The Paris Traveler

What Is It About French Women?

by Kim on April 15th, 2008

Oodles has been written about French women–their philosophy on life,  how they achieve that “I just got out of bed, forgot to run a comb through my hair, found a top that just happens to fall off my shoulders in just the right way and I may or may not have makeup on but no one will ever know” look that is pretty hard for many of us to accurately copy.  But they do it so well and up until a few years ago, how it was done was a tightly guarded secret.  That is until one of “them” decided to spill the beans. 

This lovely lady, Mireille Guiliano was the one who let all of us outsiders in on the secret of why, French Women Don’t Get Fat, her wildly popular book explaining the do’s and don’ts on the road to achieving “French-ness”, if indeed, that is a road you think you need to be on.  I read the book when it came out and did enjoy reading about her (she is or at least was) the head of Veuve Clicquot here in the states and successfully took that brand of Champagne into the upper echelon of luxury goods–not that easy to do.  As a result, she is a sought after speaker not only for her business acumen but her lifestyle wisdom. 

Her new book, French Women For All Seasons, is a continuation on the same theme, part cook-book, part how to live life the best possible way or if all else fails, the French way.   A recent press release for the book found it’s way to my inbox that gives Ms Guiliano’s Top 20 To Do’s in the City of Lights.  Not to brag, but I have done them all without her help–does this mean I might intuitively be French? Hmm…..since I have to wash and blow-dry my hair every morning, never has a  shirt fallen off my shoulder just the right way and on a deserted island mascara and lip-gloss would be a must,  I’m thinking I’m not there yet.  Or maybe, I’m just fine where I am!  Anyway, I thought I should pass along these wonderful sights for you to see.  Group discussion may be required later as to whether they are all list worthy!

 Twenty Ways To Explore Paris Like A Local

• Visit Place Dauphine for the silence, (except for the birds) its beauty, history and perhaps a quiet bistro meal.
• Walk along the Seine from the Pont Neuf past the timeless bouquinistes with their used books to Ile St-Louis (4th arr.) and have an ice cream at Berthillon (31 rue de Saint-Louis-en-l’Ile).
• Watch the ducks at Fontaine Médicis in the Luxembourg Gardens. Bring a book and claim a chair.  
• Pick up fresh croissants at Carton (6, rue de Buci) any morning except Monday.  You can always sit at a nearby café for a grand créme (large coffee with steamed milk) and a bite of your croissant.
• Rent a car and drive around on the weekend, perhaps early Sunday morning when the city is at its sleepiest self. 
• Go to the Raspail Marché Biologique, the lively outdoor organic food market, held on Sunday (rue Cherche-Midi to rue de Rennes, 6th arr.)
• Enjoy the towering plateau de fruits de mer seafood platter at Le Procope one of Paris’ most historic restaurants–with 18th and 19th century décor and busts of Voltaire and others who dined there (13 rue de l’Ancienne-Comédie, 6th arr.)
• Enjoy street artists’ performances, “artistes de rue,” in front of Centre Pompidou or the Pont St. Louis behind Notre Dame where on Sundays there will be jugglers, musicians, fire-eaters.
• Visit the flower market, Marché aux Fleurs, bordering the Seine, not far from Notre Dame (metro:  Cité) .  On Sundays, additional merchants arrive with cages of birds and small animals.  
• If you speak un peu Français and want to experience a meal where you both help cook and eat with Parisians, run to L’ Atelier des Chefs (10 rue Penthièvre, 8th arr.)
• Cookbook browse through more than 8,000 cookbooks, mostly in French, but some in English, at Librairie Gourmande (4 rue Dante, 5th arr.)
• Visit two of my favorite spots on the Right Bank: Maison de Balzac (47 rue Raynouard, 16th arr.), which is a museum displaying not only his manuscripts and first editions but also paintings and drawings of his family and friends and Musée de la Vie Romantique (16 rue Chaptal, 9th arr.) devoted to George Sand (famous not only as a writer but for her romantic liaison with Chopin).
• Buy a newspaper, find a sidewalk café, order a coffee, tea, citron pressé, glass of wine, or whatever, and settle in for some serious people watching and occasional reading, like a vrai French woman. If you want to add the Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir legend to the experience, head for the famous Café de Flore (172 boulevard Saint-Germain, 6th arr.).  enjoy a drink on the street level, but ask for a table in the upstairs dining room if you want to order a decent, simple meal among regulars.
• Go to one of the frequent chamber or religious music concerts in the heart of the Latin Quarter at Église St-Julien-le-Pauvre (1 rue St-Julien-le-Pauvre, 5th arr.), one of the oldest and smallest churches in Paris.
• Take a leisurely stroll along the Canal Saint Martin, the 2.5 mile canal commissioned by Napoleon to connect the Seine with France’s northeast canal system. You can stroll along the banks in the 10th arr. in the shade amid artsy boutiques, bars, and in sight of iron footbridges and locks.  On Sundays in good weather, the area is alive with pedestrians and bicyclists as the Quai de Valmy and Quai de Jemmapes are closed to traffic.  You can have an unusual glimpse of hidden Paris and a special experience if you travel the canal with its eight locks by open boat(departures are from either end of the canal several times a day).
• After you’ve visited the chic boutiques and haute-couture emporiums of Faubourge-Saint-Honoré and avenue Montaigne in the 8th arr., shop a bit off track at edgy clothing and design shops on and around rue Poitou and ure Pastourelle in the 3rd arr.
• Rent a velolib, the bicycles available to pick up and drop off at stands all over Paris and peddle the backstreets of the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th arrondisements (for starters), especially on the weekend.  You may have to stop now and again at a pastry shop for a little fuel.
• Because small is beautiful, visit one or more of the small Left Bank museums, notably Musée du Luxembourg at the Luxembourg Gardens featuring temporary exhibitions; the Musee Rodin in the Hotel Diron (77, rue de Varenne, 7th arr.) in the mansion where Rodin lived, includes some of his best and most famous bronze and marble work, works by Camille Claudel, VanGogh, Monet; also in the 7th arr. in a townhouse the Musée Maillol (61 rue de Grenelle), where the full range of the works of the sculptor, woodworker and artist, Aristide Maillol are on display as well as a range of mostly 20th century artists:  French naïve art, paintings by Matisse, Degas, Picasso, Ingres, Cézanne, Valadon, Foujita, Dufy, Bonnard Redon, Gauguin, Rodin, Poliakoff, Kandinsky, Duchamp, Villon, Gilioli, Couturier, Zitman and Russian artists.
• Visit the Galerie Vivienne in the 2nd arr (4 rue des Petits-Champs, 6 rue Vivienne, 3 rue de la Banque) the most luxurious and handsome of the Paris passages, the covered gallery shopping arcades dating from the early 19th century.  With its mosaic flooring, period lamps, original glass roof, magnificent rotunda and Empire period decoration, this arcade is a great place to browse exclusive shops for clothes, shoes, jewelry and accessories.  Lunch or enjoy tea inside the gallery at the quiet, chic A Priori-Thé.  
• Enjoy divine chocolate at Pierre Marcolini (89 rue de Seine, 6th arr.)

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