The apartment that I am staying in this time, looks down onto two courtyards from the main rooms, which makes it very quiet but difficult to see what is going on outside in Paris and how the weather is behaving. When I look up out of my kitchen window, my view is the neighbouring building with a very small …
IMAGINE THIS: Dressed in my finest clothes, snapped up at the Paris sales, I approach the grand old mansion, unusually set back from the road, on the bourgeois Boulevard Haussmann. The chauffeur enters the circular driveway, designed specifically to allow guests to be dropped off at the base of the steps and move …
Four years ago when I dragged my broken heart to Paris, I was empty, raw, disillusioned with life and I was regularly seeing a counsellor. My counsellor, a warm and wonderful woman, assured me that it would take a long time to heal my aching heart but gave me hope. The …
It may seem like a strange exercise to undertake but before I head off for Paris, I devise walking tours for myself, gathered from the information that I glean from books, websites and the internet. Chicky Babe was up for the challenge to accompany me, a warning that we may get lost, will walk for …
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. …
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 …
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 …
Last night, around 12am, when I returned to the apartment, another sign was on the door, regarding the renovations in the neighbouring flat. The water was to be shut off, yet again, tomorrow morning. Reluctantly, I got up to the sound of the alarm, and ensured I did everything that required water before the deadline, …
The New Yorker accepted my invitation to walk the streets of Montparnasse. After spending some time in Montparnasse, a few evenings ago with The French Historian, I was keen to explore the area a little more. Armed with a guide book and map, we headed out to Vavin metro stop. La Coupole, the famous, historic …
Strolling back to my apartment, in the cool night air, I noticed the streets were quiet, compared to the bustling crowds of the past two weeks. When I left the l’Etoile Manquante cafe, it was much quieter than usual, in fact I was the last to leave, with two more hours left, before closing. The …