I Prefer Paris

69 Bus Route

Dear Subscribers,

There was a mix-up yesterday and I posted two blogs at once- 69 Bus Route & below it, Iris Apfel at Le Bon Marche. My apologies for the repeat today.

 

A few years ago I thought of an experiment where I would travel the different public bus routes of Paris and photograph what I saw. Time and other projects got in the way and I put the project on the back burner but a month ago I became re-inspired and decided to do it.

I started the experiment on a Saturday morning in late February, taking the 69 bus westward beginning at the Saint Paul stop on the rue de Rivoli across the street from my apartment and ending at Champ de Mars, in front of the Eiffel Tower. It was a typical February morning in Paris, overcast with the threat of rain, temperatures in the low 40s F. I took the first seat on the mostly empty bus as you enter on the left side, right in back of the driver. It was still early enough that the city was still quiet with not too many people out and not much car traffic.

The route is as follows: rue de Rivoli passing the shopping area by Chatelet, the Louvre, turning left into the courtyard of the Louvre going by the glass pyramid, crossing over the Seine on Pont du Carrousel, driving along the Quai Voltaire with its high end antique shops and the classic restaurant Voltaire, the d’Orsay museum and the Legion of Honor, up Blvd. Saint Germain, turning on to rue de Grenelle into the 7th arr. passing Invalides, ending at Champ des Mars with the Eiffel Tower within spitting distance.

Since the windows in the bus have a slight tint to them, the photos have a green hue to them. These are pure street photos with little editing or Photoshop. I was tempted to straighten the photos but wanted to retain the integrity of the experiment.

The return bus wasn’t for another 15 minutes so I dashed to a café for a café noisette. The eastern route went along rue Saint Dominique, up the boutique lined rue du Bac, over the Pont Royal, along the Quai Francois Mitterand and Quai du Louvre, passing the pet shops and flower shops on Quai de la Mégisserie, Hotel de Ville and then Saint Paul. I decided to stay on the bus till the end. We went by Place de la Bastille and the Opera House, up the narrow rue de la Roquette, Pere Lachaise cemetery, finishing on Place Gambetta where the 20th arrondissement Mairie is located.

I’ve never explored this part of the 20th arrondissement and decided to stroll around the neighborhood. I discovered an excellent food market, Marche Belgrand, located between Rue Belgrand, Rue de la Chine and Place Edith Piaf, and picked up some inexpensive produce and a mini veal roast.

I am not that familiar with the buses of Paris, as I mostly take the metro, so if anyone knows of some scenic or interesting bus routes I should take, please let me know in the comments section.

Place Baudoyer market, Marais

Hotel de Ville

Hotel de Ville

Louvre

Entrance to Louvre courtyard

Louvre

Quai Voltaire

Legion of Honor

Blvd. Saint Germain

Invalides

Champ de Mars

Esplanade des Invalides overlooking Pont Alexander and Grand Palais

rue du Bac

Pont Royal

Quai du Louvre

Quai de la Mégisserie

rue Francois Miron, Marais

Bastille Opera House

July Column Place de la Bastille

rue de la Roquette

Place Gambetta

Eye Prefer Paris Postcards

I am thrilled to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Postcards, a 6 or 12-month subscription service where the subscriber receives three physical postcards of my iconic Paris photos every month. Each month will have a specific theme, from architectural street scenes to romantic outdoor cafes to beautiful gardens to unique shots of iconic monuments. Each mailing will include two postcards in color and one in black & white or sepia, beautifully packaged in a special French Blue postcard holder with a custom designed seal.

Each 6” X 4.25” traditional size postcard is printed on thick matte coated card stock, similar to traditional vintage postcard stock that enhances the vibrancy of every image.

Only $60 for a 6 month subscription (plus shipping)or

$110 for a 12-month subscription (plus shipping)

My offer of a 12-month subscription with an extra month free is good until January  31, so remember to order now before the offer ends.

Click here to order a 12-month subscription from my Etsy store

Click here to order a 6-month subscription from my Etsy store

Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I personally lead. Eye Prefer Paris Tours include many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes, food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks and gardens and much more.  In addition to my specialty Marais Tour, I also lead tours of Montmartre, St. Germain, Latin Quarter, in addition to Shopping Tours, Gay Tours, Girlfriend Tours, Food Tours, Flea Market Tours, Paris Highlights Tours, and Chocolate & Pastry tours.

