(Image: the Hotel de Sens, one of the sites we visit in the Marais)
The wise, kind and generous Mr. D. Clark of California read “Paris, Paris” and liked it enough to want to take one of our custom tours of Paris (based in part on the book). He and his charming wife and I had a great time tramping around the Marais, Ile Saint Louis, Latin Quarter and Saint Germain des Pres… a 9-hour hoof… they were troopers.
It’s incredibly rewarding to connect with readers–and tour guests. Merci, monsieur et madame Clark!
Here’s the review and a link (click below):
Ever since my college days when I listened to Judy Collins sing, “My father always promised us that we would live in France….” I have been intrigued by Paris. Several years ago my wife and I finally had the opportunity to visit for a week. We visited all the tourist spots and at the same time became enchanted with the city. Longing for a more personal experience we later returned and ventured a little more into the markets and areas behind the grand boulevards. Again we were left with the feeling that we were still missing the true soul of the city. We decided to return once more to Paris but this time stay in an entirely different area, the Marais. We needed something to help us meet our curiosity about this great, possibly the greatest, city in the world. Since our past visits had left us short of our goal, I began looking beyond the typical tourist guide books to find more of an insider’s experience of the day-to-day life of the city, its people, parks, and unique neighborhoods with winding streets, plus information on the history and architecture of the areas off the beaten path. We wanted to be Parisians for a week.
This book of vignettes provided exactly what I was looking for. With the author’s keen sense of observation and vast store of knowledge combined with his style of prose, this reader felt that he was strolling alongside a congenial friend through each experience.
When we returned to Paris in the fall of 2012, we contacted David, who lives in Paris, and asked him to give us a personal tour of some of the areas he wrote about in his book. We spent a memorable day with David and saw the city as we had never seen it before. We can hardly wait to return and explore even more of the city “Paris, Paris” introduced us to.
Be First to Comment