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Category / Paris Like a Local

18 Reasons why I’m Proud to be a Frenchy

This week the French are celebrating Bastille day. It’s a really big deal, sort of like American Independence day and we celebrate being Frenchies and all that patriotic stuff. So I thought being half French myself, I’d do a little patriotic post on why it’s awesome to be French… 1. We were infamously led into…

Where the Nazis Hung Out in Occupied Paris

Today I found a photograph of an ordinary German coffee shop circa 1941, with German signage above the windows that read “Soldatenkaffee Madeleine“. What made this photograph of a coffee shop so very unordinary, was that it was not taken in Germany, but on the Place de la Madeleine in Paris during the Nazi occupation. How many other places like…

PARIS: 10 Places to have un Café

By ‘un café’. I obviously mean a mocha latte or a glass of rosé, along with a little tarte, maybe some madeleines and of course, plenty of undisturbed lounging time à la Parisien. (You won’t actually find me talking much about coffee in this blog). 1. Un café with Fashion at Carmen Ragosta Rue de la…

Louis Vuitton Treasure Trunks of the Paris Puces

They say the name ‘flea market’ first originated from the legendary Paris antiques market of St. Ouen, when an unknown bargain hunter in the 1880s looked down from nearby fortifications, observed junk dealers selling their scrap and allegedly exclaimed, “My word, but it’s a market of fleas!” In reality, it is anything but. On my…

The Beverly Hills of Paris

I remember when I first saw it, Avenue Junot, the cobblestone road that winds up to Montmartre lined with some of the most delicious architecture in Paris. It’s art deco ironwork, those tall glass windows bathed in light for artists in residence, colorful cul de sacs peeking out from behind corners; here is the Paris…

The Last Mushroom Farms of the Paris Catacombs

Ever tried a ‘champignon de Paris‘? The real one– cultivated in abundance and almost exclusively once upon a time in the catacombs of Paris? Having lost its roots, more commonly known to the rest of the world today as a ‘button mushroom’, which we all enjoy on occasion with our meals, perhaps stirred into a risotto; the real champignon…

5 Areas to Shop like a Parisian: A Local Guide to Paris Boutique Shopping

If you’re coming to Paris looking for the glitzy Parisian equivalent of the Rodeo Drives, Fifth Avenues and Sloane Streets of the world, turn back now, this is not the guide for you. But if you’re looking for unique, chic and affordable Parisian fashion boutiques set in charming local neighbourhoods where actual Parisians really shop, then…

The Time Machine Sweet Shop in Paris

You could stand in the endless line at Ladurée, queuing up with the other macaron zombies, or you could go on a little hunt, off the beaten path for somewhere slightly more worth your precious time in Paris … After working from home for far too long, I recently found a studio space in the old latin quarter…

My Paris Valentine Bistrot

A true Parisian would probably never admit they’re celebrating Valentine’s Day (pfff, it’s for zee capitalists). But if they are, they’ll most likely do it somewhere very discreet and as authentic as it gets… Nestled in a quiet backstreet of the 4th arrondissement, Le Temps de Cerises is one of the few enduring little gems of “la vie quotidienne” from…

The Louvre’s Secret Apartments

The Louvre; or, as we’ve prefer to call it, Paris’ most exhaustingly gorgeous tourist trap. In the MessyNessy guide, Don’t Be a Tourist in Paris, there’s even a chapter called, “Anything but the Louvre” that steers folks away from its selfie-stick jungles, and into the arms of more overlooked museums in the city. But this weekend, we decided to pay…

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