sarahsnowchic

If you arrive in Paris over a long weekend in Summer, your trip-advisor top ten might be thrown into disarray upon finding that many of the attractions are closed on Sundays, Mondays, some Tuesdays.. the first weekend of the month oh and much of August.  But not to despair, where previous mid-winter trips might see you escaping the unfriendly frost losing hours inside the Louvre immersed in anthropological study of the origins of mankind, starting in the basement of ancient civilisation onward to the masterpieces of Italian renaissance making your way into the 19th Century...perhaps never to come up for air except to seek solace from sleet inside lesser known indoor galleries and shopping strips... Paris in Summer is made for exploring and while historical and cultural ventures are a must, incorporating market visits, canal walks and outdoor activities should create a completely different but equally memorable adventure altogether. On this most recent visit, I made it...

The year is 2006. A serene, meditative and chilly Paris november awaits...... Bonjour! I write to you all again from a humble apartment in the centre of France where i have just arrived- nestled in the regional, mountainous town of Grenoble, winter is descending but snow is still a few weeks away.  As the title of this email suggests, here follows a reflection on what was barely enough time in the 'worldwide centre of artistic and intellectual Avant Garde'- yes, Paris (or pqrs! as this obtuse keyboard would have me type):  A city where drinking wine can be cheaper than water and the only other reasonably priced consumable is probably and comparatively bananas* Note: too many chocolate/banana crepes is never a good thing. But yet, (obligatory pastries/crepes overindulgance aside) also a fitting destination to continue my exploration into European and French art history, alluded to in my first email- from it's Classical be...