I Prefer Paris

Eye Prefer Paris Tour Photos: Kari Raaen and Jodi & Chelsea

Kari Raaen is a professional photographer specializing in child and family portraits. She was referred to me by a good friend in New York who told me Kari was one of her best friends and was coming to Paris.Kari specifically wanted a tour with good photo ops and I promised her my tours were full of them. Along the way, Kari fell in love much like I did with all the beautiful doors we passed. She started to shoot them and inadvertently choose mostly blue ones. I told her it would be great to do a blue door series for my blog. Most of the doors are located in the Marais and Ile St. Louis. Take a look at Kari’s wonderful portraits on her site.
www.kariodellphotography.com

I had a fun afternoon with former New Yorker Jodi and her daughter Chelsea, on spring break from college, who now live in Boca Raton, Florida. It was one of those typical schizophrenic weather days in Paris where the sun was shining one minute and the next it was pouring rain. So in between the cloudbursts we ducked into the Marais’s high fashion shops and Jodi and Chelsea did some major damage. One of the stops was Lobato, the top shoe boutique in the Marais with labels Pierre Hardy, Marc Jacobs, Lanvin, and Martin Margiela among others. Jodi tried on a stunning pair of Easter egg blue and dark brown shoes with a large gold buckle. Being the classic shopping enabler, I told her that there was no question about it: she must buy them. Here’s a photo. Wear them well Jodi.

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour
includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.

Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

Best of EPP:Eye Prefer Paris Tour Photos

I'm taking a blogging siesta for a few weeks and posting some of my favorite and your favorite former posts. Enjoy, and will have all new posts starting again on Monday, April 14.

Dear Readers,
I am happy to announce a new regular feature, Eye Prefer Paris Tours Photos. These are photos my tour clients have taken of special places I have taken them to. Many of them are very serious amateur but borderline professional photographers. I have been impressed with their sophisticated, state of the art cameras and fancy lenses, along with their passion for photography, but most of all their beautiful and sometimes funny photos.

Duke Ferguson from the Chicago area, along with his father Dan and his father’s friend Ron, did a Marais & Ile St. Louis tour before they left for Africa on a safari. They were as nice as can be and we had a joyful time exploring historic buildings, literally smelling the roses in parks & gardens, and eating our way through food shops.

The top photo is of Duke digging the pastries at Gerard Mulot.

I look forward to your comments about these wonderful photos.

Jazz Musicians in the Place de Vosges

Fruit Stand on Ile St. Louis

Garden at Hotel de Sens

Dan, Duke, & Ron at Hotel de Sens

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour
includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.

Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

 

Eye Prefer Paris Tour Photos

This month I celebrated the one-year anniversary of my Eye Prefer Paris Tours. I remember my first client, Dave McCarty, posted some wonderful black & white photos on his website, and I asked his permission to post them on my blog.

It was Dave’s first time in Paris and he only had two days here. He was easygoing and open-minded and wanted to see the interesting and the offbeat. We did a Marais tour, but did the more unknown part, the narrow winding streets in between rue St. Antoine, and the Seine. Dave works in advertising and lives near Cape May, New Jersey and I shared stories about spending my childhood summers in Wildwood, a nearby boardwalk resort.

I love the nostalgic quality of the black & white photos and they have the feel of Doisneau, especially the one of the couple on the bridge by the Eiffel Tower.

You always remember your first, so here’s to you Dave.

If you want to see more photos go to http://web.mac.com/dmccarty13/NotesFromGoshen/Paris.html
There is also a link on the site if you want to purchase photos.

Back view of St. Paul Church

Hotel de Soubise

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour
includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.

Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

Eye Prefer Paris Tour Photos

John Haycraft and his lovely daughter Sasha, from Sydney, did a tour right before Christmas. John is an architectural illustrator, and artistic talent runs in the family, as Sasha is at university studying graphic design. I showed them the architectural wonders of the Marais and some art galleries. Sasha is a fashion buff and loved the chic clothing boutiques I took her to. John always brings his watercolors and sketchbook with him, and he showed me beautiful watercolors he did of Venice and some he started to paint of Paris.

