Winter Feelings & Paris with Kids

Every once in a while I return to the concept of sonder (noun, English) if for no other reason than to remind myself of the word - the feeling hits often enough that it's worth remembering.

Sonder is the sensation that comes with realizing everyone else is in their own world, on their own path, living their own lives with their own problems, loves, and losses. Brilliantly lit windows on dark evenings lead me to think about this as much as anything. The meals on the far side of that glass and the warmth inside as my breath frosts in the air. I wonder at the decisions behind their decor, and the memories being made and lost that I'll never know existed.

With early winter sunsets, this is practically a guaranteed emotion during the holidays. Not to mention the addition of Christmas trees in second story windows and families bustling through the chaos of the end of school, preparations for visitors. In Paris, the coming mass evacuation for the countryside. It's often a quiet city from the 20th of December, further proof that life is off being lived elsewhere. It always makes me feel sonder.

~Jay

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Paris According to Richard Bilkey

Family Life in the Marais

For the past few years I’ve had the incredible good luck to be père au foyer (or a stay-at-home dad) to my three beautiful boys, and Gustave, our very handsome fox terrier. One consequence of this has been the concentration of my life in our home and the neighbourhood bounded by the crèche, the maternelle, and the école primaire. Happily, I live in the absolute best neighbourhood in Paris! So let me give you a quick window into family life and routine in Le Marais!

The most challenging part of raising a family in Paris (aside from the infinite layers of French administration) is finding SPACE. Paris apartments are small, and generally have poor noise insulation. For everyone’s sake (not least our neighbours) we spend a LOT of time in the various local parks. I often joke that the Place des Vosges is our backyard, but that’s not far from the truth. In fact, we have several “backyards”, all of them with beautifully manicured gardens, playgrounds, and even a little wildlife. The boys’ current favourite is the Square du Temple, which has a new clutch of fluffy ducklings waddling around. Also high on the rotation is the gorgeous Square Léopold-Achille, and the Jardin Anne Frank, a wonderful hidden playground just a stone’s throw from the Centre Pompidou. 

Small apartments also mean less kitchen storage, so food shopping is an almost daily routine. Large supermarkets are rare and instead we have a healthy range of independent artisanal stores and markets to choose from. I’m convinced Le Jardin des Delices on Rue de Bretagne is the best fruit and vegetable shop in Paris, and the friendliest. The family who own it have been helping me with my French and teaching me the best methods to prepare locally grown vegetables since I first arrived nine years ago. On the same street, the poulet rôti from Le Boucherie du Marais is reliably juicy and delicious, and the Fromagerie Jouannault, just outside the Marché des Enfants Rouges, is small but well stocked. We even had a new French-Taiwanese boulangerie called Petite île recently open around the corner, and it makes the most incredible sour-dough baguettes and long-fermentation loaves. Sitting next door to each other, a little down Rue du Turenne, are our go-to wine shop (Le Cave du Turenne) and fleuriste (Moor Paris). It’s nothing at all to do a quick circuit of these stores and pull together a planche for Sunday lunch, or a picnic in the park with friends. 

If I don’t want to cook, then we bundle the kids to Café Charlot, a quintessentially Parisian bistro, or BrewDog for board games and pizza. And on the rarer occasions when we get away without the kids, Le Mary Celeste, Le Petit Commines or Les Enfants du Marché are all truly excellent, and all within a minute walk, just in case the babysitter calls with an emergency!

And it’s not just great food. Some of the best shopping in the world is on our doorstep. Le Bonton has three levels of kid’s clothes and toys, and even a children’s hairdresser. I can always find a gift for my wife in Merci, or Alix D. Reynis, or Officine Universelle Bully 1803. I seem to be dressed almost exclusively in BonneGueule or Maison Standards these days, and the whole family wears shoes from Veja. It’s honestly always fashion week in Le Marais. 

I’m not even scratching the surface, and I haven’t even mentioned the coffee shops (I have to leave some things for Jay to talk about in his videos). But I hope when you come to Paris you’ll find time to come up here to discover Le Marais, and bring the kids!

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This Week in Paris

It’s the most magical time of the year… especially for children, so we thought we’d stay on theme and offer up two luminescent experiences created for kids in Paris - but enjoyed by adults just as much. While we don’t necessarily recommend spending Christmas in Paris unless you live here, you might find yourselves here and looking for a little extra sparkle. So bundle up, pop on the metro and head to one of these fairyland experiences:

Jardin des Plantes: Jungle en Voie d’Illumination

A yearly creation, the Jardin des Plantes smack in the center of Paris really goes all out for the holidays. Staying on brand to its museum of natural history and its ménagerie, the light show you’ll find in this garden is animal themed! Massive colorful and bright birds, reptiles, elephants, trees, and flowers will weave you through the garden and blow you away - whatever your age.

Parc de la Villette: L’art dans la nature à la Villette

This experience differs greatly from that at Jardin des Plantes, because while there are lots of lights and pretty colors, their main purpose is to illuminate various statues - works of art. This massive walk is divided into sections that explore different pieces of the art world with its main focus on Dalí, surrealism, and Dadaism.

There are many more light shows in and around Paris during this season, not to mention the entirety of France. While you can find beautiful light displays in Saint-Cloud and Vincennes, just outside of Paris, we wanted to suggest two easily accessible experiences for the whole family to enjoy right in the heart of this city.

Don’t forget to warm up before or after with a chocolate chaud or a vin chaud that you’ll be able to find at many neighboring cafés. We don’t have a “best rec” for these cold season drinks, because on a cold and crisp winter’s night, it doesn’t really matter where you found your mulled wine, or even how perfectly balanced it is, but rather, it’s about who you drink it with, and enjoyment you share.

Wishing you all joyeuses fêtes!