See & Do

Hannah Wilson

AntiCafé: A Fresh take on the Coffee Shop

Comments Paris, See & Do

One of my favourite things to do when I was at college in Long Beach, California, was to sit at a coffee shop for hours, either talking with a friend or studying.  I particularly loved Portfolio CoffeeHouse;  They used to have this old, heavy desk, full of drawers.  It was the perfect place to plop down with a stack of Art History and theory books from the library and write my research papers, which inevitably, were left until the last minute.  I was a good student.  :p

I’ve always felt like there was a serious lack of these kinds of places in Paris – communal living rooms where one can have a capp, nibble a scone, and relax.  Yes, Paris is rife with cafés, the kind of cafés with little round tables and rows of wicker chairs facing the street.  These are great, but they just don’t have the same purpose, vibe, or possibilities of a coffee house.

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The quirkiest restaurant in Paris, Derriere
Hannah Wilson

The Quirkiest Restaurant: Derrière

Comments Paris, See & Do

If I were to show you pictures of this place without any explanation, you would think I had lunch in some hip Parisian’s private home, perhaps the home of a graphic designer or art director; but in fact, you would be mistaken.  This restaurant, called Derrière (translated: behind) for its placement in a courtyard behind street-level shops, has the mysterious allure of a speakeasy, but the accessibility and congeniality of your best friend’s house.

What you see when you first walk in is a leafy courtyard with green chairs and yellow umbrellas, which is charming enough on its own.  Keep walking, don’t be intimidated, and you’ll duck into a large, open room, sectioned off into different areas.  There’s a kind of living room with a lip-shaped couch, a salon with a full-size ping pong table and shelves full of wacky trinkets, a couple romantic corners, a dining area with long banquet table, and a tiled kitchen with a bar overlooking the chef’s space.  If that isn’t enough for you, just wait, there’s also a second level, complete with secret wardrobe. But we’ll save the best for last…

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Hannah Wilson

Wandering Wednesdays

1 Comment Paris, See & Do, Wandering

Did you know that in French, one walks in a street, and not on one? I think that’s quite poetic. To be in a street suggests that the road, the buildings, the trees, the people, are surrounding and enveloping you. You’re not just present in a place, but part of it.

If you couldn’t tell by the large title image, I’m starting a recurring series called Wandering Wednesdays. I can’t say that I’ll have pictures of miscellaneous Parisian street scenes every single week on Wednesdays, or that I’ll literally be doing the wandering specifically on Wednesdays, but it made for a good title, so I’m sticking with it! And when I do have some lovely pictures to post, I’ll post them on Wednesdays!

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Restaurants, cafes, coffee shops in Canal Saint Martin, Paris, 11th arrondissement
Hannah Wilson

Something’s Brewing in Canal Saint Martin

Comments Paris, See & Do

The 10th Arrondissement has long been a forgotten neighbourhood of Paris, overshadowed by the romance of Montmartre above, and the cool vibe of the Marais below. Although it has always boasted the Canal Saint Martin, a favorite summertime picnic spot of young hip thangs from that side of town, the rest of the surrounding streets are home to multicultural establishments: African, Indian, East European, Turkish, Italian, Asian, and probably any other non-French influence you can think of has staked a claim here.

Over the past few years, the 10th has become increasingly more gentrified, and although I dislike this word and phenomenon for many reasons, you can’t deny the perks that come with such an economic shift. Now bear with me, I have zero actual knowledge of economic systems, but here are my thoughts: On one hand, property values increase, driving the poorer community out, bringing in more tourists, and eventually spoiling what had made the area charming in the first place. I don’t believe this has happened yet – the neighbourhood does not bring in a ton of tourists, but I will say it attracts a lot of young foreign residents. Lots of international students, bloggers, and people who work in the arts, and those are my kind of people!

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Claude Monet
Hannah Wilson

Springtime in Monet’s Garden

2 Comments Paris, See & Do

Being a girl who took started French lessons in high school and studied Art in college, I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for Impressionism, or any artwork during that time period actually. Degas’ cropped Ballerina scenes, Van Gogh’s vibrating and tortuous genre scenes, and Monet’s expansive waterlily canvases. It’s all so fascinating, the history behind these artistic revolutions; and what makes it even more fascinating, more so than seeing the canvases in a museum, is seeing the source of inspiration itself. I had the privilege of seeing Claude Monet’s private gardens last Saturday, as well as his home, and took a crazy amount of flower pictures.

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Rue crémieux and promenade plantée, Paris
Hannah Wilson

Promenade Plantée & Rue Crèmieux

Comments Paris, See & Do

The weather has been treating us SO well lately, so a buddy and I decided to soak it all in last Thursday. We started the day with a long lunch at Holy Belly, a somewhat-newly opened café/restaurant that prides itself on using fresh, seasonal ingredients, and boasting a monthly-rotating menu, a small selection of microbrews, and a pinball machine. I’m working on a more in-depth review of this restaurant for another website, so I’ll leave it at this for now: It’s yummy and I highly recommend.

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