I’m definitely in love with Paris and I’ll always find a good reason to pay a visit, a short one twice a year makes me definitely feel better.
Charming and enchanted, Paris is a “movable feast” (is Hemingway’s quote) appealing and teasing as only a femme fatale can be.
Now I’m exactly dealing with the first visit of the year when Christmas is over with its last lights and sales are on!!! Joking indeed even if the Grand Magasins de la Ville Lumière are worth a visit after having walked along the river banks and deeply breathed fragrance and tastes of the refined cuisine parisienne.
Where to start? From a place in the middle of the 5th and 6th arrondissements.
Right from here from la Place de Saint Michel.
I’ve got some good memories and enough time get lost in Gilbert Jaune bookshop to sip a coffee seated outside as a genuine Parisian.
We are in the Latin Quarter, the beating heart of the city. A night and day, summer and winter bustling and lively place, St Michel’s Square is always crowded no matter if it’s sunny or a rainy day. Its cafes are open round the clock with its bookshops and the bistrot.
The square is famous for this unique atmosphere but also for the fountain a neo renaissance monument of Husmann period built in 1860 by Gabriel Davioud, which portrays St. Michael the Archangel fighting against two ferocious waterspouting dragons.
Even in winter the music comes out of the bars along with the flavours of Greek, Italian and Arab restaurants in the little lanes leading to Notre Dame.
The wounded gothic masterpiece is standing still in front of me in all its beauty, it was my first time after the terrible fire of 2019 and I’m glad to see the tangible efforts of a prompt reconstruction, the Arabian Phoenix is arising from the ashes.
I’m lost in Paris as every time I go I pay a visit to the places of my heart and I discover some hidden gems, I do not know where to start to make you plan your next travel no matter if you are on business or on a romantic escape.
Not to miss:
• The Louvre Museum and the Leonardo da Vinci exhibition to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci’s death till the 24th of February.
• A promenade in the Jardins des Tuileries from the Carrousel du Louvre Arch where you can enjoy a great view of the Eiffel Tower on the left and Place de la Concorde in the perspective in front of you.
• Indulge yourself in a coffee and a dessert at the Les Nemours in Place Colette, even if you’re not Angelina Jolie starring in the Tourist you dream about it.
• Enter the hidden gardens of the Palais Royal and an architectural jewel of rare perfection with its arcades, design art galleries, antiques shops, cafes and top level fashion brands.
• A quick glance to the Centre Pompidou by night is a must, at least for an Italian as Renzo Piano’s futuristic and farsighted building is part of Paris as the roman ruins of the proud Lutetia.
• A breathtaking visit of Saint Germain des Pres and the starry vault. Do you know you can adopt a Saint Germain Star on the celestial ceiling of the Monk’s Choir? http://www.preservesaintgermain.org
• Les bouquinistes along Quai des Grands Augustin, a box of assorted macaron, a a ride on the Carrousel.
If I have a ticket to ride for the Carrousel I’ll chose a withe horse close my eyes dreaming to wake up in the Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris.
If we stop dreaming we’ll die because dreaming is the most authentic expression of our soul.
From Paris with love ❤
I won’t never forget the first love the one that made my heart beating as no one could never do! The sea I obviously mean ❤ however I’ll post in a while amazing shots of breathtaking landscape’s in the mountains, where art, gastronomy, pilgrimage ways combine to offer you a valid alternative to the seaside also in summer.
