de-France
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Paris
When you step off the raft onto this particular island on the Marne, less than half an hour away from Paris, you step into the timeless world of the guinguettes. Guinguettes are so called because le petit blanc, the modest but lively white wine of...
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A World Away from Mickey Mouse
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Annabel Simms
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France
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Ile-de-France
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Paris
Discover a different kind of Sleeping Beauty five miles from Disneyland, Paris: a medieval town guarded by moats, towers and drawbridges where life is lived at a gentler, provincial pace. Everyone knows that Brie cheese comes from France. But few...
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Why Birdies are not Like Others
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Annabel Simms
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France
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Ile-de-France
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Paris
I first got into bird-watching in France by stopping on a country road in England and following the RSPB signs welcoming the public to a site in the New Forest. Watching the chicks in a falcon’s nest come into focus, oblivious of being spied on...
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Capital Island
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Annabel Simms
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France
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Ile-de-France
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Paris
"There is an island in Paris…the inhabitants of which are quite separate from the rest of the city, they dine at a different hour, their manners are different; and they talk of crossing the bridge as the ancients talking of crossing the...
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Sunday by the Seine
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Annabel Simms
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France
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Ile-de-France
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Paris
You don’t need a car or a fat bank balance to experience the pleasure of lunch by the river within an hour of Paris. But you do need a sense of adventure. I’m talking about modest places where you can sit for hours over lunch surrounded by local...
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Eating in French Railway Stations
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Annabel Simms
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France
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Ile-de-France
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Paris
Where trainspotters are revered and gourmets delight in buffets; Paris’s stylish mainline railway stations bring a flavour of the regions to the French capital. Annabel Simms tastes dishes at restaurants in and around each terminus to find the best...
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Bon Appetit in Maigret's Paris
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Annabel Simms
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France
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Ile-de-France
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Paris
We’re not talking haute cuisine here, but we are talking authentic. I mean the sort of modest little place where Maigret might have gone for comfort during a particularly difficult case. The decor isn’t retro-chic – it just hasn’t been changed for...
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The Islands of Créteil
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Annabel Simms
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France
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Ile-de-France
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Paris
If you are looking for a day out in the country you can find it, astonishingly enough, at the end of the Metro line to Créteil. Créteil, characterised by charmless 1960s architecture, is the last place on earth where you would expect to find four...
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Ecouen
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Annabel Simms
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France
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Ile-de-France
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Paris
If you are interested in the French Renaissance, there is no need to travel as far as the Loire. One of the most elegant examples of this style in France, the 16th-century château of Ecouen, is the setting for the furnishings and objets d’art that...
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Royaumont
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Annabel Simms
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France
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Ile-de-France
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Paris
I can recommend a visit to Royaumont Abbey as being good value. Within easy reach of Paris, the trip can include a pretty countryside walk and if you go on a Saturday in early autumn you can also hear medieval music in a perfect setting. Royaumont...