Emily in France 🇫🇷 It's Wandering Season in Paris

Je flâne, tu flânes, il/elle/on flâne.

French has a handful of words English doesn't, including two different words for "to know" and three for "to complain." But one of my favorites is flâner, a word that refers to a specific type of walking with no goal except for wandering and, perhaps more importantly, observing.

Charles Baudelaire is attributed with the creation of the word and, indeed, for being an adept flâneur. As a lover of Baudelaire – and of walking – I've decided to make this spring the season of flâner-ing. (Flân-ing? That feels wrong.)

I do walk a lot in Paris: I'm giving about five guided tours of the city a week these days, and I tend to walk to appointments rather than take the metro, weather permitting (a habit I picked up from one of my closest friends, a former Paris resident herself.) But rarely do I take the time to wander unburdened by a destination, to take in my surroundings. And as Paris becomes more and more inundated by sunshine, I think it's high time I did just that.

Where I'm Eating

I'm a massive fan of spicy food, and I loved the spiced notes on Pierre Sang's Korean-French menu at his eponymous restaurant in the 11th. I especially love the approach to the tasting menu here, where staff will not tell you what's on your plate until after you've finished. It encourages you to taste and expand your palate, not to mention discuss the food with your fellow diners.

As always, you can find my ever-evolving list of my favorite Paris restaurants here.
 

Where I'm Going

1. It's a bit last-minute, but today is Paris Ecrit, a city-wide postcard-writing day. The celebration sees several locations throughout Paris opening themselves to the public so that folks can write a love letter to the city. There's even a contest, judged the 31st, and special postcards and stamps at the local post offices.

2. I've been walking past La Belle Hortense, a wine bar lined with books, for months now. This week, I'm actually going in.

3. Spring brings tons of flowers to Paris, and to my mind, one of the best places to see them is at the Jardin des Plantes in the 14th.

What I'm Writing

1. I got to travel to the home of my heart (and my novel) to report this story on the traditional southern French tradition of cooking snails over an open fire (and drizzling them with flaming lard) for Saveur.

2. I'm so proud to have contributed four chapters to the brand-new Fodor's Inside Paris guide.

3. Paris isn't hard to enjoy with children, but I've tried to make it even easier with this guide to visiting Paris with kids for Fodor's.
 

What I'm Reading

1. This story in favor of low-stakes, casual friendships (which pretty much saved me in the three years it took me to make real friends in Paris) in the New York Times.

2. This exploration of why it's so hard for men to say "I love you" to one another, also in the New York Times.

3. This introspective, informative piece about the gig economy, in the New Republic.

A bientôt !
Emily in France