Paris Inspiration & Events Guide (Jan-Feb 2020)

Welcome Keyholder, to another seasonal guide to Paris, full of inspiration for kicking off the New Year right. To fill up your calendar and chase away the winter blues, we’ve been checking in with our favourite Parisian venues for unique happenings while brainstorming for creative new hobbies to take on in 2020– from fencing to…

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Why Teddy Bears Are Invading Paris

They came quietly. Massive teddy bears, popping up along Paris’ boulevard des Gobelins to cozy up in a bookshop, or relax en terrasse. Week after week, they seemed to multiply as if by magic, inciting joy and mystery in the otherwise humdrum 13th arrondissement. A little over a year later, and the nounours des Gobelins…

How to Save the French Brasserie

I‘m gastronomically-challenged when it comes to the French brasserie. The truth is, I really have no idea if the food is any good because I’m too busy side-eyeing the floor tiles, the typefaces, ogling at the glass ceiling and imagining the entire scene exactly as it was 50 or 100 years ago. Walk into any…

The 19 Most Popular MessyNessy Articles of 2019

Messy Nessy’s 2019 was a year on the verge. We released Don’t Be a Tourist in New York, the beloved sister book to Don’t Be a Tourist in Paris, and took the MNC universe to new heights with the Vault. Most of all, we had the joy and privilege of holding your hand down the…

The Undertaker Village of Paris: Then & Now

It was a time when divorcées were only allowed to be buried at night, when the Arch of Triomphe wore a black mourning veil, and the business of death was booming in Paris. In fact, over one thousand undertakers worked together in their own veritable mini-city at the town’s edge, from coffin makers and casket…

A Giant Cabinet of Curiosities in Paris

Every big city in the world has its own Natural History Museum, so what makes the one in Paris worth visiting? Well for one, there aren’t many major Natural History Museums that were abandoned for more than 25 years, closed to the public while they fell into disrepair with everything still inside… Archive images © Muséum national d’Histoire…

A Guide to Wes Anderson’s Paris

Did you know Wes Anderson lives in Paris? When he’s not off making one of his beautifully idiosyncratic films, the director keeps a low profile in his Parisian apartment and office, no doubt decorated as charmingly as his movie sets. We’ve been invited into Wes’ whimsical world through his lens, but we know very little about Wes Anderson’s Paris. So…

A Brief Compendium of the Most Petite Places in Paris

Space is scarce within Paris’ péripherique. As the most densely populated city in Europe, residents of the City of Light have learned to be creative with every nook and cranny. Beyond the mind-bogglingly miniature apartments and comically small lifts, there are those who have transformed the unlikeliest of spaces into fully functional cultural spaces, boutiques…

Goth is Not Dead: 5 Notre Dame Alternatives to Seek Out in Paris

On 15th April 2019, millions of people around the world watched as Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral was engulfed in flames. Masses gathered on the banks of the Seine to sing hymns to Our Lady as a reported 500 firefighters battled the 15-hour blaze. That evening, as first the roof and then the spire fell to…

Don’t be a Tourist, Episode 3: Fencing and Frogs

Forget Hemingway. I’ve fallen for a chivalrous musketeer in Saint Germain! In a brand new episode of our web series “Don’t be a Tourist”, we’ll discover a time-capsule fencing club wherein I develop a crush on my charming fencing master, followed by a culinary joy ride into the world of frogs legs. It doesn’t get any…