After spending two weeks in Italy, checking out floating food markets in Venice, the vineyards in the Collio region of northeastern Italy and sparkling Franciacorta wines in the Alpine lakes district north of Milan, I'm ready to go home. Sounds like I'm whining, but it's tiring work, all this eating, tasting and dinking. more ›

Where the giant airport sign doesn't say "Welcome to Fiumicino," but Emporio Armani, and even the dude driving the courtesy cart sports Gucci eyewear. The passengers are wrapped in silk scarves knotted casually at the throat with carefully studied elegance. Designer footwear and handbags everywhere. The flight? Well, Alitalia was shotgunned into a merger with its regional rival Air One two weeks ago, and sold 25 percent of itself to Air France last week, so it's a bit early to say much, other than no inflight magazine, no cocktails, and very few passengers. They showed a movie, though: Fred Claus (Christmas, 2007). more ›

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Francophiles attending the Beaujolais Nouveau gala in Bellevue Friday will have the chance to bid on more than a dozen travel packages (tickets to Paris? ho-hum...) as well as some rare and valuable works of art. An original lithograph by the French painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is likely to draw the most interest. more ›

Air France 046 touched down right on schedule Monday--the first-ever nonstop flight from CDG to SEA, water cannons spraying the Airbus A330 in a festive salute, the pilot waving French and American flags from his cockpit window. Champagne toasts and official speeches followed, blessing this long-overdue of the Eiffel Tower and the Space Needle. more ›

Air France is announcing daily direct flights from Seattle to Paris today, beginning June 11. Wow, just in time for that early summer get-away we've been trying to plan. The Port's email release focuses more on Parisians coming to Seattle, of course: more ›