David Lipkin, a doctor specializing in rehabilitation medicine and his wife Nicole, his assistant, are from Weston, Florida, near Ft. Lauderdale. I did my classic Marais tour with them last month and one of the highlights was the paper and stationery shop Calligraine, where they splurged for a beautiful rice paper wall hanging. They loved the Marais tour so much that they asked to do a second one another day.
Wall Hanging at Calligraine
Izrael Gourmet Shop in the Marais
The second tour was of the 9th arrondissement, which included the colorful Passage Panorama and Verdun, with their stationery and engraving shops, and Galerie Vivienne, a covered shopping arcade with beautiful mosaic tile floors. I also took them to my favorite confiserie (sweet shop)A La Mere de la Famille and to the fantastic food street rue de Martyrs.
I usually do a café stop during my tours but David & Nicole were so energetic and eager to see as much as they could, said they didn’t want to miss a thing and their bottle of water was enough to carry them through. Nicole grew up in Belgium and David went to medical school there, so they spoke fluent French. I loved their spirit and boundless energy and look forward to showing them another area of Paris they have never seen before next time they visit.
David is an avid photographer and took these colorful photos during our tour. David, like me, enjoys taking photos of quirky signs and storefronts.
I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour
includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.
I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com
A True isrealy shop, not an inch of floor space wastes! Wonderful
I have not subscribed to you as there are so many blogs that I check through that subscribing to them would overwhelm me. I do however check the blogs that are added to the expat directory on a regular basis. This enables me to 1, have some fun reading through them and 2, make sure they are up to date (there is nothing worse than a directory full of old dead blogs).
I will check your regularly as I love architecture. So much is overlooked these days, I always tell my friends to walk around with the heads at 30 degrees and see the wonders that escape most above the eyeline. So many people shop in old cities (Like Maastricht, Venice, London, Manchester, Aachen and so on and only ever look from shop to shop. One of my Favourite places in the world for architecture is Vianden, Luxembourg. Built on the edge of a mountain, you have no option but to bath in the beauty of the place. I haven't been back for nearly 3 years now but still recall with clarity the streets and walkways that run down from the castle to the riverside. If you haven't been there, you should consider a visit.
When I was at college and studied design I used to photograph buildings with shops at the base and cut the shops out of the image. When shown to fellow students, very few could identify where the buildings were but all could state where the shops were. Amazing isn't it. You can try this with friends who think they know Paris, if you enjoy a tipple, it can be turned into a fun drinking game after dinner.
The eye only sees want it wants to see. I have often thought about building a site called above the eye line and getting people to submit images as I described, I think it would be great fun but I think I may be in the minority here, or possibly mad lol.
I will keep in touch, keep up the great work, I look forward to future images.
Posted by: Ted | June 09, 2008 at 03:12 PM
Nicole and I have been to Paris many times. Having read the blog we decided to take a tour with Richard. It was one of the best experiences we have ever had. It was like coming to Paris the first time all over again. Richard showed us boutiques, architecture, markets and took us to places we had never seen and told us about history that we never knew. He really makes Paris come alive. We look forward to our next visit and tour with him
Posted by: David Lipkin | June 12, 2008 at 10:58 PM