Welcome to the first post of 2015! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year. I spent a quiet Christmas with my family in Surrey this year – lots of good food, good wine, dog walks and evenings spent in front of the fire – before travelling to Paris for New Year with the French boyfriend. The city was looking as beautiful and romantic as ever – we spent New Year’s Eve itself at a friend’s country house before descending on Paris for culture, coffee and cake! So without further ado, here are a couple of recommendations of things to do, see and eat.
We wandered around the trendy Marais district and came across plenty of cute, little coffee shops and boutiques. The one above, called the Boot Cafe, had lovely fresh flowers both inside and out. The cafe is just big enough for three small tables, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in atmosphere (even Garance Doré likes it…).
Boot Café, 19 rue du Pont-aux-Choux, 75003 Paris
A trip to Paris isn’t complete without a trip to Merci: three floors of eclectic homeware and fashion housed in an old wallpaper factory, not to mention a lovely cafe on the ground floor for a little pick-me-up after a long day shopping. Instagram of it’s little red car: obligatory.
Merci, 111 Boulevard Beaumarchais, 75003 Paris
We then went to the recently re-opened Picasso Museum, also in the Marais. Housed in a grand 17th century mansion, it holds an impressive amount of his work, from sculptures and nude paintings to Cubist collages and photos of his various art studios. The renovation work, which took five years, has tripled the museum’s size (and also possibly the length of the queues! Pre-book online recommended).
Musée Picasso, 5 Rue de Thorigny, 75003 Paris
We had a lovely lunch at Dersou, a coffee-shop-cum-asian-style-restaurant near Bastille. The interior is rough and raw, with beautiful unfinished walls, hand-built wooden benches and mid-century furniture. The food is good too: we had a lovely, fragrant and zingy pho soup with lemongrass, toasted peanuts and fresh herbs, and duck croquettes with almond rice and a light salad. (second image: Dersou)
Dersou, 21 rue Saint Nicolas, 75012 Paris
Another good stop was Liberté Bakery, a stylish patisserie ten to fifteen minutes from Republique. It too has a raw, untreated interior, but this time with modern neon lighting and a geometric marble bar. We tried the tarte citron and tarte marron (all the pastries are by Benoît Castel), which were both incredibly, mouth-wateringly tasty.
Liberté, 39 Rue des Vinaigriers, 75010 Paris
We also paid a visit to the new Fondation Louis Vuitton designed by Frank Gehry. I’m not a big fan of his architecture – here the building overpowered the art and it was easy to get lost – but it’s worth going to see once. While we were there there was an exhibition of work from Olafur Eliasson, who used optical illusions and light to play with perception and space.
Fondation Louis Vuitton, 8 Avenue du Mahatma Gandhi, 75116 Paris
I also recommend:
Holybelly Cafe for coffee and brunch, 19 Rue Lucien Sampaix, 75010 Paris
La Petite Table for a dinner of light tapas-like dishes, 27 Rue de Saintonge, 75003 Paris
All images my own, unless otherwise specified. See my other trips to Paris here and here.
