Paris… the city I love and hate. I love it because of my friends there, because of the views, history and the crêpes! I hate it for so many reasons as well – especially for the traffic on Peripherique Nord – when we were arriving there in the morning with our tour bus. Me, my 50 tourists and millions of cars around us. But even there, there was something in it…

So what else is there to miss?!

Sitting on a bus in the traffic

Yes, you read it right. I do hate it! But I do miss it. The first glimpse of Paris – St Denis stadium that greeted you first and the Sacre Coeur Basilica that what glimpsing with white between other buildings. Various drivers doing god knows what in their cars – I even saw a woman knitting!

You do need a car/bus for this, so treat this point as zero. Think of it like this gut feeling you have when you arrive somewhere and start your journey. This excitement rising. You just came out of the airport, tired probably. But the fatigue is vanishing with every step because here IT comes!

Crêpes!

I was wondering which one should be first but this win! I have always waited for my 5 minutes or my favorite place just to grab a ham-cheese crêpe and relax while I eat it. There is no place that this tastes better. I started to make my own spicy crêpes, instead of sweets, because of Paris! I even bought a crêpe-machine in France.

There is magic in this thin pancake. It may be the only fast-food that can be called healthy. Unless they load it with cheese or Nutella.

They say it comes from the XII century Bretagne, here in France (but it is the world food, so let us not start a war over it). Then it was spread around with a wooden spoon and it is like that until today. Was there a reason for this – nobody knows. But the word crêpe derives from “crisp” so maybe it was crispy in its beginnings and it stuck?

They were eaten commonly for the feast of Chandeleur – the first day of spring. Today the 2nd February is also known as a Day of the Crêpe (more regionally than worldly) – like our polish Tłusty Czwartek.

Notre Dame in spring

It is not so much the cathedral as a place you can admire it. Most of us arrive at Notre Dame from the side of the facade, but there are other parts to it. I have found a place as a teenager – visiting Paris myself, but wanting to catch a breath. I walked around and found a small green square at the side of the church. Later on, there was a bridge – Pont d’Archeveche. I stood there for a while appreciating some street violin player or accordionist, watched the Seine river, turned around…

Then I saw the Notre Dame I will never forget. Coated with the green from the tiny garden that I have just passed. The apse and the gothic arches growing up, like out of the meadow. The trees were blossoming there, with white flowers. The wind made them lose the petals which swirled in the air. It was a magical experience – faerie nature, some old building, and the music in the background.

This is what it is for me. Today the bridge is loved by young couples, wedding photographers, and anyone with a camera. The perspective on the church is one of a kind.

Montmartre wandering and cafes there

Montmartre – meaning the hill and the labyrinth of small streets going up and down. The birthplace of Parisian bohème, the mecca of artists, the shelter of poor…So many things happened here – starting with St Denis’s murder and finishing with Edith Piaf singing on the street, maybe next to Dalida’s house. You can imagine the wine fields covering it in the old days, people living in these stone houses, windmills working everywhere.

Today you walk around. There is a shop here, Moulin de la Galette from Renoir’s painting there, a row of stone houses around the corner, a man coming out of a wall sculpture next to it, plenty of souvenir shops at the top, footsteps of Picasso and Dali hidden in a square… it goes on and on, mixed with splendid panoramas, unforgettable views, smells…

You just need to sit down and breathe it all in for a moment. This is it for me – trying yet another café for a croque-monsieur or salad de chevre. Or a plain coffee, enjoying le theatre de la vie as they say.

St Michelle Square souvenir hunting

There is this place in the Latin Quarter, just next to the river. A quadrangle drew by the streets, that you can miss easily between all the great monuments around you. Paris sure has a lot of places to buy a magnet or a postcard, so there is no special need to come here.

But then all is cramped in here – it is like a mini souk for me! You have souvenir shops. Restaurants and fast foods at reasonable prices and really good food. Some sights next to it – like Mary from Ostrobrama portrait and Musée de Cluny. And bookshops! – Latin Quarter is home to Sorbonne and the university since the XIII century.

There are so many things to choose from here your head starts to spin. I visited the place on almost every trip to Paris and I never came out empty-handed. And you would think that I should have all I needed by then. No! And I cannot wait to go there yet again and do some hunting.

French sweets

Window shopping of the boulangeries or pastry shops is like looking at tiny pieces of art or jewelry. Colors are so vibrant, fruits glistening at you, texture promises all sorts of crunchiness – you can taste it just by staring at them. You will find your favorite!

Mine is millefeuille – a sort of napoleonka in Poland but really, with a thousand layers (mille = 1000) of french pastry! The cream inside is not really a cream, denser, and with a lot of vanilla. These 3 layers of pastry and 2 of cream take you to heaven for a moment. Do enjoy it with some coffee – it all mixes well there.

