Paris
“What was this Paris like? What a vague name! She repeated it [...] for the mere pleasure of it; it rang in her ears like a great cathedral bell; it shone before her eyes, even on labels of her pomade-pots.”
Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, Michel Lévy, 1857.
Dear Paris. I owe you what I am.
It was love at first sight. I was one of the countless tourists who arrived in the City of Lights on a sunny summer day in 2006. Everything I had dreamt of exploring was big and shiny: the Eiffel Tower, the grand boulevards, the Louvre, the Palais of Versailles. I visited all of them and was amazed, of course. With just one day left, I stowed the rest of my plans in my suitcase, discarded the map, and hit the streets again; this time with no destination in mind. Paris began to work its magic on me. I went to Saint-Germain-des-Prés and wandered through its narrow streets lined with art galleries and old bookstores. I picked a memoir by Hemingway and sought out a sunny café terrace. Despite the proximity of the famous Café de Flore and Les Deux Magots, the red tent of Café Bonaparte drew me like a magnet. “Paris is a moveable feast,” Ernest used to say; “Wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you”. I looked around, and everything seemed strangely familiar. Why did I feel like I was carrying this city with me all along?
Was it because of all the French songs that filled my head with their tunes when I was a kid? Should I put the blame on Yves Montand’s velvet voice singing softly in my ears “A Paris”? Or maybe on Joe Dassin’s “Champs Elysées” ? The Champs Elysées… One idea led rapidly to another, as if I were playing in a Cadavre Exquis, the Surrealists’ game of thought association.
I felt as if I already knew the Champs-Elysées and the other grand avenues of Paris. With their literature, Emile Zola and Gustave Flaubert had transported me there years before Air France ever did. These two eminent historical novelists described Paris in such detail, such realism I had never seen before; they depicted a world as glamorous as it was cruel, in textures you could almost touch, scents you could almost smell.
They brought to life a 19th-century metropolis in its renaissance, with its Haussmannian boulevards, its new opera house, the first department store… Reading one page after another, I could almost feel myself being there. I could see the ladies coming out of their carriages in red velvet gowns, eager to show off their pearls and refined manners. I imagined gentlemen at the Opera Garnier parading their vanity along front-row seats. Morality was gradually succumbing to the marvels of a newfound capitalism that placed the world at the feet of a mighty bourgeoisie.
Detail from Edouard Manet’s portrait of Antonin Proust (1880). © Edouard Manet. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Charles Hermans’ Bal Masqué (1880). © Charles Hermans. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Just when this golden era was about to consume itself in the Natures Mortes of Cézanne, the bourgeois portraits of Manet, or Gaughin’s exotic beauties, the French capital began to attract, one after another, a younger generation of artists from across Europe. Gallery owners and impresarios –offspring of the recent economic boom- had the eye to recognize the talent of a Picasso, a Stravinsky, a Brancusi, or a Chagall. From their tiny, humid rooms in Montmartre, these avant-garde newcomers of the École de Paris laid the foundations of modern art as we know it and made Paris its world capital over the first half of the 20th century.
«Voulez-vous un autre café ?» The waiter cut my daydreaming short and a new thought dawned upon me: I came to admire grand Paris, but it was the small one that ended up seducing me: the small coffee table I was sitting at; the narrow streets in which I got lost; that pocket book I was holding; and Place de Furstenberg, a tiny square I had discovered earlier, hidden like a lost gem. That evening, I watched the sun go down from the Pont des Arts and headed to the city’s oldest jazz club.
I knew nothing about jazz, except for one album by Miles Davis. When high-pitched notes of the trumpet started to bump nervously into the stone walls of the low ceiling, I began to suspect that this city would suit me to perfection. And that I should come back.
Boney Fields at the Caveau des Oubliettes. © Ignacio Bernal. Source: Flickr.
The Caveau des Oubliettes, iconic jazz club in Paris. © Ignacio Bernal. Source: Flickr.
A city to discover yourself in
A year later, I moved to Paris as a student of international law. Four decades after the revolution of May ’68, I found myself sitting at the square of the Sorbonne University, trying to imagine what the manifesto of my own life would be. It took me over a decade to be able to write only a preface, and I mostly owe that to the City of Lights.
