Walking around the City of Lights

We had a busy agenda in Paris last weekend, what with a film shooting at the Grand Palais, renewing my passport at the Argentine Embassy, paying a visit to the newly appointed Mexican Ambassador to France and Monaco, all while enjoying walking around the legendary City of Lights.

Sunrise view from the Montalembert Hotelbert, 7th Paris

We woke up to a glorious sunrise viewed from our room at the Montalembert and after croissants and fuming espresso, decided to walk down rue Le Cler in the 7^th, a cobbled pedestrian street lined with the essential shops – wine, cheese, chocolate, bread – that spill onto the road, with fruit stall attendants tempting you to try their apples and sweet mandarins. The street organist put the appropriate background music to this typical Parisian street scene.

Rue Le Cler market, 7th Paris

Street Organist on rue Le Cler

From Gainsbourg to Depardieu

Our friends Fabian Edelstam, artist painter, and his wife Lorena live on rue de Verneuil, so when we visited them we passed by Serge Gainsbourg’s house to check the new graffiti covering the facade, a place crammed with mementos of his poetic sometimes sordid life as France’s most revered singer-songwriter, lover of Jane Birkin and Brigitte Bardot, father of singer and movie star Charlotte Gainsbourg. On the way we admired the Antiques shops that populate this neighborhood.

Gainsbourg’s home, Paris

Antiquaire, 7th Paris

The four of us had an appetizing lunch at La Cigale Recamier on the 7^th where we met famous French actor Gerard Depardieu, who recently left France to move to Belgium in a protest to new fiscal regulations, and who happened to be visiting his friend and restaurant owner Gerard Idoux. Their specialty is soufflés that are out of this world, with the salted caramel flavour my favorite.

Gerard Depardieu at La Cigale Recamier

Souffle at La Cigale Recamier

Poster of Hollande as La Gioconda

Azzedine Alaia exhibition at the Fashion Museum

After a long delicious lunch in great company, we took a taxi to the 16^th arrondissement (district) to visit the famous Palais Galliera located steps away from the most prestigious couture boutiques, that was featuring Azzedine Alaia (photos courtesy of Palais Galliera) for the opening exhibition of the Fashion Museum as the first Parisian retrospective presented in the renovated galleries of this palace, as well as in the room Matisse Modern Art Museum of the City of Paris on the other side of the street. It was a treat to see the display of seventy iconic styles tracing Alaia’s unique creative fashion voyage through time.

Azzadine Alaia at Palais Galliera

Azzadine Alia at Palais Galliera

Macaroons anyone?

In the afternoon we had a coffee at Laduree on rue Royale in the 8th, a French institution that started in the middle of the 20^th century with Pierre Desfontaines, who first thought of taking two macaroon shells and joining them with a delicious ganache filling, and since then the recipe has not changed. The window decorating inspired by memories of childhood, family gatherings, homes in their fairy clothes and sparking Christmas trees.

Window mannequins, 8th Paris

Paris symbols – La Madeleine and the Eiffel Tower

Just as it was getting dark the Roman Catholic Church of La Madeleine was light up in fluorescent colours. Designed in its present form as a temple to the glory of Napoleon’s army, it looked even more impressive lighten up for the holiday season. We walked along the streets enjoying some window-shopping. On our way back to our hotel we passed the Eiffel Tower illuminated in tribute to the South African hero, Nobel Peace Prize Nelson Mandela who left us on December 5 but will remain in everybody’s heart forever.

La Madeleine, 8th Paris

Eiffel Tower Honoring Nelson Mandela

After a delicious light dinner at Atelier Joel Robuchon conveniently located besides our hotel, we were ready for a good night sleep. Bonsoir Paris et Bonnes Fetes!

Atelier Joel Robuchon, 7th Paris