Time Regained

en route:

address book Chocolat Chapon

69 rue du Bac 75005 01 42 22 95 98 chocolatchapon.com

Pink Flamingo

67 rue Bichat 75010 01 42 02 31 70 pinkflamingo pizza.com

Rice & Fish

22 rue Greneta 01 73 70 46 09

Bob’s Kitchen

74 rue des Gravilliers 75003 09 52 55 11 66 bobsjuicebar.com

La Forge de Belleville

23-25 rue Ramponeau 75020 laforgede belleville.fr

La Gare Aux Gorilles

1 avenue Corentin Cariou 75019 myspace.com/ lagareauxgorilles

Parc de la Villette

time regained art squats, raw food parties, and designer sex toys: this is not your mother’s paris. by caroline kinneberg. photographed by rachael woodson paris

I MOVED TO Paris from New York City to trade late nights at box-sized clubs for leisurely lunches at brasseries where Hemingway surely once wooed the ladies. But one year and a dozen plates of ratatouille later, I started to miss my old home and its youthful energy and quirky happenings (donation-based yoga classes set to Band of Horses, iced lattes made with coconut milk).

Fortunately, things are changing now in the City of Light. Bands and DJs including Yelle, Justice, and SebastiAn are reinvigorating the scene, vegans and vegetarians (long persecuted by French culinary purists) can actually find a good meal, and raucous beer gardens are rivaling white tablecloth wine bars as early evening drinking destinations. Paris, it seems, has got its groove back. What would Hemingway have thought?

EAT

There’s so much more to the Paris food scene than coq au vin and brie-filled baguettes. For proof, try Chapon: Situated on the swank rue du Bac, this chocolatier, open since the ’80s, is known for heavenly chocolate mousse that’s scooped from an ice cream tub and served in paper cones. Or check out one of Pink Flamingo’s four locations. It’s an organic pizza parlor launched by a Franco-American couple, and the one near Canal St. Martin is a prime spot for watching bobos–Paris’s equivalent of hipsters–and pick-up games of pétanque. When you place your order, they give you a pink balloon, let you scout a picnic spot, and then deliver the pizza to you. American influences can be seen elsewhere in Paris: Smoothie and muffin haven Bob’s Kitchen recently hosted a raw food soirée, which, in a city where fromage and Hollandaise reign, is kind of a big deal.

75019 01 40 03 75 75 villette.com

FROM LEFT: parc des butteschaumont; merci’s eco-conscious café; chapon chocolates; preshow at la gare aux gorilles; color-coded racks at merci; pink flamingo; inside la gare aux gorilles.

Rosa Bonheur

2 allée de la Cascade in Parc des Buttes Chaumont 75019 01 42 00 00 45 rosabonheur.fr

Le Très Particulier

DRINK PLAY

Trade museum-hopping for a visit to La Forge de Belleville, a factory-turned-art squat. Residents are often busy at work in the giant graffiti-lined courtyard and, for the most part, are more than happy to show visitors around their studios.

You can catch trippy concerts at La Gare aux Gorilles, an abandoned train station in the 19th arrondissement named after a Georges Brassens song. But go early: The jampacked (and not-quite-legal) shows start promptly at 8 p.m.

From La Gare aux Gorilles, a short walk brings you to the massive Parc de la Villette, full of modern, geometrical sculptures and unpretentious Parisians. (More traditional parks are not so relaxed; just the other day I saw two police officers reprimand a man for sunbathing shirtless. Quelle horreur!) Another equally laid-back patch of green on the east side of Paris is Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, with storybook rolling hills and the rollicking restaurant and beer garden Rosa Bonheur.

If you want to get drinks later in the evening (Rosa Bonheur is so popular there’s almost no use arriving after 5 p.m.), try cocktail den Le Très Particulier, tucked inside l’Hotel Particulier Montmartre on ritzy residential avenue Junot. Come on a weeknight and ask to be served in the dimly lit basement; it’s one of Paris’s most romantic places, and you might just get it all to yourself. An alternate date spot that’s also perfect for a late-night picnic is Pont des Arts, a footbridge behind the Louvre. Much like the Ponte Milvio in Rome, couples have taken to inscribing their names on padlocks, attaching them to the rails, and then chucking the keys in the Seine (though in May, the city announced plans to remove them–the bridge collapsing under the weight of so much commitment, no doubt).

