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Category / Don’t Be A Tourist

The Last Peach Orchards of Paris

Peaches grown right here in Paris? Believe it or not, centuries ago, Paris became home to a thriving peach farming industry that produced up to 17 million fruits a year– and even today, a little-known community of cultivators are still growing them in the very same orchards. These were the original greenhouses. Established during the…

The Miniature Café de Flore within Café de Flore, Paris

Café de Flore on the Boulevard Saint Germain is more than just a café, it’s a Parisian institution. Tourists and long-time bohemian residents alike cram together on the terrace to watch Paris go by. If you’ve already ticked off Café de Flore from your ‘To do’ list by nabbing yourself a seat on this famous terrace…

That Time When Parisians Used to Hang Out at the Morgue for Fun

Some thirty thousand people visit the Notre Dame de Paris everyday, but little-known to tourists or even to the Parisians that pass by it on their daily commute, there was once a much more popular yet sinister attraction that shared a backyard with the historic cathedral, capable of luring up to 40,000 visitors in a single day. That attraction was…

The Old Butcher’s Bookshop, Paris

On the longest street in Paris, at the edge of the Luxembourg Gardens, sits a unique little bookshop that’s often overlooked. While the famous Shakespeare & Co is chock-full with tourists everyday, outside Le Pont Traversé at 62 Rue de Vaugirard, the lone passerby is occasionally browsing the bookstand at leisure. So I thought I’d…

My Paris Clubhouse: 5 Hideaway Hangouts

We all had some kind of clubhouse as kids, didn’t we? Whether it was a treehouse, a backyard den, a bedroom duvet fort, a secret meeting place in an old shack by the railway tracks; we all needed a little hideout to call our own. In Paris, we don’t have any tree houses big enough and we’re…

Where to find Provence in Paris

Meet me on the Place Dauphine for a slice of Provence in the heart of Paris, one of the most, if not the most beautiful hidden gems this city has to offer on a warm summer’s eve. Tucked away on an island in the middle of the river Seine, this peaceful enclave with its picture perfect…

Brunch in the Paris Puces

On a crisp sunny Sunday, there really is no better place to be in Paris than les Puces (the flea market) of St.Ouen. The epicenter of authentic Paris, le Marché aux Puces de Saint-Ouen is an ideal little society of its own, made up of village-like alleys and small streets, persevered by an intellectual and…

5 Secret Restaurants in Paris

Promise you won’t tell anyone…! 1. L’Etage de Pastavino – Saint Germain’s best-kept secret It just looks like an ordinary Italian deli (épicerie in French) on a bustling market street in Saint Germain … but it’s hiding a secret in a dark corner at the back. Indicated only by two blackboards nearly tucked out of…

A Walk along the Paris inner city Railway, abandoned since 1934

I spent my Saturday afternoon, avoiding the Parisian summer crowds and tiptoeing along the train tracks of the “Little Belt” railroad (La Petite Ceinture), a surviving relic of a bygone era, closed since 1934; open for pleasant summer strolls if you look hard enough for a way in … Built in 1862, the Petite Ceinture…

The Suburban Paris Ghost Town

Paris lies is the center of Ile-de-France, the most populated region in the country with more residents than Austria, Belgium, Greece, Portugal or Sweden alone. It boasts the world’s fourth-largest and Europe’s wealthiest and largest regional economy. But one small corner of the region paints a very different picture. Just a thirty minute drive north…

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