Un Petit Weekend à Paris…

“Paris is always a good idea” Audrey Hepburn

A visit to London for a conference at the end of January presented me with the perfect opportunity to skip across the channel for a long overdue reunion with the city of love…

After a stint living in the beautiful city of Toulouse, La Ville Rose, (many years ago now), I’d been back to France only once for a visit – don’t ask me to explain why, life just got in the way.

And by life I mean small children, school, work…. then bigger children, work and travels in every other direction. So plenty of wonderful adventures in other words.

I hadn’t realized though, how much I missed France until I got off the Eurostar at Paris Gard du Nord… or more precisely until we exited the Chunnel – suddenly everything was French!

A short taxi ride to our hotel(s) in Le Marais, my friends at the marvelous Pavillon de La Reine, located in the oldest and perhaps the most beautiful square in Paris, Place des Vosges, and I, just around the corner, at the less glorious but nevertheless charming Hôtel Turenne le Marais.

Courtyard sculptures, Pavillon de La Reine

Pavillon de La Reine is named after Anne of Austria, queen consort of France, wife of Louis XIII and mother to Louis XIV, who lived here in the 17^th century – and it is indeed fit for a queen – or two in the case of my friends 🙂

Place des Vosges was originally named Place Royale at the time of the engagement of Anne to Louis back in 1612 and didn’t become known as Place des Vosges until the 1800s. One of the most famous later residents of the square was Victor Hugo, and his house today is a museum sitting on one corner of the square. It all feels (and is) immensely grand!

Place des Vosges

These days, Place des Vosges is home to many modern art galleries and great cafes, our favourite, the Café Hugo where we sipped champagne daily… as you do.

Being here just for a weekend we barely left the area, but to be honest why would you? Le Marais is a brilliant area to stay in if you want to explore the best of Paris – formerly an aristocratic area there are many fabulous (formerly private) mansions, or ‘hôtels particuliers’, such as the Hôtel de Sens, the Hôtel de Sully, Hôtel de Beauvais, Hôtel Carnavalet, Hôtel de Guénégaud and the Hôtel de Soubise to name just a few.

In the garden of the Hôtel de Sully – the door to the right leads straight onto Place des Vosages

Then there’s the shopping!! The Marais area is full of wonderful boutiques selling clothing, shoes, Art, jewellery… and nowhere else are shops as enticing as they are in France…

au nom de la rose

From the Marais you can walk to the banks of the Seine, the Louvre, Musée Picasso, Rue de Rivoli, La Bastille, le Centre Pompidou, Les Halles… and the list goes on. I was disappointed that I left my visit to the Musée Picasso until my last afternoon as the queues were way too long, so make sure you buy a ticket online before you go.

While in Paris I was keen to visit some of the stunning glass covered shopping galleries, passages couverts, originally built to connect the grand boulevards in the 1800’s and give Parisian’s a place to shop sheltered from the weather. Those that have been restored are lined with boutiques and restaurants and are the ideal place to perfect your skills as a flâneur – a very underrated skill that’s elevated to an art form in Paris.

“Whoever does not visit Paris regularly will never really be elegant” Honoré de Balzac

Very good advice I intend to follow…

Treasure found at Khara tuki in passage du Grand Cerf ♥

Assorted finds including a perfect set of large bone handed knives, old French jam jars, Pastis glasses from Marseilles and Moroccan tea glasses…

A couple of Restaurants to try in the area:

Our favourite for dinner was Le petit marché, 9 rue de Bearn, just off Place des Vosges. Cosy, candlelit, with walls covered in paintings and a french oriental fusion menu that was utterly delicious.

Cafe Hugo, mentioned already on the Place des Vosges, serves classic french staples – go here for breakfast, a Croque Monsieur,a coupe de champagne – or simply to sit and people watch …

Camille– a typical Parisian brasserie offering the classics, located on 24 Rue des Francs Bourgeois. The dessert tartes looked amazing and I was sorry I had no room left to try one.

Several that we wanted to try including Chez Nénesse and Le Gorille Blanc, were closed on the weekend which seemed strange, but…

As far as drinking goes, I’m sure there are many amazing bars in the area, but being winter it was hard to go past the Pavillon de La Reine, with the entrance rooms appointed like grand salons replete with books, couches and fireplaces – the perfect cosy spot for pre- (and post) dinner drinks.