The Paris Traveler

 With only a few posts under my belt, it is hard to look back over the year as to what the Paris Traveler has been.  Lynn, the previous author, has moved on to fulfill some of her hopes and dreams and I wish her well.  
What I can do is look ahead to 2008 with much excitement and commitment to bringing you unusual, interesting and pertinent information to make any plans you have to come to Paris that much easier and fun.  
I wish you all the best in the coming year and hope that, together, we continue to share …read more

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I know that we still have New Year’s to get through, but I thought I would let you in on the next celebration that the French enjoy every year.  Actually, the French need no specific reason to celebrate other than it is a new day but this particular event has a much loved ritual attached to it.  The 6th of January marks the “day of the kings”, commemorating the Kings who arrived to pay hommage to the Infant Jesus.  A special pastry called a galette des rois or King’s cake is part of the celebration. The cake has a “feve” …read more

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Yesterday’s post took you to lunch on the Champs Elysée.  Hopefully that went well for you and now you are ready to walk off some of your delicious lunch and continue taking in the sights. 
Today, we are going to walk a few blocks towards Concord (the big ferris wheel should be straight ahead) and do something “free”.  Yes, one can find free things to do in Paris and feel as though they really should have paid for the experience because everything is done in such a big, beautiful way.  
This experience is the Louis Vuitton flagship store.  Opened in …read more

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Lunch in a drugstore?  In one of the food capitals of the world?
  Yes, and it is one of the most fun seats in the house (city) for people watching.   Publicis Drugstore is located at the far end of the Champs Elysee near the Arc de Triomphe and on most days there’s plenty of people and bustle to make a window seat a most coveted spot to take a break from seeing all the sights.  If you snag a table by the window you are practically sitting in the middle of the Etoile (the traffic circle around the Arc de Triomphe).  That …read more

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  If you are already in Paris (lucky you) or planning a trip and are looking for unique ways to experience it, I have just the thing for you.
Two of the most prestigious hotels in Paris (and in the world for that matter) are offering classes in the fine art of cocktail creation.  Colin Field, bartender at the Bar Hemingway in the Ritz Hotel will show you how to create several of the house cocktails while entertaining you with stories that go along with the famous drinks he pours.  Mr. Field has been recognized as one of the world’s top barmen and …read more

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Joyeux Noël à tous !Uploaded by mairiedeparis.                    
 For those of you unable to be in the City of Lights when it really lives up to it’s name, specifically, right now, here is a little Christmas present.  I want to wish all of you a very Happy Holiday.  My Christmas gift came a few weeks ago…..signing on as the Paris Traveler.  I could not ask for more than to share something that gives me such joy with all of you.         

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 Clearly a master of the universe where cuisine is concerned, Alain Ducasse can add the Eiffel Tower to a long list of locations that bear his stamp of culinary artistry.  
On Saturday, he launched the refurbished Jules Verne restaurant, located in the second level of The Eiffel Tower. Long a tradition for both Parisiens and tourists, it had lost its way in the sea of haute cuisine and if you asked a local, they would purse their lips, very French-like and tell you it wasn’t a necessary stop on a tourist’s dining tour.  
Monsieur Ducasse plans to change all that.  He …read more

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     Staying true to being the world’s fashion capital, the holiday season can’t pass without a little Parisian glamour thrown at it for good measure.
      Each Christmas, the fashion and design world’s most creative individuals craft their own version of les sapins de Noël….or as we refer to them, Christmas trees.  When you have the likes of Jean-Paul Gaultier, Christian Lacroix (my personal favorite), Sonia Rykiel and Paul Smith working their magic, you can expect anything–and not necessarily a tree!  Past entries have been haute couture dresses inspired by the shape of firs to shoes all decked out …read more

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   You will hear much about wine throughout this blog because…. quite simply, I love it.  All shapes and sizes, reds, whites, bubbly.  Even warm wine or as the French call it–vin chaud.  
     Two years ago while my youngest daughter and I were living in Paris, we felt the city wasn’t working as hard as it could to be Christmas-y.  Things were pretty and sparkly but in a very subtle, sophisticated way.   No nutty glitz.  There were no snowmen, Santas, reindeer or candy canes–all the things that take up residence on people’s front lawns for the month of December …read more

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     I love coffee–after brewing an 8 cup pot in the morning I will drink at least three-quarters, if not more of it before I am out the door.  That is why when I first arrived in France (this applies to all of Europe for that matter) I laughed at the little shooters of coffee put in front of me when asked if I wanted un café.  My tiny cup of espresso was just a tease, a mere sip of something that can give so much pleasure like lingering over the endless cup at restaurants in the states or …read more

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