Sorry to say we are downgrading a restaurant that we once enjoyed. Not only is Seraphin cosy and well-located, with large windows perfect for people watching, the food was quite good and the prix-fixe under 35 euros. But, as one online reviewer said “J’étais un habitué. Le service a changé: ils sont nuls!” Which basically […]

Although the French drink less and less wine (70 liters per person per year in 2005 vs 160 liters in 1965!) it is still pretty common to order a “ballon de rouge” (”balloon of red,” after the shape of the glass) in a bar or a restaurant. Some even drink that in the morning… As […]

Last night, Stéphane decided that I needed some air (to release the bad humours, next best thing to leeches), so he called up the babysitter and we toddled off to meet a friend for what I thought would be drinks. Quiet time.
Surprise!! This friend is incredibly branché (hip) and so it turned out that we […]

Before you start bellyaching about the heat again, remember that there are three dozen public pools in Paris, and as My Paris Life notes, several of them are clean!
Among some of the most beautiful are the Piscine Pontoise and the Piscine Château-Landon which dates from the 1880s. The prices and the listing of pools […]

I’ve found an apartment! Bit of a relief really, as getting everything to happen in synchronisation with everything else was more stressful than it should have been. I was either going to end up paying rent on two apartments for three months, or be homeless for god knows how long.
I’ll explain in more detail, but […]

There has been only one constant in my life in Paris. One thing that was there from the first day, she has changed every season along with my moods. She has seen me warm, seen me cold and she has watched as everyone else has come and gone. I saw Spring in her arms and […]

I always wondered how they managed to hang these huge posters on movie theaters. Now I know, they use cliff hangers! Isn’t that ironic when it comes to a Superman poster?
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Le Cambodge is the first good, cheap Asian restaurant I’ve been to in Paris. I know you’re thinking “Oh, what about Chinatown?” Well, apart from the soup places, I haven’t been crazy about any of the other restaurants - I always feel like I’m paying too much for what I get. I’m not a big […]

Once upon a time, there was a stretch of elevated railroad tracks that ran through the 12th arrondissement in Paris. Then the city planners and gardeners came up with a vision: turn the abandoned tracks into La Promenade Plantée. This (relatively) new concrete and planked wood walkway runs from behind the Bastille Opera all the […]

Matt Harding is not a talented dancer, but that’s not the point.