Paris

Pants: River Island | Shirt: ZARA | Jacket: Marni for H&M | Bag: Givenchy | Shoes: Alexander Wang | Necklace: Neha FACEBOOK ? TWITTER ? BLOGLOVIN'

Following in the footsteps of Septime, and (once-upon a time) Spring, the hard-to-book Paris restaurant Le Chateaubriand has acquired a space for an eventual wine shop between the restaurant and its sister wine bar Le Dauphin. Word on the street is that it will focus on interesting imports. No [...]

Momentané is the terrific new design retrospective of the work of brothers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec. Following the meteoric rise of these two forward thinking French born designers, the exhibit closely retraces 15 years of all aspects of their prolific output. From limited edition furniture to high quality mass-produced work, the versatility along with smart design is apparent in over the 100 works on display, which includes lamps, sofas, wall sculptures, tapestries, office furniture, and textiles. Highlights include the stunning 12 meter high felt sculpture named Clouds (2009) along side a dramatic wall of red and black clothes pins, Twigs and Algae sculptures (2004), the High-Backed Alcove sofa from Vitra (2007), and the Lit Clos bed, one of their first pieces from 2000 created for the Milan Furniture Fair. Divided into three sections, the Tuileries side gallery features their modular designs for workspaces and offices, the Rivoli galleries focus on objects and furniture for home and more intimate spaces, and the center entrance aisle is an installation of their textile and room partition creations.  A must-see exhibit for design aficionados. MomentanéTill September 1, 2013Les Arts Decoratifs107 rue de Rivoli, 75001Metro: Palais Royal-Musee de LouvreOpen Tuesday to Saturday, 11AM to 6PM, till 9PM Thursdayhttp://www.lesartsdecoratifs.fr/english-439/accueil-710/une-715/english-439/exhibitions/current-events#bouroullec I want to thank everyone for their kind and touching emails and comments about my photo show and please forgive me if I didn't personally reply to you. I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more. Tours cost 210 euros for up to 3 people, and 70 euros for each additional person. I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.  Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking ClassesI am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte's professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines. Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours) Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the marketClass days: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday,Friday, Saturday, and SundayMinimum of 2 students, maximum 6 students.Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.   New Eye Prefer Paris Photos for Sale I am happy to announce the sale of a new set of prints of my Eye Prefer Paris Photos.  I am offering 20 of my most popular and iconic images for sale including my doors, architectural details, statues, and monuments. They will make great gifts for all your Francophile friends, relatives, and colleagues but don't forget to buy some for yourself. Click here to see photos and for full details including sizes, prices, and shipping. Here is a sample of some of the photos.  

Provins, FranceWishing we'd had déjeuner here instead.

Those of you who came to Paris surely remember Les Halles, this large area in the very center of Paris that novel writer Emile Zola once called "the belly of Paris" (it used to be the wholesale market of Paris). Well, in the 70's they closed it and replaced it with a huge shopping mall that is now closed again and is in the process of being replaced by a brand new project still including a shopping area of course, but also a huge garden covered by a canopy. Well, that is precisely this canopy that I managed to catch on "film" from a restaurant. Not the most glamorous photo I posted, but interesting! Have a look at the final project here.

So, what are you doing this Saturday? Me? Why, I’ll be SIGNING MY BOOK, THE PARIS WEDDING, AT WH SMITH ON RUE RIVOLI. Do you know how cool it feels to say that?? For those of you not familiar with the store, WH Smith is the largest English bookshop in Paris, and this year is celebrating its 110th year in Paris. For many English-speaking expats in Paris, myself included, WH Smith is one of the first safe havens that you flock to once the initial glimmer of “living in Paris” starts to, um…become… less sparkly.  Besides their stock of  over 70,000+ titles, WH Smith also has an awesome magazine selection, a British and American Food section, and a great choice of seasonal gifts. They also offer a full calendar of kids events, author readings, and… BOOK SIGNINGS. I’ll be signing copies of The Paris Wedding from 3:00 - 5:00PM this Saturday, May 25th, 2013.  The book has just become available in France, and WH Smiths’ shelves are stocked to the gills.  I’m so excited about this event that I’ve decided to share the love and offer a little give-away to entice you into the shop: If you 1. leave a comment on this post and 2. tweet “I’m so excited about @parisianparty’s The Paris Wedding book signing at WH Smith in Paris, May 25 from 3-5PM”, I’ll enter your name into a drawing for a signed copy of the book. The contest will end at 10AM Saturday, May 25. The winner will be announced at 3:00 at WH Smith (I’ll shout it out on twitter, too).  I won’t be able to mail the book, so the winner will have to come to WH Smith on Rue Rivoli to pick it up (I’ll leave it at the counter if you can’t make it in on Saturday). In the meantime, if you’re in the neighborhood, be sure to pop by WH Smith and check out the window promo I did for the book (with yet another fabulous cake by Sugarplum Cake Shop, and images from the book by Ian Holmes Photography). Don’t forget to enter the contest, and I hope to see you on Saturday- spread the word!

