More romance can be found in Everybody Was So Young by Amanda Vaill, which focuses on Gerald and Sara Murphy’s extraordinary lives on the French Riviera. Their friends included the Fitzgeralds, Cole Porter, and Picasso. There’s plenty of glamour and, yes, misbehavior. “Didn’t you know?” Zelda famously said. “We don’t believe in preservation.”
When I’m in Paris, I like to walk, to look at paintings, and to eat. You can’t really beat that. Here are a favorite few places to visit between trips to the café.
Marché Biologique, Boulevard Raspail. The wonderful organic market on Sundays. For food, naturally, but also perfect for watching French women get very specific about which slice of brie they want. Tremendous.
Café Le Dome. Terrific Dover sole, oysters to start, a glass of Chablis, or a bottle, depending on what you’re planning to do afterwards. Comically good millefeuille even if you’re a dessert agnostic.
Charvet, Place Vendome. Yes, the main floor is lovely for anything silk—pocket square or scarf—but head upstairs to the atelier, where you can get fitted for a shirt, surrounded by endless bolts of lovely fabric. There are more shades of white than you think!
Les Pouces de Vanves. Saturday flea market for old paintings, antiques, and a thousand other things you didn’t know you needed.
Le Bon Marche. A classic department store that I visit for the wildly great food court (which doesn’t really seem like the right phrase for how lovely and ambitious this is). Not forgetting the second floor, for incredible home goods—whatever you need for the kitchen, and gifts for those back home who are jealous you’re living well in Paris.