Dream comes True

I've always dreamed of living in Paris and finally I was able to make my dream come true. I find myself relishing in the beauty of this city every time I step outside. It’s almost as if there is something new to be discovered every day and it never ceases to amaze me. Everything from its architecture, culture, art exhibitions is a sight to behold. If you love art and history you are sure to have fun. Everything in the borough feels different, fresh and exciting. There isn’t a second you feel bored, it’s as if everyday there was a new exhibit, festival, gallery or museum. Not to mention the food; there are so many small markets where you can find quality produce and café where young people go to enjoy a nice meal and cup of coffee at any time of day with the view of such a wonderful city.

If you asked me at any other point in my life if I would go out and have lunch by myself at a restaurant, I would scoff. However, after arriving here, I feel as though it taught me how to enjoy my own company. I find that a long walk has become so fulfilling in a way I could’ve never imagined. I love stopping to admire every little bookshop, boutique, café and even just to watch people going about their days.

How can you not feel lucky to be here?

Let me tell you a little bit about myself and what led up to me settling here.

I started my adult life as an engineer, god knows what led me to make that decision. It took me some time that what I truly loved most was traveling, eating good food, discovering different cultures and cooking.

While I was living in Montréal, Canada, I was a caterer. I organized parties, got the chance to share my food and meet tons of interesting new people.

After that, It was thanks to my Husband’s work that I was able to spend the next 4 years living and exploring Mexico, when suddenly I got the news that they were transferring him to Pairs!

Voila!

What do I do now for a living?

I run an Airbnb! I’m a proud superhost, which means I try my hardest to make my guests feel like I’m always there to help them. I try to make their stay as comfortable as possible. I feel as though it is my duty to do homework and discover new places so my suggestions can help them make the most out of their trip.

Sindel Demers

Cherishing Paris

As a Turkish woman deeply rooted in my country and culture, I find myself yearning for my hometown every single day. This longing has inevitably made my life in Paris quite challenging. Recently, I confided in Okan about how, even after more than 15 years, Paris still feels transient, like a “rental” - actually, and told him I often daydream about living in Turkey.

Okan’s reaction was to offer a thoughtful suggestion: he suggested compiling a list of my favorite places and routines in Paris, believing it could help me rekindle my connection with the city—a city that many dream of living in.

So here are a few of the things I hold dear.

Firstly, after enduring four apartment changes during Covid, my - now - husband and I moved to the 18th arrondissement in mid-2021, and it is one of the best decisions we ever made. I quickly fell in love with this neighborhood, enjoying strolls along the pedestrian-friendly corners and Avenue Junot pausing to admire Dalida's former home and imagining her singing "Gigi l'amoroso" from the beautiful balcony. I relish my afternoon golden lattes at Two Doors (bobo assumée), indulging in cocktails at Hotel Particulier or Chez Ginette, pain aux noix and croissants at Atelier P1, savoring a delightful dinner at Loulou Montmartre, devouring the "18e" pizza from Il Brigante, and experiencing culinary excellence at L'Arcane or l’Arpaon. Above all, the simplest joys, like Sunday grocery shopping on Rue du Poteau, have become cherished traditions.

A true sanctuary for me is my florist, Maison Mirabilé, where we celebrated our marriage after the official ceremony at the city hall. The array of colors and shapes in that store is simply extraordinary. Catherine, the owner, is delightful, often showcasing creations from mainly female artists during pop-up events.

Living close to Marché aux Puces de St Ouen has been another highlight. When we first moved here, I couldn't resist a weekend without browsing my favorite shops and enjoying a coffee at La Crème. We've adorned our home with beautiful and unique finds from the Marché. I am eagerly awaiting sunny days to return and perhaps hide another few purchases from my husband.

Venturing beyond my neighborhood, I find joy in exploring open markets, with Marché d'Aligre being a perennial favorite. Marché de Breteuil holds a special place in my heart - which may or may not be due in part to the Turkish gözleme stand. When it comes to food and markets, it’s impossible not to enjoy le Marché des Enfants rouges. So many good stands – les Enfants du Marché stands out as a personal favorite.

Paris boasts an abundance of incredible restaurants. The list is long, and my favorites might not be too original for viewers of this blog. But here are a few experiences that I cherish. First off is Ellsworth, not just for its cuisine (which is great) but for the memories of date nights with my husband. Hutopi, founded by childhood friends Hugo, Thomas, and Pierre, is always a gastronomic delight (you can see their picture together exposed in the bathroom dating from pre-school). It particularly resonated with me due to my own very close relationship with my childhood friends and hence felt very close to home. Special mention goes to Amagat, favorite terrace for sunny weather, currently showcasing the talents of Turkish chef Sahin Erdal.

