With the release of my book and a mountain of correspondence to address, it has been a busy few days! I’ve also kept a punishing schedule scouting out wonderful things for you to do and see, and my head is exploding with information. On the verge of not being able to fit one more pâtisserie in my notebook or head – or one more bite of baguette slathered with cheese in my mouth – this Sunday I have decided to stay in the apartment and put the backlog in some king of order before I am bombarded some more. Achingly difficult to do, when outside, Paris is just waking up and promising a fine spring day. Still, it’s not so bad. Through my open French doors there is just a breath of wind and I hear church bells chiming across the city. Below, pink spring blossoms adorn the trees, dogs are being walked on the footpath and new season white asparagus is being stacked at la fruiterie.

And so finally, this morning as I sip a tisane, I am able to bring you the last installment of my packed morning with Sébastien – Concierge Extraordinaire.

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After discovering a couple of interesting boutique hotels, which you can read about here, we zoom across to the Right Bank and down into the basement car park of Printemps. Inside this iconic department store you can shop to your heart’s content and lunch under the breathtaking glass cupola. There’s even a great Personal Shopper Service if you want a ‘relooking’. But that is not why we have come.

Salon de Coiffure. Photo courtesy of Printemps

We climb up to the sixth floor of the de la Mode building and enter Le Coiffeur. Suddenly before us is a breathtaking view across the chimney pots, taking in the Eiffel Tower and monuments of Paris.  If your time in Paris is limited, book in for a quick blow dry before a glam night out, just for the experience. Prices are a little more than at home, but not exorbitant.

We leave the jaw-dropping salon and climb to the rooftop terrace. ‘I think this is one of the best views of Paris. Come on a Thursday night when it’s late night shopping and sit and have a drink,’ says Sébastien.

Here on the terrace, Paris is so close that you can almost reach out and touch it.

Just as it is from my apartment window as I tap away…so near and yet so far.