Tours start at 225 euros for up to 3 people, and 75 euros for each additional person. 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 

  Click here to watch a video of our famous Marais tour

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte's professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 195 euros per person (about $210)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday,Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 2 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

 

 

Dessine-moi un Bouquet on rue Alibert

Residents of the 10th arrondissement literally took to the streets by painting murals on a wall to mourn the terrorist attacks on their local restaurants Le Petit Cambodge and Le Carillon on November 13, 2015. It started with an overwhelming urge by local resident and artist Diana Kami to paint something as an outlet for her feelings about the attacks. She found a wall used by street artists just steps away from Le Petit Cambodge and Le Carillon on the rue Alibert to paint on. A few mothers from her daughter’s school were struck by her mural and requested permission from the city to paint the remainder of the wall. A crowd funding from the neighborhood raised 500€ for the paint and the project was named Dessine-Moi un Bouquet, a community effort that invited graffiti and street artists to paint their own images in response to the attacks.  Dessine-Moi un Bouquet was nicknamed Le Mur de ‘Amour/ wall of love. Other artists from Dessine-Moi un Bouquet include Jo Di Bona, Mosko, Sara Chelou, Daco, Flo, Fusible, BishoPParigo, and RESone.

Dessine-Moi un Bouquet
Rue Alibert, 75010
Metro: Goncourt or Republique

For more information about Dessine-moi un Bouquet, read this New York Times article

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/02/11/arts/design/paris-wall-of-love.html

Echoes of Delacroix by Jo Di Bona

There are no Symbols by Daco lft, An Idea of Hope by BishoPParigo right

Children of France by Ernesto Novo

A Concrete Jungle by Mosko left, Be Yourself’ by Flo right

A Universal Language by Fusible

French Above All Else by RESone

Felix, Sonic and Betty Boop by Sara Chelou

Eye Prefer Paris Postcards

I am thrilled to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Postcards, a 6 or 12-month subscription service where the subscriber receives three physical postcards of my iconic Paris photos every month. Each month will have a specific theme, from architectural street scenes to romantic outdoor cafes to beautiful gardens to unique shots of iconic monuments. Each mailing will include two postcards in color and one in black & white or sepia, beautifully packaged in a special French Blue postcard holder with a custom designed seal.

Each 6” X 4.25” traditional size postcard is printed on thick matte coated card stock, similar to traditional vintage postcard stock that enhances the vibrancy of every image.

Only $60 for a 6 month subscription (plus shipping)or

$110 for a 12-month subscription (plus shipping)

My offer of a 12-month subscription with an extra month free is good until January  31, so remember to order now before the offer ends.

Click here to order a 12-month subscription from my Etsy store

Click here to order a 6-month subscription from my Etsy store

Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I personally lead. Eye Prefer Paris Tours include many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes, food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks and gardens and much more.  In addition to my specialty Marais Tour, I also lead tours of Montmartre, St. Germain, Latin Quarter, in addition to Shopping Tours, Gay Tours, Girlfriend Tours, Food Tours, Flea Market Tours, Paris Highlights Tours, and Chocolate & Pastry tours.

Tours start at 225 euros for up to 3 people, and 75 euros for each additional person. 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 

  Click here to watch a video of our famous Marais tour

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte's professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 195 euros per person (about $210)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday,Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 2 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

 

 

Best Ways to Get to and from Paris Airports

There are many ways to get back and forth to the two main airports in Paris, Charles De Gaulle and Orly. Here is a comprehensive list of different options.

Taxi
I’ve personally found a licensed Paris airport taxi is the best and most reliable way to get to and from the airport. Taxi Leader has an excellent service, offering clean and comfortable late model vans and sedans at reasonable prices starting at 55€ for a sedan going to Charles De Gaulle. Once you book online, TaxiLeader.net will send a confirmation along with the driver’s mobile number. Most drivers speak =English, which is a plus. The driver will be waiting at luggage exit holding a sign with your name on it. You don’t have to pay in advance, just have to pay in cash directly to the driver.

You can also hail a taxi from the taxi stand but sometimes there are long waits. There is no flat fee from the airport to the city, so it’s still best to reserve a taxi in advance, as the price is usually the same or sometimes more than the taxi service, depending on traffic.

Bus
Air France operates a bus service to the airports. Fares to and from Orly are 12.50€ one-way, round trip 19€, for Charles De Gaulle it’s 17.50€ one-way, 25.50€ round trip. Travel time from Orly is approximately 45-60 minutes, De Gaulle, approximately 50-70 minutes. Stops include Etoile/Champs Elysees, Montparnasse station, and Porte Maillot. Buses run every 20 to 30 minutes from 6AM to 11:40PM.

Another alternative to Charles De Gaulle is the Roissy bus leaving from/dropping off at Opera. Fare is 11€ one way and buses leave every 15 to 20 minutes. Opera to Charles De Gaulle, buses run 5:30AM- 12:30AM, Charles DeGaulle to Opera buses run 6AM to 12:30AM. Travel time is approximately 75 minutes.