Sinfonietta Paris is a new Chamber Music orchestra and the brainchild endeavor of Michael Boone, former head of the music department at the University of Colorado. I met Michael at the Kooka Boora café at the same time I met Very-Intersting-and-talented-dude (which you’ll read about in my next  post!). Just another proof that Paris still […]

A little painting-sketching leçon today so you can draw like Eugene Boudin even if you can't make it over for the exhibit at Musée Jacquemart-Andréby July 22.The day I visited the Boudin exhibit the sun was shining brightly.. Today it's continuous Paris drizzle but never mind. This is perfect to get you in a 'Boudin' frame of mind.. If there was another 19th century outdoor painter so in love with umbrellas I'd love to to know about it. Is it only French rain that makes such nice shadow shapes? Probably. This one mirrors exactly The rough dog sketches of BoudinThat later turn up in a beach scene painting. *Note at least 2 umbrellas... Another rough preparatory sketch of Boudins that I copied above, first with tracing paper and then into watercolor. The iPad Mini makes a great little portable light box to trace from your photos or paintings. 1. Simply set up an album and pop just ONE picture into it. 2. Then go into your Settings, 3. Then Picture Frame 4. Choose - Show Each Photo For 20 seconds5. Turn off your iPad in the corner6. Press the 'flower' icon to start the slideshow (which will stay on that one picture so you can trace it wiggle-free). Voila! Another reason to love the iPad mini. No umbrellas in the finished painting but these are working class so...Another pencil sketch of beach loungers with their umbrellas and a good one to copy. Boudin loved to throw in just a touch of red to liven thing ups among all the neutral colors. Plus red paint was quite pricy back then so you had to be judicious with it...Boudin, himself sitting out on a dock. He was really the first to get everyone out of the studio and painting in 'plein aire' including his good chum Monet. Do note his umbrella of course...At the museum shop you can get a full painting outfit a bit more upscale than Boudin's supplied by the delightful left bank art shop Charvin. The museum shop does not have any Boudin umbrellas on offer but they do have this darling lampshade for about 69 euros. Why not just practice tracing Boudin sketches and in no time at all you can make your own?This is my watercolor set, in case you're interested from Amazon. I do use other colors from Winsor and Newton like Burnt Sienna and Permanent Rose, which tend to run a bit more. They didn't have Boudin's paintbox at the exhibit but it's still a terrific show and worth a visit if you're into 19th century anything.

Oz John Tekson Breaking up with someone you love is often a terrible experience. Breaking up with someone you love in what is supposed to be the City of Love can be a heart-wrenching emotional roller coaster. Kat… & catherineshyu Unfortunately, at the end of February, I found myself in this exact situation: ending a long-term relationship with a Parisian in Paris. At least by this point, Valentine’s Day had passed and I was no longer bombarded with images of happy couples in love, discounts on holiday-themed lingerie, and sickeningly sweet His & Her gift ideas on every street corner. Casse-Noisette & Clapagaré ! (Les chiquitos) Nevertheless, the first few weeks were incredibly difficult. Not only did I have to deal with the usual post-break-up challenges common to any city — cancelling all the plans and trips we’d made for the following months, packing up his things in my apartment – but I also had to walk down the same Parisian streets that we had strolled through hand in hand, eat the foods he had introduced me to, and hear the romantic lilt of his language everywhere. Making Magique The worst part? Being French, he had one of those first names that 1/5 of the French male population seems to share. Included amongst the many other Arnauds in my life were (in no particular order): four people at work, two personal friends of mine, the guy at the Bastille Sunday market where I buy my vegetables, and the man at my favourite boulangerie! MarioMancuso But what’s a newly single girl in Paris to do? Clearly you can’t hide from your baguette man forever! Or refuse to eat caramel au beurre salé simply because he introduced it to you.  And so after the first couple of weeks of skimming depression, I decided to pick myself up and find new pieces of light in my little world of Paris. Chris JL Discovering new parts of Paris First thing on my list was discovering new parts of the city. I had lived here for three years, but a lot of my memories had been made with Arnaud, so it was time to start carving out new territory just for myself. I noted down all the recently opened hip restaurants, cafés and bars that I had been meaning to hit up and enlisted my friends to check them out with me. I tallied up cool new exhibitions and made plans to go with a couple of art fiends. Sometimes I even went for walks by myself in neighborhoods I’d never explored before. Suddenly, my previously lonely days were filled with coffee dates at Coutume Café, drinks at Le Mary Celeste, and weekend strolls around the 11e. *nikita Meeting new people One of the difficult things with break-ups is that you often also have to break up with that significant other’s social circle. There would be no more ski holidays or concert dates with other couples he knew. But it also meant that I suddenly had all this free time (and social energy) to find other human beings who might inspire me. Making Magique I made an effort to reach out to new people, said yes to whatever invitations came my way, and re-launched my Diner des 3 Découvertes supper club. I signed up for bikram yoga and discovered a terrific health-conscious community, and started going salsa dancing to get back in touch with my Spanish side. Opening myself up to new people brought me wonderful new experiences during the past two months – including Carin Olsson’s Éclair Smackdown for HiP Paris and planning an impromptu girls’ trip to Corsica! Karigee Meeting new men I suppose the last step in any post-break-up process is being ready to put yourself out there again. Contrary to what many people believe, meeting new men can be as daunting a task in Paris as it is in anywhere else in the world. Upon my friends’ urging, I timidly and painfully subscribed to match.com – then immediately unsubscribed once I saw the results. I reluctantly agreed to a few dinners where couples were eager to introduce me to their single male friends. I even went to a cocktail bar to practice a few fun flirtation strategies wit

You see them all over Paris—the elegant femmes d’un certain age (women of a certain age.)  They may not look exactly young per se, but they definitely look beautiful, stylish, intriguing, and sexy.  That’s the trick, really.  These gorgeous women don’t care so much about looking young. They are much more interested in looking alluring, but in a very subtle, grown-up way. Read More...