The Paris Traveler

Previously, I have mentioned Palais Royal, my most favorite spot in Paris, along with Concorde, the Tuileries, Jardin du Luxembourg…..maybe I should just go with, all of PARIS is my favorite spot!  I don’t think anyone who knows me would argue with that.
Now that I got that off my chest, back to Palais Royal…and Le Prince Jardinier, a garden shop that brings “haute” to all things green thumb-ish. Created in 1995, this shop caters to creating a world of outdoor beauty with tools, containers, furniture, comfortable clothing as well as scented candles.  Those are all good things and if you love …read more

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 Last week, friends of my parents called to ask me where they could find good jazz in Paris.  I was able to direct them to one place I had been and was certain they could be recommended to others once they visited my selection.  They reported back, that yes, indeed they had a great time at my tiny venue on Ile Saint Louis and made it to several other spots during their stay. For those of you in Paris from the end of June through July, it’s a whole different ball game.

 The Paris Jazz Festival gets started on June 7th and offers …read more

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 Love this photo.  It looks like a vintage postcard in the background with a contemporary foreground.  See that chair on the right?  That has my name on it and if I were there today, my rear-end would be parked in it and I’d have my headphones on, with the quirky, jazzy sounds of Jaime Cullum filling my head while thinking I was pretty sweet.  That’s not what I am doing today but the thought will keep me going!
Photo credit:  dreamstime 

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The weather has been magnificent these last few days in Paris, beautiful enough to leave the parapluies (umbrellas) at home for a rainy day and run outside to soak up the sun.  The parks that dot the city will be filled with tourists and residents alike, all positioning themselves to grab green metal parc chairs, pull out a newspaper, turn on an ipod or just lean back and take a nap.  One of the most beautiful places to do this is Parc Monceau.
 
 Unknown to many tourists, Parc Monceau is located in the 8th arrondissement that has little around …read more

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Yes, yes, yes, by all means, this should be on your list of things to do in Paris.  As much as I talk about other gardens that are my favorites, Jardin du Luxembourg is equally as grand as the Tuilieres and can be as intimate as Palais Royal.  It is deceiving in size as it is surrounded by trees that creates a “cozy” feeling, however, it is the largest public park in Paris.  All the elements for awesomeness can be found here; fountains, flowers and beautiful sculpture.  
 
 As you can see, pulling up a chair and getting lost in a …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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Hey, it’s not always glitz and glamour in Paris! Sometimes when you walk around, you just don’t know what you’re going to come across, and to be honest with you, depending on the circumstances you’re not really sure if what you’re seeing is really what you’re seeing! I mean, if you’ve had a little too much to drink you could be thinking that maybe you’re hallucinating, but when you live here long enough, you just take it all in stride.
Like last year when all the cows started showing up all over the city! Afterall, what’s not natural about seeing a …read more

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As I wrote in my first post about the Coupe du Monde de Rugby, I was not interested in watching the games and said I would rather do some serious shopping instead! Well, can I help it if rugby fever just took over Paris big-time and swept me up along with it?!
After yesterday’s match with England, however, the doctor’s prognosis is in: the fever has gone down and I’m back to normal once again! So,…shopping here I come!
Oh yeah, I think Jed over at The London Traveler has the same symptoms and has caught the bug, but like I told …read more

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I never thought that I would be writing more than one post about rugby on my blog, but can I help it if Paris fans continue to grow as Les Bleus continue to win! I mean when even the statues in Paris begin to wear rugby T-shirts or you see T-shirts suspended in the middle of the street, you know that rugby fever has run amok!
I know I said back at the beginning of September when I first wrote about the Coupe du Monde de Rugby that I personally would rather go shopping than watch the rugby matches, I was …read more

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A great festival every year since 1934 is the annual Fête des Vendanges de Montmartre (the Grape Harvest Festival of Montmartre). The festival takes place next week-end from the 12th to the 14th of October which celebrates the wine from the local vineyards. Each year the festival honors a celebrity with the previous year’s vintage; this year French singer Georges Brassens is the honoree and the bottles will bear his name.
In case you don’t know, Montmartre has been producing wine since the Middle Ages! The vineyards are on roughly 1555 square metres and is comprised of 75% gamay, 20% pinot noir …read more

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