When I first came across this blog I was immediately impressed by the quality of the writing; in the directory I simply said "She's good, really good...Enough said. Check it out." So I suppose it didn't surprise me that the author, Kim, turned out to be a professional journalist. What did surprise me was that she is a former war correspondent since I doubt the light hearted, jovial observations and style was developed covering conflicts.

Kim says "the genesis of the blog was my decision to give up work for a year and spend 10 days a month in London to encourage my half English, half French toddler daughter to become bilingual. I try to explore the differences, myths and explode the stereotypes people have of Paris/France and London/Britain and hopefully amuse readers too."

She certainly succeeds in amusing, talking about her daughter's ("who insists a horse is a cheval and a frog is just pond life") cultural and linguistic development, as well as experiences of her own linguistic faux pax and Parisian customs and idiosyncrasies.

All in all it's an excellent example of a blog that entertains as well as informs. A visitor to Paris can learn a lot from Kim's blog, and perhaps even save themselves a few blushes!

Kim's Paris highlights:

FAVOURITE BAR/CAFÉ

Café Les Philosophes. When I first arrived in Paris an English girlfriend and I used to sit on the terrace of this café/restaurant in the heart of
the trendy Marais and see if we could spot any French person hurrying. We never could. Not one. We would then marvel at how civilised and
relaxed it was in Paris.
Les Philosophes: 28 rue Vieille du Temple, 75003 Paris.

FAVOURITE LOCAL DISH

If I am not on a diet and am hungry, I will hunt down a “Confit de Canard with Pommes de terre Sarladaises”. This dish is not for the faint-
hearted. The duck confit is made in a process that dates back centuries involving curing the duck leg then poaching it in its own fat. Really
good confit de canard is crispy on the outside and moist inside. The potatoes should be the same, like good chips except wheel shaped and
cooked in the duck fat. A close second is a “Magret de Canard” a breast of duck served in its own juice. One of the best restaurants I have
found in Paris for traditional country food – including foie gras - is the Domaine de Lintillac 10 rue St Augustin, 75002 Tel: 01 40 20 96 27.
Not a good idea for vegetarians or those squeamish about force-feeding ducks and geese.

FAVOURITE RESTAURANT

Where to start in the gastronomic capital of the world? Friends and former colleagues visiting Paris are always asking where they should eat
and it depends largely on two things: mood and money. I could fill a book with recommendations but we keep returning to one small,
intimate, unpretentious restaurant near our home called Au Fil des Saisons, where we are still welcome even though my husband once phoned
up to make a reservation and mistook the waitress for the answering machine. You’ll need a map to find it in a small alley in the Marais but
the traditional food is imaginatively prepared in-house and affordable. Just a warning: don’t be tempted by the skewer of warm bread rolls or
you won’t have room for the main course.
Au Fil des Saison: 65 rue Fontaines du Temple, 75003, Paris. 01 42 74 16 60

BEST TIME TO VISIT

July and August. A large number of Parisiens have left town for their summer holidays so the streets are less crowded and the roads less
congested. Some shops and restaurants have pulled down the shutters while their owners enjoy “les vacances’, but the majority are still open.
There are more tourists, but the city is calmer.

FAVOURITE NEIGHBOURHOOD

The Marais. People talk of north-south or east-west divides, but in Paris it is a right-left divide. Paris lovers split into those who swear by
Paris’ celebrated Left Bank of the Seine with its historic Latin Quarter and chic arrondissements and those devoted to the Right Bank. I love
wandering around the narrow streets of the Marais, meaning “marsh” one of the oldest parts of the city that stretches north from the main
road between the Bastille and the Hotel de Ville (City Hall). Here you will find the Jewish Quarter, the Chinese Quarter, the Gay Quarter and the
generally trendy quarter as well as the impossibly elegant Place des Vosges, the rue des Francs-Bourgeois, one of the rare streets in Paris
where shops open on Sundays.

FAVOURITE BUILDING

The Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Sacré Coeur, the Conciergerie, the Arc de Triomphe, the Opera. There are so many lovely buildings in Paris it is
hard to pick just one. The Louvre, one of the glories of the French Renaissance, sits magnificently at one end of the architectural spectrum
and the extraordinary Pompidou Centre, circa 1970 at the other. I do love the recently renovated Tour Saint Jacques near the equally
magnificent Hotel du Ville and the Theatre de la Renaissance just on the north edge of the Marais near Place de la Republique and the often
missed arches of Porte Saint Martin and Porte Saint Denis. I know; that’s not one favourite building, that’s a dozen!

A PERFECT NIGHT OUT WOULD BE…

Dinner on a balmy evening on the terrace of the Georges restaurant at the top of the Pompidou Centre with its panoramic view of Paris (said
by those who hate modern architecture to be the best view in the city because it does NOT include the Pompidou Centre), followed by a
romantic stroll down to the Seine and through the “village” of Saint-Paul-Le Marais where I lived when I first moved to Paris and a nightcap in
one of the local bars.

FAVOURITE WALK

Around the Rodin Museum (77 rue de Varenne, 75007) and its gardens or along the Canal Saint Martin to the Port de l’Arsenal at Bastille. I
have just discovered a fabulous aerial walkway called the Planted Promenade that starts just behind Place de la Bastille and goes to the Bois
de Vincennes. Here’s a link to the Wikipedia page OR the official website (French)

FAVOURITE BOOK ABOUT THE CITY

Hard choice again, but I would have to go for a lovely book called ‘Paris: The Essential City’, written by Godfrey Howard and published in
1988. I don’t know if it has been reprinted since, but it deserves to be. It is probably a little out of date as a guidebook but it is a beautiful
description of the city peppered with fascinating history and quotes about Paris from clever and celebrated people past and present. More
recently, Metrostop Paris: History from the City’s Heart by Gregor Dallas.

BEST DAY TRIP

The Chateau de Versailles for the unsurpassed grandeur of the court of the Sun King Louis XIV. It is 20 km from Paris on the RER C to
Versailles- Rive Gauche. Alternatively take the RER A to the more modest Saint-Germain-en-Laye with its chateau and wonderful park in the
western suburbs of Paris.

TOP TIP FOR VISITORS

Look up. The streets of Paris are a minefield of dog poo, which is why most people walk around looking at their shoes – and you thought they
were just being unfriendly and avoiding eye contact. But take a risk, look up and wherever you are in Paris you will spot something unusual: a
statue in a niche, a beautiful architrave, an unusual window, stunning terraces, inscriptions, blue plaques marking fallen heroes of the French
Resistance, gargoyles and even hieroglyphics.

SOMETHING YOU DIDN’T KNOW

Tucked away behind the baroque church of Saint Gervais and Saint Protais one of Paris’s oldest churches, in the IVth arrondissment, is the rue
des Barres a well-hidden cobbled pedestrian street leading up from the Seine. It isn’t very long but considering it is sandwiched between the
main road running along the rive droite and the busy rue de Rivoli it is surprisingly insulated from traffic noise. Stop and have a café in this
haven of peace and you will probably see robed monks and nuns strolling around. There are also free recitals at the church, usually the
afternoon of the first Saturday of the month, on the oldest organ in Paris built in 1601.