Donner un conseil

Every time I visit Paris, I find some great new places to shop, dine, or just soak up the joy of being in my favorite city. Here are a few:

Thomas Antiquités (98 rue Oberkampf, 11th Arrondissement) This is a charming little shop has many affordable and packable pieces, although the knowledgeable owner, Thomas Annie, told me that someone took a chandelier to Canada in her luggage. I had more modest ideas and picked up a pair of adorable cavorting cherubs that now live on my desk.

Au Bain Marie (59 blvd Raspail, 6th Arrondissement and 56 rue de l’Université, 7th Arrondissement) is chock full of pieces to set a beautiful table – some vintage, some made for them, and some carefully curated. The merchandising is so inventive, it’s worth a visit just to gawk at the thousands of covetable objets.

La Meringaie (41 rue du Cherche-midi, 6th Arrondissement and 21 rue de Levis, 17th Arrondissement) Just down the road from one of my favorite lunch spots (Mamie Gâteaux), I did a literal double-take when I caught sight of the beautiful desserts in the  window of La Meringaie. As the name states, each desserts starts with a base of meringue, topped with whipped cream and crowned with glorious fruit – both light and delicious.

La Vallée Village is an upscale outlet in a Paris suburb. I’d known about it for years, but thought I’d have to go to great lengths to get there. It was actually very simple: take the RER A to the Val d’Europe station (one prior to Euro Disney), walk through the mall beside the station, cross the parking lot, and there it is. The deals on the big names were quite impressive. And it’s a beautiful place to shop, even with Instagrammable backdrops, with hashtags already prepared.

Donner un conseil (dun-ay uhn kon-say) means “to give advice.” I hope you enjoyed this little round up of advice of some places to check out the next time you’re in Paris.

Paris in Stride