There’s also a Roissy bus that runs between Orly and metro/RER station Denfert Rochereau. Cost is 7.70€ one way and buses leave every 8 to 15 minutes. Orly to Denfert Rochereau, buses run 6:00AM- 12:30AM, Denfert Rochereau to Orly buses run 5:35AM to 12:00AM. Travel time is approximately 25 to 35 minutes.

Train
The RER B commuter train is available to and from both airports. The train stops in Paris include Chatelet, Gard du Nord, Luxembourg, Saint Michel/Notre Dame, Port Royal and Denfert Rochereau. Trains leave every 10 to 20 minutes. The fare to/from Charles De Gaulle is 10€ one-way. For the train to Orly you have to take the Orly Val shuttle train and then the RER B. Cost is 12.05€ one way. Charles De Gaulle/Orly- to Paris, trains run 4:56 AM to 11:50PM, the same schedule in reverse direction. Travel time is approximately 35 to 40 minutes.

Although the bus and trains work well, there are often delays and overcrowding, so your best bet is to hire a licensed taxi service with a clean taxi and a good chance of English-speaking driver.

 

Traveling Without Fear

I was going to write something else today but I thought this was more important and timely. A travel agent I work with sent me this article yesterday and suggested I share it with my clients.I thought it would be a good idea to re post it here too.

7 Keys to Traveling Without Fear Despite Terrorist Attacks, a thoughtful article about how to deal with terrorism when traveling, is by travel expert Wendy Perrin, who for 17 years wrote a monthly column for Conde Nast Traveler magazine.

7 Keys to Traveling Without Fear Despite Terrorist Attacks by Wendy Perrin

The terrorist attacks in Paris underscore that we’re living in a world where anything can happen anywhere at any time—in a Paris theater, in a Madrid train station, in a hotel in Mumbai, at a shrine in Bangkok, in the London Tube, in a nightclub in Bali, at a running race in Boston, in a skyscraper in Manhattan…. The answer is not to stop traveling—or to avoid huge swaths of the globe out of a misperception that your risk is greater there than anyplace else. The answer is to keep traveling, to make friends around the world, and to be a thoughtful ambassador for your country.

Of course, while your head may be telling you that, your gut may be apprehensive. You may be making travel plans—or trying to—and you can’t help but wonder: If I go, what is the risk that I will get caught in a terrorist incident? How do I minimize that risk? If I can’t minimize it, how do I get over my fear?

I believe the solution is to put your risk in perspective. Here’s how:

1. Grasp how miniscule the statistical probability is of getting caught in a terrorist attack abroad.
According to the U.S. State Department, the number of U.S. citizens killed overseas by incidents of terrorism from 2001 to 2013 was 350.  If you’re thinking home is safer, compare that number with the 3,030 killed in the U.S. by terrorism during the same period.  In terms of street crime and gun violence, most of the U.S. cities we live in are statistically more dangerous than the places we visit abroad.  Your risk of being killed in a car crash (one in 19,000), drowning in your bathtub (one in 800,000), or being struck by lightning (one in 5.5 million) far exceed your risk of dying from terrorism (one in 20 million).

2. Don’t confuse the probability of a terrorist attack with the probability of becoming the victim of a terrorist attack.  
Is it virtually certain that there will be another terrorist attack in Europe in the next 12 months? Yes. Does that translate into a high degree of risk for the individual traveler to Europe? No.

3. Know where the real dangers lie.
When planning a vacation, we tend to worry more about spectacular risks—whether a terrorist attack or an epidemic of norovirus on a cruise ship—than about boring risks like, say, overexposure to the sun, even though one in five Americans will develop skin cancer in the course of a lifetime. Remember that the single biggest cause of death for Americans traveling overseas is motor vehicle accidents.

4. Understand the reasons why your fear of a terrorist attack is out of proportion to the risk.
There are psychological reasons why we are more afraid of terrorist attacks than logic would dictate. We’re more afraid of risks that are new and unfamiliar than of those we’ve lived with for a long time (e.g., heart disease, which kills one in 467 Americans annually).  We’re more afraid of risks that kill us in particularly gruesome ways—say, a plane crash, a shark attack, or the Ebola virus—than in mundane ways. We’re less afraid of risks we feel we have some control over, such as skiing and driving, even if it’s only the illusion of control. (Most people think their driving is safer than it actually is. We’re all one text away from death on the road.)  We’re more afraid of human-made dangers than of those with natural causes, such as solar radiation or earthquakes. We’re more afraid of risks that are highly publicized, especially on television, and those that involve spectacular events. One incident with multiple deaths has a much greater impact than many incidents each involving a single death. That is one reason why we fear plane crashes more than car crashes (even though the latter are far more likely).

