JOIE DE VIVRE CLICK OF
THE MONTH
GEOPORTAIL.GOUV.FR
French icon Discover some of France’s most fascinating icons
On the mapping service Géoportail you can see cadastral maps, which are useful when buying property in France – allowing you to see not only where the limits of a property are but also how nearby plots are divided. It’s possible to layer maps on top of each other and compare aerial photography across time – perhaps seeing where new houses have cropped up or even how things have changed since the earlier IGN maps. There’s also access to the historic Carte de Cassini maps, which show the history of a region, including old place names and fortifi ed towns. The Napoléonic-period Minutes État-Major can be explored, as well as public service utility maps and topographic maps.
geoportail.gouv.fr
A HELPING HAND
LE PETIT PRINCE Le Petit Prince is a novella written and illustrated by Lyon-born Antoine de Saint- Exupéry, fi rst published in the US in 1943. The story follows a young prince, and it addresses serious themes of loneliness, friendship, love and loss despite its style and genre as an illustrated children’s book. The story’s narrator is an aircraſt pilot
who fi nds himself stranded in the desert where he meets the prince who is from a small asteroid which he leſt in order to explore the rest of the universe. He visits six planets, each inhabited by an individual intended as an allegorical critique of an element of society such as materialism or vanity. One such adult is a king who demands obedience and servitude but has no servants, while another is an alcoholic who drinks to forget how ashamed he is of drinking. These allegorical encounters are
complemented by charming yet simple watercolour illustrations by the author himself, forming an allegorical comment on society in the form of a children’s book. Le Petit Prince has sold an estimated 200 million copies worldwide and has been translated into more than 300 languages and dialects, making it the most translated work in the world aſt er the Bible and the Quran.
The Air and Space Museum of France in Le
Bourget has a special exhibit honouring Saint- Exupéry, displaying many of his literary creations including early editions of Le Petit Prince. The museum also sadly has remnants of the
aircraſt in which the author disappeared over the Mediterranean during the Second World War only to be recovered 60 years later off the coast of Marseille in 2004.
© SHUTTERSTOCK
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What to drink… Each month, we take a look at a diff erent French drink. This month, Lillet...
Lillet is a wine-based aperitif produced near Bordeaux. The Lillet Frères company was founded in 1872 in Podensac and the original Lillet was introduced in 1887. The city’s position as one of the main ports for wine trading and export to the West Indies allowed for the experimentation of Bordeaux wines combined with exotic plants or fruits. Lillet is composed of 85% wine and 15% fruit liqueurs and cinchona, and much like the local wine, it is aged in oak barrels. The brand gained popularity across Europe during the 1920s, and when New York merchant Michael Dreyfus brought it to the US in 1946 it became a fashionable drink in the city. Since 2008, the brand has belonged to the Pernod Ricard group and its popularity continues – three million bottles were reportedly sold in 2015. It’s best served over ice with a slice of a citrus fruit. Bond fans may recognise the ‘Vesper’, a Kina Lillet Martini, which he orders in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. Another famed fan of Lillet is Hannibal Lecter – it’s the killer’s drink of choice in The Silence of the Lambs.
98 FRENCH PROPERTY NEWS: March/April 2023
©WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
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