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Unlike the U.S with its price warring drug chains, France doesn’t have discount drugstores or even large drug chains for that matter. However, Citi Pharmacie, in the 6th arr. near St. Germain, consistently offers 30-40% off of most popular brands. Stock up on your favorite French and European labels like Weleda, Biotherm, Roc, Caudalie, Phyto, Vichy, Bioderma, Roger et Gallet, Elancyl, and even American brands like Neutrogena and John Frieda. The tightly packed and well stocked shop has two floors, the first floor having mostly beauty and hair products, and the second floor having a prescription counter, homeopathic and herbal remedies, and Dr. Scholl’s foot care products. I was there at about 7PM last night and it was teeming with upscale aggressive female shoppers who practically knocked me over with their baskets loaded with cosmetics, as though it was the last day on earth they would be able to buy face and thinning creams. Lines at the registers were 10 deep, so I didn’t bother to purchase anything but I will return. Citi-Pharmacie
 
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
I met Gael Escribe, a charming and warm Frenchman, at my friend Craig Hanna’s art opening a few weeks ago. He told me besides his full time job, his hobby and new business was renting out The Romantic Refuge, a barge he recently refurbished for small, private dinners and Seine cruises. We spoke for a while and I told him about my blog and tour business and he said I must come and checkout the boat sometime. When I got home, I looked at his website and was very impressed with not only the quality of the site but with the experience they promised. I emailed Gael to tell him what I thought and he invited me to come for a cruise and dinner last Friday night. I arrived at 8:45PM at the Port des Champs Elysees on the Seine by the Place Concorde. It was a cool, blustery evening and twilight was just starting to set in. The light coming off the blue gray sky was so beautiful hitting the Eiffel Tower and the gold statues on the Pont Alexandre III glistened. On the deck of immaculate looking modern boat was a rustic but elegant table made out of twigs with matching stools and pink roses in water glasses adorned the table. I could already see the refined and understated taste the boat was done in. Gael asked me right away if I wanted a glass of Champagne, which even added more class. He told me that it took two painstaking years to refurbish the boat, changing the whole infrastructure first and then he and his wife, the lovely Celine, did a customized design of the interior. It was completed about six months ago and Gael started to invite friends to show off his new pet project. They were so impressed, they starting asking if they could use the boat to entertain friends and clients. One thing lead to another, and voila! He decided to rent it out for small dinners for up to eight people and special occasions. Of course he did it with taste and style, hiring a top chef and a butler. Three course lunches and dinners are served using only organic ingredients and the organic wine comes from a small French vineyard.
Gael had invited Craig’s gallery owner Laurence Esnol, her husband, stepson, his girlfriend, and their cousin from New York with his friend. It was nice to talk to another native New Yorker, and Jeremy gave me the full update from the big apple. Celine made a delicious dinner of a goat cheese terrine with roasted eggplant & tomatoes, followed by poached salmon with a tomato and cheese gratin, new potato salad, and a killer chocolate mousse that was so rich, I, the chocoholic, couldn’t even finish. We sailed up the Seine, seeing all the famous monuments and buildings dramatically lit and even the native Parisians who had seen them hundreds of times were exclaiming how beautiful they were. Everyone was so warm and friendly and I had engaging conversations with all of them, finding many things in common. By the end of the night I had made seven wonderful, new friends. We all kissed and hugged each other goodbye and promised to be in touch soon. In fact, when we discovered that we were all Jewish, we laughed, and Laurence’s husband insisted I come over for Shabbat dinner next Friday. This was another unforgettable evening and again, I feel blessed to be living here. Visit the Romantic Refuge website and make plans to for your own unforgettable evening.
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
As a Paris insider whose discerning job it is to recommend things as far away from being too touristy as possible, surprised I was. The meticulous beauty of everything small and incredibly detailed overwhelmed my senses in the best way possible. I stared in awe at over 100 exact, impeccable replicas of France’s most famous castles, villages, mountains, chateaus, churches, and monuments. The sound effects of birds, train whistles, trickling waterfalls and mooing cows enhanced the already authentic feel to the experience. From the magnificent French Alps to the fabled storybook castles of the Loire to the charming village square of Saint Tropez, I got to see many places I have never been to and was inspired to now visit. Of course I got the biggest kick out of the Paris section with the Arc de Triumphe, Sacre Coeur, Notre Dame, and even the Stade de France stadium, but the unbelievable, meticulous recreation of Versailles including the gardens with working fountains trumped all of them.
Although I highly recommend it to everyone, France Miniature is an especially great place for kids and families. Skip the disappointing and downsized Euro Disney and treat yourself and the kids to a truly magical experience you can’t get anywhere else. The complex also has an amusement park and on Saturday nights during summer there are fireworks. France Miniature has now moved into one of my top ten places to visit in Paris and I will be back there shortly. For opening hours, admission,etc. -http://www.franceminiature.fr/
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
Happy July 4th to my U.S. readers. God bless America!
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
I always pass this lavish courtyard when I visit the Marian Goodman Gallery, one of the top contemporary gallery’s in Paris. I googled the address and not much came up. I found a piece of information stating it was an 18th century hotel particular (private mansion)where Moliere had premiered his first production of Tartuffe. I especially love the intricate detailing of the iron railings on the sweeping stone staircases and the pristine, manicured lawn and shrubs. If anyone knows any more information about this building, I would greatly appreciate it if you put in the comments section. 79 rue de Temple, 3d arr.
