Rosé colored glasses

                          

 

A bottle of rosé, a rosy sunset, red "humous" (made with beets), and good cheer at the Terrass Hotel's rooftop bar with its sweeping city views.

Tuileries Christmas

 

Food rules at the enormous Marché de Noël at the Tuileries gardens.

 

Ice skating, ambling Père(s) Noël, tastings, Ferris Wheel, more.

 

 Above:  specialties of Alsace; pasta Carbonara in a parmesan cheese wheel

 

 

Ends Sunday January 2, 2022

Crèche hopping

  

A favorite outing during the Christmas season is visiting Nativity scenes / crèches de Noël - each unique - set up in churches all over the city.

Above: inside l'Église Saint-Pierre de Montmartre

 ***

More:

Église Saint-Roch

Église de la Madeleine

Église Saint-Eustache

Église Saint-Joseph Artisan

 Église Sainte-Marie des Batignolles

    Église Saint-Léon

Église Notre Dame de Bonne Nouvelle

Église Saint-Pierre du Gros Caillou

Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Belleville

Église Saint Sulpice

Église Saint-Jean de Montmartre

Église Saint-Étienne-du-Mont

Èglise Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre

 

Marché de Noël

 Today is the last day to visit this magical artisan Christmas market in the shadow of Notre Dame Cathedral.

Above: stalls selling everything from toasted marrons and macarons to arts and crafts

Below: hot soups by the bol; Santa spotting on a nearby corner

 

Square René-Viviani
79 rue Galande 75005

All good things

 Gingerbread trees and houses and chocolate presents... 

Soon it will be Christmas....

 (click to enlarge)

Theater Thursday

 

Caroline Rochefort, Mikaël Chirinian and Salomé Lelouch's adaption for the theater of Valérie Perrin's "Fresh Water for Flowers" is sure to warm hearts over the holidays.

 In French.

Changer l'Eau des Fleurs

 Théâtre Lepic 

1 Avenue Junot 75018

Deck the hall

Paris' main town hall, l'Hôtel de Ville, ready for the holidays. 

Below: chestnuts roasting on an open square; Christmas market

Picture perfect

 The brightness of a painting made even brighter by a wintry backdrop.

Bistro bliss

As Christmas approaches the whirl of dining out with family / friends has begun.

On this night, simple yet warming classic French fare par excellence at a local Michelin bistrot that's become a favorite.

 

Above: fresh sea bream atop Tarbais beans; duck in two servings; rognons de veau (veal kidneys - not shown); cochon de lait w/purée

 

Below: two of our entrées (fricassée de girolles; ballotine de foie gras de canard maison); settling on a wine

 

 

 Remerciements: 

Chef de cuisine André le Letty, former sous-chef at La Tour d'Argent

 

Le Bistrot Du Maquis

 69 rue Caulaincourt 75018

 

 

Bubble Street

 

 

Rue des Canettes transformed into a street of bubbles to launch Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte.

🎉🎉🎉

 Ends December 26, 2021

                                                                

Flashback Friday

 

 A Christmas tree stands in the center of Place Stanislas, often dubbed "the most beautiful square in France."

Sur place

Place Sartre-Beauvoir, Saint-Germain-des-Prés.

Tis the season

A Bloody Mary, a crackling fire. Christmas is on its way.

***

 2021: 100th Anniversary Year of the Bloody Mary cocktail, invented in Paris

L'avenue

 

Luxury boutique shopping on Avenue Montaigne.

 

                                                                             

Above: Dior #30 / #48, Prada #12, Louis Vuitton #22, Giorgio Armani #2 / #18

 Also:

VALENTINO #17 / #19

HARRY WINSTON #29

JIMMY CHOO #34 

NINA RICCI #39  

CHANEL #42 / #51

CHLOÉ #44

VERSACE #45

RALPH LAUREN #52

DOLCE & GABBANA #54

 

More....

 

***

 

Lunch:

 L'Avenue

41 avenue Montaigne 75008

 

Afternoon Tea:

Hôtel Plaza Athénée

 25 avenue Montaigne 75008

Un bon chocolat

 Chocolat chaud, that is... At the celebrated Café de Flore, Saint-Germain-des-Prés.

Lady in a hat

 Graffiti art on a building on the Left Bank.

Floral Friday

An explosion of pink takes over a corner in the Marais district.

 

Break an egg

Weekend wreckage from our repas en goupe of soft-boiled eggs and chocolats chauds.

Autumn tomb

 

A tomb blanketed in leaves in Saint Vincent's Cemetery.

Alessandro Filipepi

 

...dit Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510)

A stunning exhibition in a stunning setting.

 Botticelli: Artiste & Designer

Ends January 24, 2022

 

Musée Jacquemart-André

158 Boulevard Haussmann 75009

 

- By reservation only - 

 

Curb color

Contrasting colors brighten a corner curb.

Flashback Friday

November saw a Halloween-like darting from one atelier to another for Montmartre's annual portes ouvertes at local artists' studios.

 Above: an artiste-peintre prepares coffee behind the scenes

Below: a ceramicist works a lump of clay

Portes Ouvertes 2021

Anvers aux Abbesses

 

 More photos December newsletter

A mile in their pompes

 "If you walk a mile in my shoes you'll end up in a wine bar!"

@WineWankers on Twitter 

 

"Walk a mile in her shoes and you'll get champignons des pieds!"- Waiter at local café on an étrangère taking up three booth spaces

 

"Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, when you do criticize him, you'll be a mile away and have his shoes." - Steve Martin

 

***

 

Paris is a walkable city, and cordonneries - shoe repair shops - abound. Come winter, expect to get in line behind a crush of shivering customers waiting to drop off that favorite pair of boots that's trod cobbled byways, sometimes for decades.

My husband recounts the days his father would meticulously shine his "pompes" - slang for shoes for both men and women - many an evening, preparing them for the office the next day proudly pointing out how he's had them going all the way back to business school. Oh there were times they needed new soles or a section had to be re-sewn, but crucially, they were made by hand, lovingly stored upright and supported by wooden shoe trees, year after year, the shine on the leather provoking smiles of approval.

Eventually the term pompes walked its way into the English language to become "pumps" - women's shoes characterized by a pointy toe and slim heel - some speculate a derivative of the 16th and 17th century French pompes worn by men.

There is a French expression, "marcher á coté de ses pompes!" that translates to, "walk next to his shoes!" It means that someone is abnormal, unpredictable, capable of n'importe quoi.

Meanwhile we see pompes funebres all over Paris. These are not shoe shops that specialize in footwear for funerals, as an American woman I met mistakenly surmised, but funeral parlors. Apparently she went inside one only to instantly realize that the man in the gray suit was not there to measure feet. Or maybe he was. - BPJ

Tipple Tuesday

 There's still time to sample this year's Beaujolais Nouveau in almost any Paris wine bar!

Below: a barman obviously enjoys his job