Having familiarised ourselves with the style and the atmosphere of the bourgeois 8th arrondissement of Paris (the neighbourhood around the Champs Elysees), we are now ready to explore the other quartier that plays a key role in Marcel Proust’s In Search Of Lost Time: the Faubourg St Germain, the part of Paris where, in the…
Proust’s novel In Search of Lost Time is a big book in every sense of the phrase. In 7 volumes and a total of more than 1.2 million words, it deals with a lot of large topics: memory, social and political upheaval, love and death. On top of that, it features a large cast of…
Christmas cheers are fading, Christmas dinners have been cleared away, and most Christmas trees will soon be demobbed. But as soon as one annual ritual is over, it is already time for another one: we are entering the season of New Year resolutions. If you are still looking for a cheering splash of coulour, here…
Paris, as we have documented many times, has practically everything that makes a city worthwhile visiting: great art, great food, great history, even – believe it or not – great one-day hikes. More than enough of the latter, in fact, to fill nearly a whole website. Considering all that, it feels almost rude to voice…
Since 2010, we’ve been sharing with you, easy hikers of the world, tips on where to find trails wherever your holidays bring you. We’ve walked and hiked trails in Paris, Barcelona, the French Riviera (among the many), and of course, in the land of hikers, Germany. Choose from these top easy hiker tips that proved to…
Returning, after some time, to a place where you have been before can be an interesting experience Last week, we were back in Paris for two days after a two-year absence and, before that, a two-decade-long stint. We were surprised how much had changed in such a relatively short while around our former neighbourhood: the…
Themed Walks in Paris Walking in Montmarte by Chansons It seems to be more difficult to say goodbye to Paris than originally thought. This is a postscript to last week’s post. A postscript appears in order because more songs have been written about Montmartre than about any other part of Paris, and rather than leaving out…
Themed Walks in Paris Paris by Chansons This, in a way, is our farewell note to Paris. After 20 years, we have recently moved on to sunnier climes. We will certainly come back for brief visits and a walk or two, but most of our “easy hiking” from now on will concentrate on the Mediterranean….
Themed Walks in Paris The Bastille Day Walk What better way to celebrate the 14th of July, the French national holiday, than to trace its events, following – as literally as that is technically possible – in the footsteps of history in one of our themed walks in Paris? Whatever you may think of the…
Walks near Paris An Evocative Riverside Walk The Marne for the Parisians is a mythical river, evoking lazy Sunday afternoons, boat trips, riverbank parties and men in jaunty hats straight out of a painting by Renoir. But above all, the Marne evokes the presence of the legendary guinguettes, small drinking places that serve local white…