5. Don’t focus so much on unlikely risks that you ignore common risks that are far more likely to hurt you.
Frightened people make dangerous choices. As an example, after 9-11, people chose to drive rather than to fly.  As another example, cruisegoers may be so focused on washing their hands frequently in order to avoid norovirus that they forget to reapply their sunscreen.  Or, here’s a personal example: When I was in Istanbul shortly after 9-11, I opted for a small, locally owned hotel in a quiet part of town far from the U.S. Consulate. I figured a Western chain near the main square, or a hotel next to the Consulate, was more likely to be a terrorist target. But every night I kept having to hail a taxi to that small hotel, and the drivers kept getting lost en route–one even got a flat tire and left me on the side of the road—and it was dark on that inconspicuous street in a quiet part of town. My point is: The miles it took to reach my hotel every night raised my risk more than the likelihood of a terrorist attack at a Western chain near the Consulate would have.

6. Appreciate that what’s bothering you is not risk itself but your uncertainty as to the degree of it.
The problem you face as you try to plan a vacation is that you don’t know what your risk is or how safe one country is versus another. We try to weigh the risk of one destination over another by looking at the historical record of violent incidents there. What’s tricky right now is that we don’t know how relevant the historical record is. Will the future be different than the past?  We don’t know.  Even when you can’t know the degree of risk, though, you can…

7. Lessen those risks you do have some control over.
You can say to yourself: “What is the likelihood of the situation affecting my trip? Pretty tiny.” And you can lessen those risks you do have some control over.  You can drive very carefully on your way to the airport.

http://www.wendyperrin.com

 Eye Prefer Paris Postcards

I am thrilled to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Postcards, a 6 or 12-month subscription service where the subscriber receives three physical postcards of my iconic Paris photos every month. Each month will have a specific theme, from architectural street scenes to romantic outdoor cafes to beautiful gardens to unique shots of iconic monuments. Each mailing will include two postcards in color and one in black & white or sepia, beautifully packaged in a special French Blue postcard holder with a custom designed seal.

Each 6” X 4.25” traditional size postcard is printed on thick matte coated card stock, similar to traditional vintage postcard stock that enhances the vibrancy of every image.

Only $60 for a 6 month subscription (plus shipping)or

$110 for a 12-month subscription (plus shipping)

My offer of a 12-month subscription with an extra month free is good until October 31, so remember to order now before the offer ends.

Click here to order a 12-month subscription from my Etsy store

Click here to order a 6-month subscription from my Etsy store

 

Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I personally lead. Eye Prefer Paris Tours include many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes, food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks and gardens and much more.  In addition to my specialty Marais Tour, I also lead tours of Montmartre, St. Germain, Latin Quarter, in addition to Shopping Tours, Gay Tours, Girlfriend Tours, Food Tours, Flea Market Tours, Paris Highlights Tours, and Chocolate & Pastry tours.

Tours start at 225 euros for up to 3 people, and 75 euros for each additional person. 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 

  Click here to watch a video of our famous Marais tour

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte's professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 195 euros per person (about $210)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday,Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 2 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

 

Xavier de Bascher- A New Way of Light

Xavier De Bascher, one of the owners of the beautiful La Barriere Chateau which I wrote about on Tuesday, has recently launched a very special product.

Studying design at the prestigious Beaux Arts school in Paris, Xavier is a well accomplished art director/photographer/graphic designer, creating campaigns for high fashion brands such as Kenzo and Cartier, among many others.

A visit to a Bauhaus exhibit in 1969 had a major influence on him, as he originally wanted to be an architect. Always having a deep connection with the crafting of wood, Xavier recently decided to dedicate his time to hand carving wood to create one of a kind lamps.

During my visit to the chateau, Xavier took me on a tour of his atelier and workshop, a former barn on the estate. He showed me his collection of wood and shared how he traveled the world seeking out rare pieces he could transform into his lamps. A recent trip to the Amazon yielded an extraordinary collection of rare wood but Xavier also sources wood directly from the surrounding forest of the chateau. Sometimes he acquires old furniture, seeing the potential to deconstruct it and use the wood for a lamp.

Contemplative in executing his ideas, he sometimes takes weeks to work on a single piece, Xavier uses his senses to inform him with his design, smelling, touching, and caressing the wood before deciding what he will do with it. After each piece is carved, there is a long and intense sanding and finishing process and the completed lamp has a hot stamped seal of authentication.  

www.facebook.com/lightsbyxavierdebascher

Dear Subscribers and readers,
Please note I am now posting three times weekly, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.

