Emily in France 🇫🇷 A Typically Parisian Day
I've been here 18 years... and it shows.
I mentioned in last week’s newsletter that I’d been in France for 18 years, a milestone I actually passed in February. Partially in honor of this anniversary (and partially just for kicks), on a grey day two months ago, my girlfriend and I decided to embark upon the most stereotypically Parisian day we could think of.
We started things off with a typically Parisian (first) breakfast: coffee drunk out of bowls.
We then bundled up for a morning meander through the Marais, during which I sighed a lot, stared moodily into space, and sported this bright red beret, which, yes, I wore all day.
The fact that we ate nothing at home wasn't because we were emulating the café-clope that is a Parisian’s standard breakfast. Rather, we had decided to lean into the tourist mindset and have a second breakfast at a classic French café.
My girlfriend was in charge of picking the place, and I was thrilled with her choice. Café Hugo is named for one of my literary heroes and indeed located on the same square where he once lived, Place des Vosges. (Our croissants and cafés-crème were both excellent.)
We stopped for a bit of light reading on the square. Place des Vosges is Paris’ oldest planned square, so it should come as no surprise that this was not its first name. In the 16th century, it was dubbed Place Royale; following the French Revolution, its name was changed to honor, not the newly-decapitated monarch, but rather the picturesque mountain range to the east where I discovered farmstead Munster last year.
It seemed high time for a bit of culture, so we turned next to the Musée Carnavalet, a free museum dedicated to the history of the city of Paris. It’s one of many mansions-turned-museums in the Marais, some of which I showcase on my Sweets in the Swamp tour, which combines a wander through this historic neighborhood with copious pastry tastings.
The layout of the Carnavalet makes it easy to walk from the Ancient past all the way to the present, and a special exhibit on the Seine added some novelty to the collections I already know well.
We stopped for yet another coffee at Le Fer à Cheval, a café owned by Xavier Denamur, who also owns the nearby Les Philosophes. I loved this image, complete with the antique telephone, but we chose, in true Parisian fashion, to sip our coffees at the horseshoe bar for which the café is named. It was strewn with the daily papers and bustled with activity, making Balzac’s observation that the café is the “parliament of the people” ring especially true.
Thusly caffeinated, we wandered down to 69, rue du Temple, where, we’d learned at the Carnavalet, was where Philippe Auguste’s medieval confining wall once divided Paris from not-Paris. I’m familiar with some vestiges of this wall, notably the pieces that still remain hidden behind the Pantheon and below rue Saint-Antoine, but it was exciting to find another echo of this previous version of Paris.
We were starting to get hungry, and so, in pursuit of the perfect café for lunch, we crossed from the Right Bank onto Ile de la Cité.
We said a quick hello to Notre-Dame, looking particularly radiant after her renovation.
And after a nose in the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, strangely devoid of its omnipresent queue...
... we found the perfect spot for my favorite Parisian lunch, a croque madame. Le Soufflot is the sort of classic spot that could be great and could be awful, especially given its central location.
In my opinion, it falls firmly into the unassumingly great category, given its reliance on good ingredients like the organic eggs that go into its perfectly moist omelettes and the Poilâne bread that lends a rustic flair to the croque.
While the wine here was just fine, it was the perfect prop for making judgmental faces at those who didn't linger for over an hour, as a Parisian lunch truly demands.
And what’s more, the café gourmand was the prototypical ideal, complete with a mini chocolate mousse, a crème brûlée, and a slice of apple tart.
We strolled past the Pantheon, a necropolis now home to the remains of 81 great minds of France, of which just six are women. Marie Curie was joined in 2015 by two Résistantes, Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz and Germaine Tillon, and then by Simone Veil in 2018 and Joséphine Baker in 2021.
My word of the year this year was originally going to be serendipity, until I realized that I couldn't control serendipity, but I could control spontaneity. Both were working their magic when we walked past my favorite independent cinema in the neighborhood, le Filmothèque du Quartier Latin, to find that A Bout de souffle was playing in just 20 minutes. We eagerly grabbed tickets and joined the surprising throng for this midweek matinée.
