What can I add to this week’s hundreds of tributes to the legendary proprietor of Paris’s Shakespeare and Company bookshop, George Whitman, including one by the writer, Jeanette Winterson?

Why was she impelled to remember him in print? Because, like so many others, she had stayed at Shakespeare and Company. George Whitman started a tradition of hosting writers, most famously members of the Beat generation, and the bookshop’s ‘Tumbleweed Hotel’ is still a place where literary dreamers can exchange a few hours’ work in the shop for a bed on a bench amongst the books of George’s personal open library on the first floor.

When I came to Shakespeare and Company a couple of years ago, it was a while before I actually met George. Already in his mid-90s, he spent his days in the apartment on the top floor.

He still owned the shop downstairs, now run expertly by his daughter Sylvia and her team, its ‘Tumbleweed Hotel’ principles intact.

When they arrive, Tumbleweeds are required to write a brief biography for the shop’s records. Employed by the shop to create stair murals, I decided I would do this later. Anyway I was here to draw, not write. I wasn’t a Tumbleweed.

Was I?

The next time I stayed I didn’t write it either, but I did spend my time writing. I’d do it on the next visit.

Or the next…

The last time I visited the shop in October 2011 , Paris was cold. George had just suffered a stroke and was in hospital, ‘recovering well’. The writers’ room, with its tiny electric radiator, was warm. Under my window, tourists snapped continually; Tumbleweeds lunched at the little round table by the door; drunks gathered at the fountain; a busker turned up and performed Shakespeare’s most famous speeches in rotation. Later on, the drummers took over outside the cathedral.

I stopped writing to eat at the café across the road. The man at the next table was telling his teenage daughter – her first trip to Paris – about how he’d been to one of George’s famous Sunday teas and heard the bookseller relate how he had set off to walk from North to South America but had been forced to turn back in the impassible Central American jungle. He was like a child, the man said. It was like he didn’t understand why he just couldn’t go as far as he wanted to go.

But after opening Le Mistral in 1951, which became Shakespeare and Company in 1964, the traveler largely stayed put in Paris, dying peacefully last Wednesday in his apartment above the shop, two days after his 98th birthday.

I walked back from the café to the bookshop and got back to work.

I wrote. Notre Dame chimed ‘Three Blind Mice’ on the hour: the light went.

I thought about space: Kilometer Zero in front of Notre Dame; Place René Viviani  next to the shop where the 2010 Shakespeare and Company Literary Festival was held – a free event into which the public could wander. That was the last time I had seen George downstairs; wearing an extravagant paisley jacket, he was carried in triumph through the shop on a sofa held shoulder-high by Tumbleweeds.

And then there is that other space, George’s library above the shop, also open to anyone who wants to come in and use it.

I stopped work. Downstairs I heard the rumble of Tumbleweeds pulling the carts of books into the shop as they begun shutting up for the night.

The moon rose over Paris.

All these things I noticed only courtesy of the man upstairs : by staying where he was, Whitman allowed others to travel.

Thank you, George.

Written by Badaude for the HiP Paris Blog. Looking for a fabulous vacation rental in Paris, Provence, or Tuscany? Check out Haven in Paris.

When I popped home to the UK in November, London was already in full festive swing with Christmas trees, festive songs and neon lights galore. Sent back with a Cadbury’s chocolate advent calendar adorned with an oversized Santa, I was ready to start the Christmas season with a bang.

Making Magique

Yet once back home across the pond, I realized Paris hadn’t joined in on the fun yet. I was ready to start in on my advent calendar and temperatures were plunging, but where were all those tell tale signs that our favorite mid-winter festival was fast approaching?

This set me thinking. What exactly is a Parisian Christmas? What happens in the cold windy days leading up to the big event? I set out on a mission to discover the seasonal delights that France’s most romantic city had to offer.