 

Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I personally lead. Eye Prefer Paris Tours include many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes, food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks and gardens and much more.  In addition to my specialty Marais Tour, I also lead tours of Montmartre, St. Germain, Latin Quarter, in addition to Shopping Tours, Gay Tours, Girlfriend Tours, Food Tours, Flea Market Tours, Paris Highlights Tours, and Chocolate & Pastry tours.

Tours start at 225 euros for up to 3 people, and 75 euros for each additional person. 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 

  Click here to watch a video of our famous Marais tour

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte's professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 195 euros per person (about $210)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday,Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 2 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

 

My 10 Year Anniversary in Paris

This Saturday, August 15, 2015 is the tenth anniversary of my arrival in Paris. Even though it has flown by, my life in New York seems such a distant memory.

Vincent and I arrived on one of the quietest days of the year, Assumption Day, a national holiday, where almost everything is shutdown. We rented a temporary apartment, sight unseen, in the 11th arr. off of Oberkampf. The neighborhood then was a little funky/East Village like and the apartment was small but simple but home for a short period. The rue Oberkampf was a mix of mom and pop shops and food shops and some run of the mill cafes. Now the area has become hipsterville, a haven for new chefs and restaurants.

What was I going to do in this new unclaimed city I now called home? What adventures would I embark on? What kinds of friends would I have and how would I meet new people?
Little did I know what was in store for me over the next 10 years.

Vincent already knew what he came here for: he was going to make art and films. I didn’t know what I wanted to do but I knew I didn’t want to be a chef or a caterer anymore, as I had done that for 21 years in New York before arriving in Paris. I had no idea how or what I was going to do but I had a clean slate and was looking to reinvent myself.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would become a tour guide, blogger/travel writer and photographer. These were things I had no knowledge or training in and never even thought about pursuing. (Except for travel photographer. I knew a few travel photographers in NYC and I was always in awe of them, as they got to travel the world. I fantasized about being a travel photographer but had no clue how to go about it, never mind even how to take a good photograph).

The last ten years have been nothing short of miraculous. I couldn’t think of a more rewarding, productive, creative, and enriching way to have spent the last ten years and the cherry on the cake is I get to live in Paris, the most beautiful city in the world.

Click here to read more about my Paris story.

Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I personally lead. Eye Prefer Paris Tours include many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes, food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks and gardens and much more.  In addition to my specialty Marais Tour, I also lead tours of Montmartre, St. Germain, Latin Quarter, in addition to Shopping Tours, Gay Tours, Girlfriend Tours, Food Tours, Flea Market Tours, Paris Highlights Tours, and Chocolate & Pastry tours.

Tours start at 225 euros for up to 3 people, and 75 euros for each additional person. 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 

  Click here to watch a video of our famous Marais tour

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte's professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 195 euros per person (about $210)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday,Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 2 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

Paris Restaurants Open in August

I have many tour clients in August and they ask what restaurants are open. Not that many years ago the only restaurants open in August were basic cafes but now I am pleasantly surprised by the excellent selection of restaurants that are open.  

I’ve culled together a list using my own research and the sites Paris by Mouth and The Paris Kitchen.

Bon Apetit!

Goust
10 rue Volney, 75002
Metro: Opera
Tel +33 (0)1 40 15 20 30
Hours: Closed Saturday Lunch, Closed all day Sunday and Monday
http://www.enricobernardo.com/WEB/index.php/index.php/gousthome

Mon Vieil Ami
69 Rue Saint-Louis en l’Ile, 75004
Metro: Pont-Marie
Tel. +33 (0)1 40 46 01 35
Hours: Closed Monday and Tuesday
http://www.mon-vieil-ami.com/

Chez Julien
1 Rue du Pont Louis-Philippe, 75004
Metro: St. Paul or Pont Marie
Tel: +33 (0)1 42 78 31 64
Open 7 days lunch & dinner
http://www.chezjulien.paris/

Le Petit Marche
9 Rue de Béarn, 75003
Metro: St Paul, Bastille
Tel. +33 (0) 1 42 72 06 67
Open 7 days lunch & dinner

Le Relais Entrecote
20 rue St. Benoît, 75006
Metro: Saint Germain
Tel. +33 (0)1 45 49 16 00
Open 7 days lunch & dinner
http://www.relaisentrecote.fr/

Le Coq Rico
98 Rue Lepic, 75018
Metro: Lamarck-Caulaincourt
Tel. +33 (0)1 42 59 82 89
Open 7 days lunch & dinner

