Photo courtesy of Un Dimanche à Paris

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While I was in the midst of writing, a favourite restaurant closed suddenly and I had to find another to replace it along the route. I also ditched an entire chapter on the Ritz Paris  featuring Colin & his Cocktails, the Best Barman in the World.  Shortly after I wrote the chapter I learned that the graceful old hotel on Place Vendôme was closing for a 200 million euro refurbishment in a bid to qualify for the new category of ‘Palace Hotel’. To leave the story in was just too risky. Thank goodness I didn’t for the hotel is still closed, with these kind of major upgrades sometimes taking years. On the Ritz website today is a statement that reads, ‘Currently closed and continues its journey towards the grand opening’.

Here’s a photo of the Hemingway Bar where I was lucky enough to watch Colin Field create his famous cocktails.

With the above in mind, below you will find a handful of major changes and updates since Delicious Days was whooshed to the printers…

• I am still mourning the news that my favourite little chocolate shop in Paris, A L’Etoile d’Or (p 155), was blown up in a gas explosion on Valentine’s Day. The investigation will take some time, and after that, who knows whether Madame Acabo will decide to rebuild.

• After a five year refurbishment and a series of delays, the Musée National Picasso (p 122) is currently scheduled to re-open on 25 October 2014. 

• Jacques Genin (p 132) is reportedly no longer making his divine, individual-sized pastries to takeaway but apparently you can still order a mille-feuille in the tea salon, along with a ‘pastry of the day’. I got my Concierge Extraordinaire onto it a couple of weeks ago to check it out once and for all, and he emailed me from the salon to report that he was munching on a made-to-order mille-feuille and a lemon tart washed down with jasmine tea. Lucky him! You can still order desserts for four or more people in advance.

• One of my favourite tableware stores in the city, Dîners en Ville on Rue du Bac (p188), has sadly closed its doors. My Concierge Extraordinaire also reports that a second Jacques Genin store will take its place, so all is not lost! It is unclear yet as to whether his exquisite pastries will be sold here…or if there will be a tea salon on site, but you will definitely be able to buy those wonderful caramels, chocolates and fruit jellies.

• Le Violin d’Ingres on Rue St Dominique (page 98) has been refurbished and modernised and now has an open kitchen.

• Yukiko Vintage Paris (p 123) has changed its name to 25 Janvier but remains at 97, Rue Vieille du Temple, 3e.

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• Rug up, take an evening stroll through the streets and marvel at the Christmas trees that twinkle from apartment windows and foyers.  Grab a warm crêpe sprinked with lemon and sugar and soak up the festive atmosphere as you pass plush hotels – their doors and archways showered with tiny lights, and chocolate shop windows laden with Santas and sleighs. The Champs Elysées is particularly spectacular and renowned for its illuminations, and I always like to take a peek at the elegant Place Vendôme, home to The Ritz.
• Sip a goblet of vin chaud (hot spiced wine) on a heated café terrace and watch the world go by. Some cafés even offer lap blankets in winter – probably a consequence of smoking being banned inside cafés!

• Don’t miss the fantastical, animated displays in the department store windows on Boulevard Haussmann; a must-do Christmas activity and especially magical in the evenings when the crowds have thinned and darkness brings the windows to life. Inside, the giant Christmas tree that sparkles under the splendid cupola in Galeries Lafeyette will take your breath away.

• Ogle the window displays at Le Bon Marché too, the chic department store on the Left Bank. Downstairs in the enormous food hall, La Grande Epicerie, you will find all the trimmings for a decadent French Christmas. Beautifully boxed produce and gourmet gifts from France and beyond sit next to bottles of Bordeaux and boxes of premium Champagne.
• Take a whirl on the patinoire (ice-skating rink) set up in front of l’Hôtel de Ville during the winter months. You can hire skates for a modest fee and afterwards, ride the antique carousel.
• There’s nothing better than a delicious chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) to warm you up on a cold winter’s day.  One of the best in the city is at Jacques Genin’s beautiful tea salon & pâtisserie in the Upper Marais. It’s a bit of a detour but so worth it. The pastries are pretty spectacular too.

Paris Brests at Jacques Genin

• Take a wander through the warren of covered passageways in the 2^nd and 9^th arrondissements (they are marked on city maps), beautifully decorated for the festive season. You will be swept back to a 19^th century Christmas.
• A number of Paris churches and cathedrals open their doors to classical music and in December you will also find Christmas concerts and choirs singing carols to put you in the festive mood. It’s a heart-warming way to remember famous buildings such as Sainte-Chapelle, Madeleine and Notre Dame de Paris. Inside Notre Dame you will find an impressive Christmas crèche (nativity) while a magical tree twinkles out the front. Concerts are listed in Pariscope entertainment guide, available from news stands.

• Peek into florist shops where armfuls of flowers are being arranged and wrapped to adorn the apartments and restaurants of Paris for the festive season. Outside, pretty wreaths and winter bulbs brighten up the footpath; branches painted silver and gold shiver in the cold and rows of freshly cut Sapins de Noël (Christmas trees) wait to be carried home and dressed.

• Visit an open-air merchant street to get a feel for a traditional French Christmas feast. Open till 7 pm, lights twinkle down the length of the streets as locals rattle past drums of roasting chestnuts and fill their trolleys with freshly shucked oysters, winter cheeses and the plump, white sausage, boudin blanc. Half-plucked turkeys and long-necked geese hang from la boucherie, and among the fruits and vegetables are sacks filled with luscious dried fruit and nuts.
• Slip in from the cold for a hearty, classic boeuf bourguignon, mopped up with crusty baguette.

• Sample a bûche de Noël, a Christmas log cake covered with chocolate buttercream, dusted with icing sugar to resemble snow and stabbed with a Joyeux Noël sign. These traditional logs can be admired in most pastry shop windows at this time of the year and come in a variety of sizes. It’s the perfect Christmas treat to take back to your hotel or apartment and enjoy with a coffee or glass of Champagne.

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