Little Brown Pen

Shopping

Although the Christmas shopping frenzy begins relatively late in Paris (thankfully, shops only step into gear at the end of November), once it gets going, it really gets going. Stores go all out with light shows and designer-crafted window displays – always tasteful, bien sur. First stop? Paris’s iconic department stores. Whilst London has toy-filled Hamleys and elegant Harrods, Paris showcases its trademark sophistication with Les Galleries Lafayette and the neighbouring Printemps, where Karl Lagerfeld’s touch marks this year’s displays: think Chanel-clad rock ‘n’ roll dolls strumming their electric guitars and 20m Christmas trees.

Conclusion: a little slow off the starting blocks, but Paris comes through in true style.
Printemps: 64, bd Haussmann, metro Havre Chaumartin
Galleries Lafayette: 40, bd Haussmann, metro Chausee d’Antin – Fayette

Little Brown Pen

Markets
December in Paris wouldn’t be complete without a good dose of Christmas markets. The stalls clustered along the Champs Elysees are beautifully situated (one of the most luxurious streets in the world all lit up with golden lights – what more could you want!) with the roaring traffic detracting only a little from the romantic scene. I highly recommended warming up with some mulled wine, nibbling on roasted chestnuts (a French Christmas favorite) and finishing it all off with a chocolate dipped apple.

Conclusion: Christmas markets are a key Parisian Christmas ingredient. They may not be big or overly original, but they are brimming with seasonal good cheer (with a little help from the steaming vin chaud).
November 19 – January 2, 2012, Avenue des Champs-Elysées to the Place de la Concorde ( Metro Champs Elysées-Clemenceau or Concorde)
For a full list of Paris’ neighborhood Christmas Markets, click here

Carams

More Christmassy excitement

What else does Paris have store for Christmas-lovers? Having diligently wandered the streets, I’ve definitely had my festive fix for 2011.  My highlights include:

-    The illuminated Ferris Wheel at the Place de la Concorde
-    The elegant lights in the cobbled rue Montorgueil
-    The giant Christmas tree outside Notre Dame cathedral
-    The temporary ice skating at Hotel de Ville
Although Christmas cheer may hit the French capital a little late, Parisians certainly know how to do the festive run-up with taste. If we’ve missed anything, please drop us a comment with your favourite Paris Christmas moments below!
Wherever you are this Christmas, I wish you all a joyeux Noël!

Stop by the Corner

Related Links:

• The NY Times has some great tips on what to do in Paris on Christmas Day
• Here’s a funny post on the French love for fake Christmas trees… truly inexplicable. 
• Paris By Mouth has a great list of restaurant recommendations open for Christmas in Paris

Written by Victoria Wall for the HiP Paris Blog. Looking for a fabulous vacation rental in Paris, Provence, or Tuscany? Check out Haven in Paris.

Whoever said “all that glitters is not gold” can’t have visited Paris in December. I mean, why would anyone recoil at the prospect of ordinary, everyday sights being transformed into such delicious, enchanting illusions? From a damp black pavement glowing red, then amber, then green to the Eiffel Tower fizzing in a blaze of sparks, Paris in winter is pure magic.

But this light show is nothing new.  The French capital has been flickering on and off for centuries.  Its history stretches all the way back to the 1600s when a public decree ordered for lights to burn in the windows of all houses that faced onto the streets of Paris.  Ta-da, and so the City of Light was born…

La Grande Roue at the Place de la Concorde, Paris (Feuillu)

These days, over 100 streets are lit up from late November to late January to accompany Paris’ permanently illuminated monuments. Fancy basking in the city’s reflected glory? Follow my lead and wrap up warm for a bracing evening stroll along the Champs-Elysées.  The mile-long route from place de la Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe glistens under a canopy of bright white fairy lights.  Everywhere you look, there’s a sprinkling of fairy dust and Christmas cheer.  Only the proverbial Scrooge would turn down a helping of roasted chestnuts or a spin on the twinkly Tuileries Ferris Wheel.

