Paris, Paris Journey into the City of Light

by Downie, David; Johnson, Diane; Harris, Alison

• ISBN13: 9780307886088
• ISBN10: 0307886085
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-04-05
• Publisher: Crown

Summary

#x1C;Beautifully written and refreshingly original& makes us see [Paris] in a different light.#x1D; -- San Francisco Chronicle Book Review Swapping his native San Francisco for the City of Light, travel writer David Downie arrived in Paris in 1986 on a one-way ticket, his head full of romantic notions. Curiosity and the legs of a cross-country runner propelled him daily from an unheated, seventh-floor walk-up garret near the Champs-Elys#xE9;es to the old Montmartre haunts of the doomed painter Modigliani, the tombs of P#xE8;re-Lachaise cemetery, the luxuriant alleys of the Luxembourg Gardens and the aristocratic #xCE;le Saint-Louis midstream in the Seine. Downie wound up living in the chic Marais district, married to the Paris-born American photographer Alison Harris, an equally incurable walker and chronicler. Ten books and a quarter-century later, he still spends several hours every day rambling through Paris, and writing about the city he loves. An irreverent, witty romp featuring thirty-one short prose sketches of people, places and daily life, Paris, Paris : Journey into the City of Light ranges from the glamorous to the least-known corners and characters of the world#x19;s favorite city. #x1C;I loved his collection of essays and anyone who#x19;s visited Paris in the past, or plans to visit in the future, will be equally charmed as well.#x1D; -David Lebovitz, author of The Sweet Life in Paris #x1C;[A] quirky, personal, independent view of the city, its history and its people#x1D;-Mavis Gallant #x1C;Gives fresh poetic insight into the city& a voyage into #x18;the bends and recesses, the jagged edges, the secret interiors#x19; [of Paris].#x1D;- Departures

Author Biography

An American journalist based in Paris since 1986, David Downie has written about European culture, food and travel for magazines and newspapers worldwide. He was a Paris correspondent for Salon.com, Departures, Appellation, and Art & Antiques, and has contributed to epicurious.com, concierge.com and many other websites. Currently he is a European correspondent for Gadling.com, the popular literary travel site.
The author of a dozen works of nonfiction and fiction, Downie’s writing has also appeared in many anthologies, among them The Collected Traveler Paris, Southwest France and Central Italy; Salon.com’s Wanderlust; Travelers’ Tales: Adventures in Wine Country; By The Seat of My Pants; and A Moveable Feast. Please visit David Downie’s website www.davidddownie.com

Table of Contents

Photographs	p. xi
Foreword	p. xiii
By Way of Introduction	p. 1
Paris Places
It's the Water: The Seine	p. 7
A Day in the Park: The Luxembourg Gardens	p. 17
A Lively City of the Dead: Père-Lachaise Cemetery	p. 25
François's Follies: Building Afresh in a Museum City	p. 34
Island in the Seine: Île Saint-Louis	p. 46
Montsouris and Buttes-Chaumont: The Art of the Faux	p. 55
Going Underground	p. 63
Place des Vosges	p. 73
Belly Ache: Les Halles Redux (Again)	p. 83
Hit the Road Jacques	p. 97
Paris People
Coco Chanel	p. 111
Les Bouquinistes	p. 120
Midnight, Montmartre, and Modigliani	p. 129
The Boat People of the Seine	p. 139
Meeting Moreau	p. 148
The Perils of Pompidou	p. 156
Keepers of the Craft: Paris Artisans	p. 165
Dear Dead Vincent van Gogh	p. 176
Beaumarchais's Marais	p. 187
Madame X's Seduction School	p. 195
Paris Phenomena
In the Spring	p. 205
La Ville Lumière: Paris, City of Light	p. 212
Of Cobbles, Bikes, and Bobos	p. 221
Philosophy au Lait	p. 230
Sidewalk Sundae: What Makes Paris Paris	p. 236
Vie de Chien: A Dog's Life	p. 245
Why the Marais Changed Its Spots	p. 256
Night Walking	p. 267
Grave Situations	p. 275
The Janus City, or, Why the Year 1900 Lives On	p. 283
Life's a Café	p. 295
Acknowledgments	p. 305
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