Café Constant
139 rue St. Dominique, 75007
Metro: Ecole Militiaire
Tel. +33 (0) 1 47 53 73 34
Open 7 days lunch & dinner

Le Cinq Mars
51 rue de Verneuil, 75007
Metro: Solferino
Tel. +33 (0) 1 45 44 69 13
Open 7 days lunch & dinner

Spring
6 rue Bailleul, 75001
Metro: Louvre-Rivoli
Tel. +33 (0) 1 45 96 05 72
Hours: Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday; Closed Sunday & Monday
http://www.springparis.fr/

Terroir Parisien at the Palais Brongniart
25 Place de la Bourse, 75002
Metro: Sentier
Tel . +33(0) 1 83 92 20 30
Open Monday to Saturday for lunch & dinner

Le Bar a Huitres
33 Blvd. Beaumarchais, 75003
Metro: Bastille
Tel. +33 (0)1 48 87 98 92
Open 7 days lunch & dinner
http://www.lebarahuitres.com/fr/index.php#bar-huitres-vosges.php

Le Comptoir
9 Carrefour de l’Odeon, 75006
Metro: Odeon
Open 7 days lunch & dinner
+33 (0) 1 44 27 07 50

Saturne
17 rue Notre-Dame-des-Victoires, 75002
Metro: Bourse
Tel. +33 (0) 1 42 60 31 90
Hours: Mon-Fri. lunch & dinner
http://www.saturne-paris.fr/index_en.html

Bistrot Paul Bert
18 Paul Bert, 75011
Metro: Faidherbe Chaligny
Tel. +33 (0) 01 43 72 24 01
Hours: Tues- Sat Lunch & Dinner

Le Reminet
3 rue des Grands Degres, 75005
Metro: Cluny Sorbonne or Saint Michel
Open 7 days lunch & dinner
Tel. +33 (0) 1 44 07 04 24
http://www.lereminet.com/

Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I personally lead. Eye Prefer Paris Tours include many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes, food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks and gardens and much more.  In addition to my specialty Marais Tour, I also lead tours of Montmartre, St. Germain, Latin Quarter, in addition to Shopping Tours, Gay Tours, Girlfriend Tours, Food Tours, Flea Market Tours, Paris Highlights Tours, and Chocolate & Pastry tours.

Tours start at 225 euros for up to 3 people, and 75 euros for each additional person. 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 

  Click here to watch a video of our famous Marais tour

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte's professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 195 euros per person (about $210)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday,Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 2 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

Booking Marais Hotels

As I mentioned a few months ago, I am working on supporting local small businesses. www.parismarais.com is an exclusive website started by my friend Pascal Fonquernie which is the ultmate guide to the Marais. I learned a good deal of the history and cultural things about the Marais from the informative and comprehensive website. Pascal shares with us below his insider information about booking hotels in the Marais. Please use www.parismarais.com if you are booking an hotel in the Marais or other parts of Paris, you will receive the lowest rate possible.

We created the Parismarais.com web site to reflect our lifestyle and our vision of life, and we look forward to sharing it with you. Everyone on the Parismarais.com team has traveled extensively or lived abroad so we have experienced different cultures and different lifestyles.

We strive to create the best possible guide to hotels in the Marais—the historical centre of Paris, where all of France’s history began—as well as other hotels in Paris, in general. Because we are insider residents having lived in the Marais for over 30 years, we know the hippest locations, the most beautiful hotels and what’s around them : restaurants, shops, bars, museums…

We know how it feels to be far from home, and understand the frustration of looking at a new city from the window of an anonymous chain hotel, feeling that you’re not really a part of it all. That’s why we have selected only the most exclusive, charming and welcoming small luxury hotels for you. They offer great service, a warm welcome, and beautiful decor.

They are all located in the middle of the city center, and are clearly rated. There are thousands of boutique hotels in Paris, and less than one hundred in the actual Marais district, so beware of hotels that include the word Marais in their name and are located outside the actual Marais. Many hotels use key words such as Marais so they can be selected by search engines, thus misleading their potential clients. Be careful, don’t book anywhere before checking postal codes and addresses as the Marais strictly includes only the 3rd and 4th districts of Paris (postal codes: 75003 and 75004).

We encourage you to book your paris hotel with parismarais.com, a fair trade local company, based in Le Marais district. Parismarais® celebrates this month its 10th  anniversary and we have had more than 10 million visitors since its inception.

