If you believe most American shops and greeting card companies, the next major holiday to follow Christmas and New Year’s is Valentine’s Day. But here in France, another holiday sneaks its way into the fray in early February. The holiday in question is Candlemas, or La Chandeleur, and the appropriate way to celebrate it is […]
A Paris Chef Shares How to Find the Best Pastries in Town (and Avoid Tourist Traps)
After an afternoon of sightseeing around the butte Montmartre, a nibble or two of French pastry is well-deserved. Rather than settling into an anonymous café on the rue des Abbesses, head west until the street narrows and forks. Tucked away just off the main drag, La Bossue awaits! Known for its generous brunch, cozy vintage […]
7 Perfect Ways to Spend a Rainy Day in Paris
Perhaps Paris’ best-kept secret is that it shares London’s infamous drizzly weather. Cole Porter wasn’t kidding when he referenced “Paris when it drizzles.” But what he missed was the fact that it rains in Paris—not just in winter, but all year round. Most rain in Paris falls in May and June, but rainfall in the […]
How to Spend Your Sundays in Paris and Make Every Moment Count
The French are known for their long Sunday lunches en famille that stretch into the afternoons. After washing down a multiple course meal of tempting appetizers, hearty mains, cheese platters, and dessert with a bouteille de vin or two, the French toddle home sated—bellies and ears decidedly full. But where does that leave the rest […]
A Guide to Eating Alone in Paris for Solo Travelers
For solo travelers, the most daunting aspect of their trip is often eating alone. For the uninitiated, the simple act of grabbing a bite between blocks of sightseeing can unleash a spiral of anxiety: You need to eat, but what do you do during the eternity between ordering and the arrival of your plate? Is […]
Making New Traditions With Mulled Wine in Paris
It was nearly Christmas, a few months after I had first moved to Paris, and I was dating my first French boyfriend. On a weekend trip to his hometown, we had somehow found ourselves entangled in a group of locals—friends and friends of friends from the area—spending the afternoon hanging around the flower farm where […]
9 Places for the Best Lunch in Paris & What to Know Before You Go
Traditionally, lunch in Paris is the biggest meal of the day. Kids in school get two hours off for what would have, in generations past, been a home-cooked lunch. And while most parents work in most households today, making lunch at home an impossibility, French children still enjoy a four-course meal at school. It’s also […]
5 Places to Eat in Paris on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day
From luxurious meals fit for royalty to grabbing a falafel and walking the crowded streets of Le Marais, there are a number of ways to have a pleasing culinary experience in Paris on Christmas and Christmas Eve. We’ve already told you where you can go to experience the best holiday markets the French capital has […]
Typical French Christmas Foods to Enjoy This Holiday Season
Devoid of a feast-focused holiday like Thanksgiving, France pulls out all the stops at Christmastime, with a multi-course meal and more than enough specialties to enjoy in the days leading up to the festivities. Here is just a touch of what you can expect on the table at Christmastime in Paris and beyond. These French […]
Hidden Paris: Speakeasies, Hidden Bars & Where to Find Them in Paris
Enter through a laundromat, a pizza place or an Indian restaurant; the basement of a creperie, the back of a mezcaleria or through a dimly-lit red door on a street in Le Marais. Behind the graffitied facade of what seems to be a crumbling edifice in Strasbourg-Saint Denis, you’ll find one. Or in the back […]