In France a café is occasionally good but I’m sorry to say more often than not it isn’t very good.

What pains me most about French café is it’s often double the cost of a café in Italy, unless you are in a very tiny village d’étape (a French village with less than 5,000 inhabitants situated just off a free highway) and even then the quality could go either way.

A café in France sometimes arrives with a cookie, a piece of chocolate or even a tiny cube of nougat.   This makes me happy because it balances out the potentially bad café.

But in France your not just paying for an often watery bitter café you are paying rent for your seat and your view…to watch the people passing by, read the newspaper, talk with friends or just relax.

I like the relaxing part…so as you can imagine good or bad I’ve been drinking a lot of French café.

Enjoy!

Leslie

Launched in July 2007 Vélib’ is Paris’ public bike program.  Today Paris has 20,000 bicycles and more than 1,600 stations in the Vélib’ program.  For 1 Euro you can have access to bikes for 24 hours and your first half hour of use is free.

Other than a flat tire, I’ve never had a problem with the system until this visit.  I thought I had properly returned a bike but when I went  to take another bike (by chance at the same station) the machine said I currently had a bike out.  Yikes!

I pressed the service button on the station’s machine to speak with a Vélib’ representative to find out what went wrong but the passing cars and motorcycles made the voice nearly inaudible.  The representative explained she couldn’t speak louder because she would disturb her colleagues.  The conversation was a classic French lesson of ecoutez et repetez (listen and repeat) or maybe it was more listen and scream back what you thought your heard.

My language test ended once I located the bike, set it properly in its stand and was told I would be charged 35,00 Euro (about $48.00) for my mistake but I could call the help number on the machine for information on obtaining a credit.

When I called the number it was the same representative who continued the test by giving me an exhaustive explanation of how to obtain my Vélib’ credit.  I gave her my best “Oui Madame, merci beacoup” (Yes Madame, thank you very much) but forgot to mention I’d be calling American Express to get that credit merci!

Vélib’ may be one of the best ways to visit the Eiffel Tower and Le Champs de Mars…just be sure to station your bike properly before walking away and bring your American Express card, not for potential problems but because Vélib’ doesn’t accept any other credit card from the US.

Enjoy!

Leslie

The gardens are large and heading south, away from the river, it’s easy to find locals enjoying this large stretch of green, children swarming around the playgrounds, and groups of foreigners playing pétanque (the French are playing in the Jardin de Luxembourg).

If you have never played pétanque the goal is to throw metal balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball called a cochonnet (literally “piglet”).  Which like nearly everything in France is a reference to food.

On your next visit ask to join the game but be advised some Spanish, French or Italian may be needed or a girl with a very large American smile.

Enjoy!

Leslie

A friend recently told me all she wanted from her first trip to Paris was a picture of the Eiffel Tower.

My last visit was at least fifteen years ago and when friends (non-French) request a visit I tell them they are on their own to wait in the long lines to visit Gustave Eiffel’s iron lattice tower.

But this visit I couldn’t get away from the structure and I loved it.

With perfect weather I bicycled by it everyday and by chance enjoyed a dinner party in an apartment that not only overlooked the tower but had an open terrace that ensured a clear shot – fortunately I wasn’t the only one snapping photos.

If you have never seen the Eiffel Tower in person I hope these pictures inspire a visit. To view more photos visit my Flickr pages.

Enjoy!

Leslie

If you are visiting Paris I can recommend pastry shops, budget or four star restaurants, hidden neighborhoods, small hotels, almost anything Italian and everything in between.

But when I visit Paris there are a few French things I can’t go without.  No fancy brands just my favorite French basics.

Monoprix for shower gel from Le Petit Marseille, T-Shirts from Petit Bateau, a Pharamacie or Parapharmacie (preferably Pharmacie Fouhety at 26 Rue du Four – for the best selection and prices) for Anthelios Sunscreen and La Roche-Posay Lip Balm.

This is not what most people think of when they are heading to Paris.  But for a city known for sophistication sometimes the basics are really the best.

For those of you heading to Paris…  Enjoy!

Leslie

But I keep trying and I’m committed to one day buying a wide angle lens to experiment even more.

One of my favorite photographers is Jean-Michel Berts (the French Ansel Adams of architecture).  He says “Architecture is the cultural reflection of a civilization” – so true, especially for Paris.

You can’t visit Paris and not want to be a part of it.  The city is beautiful, imposing, and sometimes daunting (Which I’m sure the kings liked).

Paris is one city by day and another by night.  When the sun goes down and the lights go on the city sparkles, but with more than two thousand years of history it can also feel haunted.

When you have a car in Paris there is nothing better than a “Paris by Night”.  Driving around the city at night with no other reason then to enjoy the city lit up.

Even if the photos aren’t perfection I hope they convey some of the emotion of seeing Paris by night.

Enjoy!

Leslie

PS: Visit the Sous Les Etoiles Gallery through January 29th for an exhibition of “The Cities of Jean-Michel Berts”.

This visit I noticed more Velib bicycle stations – Yeah!

