Paris, France :

My best friend has an apartment on the Rue Christine, a small, charming street in the centrally located 6^th Arrondissement of Paris’s Left Bank. She doesn’t use it as often as she’d like, but I am always happy to visit her there. 

Luxurious Left Bank Apartment
When she is not in residence, she rents it out by the week and you can check it out on Paris Apartrment. It is so much more fun  to rent an apartment in Paris than stay in a hotel. You really feel as if you are part of Parisian life. We shop for food on the fabled rue Buci with its outdoor markets and can get a bottle of good wine, a baguette and cheese for the cost of a bottle of water in a hotel. The oyster shucker in The Rue Buci will even deliver shucked oysters on ice to you apartment. Oddly enough renting my friends apartment which is right next door to the fabled Left bank Hotel Relais Christine is one of the few times you get something much better for much less money. Check out the prices of the Relais Christine and you will see what I mean. When we are not in the apartment we are  packing  every minute of every day we’re together in Paris with loads of fun activities, things that only a native might know to do.

Tennis at the Luxembourg Gardens
We start our days with a game of tennis in the lovely Luxembourg Gardens, a short walk from her home.  You can reserve a court up to a week in advance by logging onto http://www.paris.fr. Click the English language option and search tennis or bring a book and be prepared to wait if you’d like to play as a walk on. The Luxembourg Gardens are a great place to jog, go for a walk, or sail a toy sailboat as well.  After exercise, we pack eating, culture, and SHOPPING into our days. Nothing tastes better than coffee in Paris, and I don’t mean Starbucks (though you can find one on almost every street corner).  Our favorite coffee bar is Café Malongo, around the corner from my friend’s apartment at 50, rue St-Andre des Arts.  There are three other Café Malongos in Paris and they have the best fair trade coffee and croissants in town. If you’re in the mood to people watch while having your breakfast, nothing beats Café Deux Magots,  at 6 place Saint-Germain-des-Pres in the 6^th. It is an institution that is not to be missed.

Shop Until You Drop!
The Left Bank is a treasure trove of small boutiques and gift shops, as well as antique stores and art galleries. One of the chicest and most reasonable women’s boutiques is vane-b at 74 rue de Rennes, in the 6^th, for great packable blouses, jackets, and hats at a quarter of the price you’d pay in New York City. We also love Zapa (55 Rue Bonaparte in the 6^th with two other Paris locations) and it’s neighbor, Tiki Tirawa, in the 6^th as both have totally cool one of a kind women’s clothing and accessories at affordable prices. We don’t limit ourselves to just one neighborhood in our search for Paris chic, however. Rather, we walk the streets of Paris rain or shine in search of fabulous items we can’t find in our home states of New York or Massachusetts.  

Culture In All The Right Places
A morning of sport and shopping often finds us craving a bit of culture and we find it in some strange places. Deyrolle is a famed taxidermist at 46 rue du Bac in the 7^th Arrondissement and we can spend hours there checking out all the stuffed oddities, everything from rats to tigers, polar bears to butterflies. Children especially love this place. Our favorite gift shop is nearby, Nouez-Moi, which features great hostess gifts and fine linens.  There are three locations in Paris but the one near Deyrolle is  86 rue du Bac. After all that shopping, it’s time for a little lunch. 

Amzing Lunch Hot Spot In Paris
Just about any place in Paris is going to have amazing food but for a little (ok, a LOT ;) of extra money why not have the best?  You’re in PARIS, after all. L’Atelier Joel Robuchon is across the street from Deyrolle  at 5 Rue Montalembert.  The fabled chef has two other restaurants in Paris but this is our first choice for lunch. We sit at the bar and watch as magic is made in the open kitchen.  Delicious, but one does not live on food alone.

Favorite Spiritual Retreats
The rue du Bac also boasts one of our ....