3 star Hotels : http://www.parismarais.com/en/hotels-marais/luxury-3-star-hotels

4 and 5 star Hotels : http://www.parismarais.com/en/hotels-marais/luxury-4-star-hotels

Budget hotels : http://www.parismarais.com/en/hotels-marais/charming-budget-hotels

Click here to subscribe to the Paris Marais newsletter

Click here to download a free Marais map

Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I personally lead. Eye Prefer Paris Tours include many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes, food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks and gardens and much more.  In addition to my specialty Marais Tour, I also lead tours of Montmartre, St. Germain, Latin Quarter, in addition to Shopping Tours, Gay Tours, Girlfriend Tours, Food Tours, Flea Market Tours, Paris Highlights Tours, and Chocolate & Pastry tours.

Tours start at 225 euros for up to 3 people, and 75 euros for each additional person. 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 

  Click here to watch a video of our famous Marais tour

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte's professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 195 euros per person (about $210)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday,Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 2 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

Love Locks: Yes or No?

What started as an innocent symbol of love has now turned into a full-blown controversy.

Lovers, couples, sweethearts, and newlyweds expressing their eternal love in the world’s most romantic city have been leaving padlocks on the Pont des Arts since 2008. The tradition started way before the newly minted Paris one, 100 years ago in a Serbian spa town during WW I.

In recent years the love lock phenomenon has over spilled to other bridges in Paris, as the Pont des Arts has run out of room, with the city frequently cutting off the locks, only to have new ones immediately replace them

As much as Paris caters to tourists, locals are getting fed up with the locks. Many feel tourists are abusing their rights and marring the bridges.

Two American expats, Lisa Anselmo and Lisa Taylor Huff, have taken tackled the problem head on by starting up No Love Locks, a movement to ban them. Huff and Anselmo state that the locks have become a visual plague on the landscape of the city and that they are degrading and damaging the structure of the bridges, a threat to the cultural heritage. They have collected over 6800 signatures on change.org to ban the locks and have written an open letter to the new mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo. The movement has gained tons of international press including articles in The New York Times, Yahoo, and The Huffington Post.

Although I have not yet signed the petition, I am siding with Lisa, Lisa (okay, I had to get that joke in aka Lisa, Lisa & Cult Jam from the 80s). I walk a fine line though, since I am in the tourism business and certainly don’t want do anything to discourage tourists but I feel it has gotten out of control. It’s become a new form of graffiti, with people freely putting locks wherever they want and not respecting public spaces.

I would love to have your opinion.

Click here for more about No Love Locks.

   New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte's professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday,Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 2 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.
 

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.

Tours cost 210 euros for up to 3 people, and 70 euros for each additional person. 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 

Click here to watch a video of our famous Marais tour

My Story

I am asked all the time by my tour clients: How/Why did I move to Paris? How did you start your blog and tours? I have told the story hundreds of times and have answered the question in depth in interviews.

Last week one of my blog readers from the U.S. related a story about how she lived in the Marais in the early 1970s. At the end she asked me how did I end up in Paris and I should tell my story on the blog because she and other readers would like to know. As many times as I have told the story, I realized that I have never written about it on Eye Prefer Paris.

So here’s the complete scoop.

I made my first trip to Paris when I was 20 years old in the late 1970s and fell in love with the city. I said one day I would move here. Once smitten, I came back as frequently as I could, every few years. Every time Vincent and I would visit, we would fantasize about the move. We would pick an apartment building and say that’s the building we would live in, then Vincent would go back to New York, hire a headhunter to find him a job as an art director for a big Paris ad agency with a huge salary, and we would move to Paris and live happily ever after. Reality would set in when we returned home and we would go back to working the typical hectic New York schedule of 50 to 60 hours a week, and our Paris fantasy would become a distant memory only rekindled by our recurring visits.

In the mid 1990s, two of our good friends, a gay couple from New York, visited Paris for the first time and fell in love like we did, vowing they would move there some day. We said we had the same fantasy and with a cynical tone we told them that the fantasy would wear off and it probably wouldn’t happen. But low and behold they were dead serious and a few years later they sold their New York apartment and moved to Paris lock, stock and barrel. We were of course very supportive and wished them lots of luck but we were also envious: they stole our Paris dream and did it while we languished in New York.

Once they moved, we started to come to Paris on more regular basis, once or twice a year to visit them. It was a much different experience staying with friends in an apartment than a hotel and we became a lot more familiar and comfortable in the city, feeling like it was our second home. Our friends lived on the border of the Marais and that’s how I got to know the Marais so well. As we watched our friends blossom in Paris and make their way successfully, the idea of moving became alive again.

I lived in New York all my life and never lived anywhere else and Vincent was from Hackensack, New Jersey and moved to New York when he was 17, so our desire to live somewhere else was getting stronger as we were getting older.

