Arriving at Orly airport, after admiring the beautiful snow covered streets of Paris I had left behind me and feeling ill made the usual sadness of leaving Paris, hurt all the more. Even after a month in Paris, I still felt robbed of time. I wanted to stay with the snow, I wanted to get …
Leaving Paris is never easy. Normally, I reserve my last two days for goodbyes to friends, and goodbyes to the city. I allow myself time to stroll the streets, visiting my favourite places, I reminisce with a lot of heartfelt emotion and in the process work myself into a melancholic state, fighting my inner desire, of wanting …
The first thing I did when I woke up this morning, was to pull back the curtains. Peering out the window, I found my wish had come true, a thick blanket of snow, settled over Paris. A white wonderland. Perhaps walking in the snow sans, sexy lime green umbrella last night, was not one of …
Three lovely ladies arrived from Australia last night. One of them, Scotty, was my inspiration and reason for my ongoing addiction to Paris. A few years back, Scotty told me to pack up my bags, grab some Moleskins and escape to Paris, to nurse a broken heart. All very romantic but that is what I …
When it comes to Paris, I am a research junkie. An impending trip to Paris, which is once a year, can find me spending hours, days, weeks, months, hovered over the computer, trawling the internet, history books, travel guides and whatever I can lay my hands on, for new and exciting things to do in Paris. …
One of Paris’ best kept secrets is a lunchtime venue in the cellar of La Madeleine or more formally; L’église Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, the Madeleine Church. If you didn’t know to look for it, you would never just happen to stumble across it. Afraid I was too late and missed the deadline, I walked from the metro, practicing in …
The story goes that Saint Denis, now Patron Saint of Paris, upsetting the pagan priests, was marched up the hill, of what is now Montmartre, and his head was chopped off. Picking up his severed head, Saint Denis continuing on, for 10 kilometres, preaching a sermon along the way, until finally, he dropped dead. Where …
After leaving Jim’s and The French Historian, last night, I had to go to my favourite bar to say goodbye to my friend Bouba. It was his last night at work before heading off on holidays. Tired and cold but I could not miss the opportunity to thank him for his hospitality and kindness. We …
The amount of people living on the streets in Paris is alarming and I feel compelled to donate to their cause. Passing homeless people, tossing a few coins into their tins or bowls, is a regular occurrence, for me. If you would like to give to the city of Paris in another way, I would …
There are so many things to do and see in Paris, however, deciding what to do today was a challenge. As it turned out, I opened my arms and embraced happenstance. I woke early but peering out the window, to discover it was raining, put a bit of a dampener on my motivation. Deciding on one …