We cross town in the morning peak hour traffic to the posh 16th arrondissement for what he tells me are the ‘best, best pain aux raisins‘! On the rue de Chaillot we enter La Pâtisserie Cyril Lignac, a sleek pastry shop that’s only been open a few months and order two sweet, golden scrolls. Lignac also owns Chardenoux, a favourite old-school bistro back on the eastern side of town.

The sticky, fragrant pasties are slipped into a paper bag and we jump back in the car en route to Salle Pleyel.

On the way Sébastien stops to show me La Suite Bleue, an exclusive beauty salon on Avenue Hoche near the Parc Monceau, a favourite of many of his clients. Here, you can experience true Parisian chic with a bevy of pampering beauty treatments for the body and hair.

Just down the road we pull up at the backstage entrance of Salle Pleyel, a famous Arc Deco concert hall where Stravinsky directed Agon in 1957 and music greats from Louis Armstrong to Ravi Shankar have played.

Today the distinguished maestro Myung-Whun Chung is rehearsing Bartok, Concerto pour Alto with L’Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, one of the finest orchestras in Europe. Sébastien has arranged for us to watch the rehearsal and we slip in the back door to take a peek. But first, we head to the café to grab a coffee to go with those pains aux raisins. They are divine: crunchy, buttery and flaky on the outside and dense and flavourful inside. Worth crossing town for.

Inside the concert hall the rush and noise of the city outside suddenly fades and we are transported to a calm, serene and peaceful world. We eventually drag ourselves away from the music and as we drive towards a ‘great little boutique hotel’.

Sébastien tells me that ballet and opera buffs may be interested to know that there is a last minute ticket queue at Opera Garnier, Paris’s sumptuous opera house. Just show up an hour or so before starting time and you are likely to score a seat.

We are only halfway through our morning but already my notebook is a enticing scrawl of wonderful things to do and taste. What this chauffeur extraordinaire does not know about Paris is not worth knowing! It fact, my notebook is so packed with ideas that I will have to bring you the rest in the next post. Stay tuned.

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