Ultimately, my favorite place in Paris is our home, and my favorite meal is whatever my husband cooks that day. Reflecting on it all, I realize how fortunate I am to call this magical city my current home. While it may feel like a rental, it's certainly worth the price.

Ceyda Cengizer

How to keep the Paris love alive?

I came to Paris as an Erasmus student in 2011. I had a limited time to spend, only 5 months in this beautiful city. Having visited for short weekends before, I knew I wanted to explore Paris a little more in depth.

I have to tell you, being a student living in Paris, especially when studying at Dauphine is not the best way to get the most out of this city. but sometimes you cannot choose your luck. You have to create your own luck. I spent 5 magical months and when it was time to leave, well I have to tell you my mom and the taxi driver had to carve me up from the pavement as I was sobbing like crazy.

In the taxi to the airport, I said out loud “ i'll be back. I know i'll be back”.

Took me 8 years.

I moved back to Paris, this time with a CDI contract, following my dreams, taking a leap of faith. 

One thing I have to tell you, no amount of French (my french was already advanced), no amount of knowledge of wine, no amount of extroversion , no amount of “Oh i have been in a french school I know how french can be” prepares you for an actual move in Paris.

Paris, as beautiful as it can be, is not necessarily international in its mindset. 

You have to be ready to be immersed in French culture, and not try to find your own culture, or expect people to think like you.

Compared to London, New York, the people you will encounter in your daily life, they will most probably not be immigrants. 

With a lot of things in life, you don’t try to change what you can't control, you learn to adapt.

Because the beauty of the French system is, you are treated equally with any other French person, so you are not less, you are not more special than anyone else. 

Once you see that, everything gets easier.

It took me 6 months (and that is thanks to the book Culture map by Erin Meyer) to understand that French only comments on the negative because positive does not need to be pointed out. It took me around a year to learn that being very precise, very “ferme” (firm) in your choices of words will take you anywhere in both professional and personal life. not necessarily how we do things where I came from.. 

After 4 years of being here, having been through lockdowns, having married here, and collected a beautiful amount of friends that I get to call family (one being the owner of this blog),  how to keep the love alive?

Did I already say “you need to create your own luck”? 

If you are a foodie, there are amazing openings in Paris every week. I have around 250 restaurants in my Google maps that I still have yet to try. Also, having a friend like Okan helps.

If you love wine, there are thousands of types of wines, different cepages, and different regions. I don't think my lifetime will be enough to try them all. One tip: having a good “caviste” helps. He will not only try to sell you good wine, but also you will find yourself drunk while buying wine. My personal rule for wine is to spread them around weekdays so I can drink one glass each night rather than 5 glasses at one go. remember “one glass of red wine is medicinal.” (i forgot where i read this but who cares its convincing right?)

If you love cheese, and please see a doctor if you don't like cheese, try to set a goal for each week / each month, to try a new cheese. gives me so much joy to see what French are capable of doing with just cow milk or goat milk. Pure magic.

if you love walking, I think you will just need to click on other tabs on this website, he’ll be able to tell you more.

If you want to make friends, there are amazing supper clubs like “twenty two” or “club du souper”. I cannot guarantee these friendships will last a lifetime but you will have one hell of a great time.

if you love traveling, it's just a matter of knowing which SNCF website to use.. Once you do that, France will have all the climates, all you need based on your holiday style.

It is just a matter of setting the sails a little loose, having a little serendipity mindset, going out of your house without a reservation for once, strolling a little and finding a cute little bistro, a terrasse with some sun, taking a big inhale (except for in the metro), having a glass of wine and fall in love with Paris all over again. 

Also seeing Tour Eiffel at night in all its beauty helps a lot. 

Just enjoy the small things, don’t stress about the strikes!

Pelin Cankurt Chlabovitch

Paris is Paris

Without doubt apart from those who have lost loved ones, the global pandemic has probably hit those of us hardest, those of us who miss sharing a laugh and a toast with loved ones on a seaside bar, always be the last one to leave the table at the tavern, coming back home carrying our shoes, our feet covered in sand, constantly hugging and kissing each other, in other words those of us who really DO love to live.

And it hit us right when we had just moved to Paris, the capital city of the cafés where the culture of socialization has reached a subtle perfection.