A few days after the tour I received a phone call from John, saying he wanted to meet me again because he wanted to give me something. I met him a few hours later and I was floored and touched when he gave me this gorgeous coffee table book of his paintings and drawings, titled Where was I? Perusing John’s book, I discovered his wonderful world of meticulous, color saturated architectural drawings, and beautifully, detailed landscapes in pencil & watercolors of his travels to China, Australia, and Kenya. John also tells his inspiring story of starting from the bottom, by sweeping floors at a prestigious architectural and rendering firm in Sydney, and eventually taking over the company.

Multiplex-Perth, Australia

Maria della Salute,from Academia Bridge Venice

John was truly delighted by Paris and next time he visits I hope he brings some of his Paris watercolors to show me.

For more information on John Hay craft, click here.

Pastries at Gerard Mulot

Hotel DeVille

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour
includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.

Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

Marais Meringue

Barbara Major and Paul Kaehler from the San Francisco area were an interesting tour challenge. They have an apartment in Paris and come twice yearly, so they have seen all the tourists things and more. Barbara, who has a great sense of humor, made no bones about not wanting to see anything cultural: she had seen all that “stuff” and wanted me to take her shopping. No problem- I love spending other people’s money. The challenge was to take her to stores she had not been to before and I wanted to prove I was up to the task. Paul, on the other hand, had no interest in shopping and wanted to see some galleries. So off we went to the Marais, the perfect place for both. Barbara loved everything at Adolfo Dominguez, a chic clothing emporium from Spain. She tried to buy a ring at Rene Talmon l'Armee, who handcrafts his own jewelry at his atelier behind Art et Metiers, and Paul, surprisingly, bought some organic moisturizer from my friend Stephane at his shop Canzi. Paul enjoyed the gallery’s I showed him and was so inspired, he later emailed me to help him with a personal art project of his. We had a nice long lunch at Café Charlot on rue Bretagne, and they both told me some very funny and fascinating stories about their lives. Barbara & Paul were so open and friendly and have now become friends. I love when this happens.

Above is a dreamy, creamy photo Paul shot of the legendary lemon meringue pie at Le Loir dans la Theiere.

Press News
Eye Prefer Paris Tours have been written about in French Magazine, an excellent glossy travel magazine out of England. Here's the link and click where it says Secret Paris, to blow it up.

January Special:All tours are 160 euros instead of 175 euros

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

Eye Prefer Paris Tour Photos

The Boggs family, Laura & Marcus and their daughter’s Julie,20 & Lydia,7 did a Marais and Bastille tour the week in between Christmas & New Years. We smelled and tasted our way through the food market on Ave. Richard Lenoir and walked through the off the beaten part of the Marais looking at historic buildings, parks & gardens, and going into patisseries, chocolate and gelato shops.

At the end of the tour when I left them at St. Paul square, a swarm of pigeons surrounded adorable Lydia, and she swooped at them trying to catch one. She finally did, as you can see in the top picture.


The Boggs are warm & friendly and have a very interesting life. Marcus is an engineer and travels all over and when he is not working, Laura and he run their 40 acre organic farm in Northern California near Sacramento., where they live.

I booked them a table at Bofinger restaurant in the Bastille for dinner that night and they were so kind to invite me. They wouldn’t take no for an answer, so we wined, dined and had stimulating conversation for over two hours. Such a tough job I have walking the streets of Paris and being wined & dined by kind and fun people, but someone’s got to do it.

Note about Quirky Street Art post from Jan. 14
The photo by the Niki Saint Phalle sculpture pond across from the Pompidou Center is not of an “average French Joe”. The photos are a series of oversized portraits of Palestinians & Israeli’s called Face to Face, a project to promote a better understanding between the two countries.

January Special:All tours are 160 euros instead of 175 euros

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

Eye Prefer Paris Tour Photos

Patricia Staton Thomas and her husband Noel were very special tour clients. Patricia had emailed many months ago and booked two tours for mid-November. We became email friends in between and by the time I met them for their tours, I felt I already knew Patricia so well. In the process, I learned she and Noel had a fascinating background.