You can also try to get to Angelina on rue Rivoli if you have some time to spare. The best hot chocolate is served there (or you just need to enjoy it because of the price you paid). You can also buy some truffles to go. The café is amazing not only for the brown liquid. The interior takes you back in time and you feel very chic in there.

You can also try the Berthillon ice-cream. They can be found in different places but the best one to look for them is on St Louis Island. I like them because they do not feel this heavily creamed like everywhere else. I only had the same sentiment with Italian ice-cream and a small shop in Gdynia – Orłowo. Berthillon’s boules de glaces also come in different tastes like yogurt or passion fruit. They sometimes invent some strange mixes – but this is mostly for the high-tourist season.

Tuilleries region

Oh, there is just so much there if you look at the map.

There is Louvre – with its glass pyramid glistening in the sun. With thousands of people taking a photo of it and even more walking under your feet.

There are Arch de Carousell and a small bistro (Paul café in my time) next to it. It was always a good vantage point for me – with views, coffee and rest. And a good one to take the stairs and see the upside-down pyramid from the Da Vinci Code.

There are the gardens behind your back. Leading, through small ponds where the children put their boats in summer, to the Concorde Square and its obelisk. I always think about Asterix and Obelix there – and the difference in spelling. My fault…

There is Rivoli street – bustling with life, noises, and crowds. Full of restaurants, bistros, hotels, souvenir shops…

…and a lonely statue of Jean d”Arc that nobody notices.

There is Opera behind those. And Place Vendome where Chopin died. There is Palais Royale where Richelieu patented a fork. And there are numerous, muddy streets from Tom Willocks’ 12 children of Paris.

But there also is a stillness and timelessness of Paris in the gardens of Tuilleries. Right there, at the ruins of a palace, there is a life that you wouldn’t dream of. There is a respite that you seek – just for 5 minutes and it is enough. Calmness – when the noise is attacking you.

What more would you need, when everything else rushes around you.

Versaille gardens

I am not prone to gardens in Paris – there is just so much crowd in the rooms of the Versaille Palace – a 67000 square meters big building is too small to handle all this multitude of people.

You imagine yourself in these rooms, full of rococo gold and tapestries on the walls? Maybe you are a descendant of Napoleon who puts a crown on Josefine’s head – at least that’s what you think going down an enormous staircase at the end of your tour…

I always felt full of it.

The gardens were like a light meal. Surrounded by a hedge maze and wonderful sculpture – I felt more like myself. The small Trianons were like islands that I could approach or not. It would be so easy to stay there. Or to sit on the Versaille’s palace stairs, looking at the Latona fountain, and a pond where the king sailed on his boats – through all this, to the vastness of the fields and forests.

I like it here because it makes me feel separate from the business of the day. You have this space around you, and you can do everything with it. Maybe this is the reason why the king wanted to build his palace here. Maybe he wanted to run away from the burden of the crown… or just make sure that everyone sees how big it is.

Chaillot Palace

I write Chaillot Palace, but it is everything around it.

I do love the museums inside – architecture, maritime war and tactics always went well with me. I visited them on my spare time once and I just wanted to return there. Just remember not to go there on Monday – this is the day when museums are usually closed in France.

The small square between the buildings is my favorite place to wait for tourists when they visit Tour Eiffel. I grab a crêpe from a street seller and I sit there between the bronze female figures staring at the Tower. The best perspective of it in my opinion.

The Warsaw gardens under my feet are the second favorite. First -there are benches there – and they are always a bit scarce in Paris. What is more – there is green, water coming from the cannons in the fountain, the horses running around in circles, the noises of the street, and the Aquarium hidden between the trees.

You may come here because it is a trace of Poland in Paris. But it is just so… Difficult to say – you have the views there, the respite, the food, the attractions… Maybe if you go there yourself you will know.

It is certainly a place that you all visit in Paris, but you never stop for a second to really appreciate it.

Please do, between the Eiffel Tower, the Bateau Parisienne on the River, and the photos of the Chaillot Palace. It really is worth it!

Street and metro music

Paris was the first place when I really started to notice them. The street – performances with various instruments.

I suppose there exist no other place where they come in so many forms and in so many places. They bring pleasure to boring metro rides. They greet you in the corridor when you move from the train to the light of the day. There are so many of them standing on the streets. Alone or in a company, playing something sad, romantic, or joyful. Some terrible, some brilliant – maybe on route to becoming the next Edith Piaf. Old, young, children. Accordion – the instrument of France, and the violin are the most common. Guitar – yes, but there is more of it in Spain.

They all make Paris something special. They add background to the memories you are creating, without you even knowing it.

No matter where I am as soon as I hear them… first, I remember Paris…

Then I enjoy the place…

Then I think of Barcelona, but that is another story.

They really are something – please notice them and let them take you on a journey they are creating with their music.