Back on solid ground, the festive season is seeing the city’s department stores and boutiques going all out to seduce shoppers.  This year’s musical-themed Christmas windows of Galeries Lafayette are already attracting huge crowds. Meanwhile, still on Haussman, Printemps is putting on an equally strong performance courtesy of Lanvin’s tuxedo-clad puppets and ethereal lights.

Façade of Galleries Lafayette in 2009 (JournaldesVitrines)

I wouldn’t dare write about winter magic in Paris without mentioning the iconic Christmas tree at Notre Dame Cathedral.  Soaring into the night sky for over 20 metres in height, this gloriously festooned wonder takes up residence at the cathedral between November 27, 2010 - February 2, 2011.

Finally, for those starry-eyed magpies amongst us, there’s a treat in store in the form of the Intercontinental Paris Le Grand’s display of avant-garde Christmas trees.  Dreamt up by students from the Fashion department at the Ecole Mod’ Art International, this year’s theme is ‘Wild Christmas’.

Seine River all lit up: TaboadaTesta

For your pleasure, here are some fun facts on these events:

Tuileries Ferris Wheel: Open November 19, 2010 – February 27, 2011.  Entry: €10 Adults, €5 Children under 10. Metro Concorde.

Notre Dame Cathedral: Admission to the church is free. Metro: St-Michel Notre Dame – RER B Train Line (blue), St-Michel Notre Dame – RER C Train Line (yellow).

Fashion Christmas Trees: Open November 24, 2010 – January 3, 2011, Intercontinental Paris Le Grand, 2, rue Scribe 75009 . Metro Opéra, RER Auber, SNCF Gare Saint-Lazare.

Related Links:

• Le Best of Paris on their favorite places to be in December in Paris
• Amy Thomas (God I Love Paris) has some great wintry shots of Paris and last-minute gift recommendations
• Paris in Pink also has lovely shots of festive window displays and couture tree ornaments…
  

Written by Fiona Hilliard for the HiP Paris Blog. Fiona Hilliard is a Travel writer and blogger from Dublin, Ireland. She writes for the Glove Box Blog. Looking for a fabulous vacation rental in Paris, Provence, or Tuscany? Check out Haven in Paris.

NOT the Eiffel Tower. We’ve seen it so many times! From the Lumière Brothers’ 1897 Panorama to Merchant Ivory’s 2003 Le Divorce. You can also forget Sacre Coeur (Amelie, 2001) and Notre Dame (all the Hunchback movies). But there are hidden romantic movie locations all over Paris waiting to be discovered…

L’Hôtel Du Nord  – Hôtel Du Nord – Michel Carné (1938).

Now this one’s complicated so listen carefully. When Michel Carné made his classic movie of doomed love and dreams of escape in 1938, the decrepit Hôtel Du Nord on the Canal Saint Martin had already closed. So set designer Alexandre Trauner reconstructed the building and a whole stretch of the canal (complete with bridges) on a soundstage outside Paris. The real-life hotel was saved from demolition by its newfound on-screen fame and is now a restaurant of the same name, capitalizing on the movie’s retro glamour. It’s well worth a stop for its boho setting as well as its manouche (gypsy jazz à la Django Reinhardt) nights every Thursday. Sadly the hotel does not actually rent out rooms.

Lisa Weatherbee – Hotel Du Nord

La Place de Furstemberg – L’Appartment – Giles Memouni (1996)

I’m finding it difficult to track down the ‘little Place near the Luxembourg gardens’ where the lovers in L’Appartment, Giles Memouni’s 1996 little-known but impossibly romantic and twisty Hitchcockian thriller, meet, or fail to, but I think it’s the Place de Furstemberg in Saint Germain. Additional romance factor – Vincent Cassel and Monica Bellucci, the Brangelina of French film, met on set. While you’re there, you can also visit 19^th century painter Delacroix’s house and studio, now a museum, in the corner of the Place.

A Bout de Souffle – Jean Luc Goddard (1960) – Rue Campagne Première

Badaude – Click on image to view larger size