Good post, latedaytraveler. I've always balked at Henry James based on hearsay and should perhaps take another look.

And you, Aduchamp - I'm stymied. I know darn well that I've read your last trip report, but I don't remember this marvelous stuff. Did I skip over it, or am I losing my mind? (Don't answer that. There's Alzheimer's lurking in my blood.)

At any rate, I will click on your name in the morning and go back again with a better attention span. Something to look forward to tomorrow.

To bed.

SAP

I would be both flattered and alarmed if you remembered the details from my all trip reports. That one was from 2007 and since there were various ones by myself and on behalf of my wife in 2008 and Turkey 2010.

My syntax was misleading I gather. It was my last trip to Paris and the trip report reagrding that visit. Sorry.

Aduchamp's Marais mention reminds me of one of my favorite nighttime walks - thru the narrow alleys of the Marais - the old 'swamp' that was drained and which was one of the few parts of Paris not leveled by Baron Haussmann when he sought to remake a medieval city of warrens of tiny lanes into the broad boulevards of a uniform height that gives Paris of today its uncanny grace

But the Marais is medeival Paris in appearance of its tiny lanes - and it is also the Jewish Quarter so livelier on Sunday than some areas and also at night a gay mecca - gay in the sense of same-sex couples not Gay Paree - so people watching is good as well for the really eclectic IMO mix of folk thronging to the Marais' many bars and intimate restaurants.

PalenQ raises a good point in general. Paris is one of the great walking cities of the world and it is a sheer pleasure to see it slowly.

And this is true for other cities. Is there anything more exciting than gadding about Rome, turning a corner and seeing a 2,000 year old antiquity.

We live in Manhattan and I often feel that most people miss it by rushing about from sight to sight.

One of the many reasons Paris is such a great walking city is that (I might be mistaken) at one time wasn't there a rule that limited the height of buildings on the main streets to the width of those streets?

This gives Paris a bright, airy feel to it that is lacking in much of Manhattan, central London, and the centers of many other large cities.

SS

The original height of the buildings along the boulevards is probably due to the fact that elevators did not exist in apartment buildings when Haussmann modernized the urban landscape. There may also have been some rules about height relative to prominent monuments which placed height limits even when elevators existed, and that rule was broken by the 13th arrondissement apartment complexes and the Tour Montparnasse, all built in the last 40 years.

Auduchamp, thanks for referencing all of those literary sites. Bookmarking.

“Oddly enough my first stop was an art atelier where Picasso painted Guernica (7, rue de Grands Augustins)” This quote struck me because I am currently reading THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ALICE B. TOKLAS by Gertrude Stein which is actually the bio of Gertrude herself. I had to look up “atelier” (studio/workshop). She and Picasso had such a close relationship – delightfully spoofed in the new Woody Allen movie MIDNIGHT IN PARIS.

PalenQ and Aud, I definitely expect to roam through the Marais at leisure too.

Sap, you commented: “I've always balked at Henry James based on hearsay and should perhaps take another look.” No doubt, James is an acquired taste to be sure. His language at times is somewhat convoluted but, in my view, well worth wading through. James loved Paris and the European experience which is a major theme in much of his writing.

Again, THE GREATER JOURNEY: AMERICANS IN PARIS 1830-1900 by David McCullough provides an excellent backdrop to that period also.

lateday, yes, this will be a REreading of The Ambassadors. I'm a fan of James, and although at times he can be a tough slog, I think The Ambassadors is one of his easier reads.

I do love a book set in Paris, and if anyone can recommend or remind me of others, I would appreciate it. I don't read popular fiction, but all literature suggestions will be welcome.

And that fits the thread, because we can take walks visiting the scenes of these books.

Usually the earlier Henry James is more accessible than the later Henry James. He often wrote like he was constipated.

One of my favroite walks is along the Seine at night. No one uses artificial light as well as the Parisiens.
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Tuscan
As you know there have been so many extraordinary French writers, yet one cited above, Julian Barnes's Flaubert’s Parrot, is well-imagined and conceived and a brilliantly executed work written by all things a Brit.

While we were all giddy about our walks and favorite literary works is one one walk and one book that should be avoided:

Paris by Pastry: Stalking the Sweet Life in the Streets of Paris (Paperback) Here is my review of that book.

Q. What could be better than a book about pastries in Paris?

A. Every other travel book I have ever read.

This is by far the most misguided, poorly organized, poorly written, misleading, worst edited travel book I have ever purchased. The cover looks like a stock photo issued by the Vichy government. OK, that can be quaint, but as I thumbed through it, I noticed there were many pages devoted to the top tourist sights in Paris, a slew of recipes, rambling and inapplicable analogies, sleep-inducing asides and memoirs, and recitations of insipid overheard conversations.

There are simplistic graphics and poor quality black and white photos including one that appeared to be a colorfully decorated cake. This evoked a fond childhood memory. Do you remember when color TV sets first came out and they ran ads for them on your black and white set for you only to imagine what color images may look like. Oh yeah, there were some reviews of boulangeries and patisseries buried among the muck. Not one of which made me think, man does that sound delicious or I must go there. The reviews are as enticing as a sidewalk cafe next to a bus stop.

So, I decided to google the author, to see what she written and the publisher to ascertain if this was a vanity press publication. It is not.

Amazon enumerates the following books for the author: (I swear I did not make up these titles):

Tractor-Trailer Trucker: A Powerful Truck Book

Crashed, Smashed and Mashed: A Trip to Junkyard Heaven

Knuckleboom Loaders Load Logs

Her credentials clearly prepared her for Paris by Pastry.

So I prepare for my trip to Paris, I never thought I would consider Rick Steves' advice regarding eating the discarded food of others at cafeterias as brilliant.

So I prepare for my trip to Paris, I never thought I would consider Rick Steves' advice regarding eating the discarded food of others at cafeterias as brilliant.>

sounds like advice Rick gave years ago when he was appealing to a more starvation budget crowd and not now the very upscale crowd he makes his money on in his packaged tours - reminds me of advice he once wrote about trains - if you want to have a compartment by yourself just never change your socks and then when nice and ripe just take off your shoes in the compartment and the locals will soon evaporate - the ultimate Ugly American but it probably works!

I got my hands on that Paris pastry book awhile back, too, and was just horrified. It's so hard for even a good writer these days to get a book published...how on earth did that dreck make the cut?

The editor had a sweet tooth?

Flaubert's Parrot it is. Thanks, Adu. The only Barnes' Ive read is England, England.

Tuscan

I hope you emjoy it as much as I did.
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As far as Paris by Pastry is concerned, it seems it was issued by a small press where the author has published other books. I thought it was done so she could write her off trip to Paris.