Sandwich Saturday

 

Ready-made sandwiches appear in many Paris boulangeries around lunchtime.

 

 

Foucault Friday

 

A Foucault Pendulum swings beneath the main rotunda at the Pantheon.

Throwback Thursday

 

A Christmas Eve feast, in Montmartre

Above: pit fire on the patio; granny's pink crystal (3 glasses per place setting - champagne, wine, digestif); foie gras; a fine old Sauternes - for starters

 

Wine Wednesday

 

Champagne, wine, beer and other refreshments set out for an evening screening at one of the many small arthouse cinémas that dot the Latin Quarter.

***

Years ago, while living in Spain I’d treat myself to weekend movie marathons in those tucked-away arthouse theaters on Paris’ Left Bank back streets - unassuming small venues that championed obscure international indie films and emerging filmmakers.

The moment I'd arrive in Paris, my ritual began: straight to the nearest kiosk for the latest Pariscope or L'Officiel des Spectacles, those pocket-sized weekly bibles that listed every screening across the city. Over breakfast, pencil in hand, I’d scour the pages, plotting the perfect itinerary, circling titles and noting showtimes - what to see, in what order, at which cinemas - creating the optimal sequence without wasting a single reel.

These were films from everywhere - U.S., U.K., Germany, Japan, Italy, and beyond, and they had to be in their original languages, marked VO (version originale). I (mostly) went for French films and off-the-radar indies. In Barcelona, most mainstream films were dubbed into Spanish or burdened with clumsy subtitles that flattened nuance and stole focus. Paris delivered actors’ real voices, unadulterated, and as so many of the titles were English-language anyway, the French subtitles stayed discreetly at the bottom, never stealing the show. - BPJ

Below: some surviving cinémas

Latin Quarter / Quartier Latin:

Cinéma Le Champo

Cinéma Saint-André-des-Arts

Christine Cinéma Club

Le Reflet Médicis

La Filmothèque du Quartier Latin

Studio Galande

(besides a roster of independent films, "The Rocky Horror Picture Show” in VO w/performances every Friday and Saturday night. Bring a bottle of water and rice

Montmartre:

Studio 28

(must-see interior by Jean Cocteau w/bar / charming tea salon / courtyard area)

 

 

Bastard bakers

 

 

 

French Bastards are baking Paris by storm.

 

The French Bastards 

Boulangerie-Pâtisserie artisan

65 rue Jean-Baptiste Pigalle 75009

 

- 5 more locations -

 

Monument Monday

 

Inside the Pantheon atop Montagne Sainte-Geneviève in the Latin Quarter, an enormous mausoleum with tombs of Victor Hugo, Voltaire, Alexandre Dumas, Pierre and Marie Curie, Rousseau, Louis Braille, to name a few.

 

Throwback Thursday

 

A long chat along the river.

From Paris Plages 2023