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
Square Louvois is another lovely square I discovered a few months ago while attending the Sophie Calle show at the Bibliotheque Nationale on the rue de Richelieu. The fountain with its nine sculpted heads and bronze chubby cherubs is spectacular. Metro: Richelieu Drouot or Palais Royale
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
Hotel de Ville
Solidays July 4,5, & 6
Jeu de Paume Note:I want to thank everyone for taking the time to write the generous, touching , and warm comments and emails congratulating me on my three year anniversary of Eye Prefer Paris.
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
Since then I told all my friends and even clients about how excited I was about this special tour and couldn’t wait to meet them. In the interim, I thought this would make a wonderful and endearing human-interest story for a magazine or newspaper. One of my former clients from Washington D.C., Gayle Osterberg, who has her own PR and marketing company, was so impressed with my tours, she kindly offered to help me market them whenever I wanted. I emailed her my idea and she agreed it would make a good story. She generously took the time from her busy schedule to write a media alert and even advised me on what publications to target. Unfortunately, I didn’t receive any replies from them but I think I could now send it out. The magic day arrived last Wednesday. I decided to do two very different tours on Wednesday and Thursday, to give the girls a full experience. On Wednesday we met for my classic Marais tour in front of the St. Paul metro station, and when I arrived they were just finishing spelling out my name on individual pages of a Russian newspaper, with one letter on each page. I already knew I was in for a wonderful ride. It was a gorgeous, warm perfect sunny day. First, I wowed them with the two gorgeous hotel particuler's (former private mansions) and a charming private courtyard in a 17th century building. Next we visited the mid-east gourmet shop Izrael with its intoxicating aromas of exotic, dried & glazed fruit, fresh olives, spices, and large variety of smoked fish. As always, there was a stop at a patisserie and I took them to my favorite one in the Marais and one of the best in Paris, Gerard Mulot. We all indulged a delish sweet treat. Speaking of treats, I ended the tour with a visit to the new Valentino retrospective, as I wanted to show them something about Paris fashion. A stellar show of his greatest creations, worn by Princess Grace, Julia Roberts, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, the girls were enamored with the gorgeous gowns and fantasy dresses decorating two floors of the Musee de Decoratifs. Afterwards they very quickly said goodbye, and I could see they were so inspired by the show that they were chomping at the bit to go clothes shopping. Catherine hauled out a black nylon bag with the cookies, and I said that it would be her fault if I didn’t show up for the tour tomorrow because I would probably be in a sugar coma from eating all five boxes.
Thursday morning we met at the Richard Lenoir food market by the Bastille. We were supposed to buy food for a picnic but the purses, scarves, soaps, and other no-food items for sale distracted the girls. At one point, I had to do a shopping intervention and in a stern husband/father like way, warned them that they only had five minutes left to wrap up the shopping. We bought a selection of cheeses, baguettes, country bread, salami, and prosciutto. I was concerned that we didn’t have a knife to cut the cheese, and Catherine gave me this are-you-kidding- me look and pulled out of her pocket an impressive portable knife, saying it’s one of the first things a girls scout is required to have.(I vaguely remembered their motto “Always be prepared”- especially with a knife to cut cheese with on a Parisian picnic).
We brought our delicious goodies to the Promenade Plantee, a lush three-mile long park built on an abandoned railroad track behind the Bastille Opera house. We admired the beautiful summer blooms and ornate Haussmann style buildings up close. Parking ourselves on two benches, Catherine expertly cut the bread and cheese like a nourishing mother while Audrey doled out the salami and proscuitto. We laughed and carried on about the pleasures of Paris and I asked all the girls what they were doing the rest of the summer. They were leaving the next day after a week in Paris and Switzerland, and I warned them they would suffer the great Paris withdrawal blues when they returned home. I shared with them that even though I loved my life in Paris and had no intentions of moving back to the U.S., they were a supreme example of the unique openness and friendliness Americans have that I miss sometimes. We took our last group photo, one of many, and then I hugged everyone goodbye with a tinge of sadness, as I knew I would miss them. Thank you from the bottom of my heart Catherine, Audrey, Madeline, Abby, Mary Rose, Stephanie, Kara, Megan, and Jamie for one of the most fun and memorable tours I’ve ever done. And yes, we are definitely BFF’s (their abbreviation for best friends forever). I would greatly appreciate it if anyone has any leads or knows someone at magazine or newspaper I could pitch this inspiring story to. Catherine also sent me information on how the girls worked their bums off (her words) to raise the money for the trip with fundraising events like cookie sales, yard sales, car washes, spring flower/herb sale, etc., which adds to their heartwarming story.
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
Today marks the third anniversary of Eye Prefer Paris. 298 posts, 130,000 visitors, 432 comments, and 700 subscribers later, I am still happily blogging away. I am inspired everyday by this great city and still have always something to write about. The last three years have been an amazing journey. What started as a way to share my knowledge and love of Paris has spawned a successful and rewarding tour business, a new career as a professional writer, and best of all, a blog that has a community of loyal readers, who I love and appreciate. Thanks for your comments, your kind, touching and informative emails and to those who boldly took the step to want meet me, who I have become friends with. This has been the most rewarding part of writing the blog. Below is my first post, dated June 26. Please let me know in the comments section if I have fulfilled on what I said in that post. About This blog Here are some of my favorite and most popular posts from the last year. (It was so hard to pick just some- it’s like choosing your favorite child). Fireworks in Rogny les Sept Ecluses Bastille Day 2007- The Fireman’s Ball Battle of the Bûches (and the bulge) European Film Awards 20th Anniversary
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
The first is a mural off of Etienne Marcel that reminds me a little of a Magritte painting. The second ones are on the gates of two food shops on the rue Bretagne near rue Charlot in the northern Marais. One is a fromagerie/cheese shop and the other a poissonerie/fish shop.
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 |
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