Sunday spark

 It's Paris Design Week / Maison&Object 2026

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Paris is pulsing with creativity today as Maison&Objet Pulse* fills the halls at Villepinte and Paris Design Week spills across the city’s most inspiring neighborhoods - from Marais galleries and Bastille installations to Saint-Germain showrooms and the Grand Palais’s floral spectacle. It features what’s new and next in design, emerging talents and young brands, bold, sensitive, and sustainable creativity, a dynamic, forward-looking energy focusing on seven immersive sectors: Decor & Design, Cook & Share, Fine Craft, Fashion & Accessories, Gift & Play, Fragrance & Ambiance, Wellness & Beauty.

On this sunny September Sunday, the capital feels like one big open studio, where emerging talents, craft traditions, and bold new interiors invite wandering, discovery, and feeling the energy of design in motion.  - BPJ

 Official Website 

 

* Maison&Objet Pulse is the official name of the September edition of the famous Maison&Objet trade fair in Paris that takes place 10 - 14 September 2026 at the Paris Nord Villepinte Exhibition Centre and is themed, “Pulse in Motion” 

 

Travel Tuesday

 

Starting the day beneath watchful gaze of a 13th-century convent church.

 

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Exploring villages on the Alsace Wine Route

 

Alsace, in northeastern France, is tightly nestled against the borders of Germany and Switzerland. The Alsace Wine Route covers about 170 kilometers from Marlenheim in the north to Thann in the south, passing through more than 70 wine-producing villages
 

Most iconic / Famous:

Ribeauvillé (above): colorful medieval town nestled near the ruins of 3 historic castles
Eguisheim:  medieval village built in concentric circles around a central castle

Riquewihr: known as the "Pearl of the Vineyards," featuring remarkably preserved 13th-century ramparts and architecture

Kaysersberg: picturesque; dominated by an imperial castle ruin; the birthplace of Albert Schweitzer

Bergheim: medieval; completely walled; won recognition as a favorite French village

Charming / Historic:

Obernai: vibrant historical town at the foot of Mont Sainte-Odile

Turckheim: famous for its fortified city gates and the traditional rounds of its night watchman 

Mittelbergheim: elegant; known for its limestone terroir and lack of modern industry

Andlau: scenic wine village nestled in the Vosges foothills with a rich Romanesque abbey

Dambach-la-Ville: rare 14th-century walled village surrounded by granite vineyards

 

 

Grape Harvest Timeline

 As different grape varieties ripen at different speeds, the harvest is staggered into distinct phases:

 

1) Right now: late August to early September. Harvesting begins early for the grapes used to make Crémant d'Alsace (the region's famous sparkling wine), which require higher acidity
 

2) Mid-to-Late September: the main harvest kicks off for still white and red varieties, including Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir

3) Late September to Early October: late-ripening varieties like Riesling and Gewurztraminer are carefully picked by hand
 

4) Mid-to-Late October: the final push takes place for the ultra-sweet, late-harvest dessert wines: Vendanges Tardives and Sélections de Grains Noble - BPJ

 

Alsace

3 hours (or less) from Paris

 

 

Monolith Monday

 Flexing and flaunting for over a century... One muscle at a time.

 

*** 

 

In Greek mythology, the atlante (also called a telamon) comes from the Greek Titan Atlas, who was condemned by Zeus to hold up the sky on his shoulders for eternity. In classical architecture it is a support column or pillar sculpted in the shape of a man, the male counterpart to the female caryatid. Its massive size - the oldest still around are over 24 feet tall - became a classic Beaux-Arts/early-20th-century Parisian decorative architectural feature, and this pair, sculpted by Sylvain Kinsburger for a post-Haussmannian apartment building on rue de Rivoli, has been around since 1905. - BPJ

Sitting pretty

 

Two discarded bistrot chairs living their best life.

 

Sit-down Saturday

 A medieval backdrop enhances coffee and conversation.

Floral Friday

 

Columns of Notre-Dame de Lorette, through flowers.

Serene Saturday

It's August in Paris, when time slows.

Above: the luxury of bicyling through the city on empty streets

 

Friday find

 

A medieval moment on a Marais back street. 

 

Minicafé

10 rue des Barres 75004 

Stand-up Saturday

 Summer heat, chilling out.

Tower Tuesday

The Eiffel Tower from the Pont Alexandre III.

 

Graffiti Friday

 Ever-changing street gallery under an archway on rue des Abbesses.

Thursday throng

 

 

Like an eternal rockstar whose beauty never fades the crowds can't get enough.

 

Notre Dame Cathedral

 

Monumental Monday

 

Teaser view of La Caverne du Pont Neuf, a goliath temporary installation by French artist JR on Paris’s oldest bridge, from a bicycle.

 

June 6 til June 28, 2026

 

Update:

Due. to wind damage opening delayed til June 15 

Tuesday treat

 

One last look from the top of the Centre Georges-Pompidou (a.k.a. Beaubourg) before it closed.

 Re-opening: 2030 

 

Throwback Thursday

The Grand Palais sparkles through winter trees.

*** 

Exhibition: 

Henri Matisse

1941 - 1954

 

Ends July 26, 2026 

 

 

Soaring Saturday

The awe-inspiring nave of the Collège des Bernardins, founded in 1245.

***

If you like to bask in Gothic architecture as much as I do, then this little-known-to-outsiders collège, a former Cistercian college/monastery complex of the University of Paris, hits all the marks. It includes significant surviving Gothic elements from the original Cistercian monastic buildings and cloister area that were part of the dense cluster of religious and scholarly institutions in the medieval Latin Quarter. A vibrant cultural venue today, it regularly hosts a rich program of concerts (especially classical music, chamber music, and sacred music), along with many other activities. Its Gothic nave offers exceptional acoustics, which makes performances feel almost transcendent. - BPJ

Collège des Bernardins

20 rue de Poissy 75005

Walking the dog Wednesday

 

A golden retriever illuminates Place de Furstemberg on a gray morning.

 

Tête-à-tête Tuesday

 A heart-to-heart as the towers of Notre Dame eavesdrop just beyond.

 

Window Wednesday

 

The Pyramide du Louvre.

 

Samedi saint

 Partial view inside l'Église Saint-Étienne-du-Mont in the Latin Quarter.