Although once we were the last ones to leave a club in Istanbul, recently feeling a little resentful of everything, we had already retreated our tables and long drinks with friends back within the walls of our homes. But, remembering a Turkish saying about how our minds feed from each other, now we find ourselves looking for alternatives to keep ourselves from collecting dust at home, left on our own.

Actually, against all odds, life in Paris is still really not that bad: I’m watching the constructors from the building across the street enjoying a cold beer at lunch on the corner café, still in their overalls. The elderly gentleman of the neighborhood, a coffee in his hand, in his fedora hat and cashmere coat, ordering whiskey or rum shot makes me happy in the morning. It is possible and amazing to watch the sun set and the moon rise at the same time from the top of Montmartre.

The city culture, which has unfortunately migrated away from my country along with the minorities, makes me feel better every day here, in Paris.

Sometimes I miss the tourist groups hanging around the corner that I used to complain about before.

And of course sometimes, inexplicably on a Sunday afternoon usually, when I feel lonely, disappointed, angry, fearful and sad, I pour myself a double rum or calvados. I look at all my feelings through 40% proof alcohol. I try to keep myself still as a rock, grounded against the current of a river and I start to feel cleansed. Strong, healing, exciting feelings show themselves and flow through me. I feel that the stronger and more traditional drinks flow better into the spirit of these times.

And at the end of the day, just as Vincent Van Gogh told his brother Theo;

“And mind my dear fellow, Paris is Paris. There is but one Paris and however hard living may be here, and if it became worse and even harder - the french air clears up the brain and does good - a world of good.”

I hope that the days when we will spread out to crowded tables on a sidewalk café and raise our glass to good times are not that far away.

Gülçin Sargın Beşer

More Than Just a City

Paris is probably a way of life. European metropolis, cosmopolitan city, tourist magnet - yes, all that is true, but it does not reflect what is special. What is it that makes this unique?

photo by Volker Kraayvanger

If you live here, you feel like you're part of a story - a never-ending story, Paris is never-ending. You can choose who you want to meet - the Sun King, Saint-Saëns or Sartre, each era resonates incessantly in this city, literally sweeping those who engage with it. Yes, the charm of some places and spaces is disenchanted by the countless tourists, but even in everyday life, in some places you are fascinated every time to be part of this city. Maybe not exactly on the days when I stand in the crowded metro. But when I'm in a great restaurant, concert hall or park, definitely. 

 The feeling of strolling through alleys, spontaneously sitting down at a small table on the sidewalk, ordering something, only to think that it had to come just like this. Standing on historical monuments, looking at the sand-colored buildings and imagining how everything looks with horse-drawn carriages, ladies with parasols and gentlemen with top hats. Driving fearlessly into the traffic circle of the Place de l'Etoile, honking the horn and experiencing a spontaneous amnesia of all the traffic rules. Amazing. Finally arrived. 

I hope this feeling of having arrived will return on subsequent visits to Paris. A few weeks after I have already "left" Paris, I return for the first time. By car, alone - for a business trip. In the evening, the rush hour traffic has already died down, I have a hotel near the Église Saint Eustache. Much is familiar, the prominent monuments facilitate orientation, the evening sound of wailing sirens and accelerating scooters penetrates through the half-open window into my car. Everything as always. Exactly as it should be. And I am part of it.

Volker Kraayvanger

There’s a Paris for Everyone

There’s a Paris for everyone. And if you’re lucky, you get to have more than one version.

My first time was like for most people, as a tourist. If you don’t fall in love head first with the city there’s only one explanation: you lack a heart. Paris takes control over you, it overwhelms you with its beauty and magnificence. You walk down the street and you are suddenly taken by breathtaking buildings, one of its monuments or simply a little lane that pulls you in, inviting you to find out its every little corner. In Paris, even the beaten path is amazing: The Champs-Élysées, the Arc de Triomphe, the Notredame. Of course, you’ll never forget the first time you lay eyes on Mme Eiffel. Paris invades you.

A few days in Paris, and mind you it was winter, I knew I had to come back.