I also noted fantastic improvements in the public transportation system.  Changes included renovated, cleaner metro stations, with improved signage, and new digital panels displaying the current time and estimated time of arrival for your bus or train.

I also noticed American cookies everywhere.  They have become a staple next to the brownies in many boulangeries.  With all the sophisticated pastries and chocolate wonders in France who would have thought a basic chocolate chip cookie could be so popular.

However, there are things in France that never change and in January that is les galettes des rois (the king’s cakes).  The galette des rois are the traditional pastry of Epiphany celebrated on January 6th, but the French seem to celebrate it all month – perhaps an excuse to eat more galette des rois.

If you visit France in January you can’t miss les galettes des rois as they are displayed, front and center, in the window of every boulangerie in France.

This round flaky puff pastry is filled with almond paste or frangipan (a combination of almond cream and pastry cream).  They come in an array of sizes and are purchased by the number of people you will be serving.

If you are lucky enough to celebrate Ephiphany with a French family or friends you’ll know the novelty of the galette des rois is not just the quality of the pastry but the fève (little figurine) that is hidden inside the pastry. The youngest at the table, will hide under the table and call out who gets each slice.

Whoever finds the fève (which can be plastic, porcelain or even a fancy jewel) gets to be crowned king or queen for day.  Paper crowns (alla Burger King) are typically included with your galette des rois.

If you have never tasted a galette des rois, they are worth a try.  Make a note in your January 2011 calendar to reserve a galette des rois from your local French baker to share with friends or family (with or without the crowns).

A trip to France next January would definitely ensure you taste a galette des rois.  If not you can always enjoy the experience right here without the calories or risk of cracking a tooth on a fève.

Enjoy!

Leslie

The city is divided into twenty arrondissements (administrative districts) and each district has its own personality.

The twenty arrondissements are like a large group of little French villages.  With their own governing body, they service residents with what I consider the French basics; des cafés (cafes), des boulangeries (bakeries), une poissonerie (a fish monger), une fromagerie (a cheese shop), un supermarché (a supermarket), une église ou deux (a church or two), un station metro (a subway station) and a few Vélib bicycle stations.

Many French frequent the same café or boulangerie in their arrondissement – usually because it’s the best quality in the neighborhood.   It also develops the feel of living in a small village – you may never know your neighbor but you will probably know your local baker.

When you live in Paris it’s easy to overlook the enjoyment of having local merchants (especially when you’re in a rush) but as a foreigner it’s a distinct point of difference that adds to the uniqueness and beauty of the city.

Here’s a look at a few of the arrondissements of Paris.

Enjoy!

Leslie

If you’ve been following my blog since June or the original site you know about the biannual girls weekend.

The January girls weekend is in Paris.  It includes faire les magasins (shopping the stores), les soldes (the sales), eating, gossiping, a lot of picture taking, coffee breaks, and finalizing our resolutions for 2010.

For the first time we were not so lucky with the weather.  Saturday our principal shopping day was pourri (terrible, rotten).  Paris was cold, damp and rainy (Although it was nothing compared to being caught together in a thunderstorm, hiking in the South of France, with no rain gear).

No matter what the weather or the location, what’s important is that we have time together and that we se mettre d’accord (agree) on our next girls weekend.

As last January, a special merci (thank you) to Michele for organizing the restaurants and ensuring we ate well over the weekend and to Mapie who entertained us our fist night in Paris with a home cooked meal.

Here is a very quick run through our girls weekend – Thank you girls, see you in July!

Leslie

Biking has become very chic, with recent features in the New York Times Style section, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar and not to mention store windows.

Who doesn’t want to ride a bike, especially when you have the right bike like an Electra Bike?

A recent study found that 71 percent of people wished they biked more but gathering the gear and know-how can be intimidating.*

I’ll bike anywhere…Paris, Rome, New York even Clermont Ferrand.   Biking not only allows me to eat the food I post about (especially chocolate from The Sweet Life), it’s convenient, there is always parking, it’s environmentally friendly and it’s free!

And above all it’s truly enjoyable!

In 2007 Paris launched a public bicycle program called Vélib with 10,000 bicycles and 750 automated rental stations, today the city has 20,000 bicycles and 1,450 stations.  Not only is the program a success, it’s the largest system of its kind in the world!

I’m patiently awaiting New York’s program but until then I continue to promote biking in the city, one person at a time… because the more bikers, the more bike lanes and with more bike lanes we can all bike to enjoy more sweets from The Sweet Life!

So if you looking for some free enjoyment, exercise included, consider a visit to your local bike shop to gather advice and information on the best bikes, gear and safety – and get biking!

Here are a few of my favorite NYC bike shops and a link to New York’s Bike Jumble on September 13th…

A Bicycle Shop 163 West 22nd Street, New York, NY 10011 - Tel: (212) 691-6149

NYC Velo 64 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10003 - Tel: (212) 253-7771

Sids Bikes 235 East 34th Street, New York, NY 10016 - Tel: (212) 213-8360

Enjoy!

Leslie

* SHAPE, May 2009