WHERE I WAS: PARIS
Ask ten different people who love visiting Paris what you should do, and you’ll get ten different favorite hotels, dozens of beloved restaurants and even more shopping “musts!”
[scmBannerSlider-34689]So, while I am by no means a connoisseur (although I do take a mean Parisienne door shot) I too will share some of my favorites. But this is not a comprehensive list. Because Paris is such a deeply personal city, you alone must discover what moves you best from its myriad of offerings and use others' enthusiastic recommendations as signposts along the way to finding your favorites.
The destination is always as joyful as the arrival. No matter how many times you go, or if you’re lucky enough for it to be your first time, Paris is a city that never disappoints.
I have always been a Francophile but my obsession did wane for many years as I began to fall in love with Italy. But on a recent work trip back with my beloved, I reconnected with the historical poetry of this great city. Especially with the introduction of its bikes!
I cannot encourage you enough to get out of a taxi or your uber AND TAKE A BIKE. To a museum, to a meal, to explore.
Why? Because you’re literally closer to every glorious building, to all the everyday moments like lovers kissing on side streets and old men gossiping in cafes, shops devoted to selling things you never thought merited an entire shop. Quite simply, I finally understood the literal city plan of Paris when I got on a bike. By day and night.
Because Paris now generously devotes so many of its streets to bike lanes, this is now safely possible. (At one point I biked almost two miles ON A SIDEWALK that had a green stripe just for bikes.)
Gliding along the Seine with the wind in your hair should be an eighth wonder of the world.
Download the Lime app before you go and set up an account so you can be ready and at the whim to wherever your day may take you!
Hotels
My absolutely favorite Paris hotel on my absolute favorite Paris street is D’Aubusson.
With its verdant inner courtyard, expansive lobby with Versailles parquet, enormous Burgundy stone fireplace, cozy chic rooms (spacious for Parisienne standards) jazz bar, and the largest indoor pool in all of Paris, one feels immediately as if one never wants to leave.
Hotel de l' Abbaye Saint-Germain
When I first entered this jewel box of a hotel, my American magazine editor friend whom I was visiting one morning, immediately ordered us a glass of champagne and cappuccinos. As both were brought to us on a little silver tray in front of the fire, she toasted: “Bubbles and caffeine: it’s a must in Paris!” I then vowed to someday stay in this former convent. Its completely sumptuous (yet utterly unpretentious) lobby with large scale portraits, fresh flowers and overstuffed sofas makes you feel as though you are a guest in the chicest home in Paris. And its surprisingly affordable!
And it has its own secret little garden tucked in the back. I could write pages, but the best way to convince you is to see my video of what it’s like to cross into this magical world:
A slight detour here to say… when in Paris make the time to stop at the little museums!
They are ripe mini wonders, there for the picking if you just take the time to sample their vast visual treasures. I was in Paris for four days and I tried one each day like a delicacy:
Museums
Go for the art bien sur, but really what’s key to do in this this luxe 19th century residence, is to have dessert in its jewel-box tea-room, Le Nelie. I don't even much ever care for dessert, but I sure did here. By the way, this picture taken by my beloved of me climbing a staircase, is what I chose for the cover of my memoir “Trustpassing.”
Climbing to the galleries upstairs, you forget the internet was ever invented:
From the dream-like spiral staircase (don’t go alone as I did or you will curse your inability to film yourself fully descending Norma Desmond style) to Moreau's former studio walls crammed with French Symbolist paintings, you’ll leave feeling enriched.
It’s worth the trip alone to bask in the chic grandeur of the Chinese room:
The approach through the garden with its 56 bronze sculptures of warriors, horses and Greek gods is worth the visit alone. But to enter inside artist's Antoine Bourdelle’s former atelier feels otherworldly, with its dynamic oversized sculptures posing with confidence and charisma:
