The real Paris is the one Rick Steves and Pauline Frommer have yet to discover.It is your Paris, the one only you, the visitor, can find.
Richard Nahem of Eye Prefer Paris has found a Paris of his own and he’ll give you a tour. That’s his business, one he started earlier this year and is growing.
We met Richard (right) at L’Epicerie on Ile St. Louis and joined him for a drink at his neighborhood café about six blocks into the Marais.
He is charming and knowledgeable and full of trivia you won’t find in a guidebook. He agreed to have his photo taken. He looked great but blurry on the “monument” setting on my Nikon Coolpix digital camera. Here he is in the “portrait” setting.
I guess Richard has the potential to become a monument here. He sure knows a lot and he has not yet lived in Paris for two years.
What is your Paris? It is what you value most about your time here.
And it likely changes from visit to visit. For now, the Paris that has caught my attention is one of parks and iron fences and rooftop gardens and charming little cafés and shops tucked into odd corners.
On Wednesday, we ventured into Tolbiac (above) and the Butte aux Cailles (below) area. The former, a favorite of my friend Sylvie of the Queen of Cheap Travel, is a place where people live and know the corner boulanger and walk their dogs like any other neighborhood. But I found no official buildings and daunting monuments. I liked that.
The latter is a quiet, somewhat shabby, village within a neighborhood. It is reputed to be the part of Paris most like a rural area.
Colette said something about Paris being a city made up of many provinces. How right she was!
What is your Paris? What stays with you long after you leave?
I know something lingers. Paris has that effect.
9 comments:
My Paris is just walking and soaking in what appears. Some times it's a many miles walk sometimes a walk for a loaf of bread. The Paris I enjoy is going out to find lunch and finding a church we haven't been in before. It's going out on that everyday mission and finding history and people and today all rolled up together. It's what may come along.
Rue Grande Chaumière at 7am just as the little corner bakery opens and it is me and the lady behind the counter as she plunks my croissants into the basket and makes my the au lait. That bistro in in the 18th I can never remember the name of but we always seem to find when we are there, just before they close and the chef comes out to our table asking if we'd like the last bit of tarte tartin because he hates to throw it out and we look so in love. The little alley behind Notre Dame that no one knows about that leads to that little tiny restaurant you aren't telling anybody about because then it wouldn't be the that little quiet place where the girl always greets you like you were there yesterday but she hasn't seen you in 3 months (and she STILL remembers that I always get the smoked salmon quiche and house red wine for my lunch). Mimi, you stay in Paris has been lovely! I can't wait to see what is next...
My Paris is wandering the galleries and dining at quiet unheard of eateries, or a few of the favorites....my Paris is truffles and macaroons...my Paris is French chefs........serving an opulent array of foods....oh, let's not forget CHEESE!.My Paris consists of food markets, the more I can see and smell, the happier I am....oh, yes....just sipping a coffee and watching life go by.....that's my Paris!thank you for asking!
Those photos...with the little cafe...totally how I picture Paris.
The leisure of Paris...the long, late into the night dinners with wine and conversation and good friends. To me, that is Paris!
My Paris is whatever sidewalk table I happen to be sitting at, with my cafe creme and pain au chocolat....for however many hours I want to sit there! No better place to watch the world go by.
Thank you all for sharing your Paris!
My Paris is sore feet, Tanna!
BC, I think I stumbled upon that place the other day, one near Notre DAME!
Jann, the unheard of places are best, in my experience.
Kristen, we always seem to talk more over meals here - and yes, into the night!
Katie, we were just saying the same thing! You can sit in one place all day and see a different view, with the passersby and the changing of the light.
Paris is so many things for me. One great memory is the jazz club Le Petit Opportun. The music is down in the cellar--a true cellar with vaulted ceilings. Above the bandstand is a sign directing patrons to not smoke while the band is playing. Everyone including the musicians ignores it.
You are SO right...much of Paris lingers with me long after the trip back across the Atlantic.
Montparnasse, my favorite area, because of the non-touristy feel definitely lingers. The local sidewalk cafes, the scents and fragrances in the air, the sights, the colors, the sounds. All of it I keep deep inside of me, until my return visit.
I'm glad you're finding "your" Paris on this trip. It sounds wonderful, Mimi. Keep enjoying.
Congrats on posting during your trip -- you have some great photos and ideas about Paris. I hadn't stopped in because I was off in another big city -- London! That was wonderful too.
Any luck with my cooking list? Or has it been forgotten in all of the other things to do?
I hope you're having better weather than we are here in Aveyron. This is one of the rainiest spring "ponts" in my memory...
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