The best views of the square are from on high-from those apartments-but nothing beats sitting on a bench under the clipped lindens and listening to the fountains. You begin to understand why the French Revolution happened. Watching them slide smoothly from their dark-windowed limos into the entrances of their $10 million apartments is both amusing and instructive. One former minister happens to live practically next door to Ma Bourgogne, another bigwig embroiled in high-color sexual controversies hides out just a few pavilions down. The view takes in the arcades and pavilions of the famous, 400-year-old square, plus of course the comings and goings of the politicos and plutocrats who live here. My advice is, stick to something simple and liquid like coffee or a glass of wine. Some people swear the food is more than edible (that has not been my experience over the last decades). Several times a week I come here for a simple breakfast-coffee, croissants, a glass of water or juice. The sunny, western side of the Place des Vosges-the centerpiece of the fashionable Marais neighborhood-has long been colonized by the tables of Ma Bourgogne, a café-restaurant on the corner of the square. This is one of the city’s current hangouts for hipsters.īreakfast coffee or aperitif at Ma Bourgogne on Place des Vosges From there all the way to the edge of Paris you stroll by a series of tuneful locks, stretches of placid, greenish water, trees five stories high, plus nightclubs, restaurants, cafes and self-adoring Parisian trendies who are more fun to watch than tame peacocks. The first humpback bridge leaps over the canal about 100 yards further along. That’s where the Quai de Jemmapes and Quai de Valmy begin. The underground canal emerges into a tiny park under spreading sycamores. It runs underneath the central esplanade in the middle of Boulevard Richard Lenoir where the market is held. Even if I’m not going to shop I come to view the merchandise, enjoy an espresso at blissfully quiet, cozy Café de l’Industrie (one block east of the market), and then walk up the boulevard to the Canal Saint Martin. We buy housewares-from burner-top toasters to flexi-spigots-fruit, vegetables, range-raised poultry, fish, and cheese from family-run business with stands here, many of them certified organic. The service is totally Parisian and un-subservient.ĭiscovering the Blvd Richard-Lenoir open market, Café de l’Industrie and Canal St-MartinĮvery Thursday and Sunday morning you know where I’ll be: the open market on Boulevard Richard Lenoir abutting Place de la Bastille. You can hear the ticks from the big round clock hanging from the ceiling: there’s no Wi-Fi, no corporate spiel, and no rush. The coffee is not great but the atmosphere is. Before or after a stroll I clock in at Café Rostand facing the park, to sip strong coffee and read the local papers. Watching ducks in a pool-or lovers sitting by the Médicis Fountain-can be as instructive as reading reams of history. In my book “ Paris, Paris: Journey into the City of Light” the chapter about the Luxembourg Garden explores how Parisians – and visitors – often spend entire days lounging here. Even after 26 years of living in Paris it’s a learning experience. I like to pay homage to them several times a week. Where else can you see George Sand, Charles Baudelaire and Frédéric Chopin – not to mention Alfred de Musset and Henri Murger of “La Bohème – striking poses as if resurrected from the dead? Mossy sculptures of my Romantic idols lurk amid the greenery of the garden’s meandering paths. That’s saying a lot in this city of fabulous gardens. It’s easy to guess why the Luxembourg Garden is my favorite park in town. His writing is always fresh and his adventures, interesting, so Sweet Leisure is especially pleased to have David share a few of his favorite Paris jaunts and haunts. In his own words: Discovering David Downie’s Paris, Paris Copyright David Downie, Oct 2012 The Luxembourg: Sit, Stroll, Sip Coffee nearby Toklas” and David Downie’s “Paris, Paris Journey into the City of Light.”Īlthough it is possible (and totally pleasurable) to explore 1920s Paris through Gertrude and Ernest, David is alive and well and living in Paris and writes about the present with such clarity that no tourist should venture fourth without his direction.ĭavid’s views of Paris flow between the essential, quirky and shocking (I am never going to drink Paris tap water again after reading his description of the Seine). I happen to love Paris and my three favorite books illuminating the city are Ernest Hemingway’s “A Moveable Feast, Gertrude Stein’s “The Autobiography of Alice B. We all have favorite books about favorite places.
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