Discovering Paris helped me discover myself. The city revealed to me an unsuspected interest in the history of arts that I cultivated in its schools, museums, and historical sites; from Paris I set sail to explore Europe and admire its cultural treasures. Thanks to Paris, I fell in love with Italy, with its serene Renaissance and its dramatic Baroque, incredibly rich food culture, and gorgeous landscapes. The Parisians taught me how important it is to make time for the simple pleasures in life, and, and among the new friends that I made, I found myself a life companion: jazz.
You see, they say that Paris is an introvert of a city, but this is only the surface. Yes, you may feel more comfortable if you speak the language, but even if you don’t, Paris offers plenty of activities that open up to the foreign, the different: exhibitions on ancient or modern civilizations from Japan to Peru; seminars and films, literary diners and philosophical salons, gastronomic trips and classes unearthing old languages and local idioms. Paris knows how to satisfy the curiosity of both its guests and residents, on one condition: you have to be willing to scratch its surface.
And that brings me to three pieces of advice that I always give to friends who ask me how to get a better understanding of Paris and its people during their visit.
Rediscover Paris:
3 golden tips
There is one mistake that travelers keep making with Paris. They stop at the first two pages of their search results.
How many visitors of the Eiffel Tower think of checking-out the nearby Palais de Tokyo of contemporary art? How many of them do they know that the most stunning public library in town, the BNF Richelieu Library, is just a few blocks away from the Louvre? At dinner time, they will rightly search for the finest French restaurants, but chances are that they won’t look for a more authentic dining experience.
Maurizio Cattelan, enfant terrible of the modern art, at the Monnaie de Paris, 2016. © Monnaie de Paris. Source: Slash.
The Richelieu Library of the National Library of France (BNF). Source: Quora.
Exhibition « Prince/sses des villes » at the Palais de Tokyo, 2019. © Palais de Tokyo. Source: Palais de Tokyo.
So, the next time you go to Paris, save some of your time to visit less promoted -but nonetheless interesting- cultural centers, such as the Fondation Cartier, the Monnaie de Paris, the Palais de Tokyo and the Fondation Louis Vuitton: These are places where you can discover contemporary artistic creation in its latest forms of expression. There are also museums worth exploring for the mere beauty of their edifices, such as the Musée Nissim de Camondo and Musée Jacquemart-André. The latter, set in an astounding 19th-century Parisian mansion that has kept all its original furniture intact, offers visitors a real-time travel to the elegant Belle Époque.
Detail from the dining room at the Jacquemart-André Museum.
Detail from the spectacular double staircase at the Jacquemart-André Museum.
The magnificent hall of the Nissim de Camondo Museum. © MAD Paris. Source: MAD Paris.
Scratch Paris’ glamorous surface and you will find beauty in its unpretentious places too. Like the Marché aux Puces, one of the biggest flea markets in Europe. In this city within a city, where you need a map to wind through its endless alleys, you will feel like a modern Indiana Jones, hunting treasures in the most trivial objects (yet, so pretty at times!).
If you want to upscale your scavenger’s hunt experience, then head to the Covered Passages of Paris. This early form of shopping arcade, dating back to the 19th century, is a precious architectural heritage of the city of Paris. I often visit my two favorite Passages, the Galéries Vivienne and Vero-Dodat, to find art books in rare editions and old city engravings. Try to visit them on a sunny day to watch how beautifully the morning sunlight washes their glass roofs and precious wooden storefronts.
The Passage Jouffroy, one of Paris’ historic covered walkways.
Detail from the Passage Jouffroy.
Old bookstore storefront at the Passage Jouffroy.
Naturally, you will spend time to savor the traditional French cuisine with its array of cheese types, its exotic snails and raw meats, its pastries, and fantastic wines. But if you are up for mingling with the locals, why don’t you book a table for a private dinner at a Parisian flat? You will feel the coziness of an authentic Parisian apartment with its typical wooden floors, its elegant wall moldings and marble chimneys, all wrapped in a tasteful decoration. In most of these reconverted spaces, there is a living room where you can chill out with a French aperitif; enjoy a friendly chat with the owners and other guests; and toast “Santé !” with your new friends, while the cook prepares a bistronomic diner for you, the trendiest culinary movement in Paris right now. Take my word for it: you cannot get an experience more authentic and more updated than this one.
