Top choices - Paris e-guide: The Travel Guide with its Own Website - page 8

TOP CHOICES - afternoon

Stroll around any Paris park in the afternoon and you'll find you're not
alone. Afternoon promenades, particularly following the customary, long
Sunday lunch, are de rigueur , and the wide-open, well-manicured public
spaces are the place to be. Boules players, with furrowed brows and
flicking wrists, take over the dusty paths, and tittering children line up for
weekend puppet shows. In the afternoon, too, shopping areas are always
buzzy, especially on Saturdays; and, at the smallest hint of sunshine, the
cobblestoned quays of the Seine are awash with sunbathers and picnick-
ers. Between lunch and the apéritif is also prime time for visiting private art
galleries. Alternatively, Paris is a rewarding city to explore on foot, and an
afternoon amble through the streets reveals myriad riches, from impressive
architecture to inviting cafés.

Sunday Lunch
La Guinguette de l'Ile du Martin Pecheur, 41 quai Victor Hugo
Champigny-sur-Marne, 01 49 83 03 02, www.guinguette.fr
Sunday lunch doesn't get much more quintessentially
French than at La Guinguette de l'Ile du Martin Pecheur
(just 20 minutes from central Paris on RER line A2),
where they serve chanson with the entrecôte à la
Bordelaise (Mar-Sep). Lazing at long tables (in the open
air, weather permitting) beside the river Marne, enjoying
a singalong - it's a scene straight out of a Renoir painting.
Resolute foodies seeking a three-star bite on Sunday
are, however, limited to lofty hotel establishments -
haute-cuisine restaurants are all closed on Sundays.

Hammam
Les Bains du Marais, 31-33 rue des Blancs Manteaux, 4ème,
01 44 61 02 02, www.lesbainsdumarais.com
Before a night of bar-hopping, unwind at a single-sex
session in the Hammam at the Mosquée de Paris
(see p164) or, at the more chic Les Bains du Marais
(Map 11 B5). At both spots, the entry fee (5€ at the
former, 30€ at the latter) buys you hammam (Turkish
bath), sauna and lounging-room access and a feeling of
having slipped into the pages of 1,001 Arabian Nights ;
massages, gommages (scrubs) and facials are extra.

Picnics
For other recommendations for food to go, see p38
The tastiest of titbits, from earthy terrines and exquisite
patisseries to fragrant strawberries and cold champagne,
can be found at the gourmet emporia Hediard or
Fauchon (both are located on place de la Madeleine,
Map 9 C2) or La Grande Epicerie de Paris (see p80).
Then, settle on a bench by the Seine on the Ile de la
Cité, or alternatively,
déjeune sur l'herbe (picnic)
in place des Vosges (Map
17 C1). Sadly, the tempting
expanses of unspoiled
lawn in the Jardin du
Luxembourg or the
Tuileries are strictly
“ pelouse interdit ” - keep
off the grass - domains.

Brocantes
The appearance of fluttering street banners announces
the onset of the season of antiquitiés-brocantes (bric-a-
brac and antiques fairs). From Apr to May and Sep to Oct,
dealers peddling country furniture, silverware, jewellery,
linen, topics and prints invade local streets and squares.
Many sellers travel in from the provinces, and prices are
often lower than those at the permanent city antiques
markets. The weekly La Vie du Collectioneur (published
every Thursday) lists brocantes all over France.