I’m often asked about Paris…
Questions about, where to go and what to do… Places off the beaten track, the died-and-went-to-heaven eating experiences, the best shops and what to buy… the hotels that offer value, a comfortable pillow and the sweetest dreams.
~ ~ ~
Paris and I go way back but I have never had the pleasure to live there… I made my first trip to Paris at the age of ten… if you can fall in love with a city at such an early age… then I must have. I have returned over the years… many, many times and continued to be more and more enamoured with the city.
Living and being a visitor in a city are two different things, no matter how often or how long the visits are.
A visitor can be selective, can view the world through rose coloured glasses… see only what they choose. Paris is like that for me…
I understand France and many of her peccadilloes… I deal with them regularly in Provence… and some of the bureaucratic gymnastics are enough to slow down even the most exuberant of Francophiles.
But Paris… Paris is different… I can come and go as I please… enjoy the beauty and turn a blind eye to anything else…
~ ~ ~
So my question is this…
What do you do when you are in Paris?
Once you have been up to the top of the Eiffel Tower, cruised the Seine in the Bateaux Mouches… paraded through the Tuileries and had coffee in the Luxembourg Gardens… where is your go to?
Where are your favourite places to re-visit?
The covered passage, Galerie Vivienne behind the Palais Royal? Or do you prefer the narrow cobblestones of the Marais and the Place des Vosges? Breakfast at Café Carette, number 25… The elegance of the 6th? Have you been to the Jardin des Plantes and the dinosaur museum? It’s not only for children… and not all about the skeletons…
Or are the Museums your first destination?
Can we ever tire of the Musée d’Orsay, The Musée Rodin or cover the Louvre…and then there are the rest… the smaller, lesser known havens…
Do you prefer to people watch?
Lunch at L’Avenue and an apero at Hotel Costes… Or a quite stroll down the rue de Grenelle? A wander past the Élysée Palace or a promenade through the 16th? And then there is the Trocadéro…
Or shop?
The department stores in Paris are my favourites… Printemps in all her pink glory and Le Bon Marché an understated triumph in cream… Parisian vintage… fashion and decorative arts… Colette, on rue Saint Honoré… upstairs… the mix of high end fashion for a re-interpretation of this-goes-with-that…
Are the flea markets your number one priority in Paris?
Do you visit Clignancourt over Porte de Vanves?
And what about the flowers?
Parisian flowers seem to me to be in a league of their own… the flower shops, the displays in the grand hotels and even the street stands offer the most exceptional quality… tulips, peonies, ranunculus, anemones… they appear so very vibrant and luxurious.
~ ~ ~
I can go on and on… and on some more…
What about the cafés, the bars… the restaurants? Did I mention the walking?
Paris, let’s talk about her… xv
