In 1994, after studying with her mentor, Professor Michel Fabre, founder of the Center for African American Studies at the Sorbonne Nouvelle, my friend and colleague, Julia Browne, created Walking The Spirit Tours, the first-ever series of Black heritage tours in Paris. Today, she continually researches and finds new ways to connect people of all ages and backgrounds to Black Paris and classic France through tours, itinerary planning and full trip consultancy, and speaking engagements. The expert Walking The Spirit team of Diaspora and French personnel makes sure clients are well taken care of before and during their travels.
Parisians take Sundays seriously. After six days of crowded metros, traffic jams, tiffs with co-workers and bosses, finally here’s the day to let go and relax.
Here are a few ways you can immerse and flow with the Sunday spirit.
Flea Market – Les Marches aux Puces
The Clignancourt Flea Market is world famous but it’s massive. Marche aux Puces de Vanves,in the south end 15th arrondissement, is a more manageable treasure chest that’s ideal for diggers and hagglers. You’ll find lots of heartbreakingly adorable vintage, retro or antique items small enough to pack in your suitcase. The vibe here is friendly, relaxed and authentic like a large scale garage sale. Come early (opens 7 a.m.) for the best pickings but start serious negotiations by 12:30, half an hour before vendors close up. Metro: Porte de Vanves.
c. Jenna-Marie Warnecke Paris Cheapskate
Open Air Markets
Doing the Sunday morning market is the surest way to feel like you’re part of a French ritual. Their old world tradition of Sunday family lunch is still going strong and the market is where the ingredients for this lunch come from. If you really want to look local, buy a straw panier (there’s usually a dealer near the market), and start filling it. Or, if you’re living the dream and renting an apartment for a month, buy a caddy.
So, will that be a golden rotisserie chicken with plump roasted potatoes, or a pair of thick lamb chops and a take-away coucous salad? And, don’t even think about walking past that bakery window offering the most colorful, perfectly sculpted pastries. Until 1pm sharp, the ambiance is jovial around Marché Bastille, Rue Cler (7th arr.), Montorgueil (1st arr.), Rue l’Epic (on the Montmartre slope) and Rue des Martyrs (9th arr. near the former site of Haynes Soul Food).
Gardens
If the weather is half decent, the gardens of Paris offer a haven in which to do absolutely nothing.
Choose a park that fits your mood:
Orderly calm – The Tuileries and Luxembourg Gardens in the city center. Richard Wright loved to sit and read classics in the sprawling Luxembourg, a block from his apartment. You, too, can pick up a juicy secondhand book at nearby Shakespeare and Co. or the San Francisco Book Company.
Active – Visit the brand new renovated zoo at Vincennes or go boating in the Bois de Boulogne.
For rambling walks that end with a twist – the hilly Buttes de Chaumont in the non-touristy 19th arrondissement is full of nooks and crannies. Right inside the park itself, quench your thirst and more at Rosa Bonheur, a modern-day guinguette dance-hall where you can eat, drink the daily punch special and dance the rest of your Sunday away.
Also off the beaten path and just as adventurous, the more recently renovated Promenade Plantée. This 2.9-mile elevated linear park was built on top of an obsolete railway structure and stretches from Bastille east to Vincennes. Lined with bamboo forests and rose bushes, it is incredibly peaceful and especially cherished by locals who just want to read their newspaper in peace, joggers, and especially ideal for private tête-à-têtes. This park was the inspiration for New York’s High Line.
Go to the movies.International city that Paris is, you’ll find tons of great classics in their original language. Many of the art house cinemas program by theme so you can do a marathon viewing.
A favorite: La Pagode, one of the few remaining temples to indie cinema in Paris – showing directors such as Kusturica, Manoel de Oliveira or Ken Loach. Go early to take tea in its tiny oriental garden.
Get Out of Town.Can you come this far and not visit a chateau? Far less crowded than Versailles, and just a short regional train ride away, visit Fontainebleau Palace and Park. History buffs will love this home to monarchs for centuries. Nature-lovers will enjoy the miles of hiking trails in its surrounding park and forests, home to many of Europe’s endangered species. Today, part of the chateau is a school of music and architecture for American students.
The Baroque Chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte is often chosen as a setting for period-piece films. King Louis XIV, the Sun King, was so impressed with this masterpiece of a home, that he hired the same design team to built him one of his own…and voila Versailles Palace. They love a good party, here: Easter Egg hunt for 85,000 Leonidas chocolate eggs, Relive A Day in the King’s Court with on-site costume rental, to name a few seasonal events.
Photos: Paris Office Tourisme: D.Thierry, A. Dupont, D.Lefranc.
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