Graffiti-covered walls at Les Frigos, an artist residence, originally served as a cold store. Source: Street Art Scenik.
Emilie Suzanne, ex-journalist converted into a passionate cook, is the brilliant chef of The Office. Source: Dailyhappynet.
The chef transformed her father’s photo studio into the cosiest guesthouse restaurant.
Detail from Les Frigos. © eosworlds. Source: Newsimages.
Spending time in the museums makes us sometimes forget that the city itself is an open-air museum. As we discuss in an article below, the architecture of Paris, its lines, rhythm, and sense of adornment speaks volumes of how the French perceive the world: it is a mirror reflecting their collective spirit, values, and lifestyles evolving through the centuries. Exploring the Parisian cityscape offers visitors a key to understanding those who have created it.
The city has served as a backdrop for a long line of architectural styles. Book an architecture city tour and start from the Ile de la Cité, where Parisii, the first Parisians, settled around 300 BC; continue with the medieval area of Marais, or the gothic Quartier-Latin to realize the influence of the Catholic Church long before France becomes secular. The sobriety of the French Baroque, as one can notice visiting the ostentatious Invalides and the Sorbonne chapel, reveals the attachment of the locals to the ideals of order, serenity and symmetry: values that they didn’t manage to leave behind when the bombastic Baroque came along to sweep the rigor of the Renaissance. Order and serenity lived on, two centuries later, in the rectilinear shape of the boulevards and the uniformity of the facades. Baron Haussmann, mastermind of 19th-century Paris, added thick layers of marble and gold to capture the love of the French for the grandiose, the magnificent: a visit to the splendid edifice of the Opéra Garnier will convince you. Don’t leave out the Art Nouveau style, epitomized with Hector Guimard’s iconic metro stations, and the modernist buildings of Robert Mallet-Stevens at the 16th arrondissement that search for beauty within usefulness and minimalism.
Les Invalides, by 17th-century architects Liberal Bruant and Jules Hardouin-Mansart. © David Santaolla from Leon, Spain. Source: Wikipedia.
The entrance of the Porte Dauphine metro station by the eminent art nouveau designer Hector Guimard. © Bellomonte. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Villa Martel, designed by the talented modernist architect Robert Mallet-Stevens. © Rory Hide. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Absorbed as you might be looking up to the facades and rooftops of this city, try not to fall into its traps down the ground. Paris has many busy touristic centers and unexploited peripheries.
For example, at the Opéra district, you may want to skip the noisy avenues around the department stores and consider walking further up north, where the heart of the 9th arrondissement is beating: a picturesque neighborhood packed with lovely squares and cafés, like the Place Saint-George. In Montmartre, get past the crowded Place Tertre and look for its rustic alleys, its hidden stairways, its scenic dead-ends: Villa Léandre is a short alley lined with picture-perfect cottages that make you forget you are in a metropolis (and watch out for cameras, for they may shoot for a new movie). Get yourself lost in the trendy streets of Northern Marais and do not resist the charm of their apparel and design stores, venerated by hipster Parisians. The concept of this guide is to give you inside information and take you to places that locals love to hang around. Check-out the “City Map” section at the end of each article to find our favorite architectural itineraries.
This is the most important piece of advice. If there is one thing the French know best, it’s how to enjoy the simple pleasures in life. And this means eating well, choosing your wine, and taking the time to enjoy your meal. Take a look around you. See any Parisians on their way to work with coffee cups in their hands? No Madam. Their coffee time, just like their lunch break, is sacred.
As with every sacred event, there is a ritual: as soon as they are done from work, they will head to a café -preferably with a large terrace-, pick a good observation spot and ask for a glass of wine. As soon as they have checked around for any known faces, they will light up a cigarette and plunge into their book -with one eye into the pages, the other to observe the passers-by. This can last for quite some time, until they bump into a friend and invite them to their table. Take my word for it – there is no better way to feel the heartbeat of this city than from the terrace of a café. So, when in Paris, do as the Parisians do. And for Serge Gainsbourg’s sake, put away your smartphone. It is not chic to let the city wait for you on the other line.
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