Le Heat is on for Paris Café Terraces
Winter sun. Fronds of steam rising, wisp-like from your freshly served coffee. A brightly coloured blanket casually draped over your chair as you bask under the orange glow of an outdoor heater. It’s just so trés French.…
Paris Street Art
Montmartre is full of artists, but you’re probably not looking on the side of buildings for them. They may not have the pull of the Louvre or the romanticism of Place du Tertre, but there are magnificent…
Happy Birthday Les Halles (& me)
This week I’m sharing a birthday with Les Halles. Albeit from a distance. I’m back in the UK for work. My first few eventful days home have been punctuated by plans to suspend parliament for a month.…
La Belle Epoque & Anarchy
Two doors down from my apartment is the site of the world’s first recorded grand theft auto bank robbery at the Société Générale (and I wonder why people are afraid to go north of the Sacre Coeur). 1911…
Street Homeless in Paris
Bare cracked feet protrude from a pair of frayed, too short trousers. Ankles and calves exposed, a man stretches out, asleep on the hard, warm concrete. An ornate, elegant Guimard art nouveau Metro sign towers above him,…
Justice for Steve
A crimson lake pools around he Fountain de la Plece Royale in Nantes, reflecting the summer sunshine. Pale marble sculptures with black armbands, newly attached, stand knee deep in a sea of vivid red dye. A white…
The E-Scooter Has Arrived
Paris has recently been invaded. By e-scooters, or “trottinettes” as they are referred to by Parisians and not everyone is happy about it. Le e-scooter Start Up est arrivé Pioneered in San Francisco, micro mobility is the…
Breaking The Ice With Picard
This week I visited Picard, France’s favourite frozen food emporium. In all the years I’ve been visiting France, I’ve never set foot in one, single Picard store. There’s even one smack bang, opposite my apartment. So, I…
Bastille Day
Bastille Day. I hadn’t planned to celebrate it but a sudden fly by over the rooftops of Montmartre by Patrouille de France (PAF) on it’s training run for the big day, changed my mind. Maybe it was…
Le Shopping
It’s impossible to live in Paris without doing le shopping at some point. My neighbourhood in Montmartre has a supermarket on every corner, so it seems only right that I should acquaint myself with a few. I…