For an altogether different kind of atmosphere, La Mosquée de Paris is every bit worth the trip to the 13th arrondissement in southern Paris. The complex is like an exotic playground, with a hammam, a souk, a tented patio, and, yes, a mosque.

Order couscous and shisha and then pick a dessert from the case of Turkish sweets (try the powdered sugar-doused corne de gazelle or a thick slice of honey-drenched baklava). At the discreet entrance to the hammam, you can nibble your dessert while lazing amidst the extravagant, festive architecture, pretending you’re on the set of Satyricon.

23 avenue Junot 75018 01 53 41 81 40 hotel-particuliermontmartre.com

Pont des Arts

75001 and 75006

Mosquee de Paris

39 rue Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire 75005 01 43 31 38 20 la-mosquee.com

Sonia Rykiel

175 boulevard St. Germain 75006 01 45 49 13 10 soniarykiel shoponline.com

Merci

111 Boulevard Beaumarchais 75003 01 42 77 00 33 merci-merci.com

Studio 7L

7 Rue de Lille 75007 01 42 92 03 58

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arrivals

en route:

FROM TOP: la mosquée de paris; parc de la villette; love locks on pont des arts; a retro fiat 500 sits in merci’s cobblestone courtyard; bob’s kitchen.

SHOP

Sonia Rykiel, the 80-year-old grand dame of French fashion, is still as cheeky as ever, with her poof of candy-apple red hair and a line of designer sex toys. You can pick up the latter on the second floor of her flagship in Saint-Germain-des-Prés.

Another multi-level boutique that’s full of surprises is Merci, an eco-conscious concept shop in the Marais where proceeds are donated to a children’s charity in Madagascar. Inside, you’ll find a shoe boutique, a cafe that serves its lattés paired with petits gateaux, and Annick Goutal’s concoct-your-own perfume bar. In the 7th arrondissement is 7L, an industrial boutique named after Karl Lagerfeld’s publishing imprint (through Steidl) that gives you a glimpse into the Kaiser’s mad-genius mind.

His design titles range from Photo Poche’s paperback series to a historical anthology on art deco. (The Beautiful Fall, one of my favorite non-fiction reads, is presumably banned.) During my last visit, I even bumped into Karl himself: I was leaving as he was entering, accompanied by model-of-the-moment Baptiste Giabiconi, both looking runway-ready. And that scene pretty much sums up the changing face of Paris: The pillars still stand, but now they’re not holding up the city on their own.

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the gore, london

London’s Kensington neighborhood may as well have a giant silver spoon sculpture built in its center, such is its affluence. So for visiting Anglophiles with a penchant for luxury, the Gore Hotel is the perfect base.

The exterior of the more than 100-yearold establishment easily blends in with the densely packed homes (especially considering the only distinguishing feature is a tiny gold plate engraved with “The Gore”). But inside the hotel boasts 50 romantic rooms; each adorned with ornate mirrors, chandeliers, and antique furniture.

The signature deluxe rooms are named after famous guests such as Australian opera singer Dame Nellie, Irish novelist Lady Blessington, and Judy Garland, who spent her nights resting in the room’s gilt wood bed. With Hyde Park, the Royal Albert Hall, the Natural History Museum, and Harrods just steps away from The Gore, you’ll be perfectly positioned to stop back in for afternoon tea.

MARIA BOBILA gorehotel.com

gansevoort south, miami

Perched in the middle of Collins Avenue in Miami Beach, the Gansevoort South is like a well-placed yacht ready for you to escape in. The psychedelic lobby helps to kick things off, with its million dollar shark tank (go on, press your nose against the glass), a chess table, and dozens of plush Alice in Wonderland-inspired settees and stools.

David Barton’s technoinspired gym adjoins it, making it even easier to do a quick set of crunches on your way to the beach.

If salt water’s not your thing, head upstairs to Plunge, the hotel’s rooftop pool and bar, for a super-size dose of vitamin D, hip-hop beats, and oversize shrimp. The sprawling rooms—with private decks, ocean views, and marble baths—offer a lovely reprieve, but you didn’t come to Miami for shut-eye, so make your way over to Louis, the intimate club next door, to warm up for the night ahead. There’s no sign to mark its spot, just a whitewashed carriage out front. After all, Miami nightlife is all about subtlety.

ARIELLA GOGOL gansevoortsouth.com