After the movie, we took a wander through the nearby Jardin de Luxembourg, where Hemingway ostensibly once strangled pigeons and hid them in a baby carriage to take them home to roast.
We paid a visit to Gertrude Stein’s previous abode at 27, rue de Fleurus.
And as twilight began to fall, inviting the illumination of the local Haussmannien buildings with butter-yellow light…
...we decided it was time for apéro.
The pours of wine of the day at this café just off Place Saint-Michel felt a bit too generous to be truly Parisian – not that I’m complaining! – but the accompanying Duralex glass of popcorn was utter perfection.
I was in charge of picking a spot for dinner, and there seemed nowhere more perfect than Brasserie Lipp, a 145-year-old institution where Hemingway once dined on herring and potatoes accompanied by a glass of beer.
The Old World values are alive and well at this brasserie, where neither shorts nor cell phones are allowed and where you're forbidden from ordering a salad as a main dish. The food, from classic céleri remoulade and leek-vinaigrette to an imposing fried pig trotter, was classic, copious, and very tasty.
After our leisurely, hours-long repast, we decided to meander home in the moonlight, giving a nod to the Académie Française, home to the armed defenders of the French language that was, I must remember, my love far before I fell in love with Paris.
All in all, a success – and one we plan to replicate soon!
Cheese of the Week
Paris isn't home to that many native cheeses, given the dearth of sheep, cows, and goats, but at la Laiterie de Paris, cheesemaker Pierre Coulon is crafting a few urban specialties. This fresh goat cheese with za’atar, hazelnuts, and honey is a seasonal creation that I absolutely love.
To discover more of my favorite cheeses, be sure to follow me on Instagram @emily_in_france, subscribe to my YouTube channel, and tune into the Terroir Podcast, where Caroline Conner and I delve into France's cheese, wine, and more one region at a time.
What I’m Eating
Le Train Bleu is a majestic, historic restaurant first founded in 1900, at the time of the World’s Fair. Today, it oozes luxury and is the perfect place to indulge in tableside service of specialties like steak tartare, roast lamb’s leg, or crêpes suzette. More on the blog.
Where I’m Going
1. To attend the launch of a brand-new literary app onboard my favorite musical barge, le Marcounet.
2. To the Picasso Museum, yet another mansion-turned museum in the Marais. The museum is currently hosting an exhibit on Degenerate Art during the Nazi régime.
3. To Naam, a Thai spot in one of my favorite Parisian neighborhoods.
What I’m Doing
I’m so excited to announce the next dates for TERRE/MER, the ceramics and culinary retreat I co-host in the Mediterranean seaside town of la Ciotat. This long weekend is governed by creativity and terroir, encompassing a 10-hour ceramics workshop, three locally-sourced meals a day (prepared with love by yours truly), hands-on cooking workshops, a cheese tasting (bien sûr), and more.
We'll be welcoming our next small group September 4-7. Take advantage of our Early Bird discount – a nearly 100-euro savings – by booking your spot now!
What I'm Writing
1. Brasserie Bellanger is a new-wave brasserie where a three-course menu costs less than a main at the old-guard spots. For the Infatuation.
2. Here are five ways import tariffs levied on Canada and Mexico may affect your grocery store shop. For Organic Authority.
3. From the archives: Wales may not have the romantic appeal of Ireland, but it totally should. Not only does this country boast equally gorgeous landscapes (and far more castles than you’d expect for its 8,000 square miles), but it’s also rich in local terroir – and cheese. For InsideHook.
FAQs
With the goal of bringing you the content you crave, I'm soliciting your help. What questions can I answer for you? Drop them into the newsletter chat, and I’ll answer as many as I can!
What I'm Reading
1. Hot Stew is a multi-perspective exploration of the gentrification of Soho and its effects on sex workers. It was pure pleasure to delve into each of the unique chorus of voices propelling the narrative forward. And while I wasn't wholly convinced by the payoff promised by the ending, the narratives I cared most about concluded in a way that was wholly satisfying.
2. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told, upon sharing that I write fiction, that “no one reads anymore.” I know this isn’t true, but just in case, here’s some proof. In the Associated Press.
3. This lovely analysis of the fun-filled Normandy trains. In France with Véro.
A bientôt !