And so I did. Many years later, I was an exchange student in HEC, one of the business schools outside Paris. My suitcase and I moved into a sub-let studio on the 15ème arrondissement, at Place du Commerce. And for the first time, I lived Paris. I explored every corner of the Jardins de Luxembourg, I walked both margins of the Seine up and down. I found out the best financiers of the whole city were steps away from my apartment, a luxury my tiny budget could afford. I met people. Parisians and not, I mingled. I went to Queen on a Monday night and lost track of time and space. I ate crêpe at four in the morning at a corner of the Quartier Latin after a big Salsa night, before crossing town on my way home. There wasn’t a cafe on the 15ème I didn’t know. I walked around the Invalides and I met Rodin inside his museum and from a completely different perspective, I lost myself again in time and space. Paris does that you, stops time and takes you to a parallel universe. If you want to lose yourself to find yourself, walk at night on the streets of the Ile de La Cité, talk to the artists and buy posters in Montmartre. Stroll around St. Germain and le Marais. Spend a day (no, not hours), a day inside the Musée d’Orsay. Find yourself a tandem partner to learn French (and I wish I could say we became more than that but we only really exchanged words back and forth, in French and Spanish. C’est la vie).

Eleven years later, I’m on a plane from Melbourne, Australia, destination Charles de Gaule. I had a little more than a suitcase this time. More specifically, seven pieces of luggage, 200kg of airfreight and a 20ft container that would arrive 3 months later. A husband and 2 children. Life had changed, I wasn’t on a tight budget anymore. My comfortable apartment was situated on the Avenue de Victor Hugo. And again Paris takes you over either you want it or not. At the Jardins de Luxembourg, we spent most of the time in the amazing playground they have (once in company of no less than Marion Cotillard), we also discovered les Jardins d’Acclimatation, the carrousel at the end of Trocadéro, the Ateliers Créatifs at George Pompidou, the playground at Place des États Units and every corner of Parc Monceau (aka Parc Monsieur, according to my son). I collected unforgettable moments like going to the tip of the merry-go-round at Place de la Concorde, only to realize my kids were fine but was terrified by the height. Running like crazy after them flying on their trottinettes under the arcs of Place de Voges. The picnics at the margins of the Canal St Martin. An unbelievable afternoon when exceptionally they opened the nave of the Grand Palais and my kids just ran like little rockets from side to side. And of course when I took them to meet Rodin.

photo by Taciana Fonseca

photo by Taciana Fonseca

photo by Taciana Fonseca

It was a different Paris, busier, more stressful, and rare were the moments to lose and find myself. Burocracy, endless administrative processes, back and forth with several institutions to get things done (from the government to your internet provider) – Paris lacks efficiency, it can waste lots of your precious time. Some people are respectful, many are very rude. The fast pace of the city runs you over like someone who shoves you inside the metro and almost make you trip over your own feet.

There’s a Paris to everyone. And if I can give you one single advice: keep your tourist eyes always on. Don’t let the frenzy, the rudeness of people, the traffic, the fear gets into you. Go to the parks, enjoy the Seine, find by mistake that amazing bookshop at Rive Gauche, and carve time just for you and Paris alone. Even if you have a residency card, be a tourist. Forever. And on a daily basis, let Paris invade you.

Taciana Fonseca

See the Positive Side

I was asked by a good friend of mine to talk about my experience in Paris, as I’m Venezuelan living in this gorgeous city since 2016.
At first when Okan suggested it, I thought, where am I going to get my inspiration from? The Champs-Élysées, Eiffel tower, Arc de Triumph, Place de la Concorde, Musée d’Orsay and the list goes on and on and on... Are they not enough inspiration for me to write an article about my experience in Paris???
Well, I have to say sometimes it is not as simple as thinking about the beautiful buildings, museums, streets, monuments that you get your inspiration to write about this beautiful but very difficult to live in city. At least it was my case!
Everything started in August 2016, when my husband due to his job got moved to Paris.. I was unhappy with the move as I was very happy living and working in London.
Personally, the differences between the two cultures (English and French) were huge in many senses. I didn’t expect it just being two hours apart from each other...The lack of organization, nonsense burocracy, people complaining all the time for everything, among others, made me feel to miss London.
However, one of the things that made me feel good living in Paris, was the food!!! Having a very nice dessert (even in a metro station) it was possible, a simple but very nice baguette with cheese made me feel I was actually in the city of lights where intolerance to gluten doesn’t exist! :)
Nice terraces (without people smoking in your face) but let’s forget about that just for one second. It is another charming thing about this capital.
How about the language? Love it! For me French is so romantic where everything sounds lovely even «poubelle» sounds romantic to me.
It took me a year to understand how the system worked and once I did it, everything was easier and smooth.
Et voilà... Currently, I’m living here and I consider myself lucky living in one of the most famous, glamourous and charming boulevard with my children and husband who are very happy. I just see the positive side, taking the time to discover this beautiful country that for many Venezuelans can only be a dream that sadly, they won’t make it true!

Mary Manzano