In the end of August 2004 we made a trip to Europe for three weeks and the tail end of the trip was five days in Paris. At that point, we both felt very stuck in our careers, working 50 to 60 hours a week to just survive the high cost of living in New York that included an expensive mortgage and maintenance on a Soho loft and work studio for Vincent. I had already been catering for 20 years and was tired of the physical grind and Vincent was getting burnt out from working long grueling hours servicing his demanding clients. Working so many hours doing fashion art direction and catalogs, Vincent didn’t have time or the creativity left to pursuit his painting or film making desires.

We arrived in Paris the first week of September, smack in the middle of the rentree, and the city was booming. The weather was beautiful and all the Parisians looked chic and happy to be back in Paris. Paris was pulsating and in those few days it was never more seductive. In a singular moment Vincent and I decided to make the move.

We went back to New York and put the pieces together. We aimed to move sometime in the late summer or early fall of 2005, giving ourselves close to a year to orchestrate the major life change. The thing that most predicated our move would be the sale of our apartment. We purchased a two story 1500 square loft in Soho for under market value in 2001. We learned in 2004/2005 during the height of the Manhattan real-estate boom that we could almost double what we paid. The fortuitous real estate boom was our ticket out of New York. After crunching the numbers, we could realistically pay off all our debts, pay for the move, live for a year without working, and have a bit of savings if we got our asking price. With fingers crossed, we put up the apartment for sale in February in 2005. We accepted a bid six weeks later for close to our asking price and the closing date was symbolically July 14, 2005. (My real estate agent wanted to do it on July 13 but I purposely wanted July 14).

We closed on July 14th signing away our last toehold in New York, our apartment. We stayed an extra month to tie up lose ends and our one way tickets to Paris were for August 15th, 2005.

We rented a temporary apartment near rue Oberkampf and luckily found our current apartment in the Marais on rue Saint Antoine within three weeks. It took almost until Christmas time to fully settle in, between waiting for our furniture and personal items to arrive from New York plus furnishing the rest of the apartment. Having both worked since we were teenagers, it felt good relaxing, enjoying and exploring Paris without the pressure of having to work.

By the spring of 2006 the novelty of a life of leisure was wearing off and I was getting antsy, looking for something to do. It was the time when blogs were just beginning to take off. When I lived in New York, people always asked me where to go, where to eat, what was the latest thing to do, etc. Now that I was beginning to know Paris well, people asked the same thing. I thought a blog would be a good way to share my insider knowledge of the city. Originally I called it I Prefer Paris but my friend Suzanne Falter, a brilliant coach, came up with the name Eye Prefer Paris because www.ipreferparis.com was taken and she said I have to have a .com instead of .net. In the end it turned out to be the perfect name. Never really having any experience as a writer or photographer, I posted my first story on June 26, 2006. I had no idea where it was going or what it would lead to but I posted regularly, twice weekly in the beginning months, graduating to four times weekly. I found my voice/groove quickly and people started to discover me. I read the key to any successful blog is strong content and the theory was “write good content and they will come”.

In the meantime in the year I was not working, friends, acquaintances, family, and friends of friends would either ask me advice about Paris or ask me to show them around when they were here. Sometimes I would get strange or outlandish requests like, you met my Aunt Tilly once 10 years ago at a party and she adored you and she wants to know if could show her around or a cousin asked if her 16 year daughter and her two friends could stay with me for 10 days. I was happy to fulfill some of the requests and it was fun showing people Paris. The first thing I would usually do is walk them through the Marais, since it was where I lived and the area I knew best. Most of the time people would love it, and say things like “Wow, I’ve been to Paris so many times, but have never seen what you showed me” or “I’ve been to the Marais and never saw the places you took me to”.

After doing it a number of times and always enjoying it, I got the idea that maybe I could do the same thing with strangers. I could lead informal, private tours more like a good friend showing you Paris rather than a formal guide reading from a script and only sharing the history. I did some research and found there was nobody doing this kind of tour. So I took the plunge and had Vincent design my website. I launched Eye Prefer Paris Tours in the end of January 2007, again having no idea where it would go. About 10 days later I received an email from a photographer who was coming to Paris for the first time and wanted to do a tour. I was so thrilled to have my first client and he did the tour in February 2007. Things moved quickly and in March I had three tours, June, five tours, and by September I had 11 tours that month. Originally I just did Marais tours but eventually expanded my repertoire to include other tours and a few years later met Charlotte, which lead to the cooking classes.

The rest is history as they say and I am still enjoying the high of writing about Paris and showing off the city to my tour clients.

Many thanks to Barbara for encouraging me to tell my story.

  New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte's professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday,Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 2 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.
 

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.

Tours cost 210 euros for up to 3 people, and 70 euros for each additional person. 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 

Click here to watch a video of our famous Marais tour