For over 30 years Noel & Patricia have built beautiful miniature houses. The houses are magnificent works of art with the most amazing detailing and they have received publicity in magazines such as Architectural Digest & Elle Décor and been seen on the Today’s show. Living in a small progressive town in Oregon about two hours from Portland, they are semi-retired and now teach master classes in building miniature houses. Nowadays Noel is an accomplished watercolor painter, having shows at galleries in his hometown and Patricia is a published poet & writer.

Utilities cover

rue St. Antoine

Confiserie

Our first tour was of the Marais, and our second was a new one of the 9th arr., an area most tourists really don’t know or ever see. Unfortunately Noel was ill for our second tour, so Patricia and I explored the 9th arr. on our own, talking passionately about art, life, food, Paris, and all the other great life topics. During our passionate conversation we visited  the Gustave Moreau Museum, the residence of the symbolist painter, Square d'Orleans, an historic building from the 1850’s where George Sand & Chopin had their mad love affair& Gustave Eiffel had his studio, the great food shop street rue de Matyrs , which has a boulangerie that has the best baguettes in Paris, the most beautiful confiserie with an incredible selection of the finest chocolates & candies and two very special shopping passages, Verdeau & Jouffrey.

I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent with Patricia & Noel and can’t wait to see them again soon. I was so touched when Patricia gave me a gift of 3 tins of local northwestern canned fish that included white sturgeon, Chinook salmon, & smoked tuna.

Checkout Patricia & Noel’s website

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

Eye Prefer Paris Tour Photos

When Sonya Harris from Adelaide, Australia showed up for her tour with a tripod on her shoulder,I knew she was a serious photographer. It was a beautiful sunny, clear day when shutterbug Sonya, her husband Ian and her daughter Nicole took a tour of the Ile St. Louis and the Marais during the last week of August. She took over 4,000 photos during her month long holiday and was generous to send me some to post. These are magazine quality photos and I think they show off the city so well. Thanks Sonya, and please return to Paris soon to take some more of your gorgeous photos.

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour
includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.

Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

Eye Prefer Paris Tour Photos

Robin, Pam,Ann, and Rhonda, four lively gals from the Midwest and southern U. S., are old college buddies. This was their first trip to Paris, and I call them Paris virgins. We did three Eye Prefer Paris tours together during the first week of September, when the weather was glorious with lots of sunshine and temps in the low 70’s. We shopped the quaint boutiques of the Ile St. Louis, marveled at the beautiful Palais Royal gardens and the Tuileries in full bloom, ate our way through the fab food stores Fauchon & Hediard on the Madeleine, and soaked up the history of the Marais.

Pam was kind enough to send me these photos of our tour. A Champagne toast to these wonderful, fun loving ladies who make my job way too much fun.

Moi,Ann,Robin, Pam, and Rhonda at the Palais Royal

One of my favorite Marais restaurants, Chez Janou

Shaded Ladies of Paris

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour
includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.

Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

 

Eye Prefer Paris Tours Photos

Dear Readers,
I am happy to announce a new regular feature, Eye Prefer Paris Tours Photos. These are photos my tour clients have taken of special places I have taken them to. Many of them are very serious amateur but borderline professional photographers. I have been impressed with their sophisticated, state of the art cameras and fancy lenses, along with their passion for photography, but most of all their beautiful and sometimes funny photos.

Duke Ferguson from the Chicago area, along with his father Dan and his father’s friend Ron, did a Marais & Ile St. Louis tour before they left for Africa on a safari. They were as nice as can be and we had a joyful time exploring historic buildings, literally smelling the roses in parks & gardens, and eating our way through food shops.

The top photo is of Duke digging the pastries at Gerard Mulot.

I look forward to your comments about these wonderful photos.

Jazz Musicians in the Place de Vosges

Fruit Stand on Ile St. Louis

Garden at Hotel de Sens

Dan, Duke, & Ron at Hotel de Sens

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour
includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.

Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com