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Category / Forget Paris

A Secret Living Museum in Paris

This is the kind of place where you can find the original wall panels from Coco Chanel’s living room, rescued from a demolished Parisian mansion she once lived in. Down a corridor, the 200 year-old components of an entire room designed for Napoleon are casually stockpiled like pieces of an 18th century puzzle waiting to…

You Don’t Have to Bring your Own Boules to Play Pétanque in Paris – But it Helps

No matter how long you’ve been in France, there will be few other moments in your life that feel both as culturally significant and stressful as your first ever game of pétanque. The second the rain clouds clear over France in early spring, you can bet a boule will be thrown. There are a handful…

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…

Tango on the Seine, for Strangers in Paris

As long as the weather is good, tango enthusiasts (advanced and never-before-danced) gather at the mini amphitheatres along the Seine in the 5th arrondissement, to dance seductively until twilight. If you don’t want to join in, sitting with a bottle of wine on the steps, watching these dancers is still absolutely mesmerizing and incredibly atmospheric. A little old…

Paris without People

There was something strange about the collection of Paris photographs I stumbled upon in the archives of the French national library today. The streets and buildings looked surprisingly familiar despite the photographs being over 150 year old, but where were all the people? Was this Paris’ great disappearance act of the 19th century? Alas, the…

I Found a Belle Epoque Theatre Hiding inside a Paris Shoe Store

I‘ve been spending some time lately getting to know the quartier of Barbès a little better. Had I ever listened to those funny people on the television who declared this neighbourhood a Paris “No Go Zone”, I would never have discovered one of the most surreal secrets in Paris. If you ever find yourself in the area, you must stop in at the…

Buried under a Bridge in Paris: The Misfit Mausoleums of Montmartre

At the foot of Montmartre under a heavy wrought-iron bridge that skims the tips of blackened mausoleums, forgotten souls are spending their after lives in perpetual darkness– not exactly what they might have had in mind when they reserved the best plots in the house for their final curtain call… Cemeteries are usually curious places to begin…

My Secret Paris Toy Shop

Strolling through the 11th arrondissement, wandering in and out of boutiques on the Rue de Charonne, I noticed an open cobblestone passageway calling my name. I crossed the street to take a closer peek down the scruffy dark corridor leading to something a little bit special… Waiting for me at the end of the rabbit hole is…

The Hidden Antiques Village of the Marais, Paris

On a Sunday stroll from the river Seine to the bustling Marais, take the Rue Saint-Paul, a street lined with medieval archways leading to hidden passages and secret treasures… Sneak through residential courtyards from one passage to another, all the while imagining which apartment windows would be yours… Enter through the secret backstage entrance to Saint Paul…

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…

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