Join us in welcoming to The Window Seat the lovely Clotilde Dusoulier, author and celebrated Parisian blogger behind Chocolate & Zucchini. Her delicious guest blog will tempt you with an insider's look at Paris.

I’ve lived in Montmartre for over five years, and if I’d been paid one centime for every time I’ve directed visitors to the Sacré-Coeur or the Moulin Rouge, I could afford to stay in bed eating chocolate for the rest of my life.

But I worry: once they reach those landmarks, if they get hungry, will they know where to go? Tourist traps lie in wait all over the hill, but Montmartre is a very residential area and locals eat there, too, so there is plenty of good food to be found if you know where to look. Here are a few favorites.

Coquelicot
This bakery makes what I think is the best baguette in Paris, a free-form beauty called “la piccola,” and their chouquettes (sugar puffs) are first-rate. You can sit inside or outside to enjoy a breakfast of café au lait and buttered tartines, or a light lunch of salads and omelets.

24 rue des Abbesses in the 18th, +33 (0)1 46 06 18 77. Métro: Abbesses.

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Posted in Culinary Travel, France
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Paris by day is elegant and refined. But you don’t have to scratch too far beneath the picture postcard surface of the City of Light to discover there is a deliciously louche, borderline seedy side to the world’s most-touristed city.

How do I know? Because I have been living here eight years, because I have spent an inordinate amount of time and money in cafés and bars conducting “research,” and because the fruit of that labour – a new book called A Town Like Paris - has just been published.

At the heart of the book is a love story. My love story. I came to Paris from Australia as a swinging bachelor – a young man bent on adventure, determined to foist myself upon an unsuspecting French female population and, in the process, eat my fill of Hemingway’s fabled moveable feast.

Photo of Shay courtesy of Carla Coulson.

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Posted in Bars & Nightlife, Entertainment, France
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Travelers have always followed guidebook advice religiously, scurrying from one historic site to the next, but for some Americans the book they’re taking their cues from has changed. Move over, Frommer’s. It’s the man upstairs’ turn.

Menlo Consulting Group found in a recent survey that one-third of Americans who travel abroad said they hoped to take a faith-based trip in the future and 9.5% of travelers polled had already completed a religious journey. This percentage encompasses 4.5 million travelers and means big business for travel companies, particularly those offering guided tours of holy sites around the world.

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Posted in Europe, France, International Travel, Spiritual & Religious
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At our holiday party a few months ago, I won the Grand Prize: A trip to Paris! The last time I toured the City of Light, I was a junior in college. It was 1994 and I was studying abroad in Stockholm, so I spent my spring break visiting pals in Madrid and Paris. I'm sure Paris has changed a lot in the (gulp) 13 years since my last visit. One change I'm especially excited about is that Paris is rolling out a bike-loan program to provide thousands of bikes to commuters and tourists for free.

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Posted in Europe, France, Travel News
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I staunchly believe that smoking is a vile, wretched act. Raised in L.A., I was aghast when I moved to NYC and spied spandexed crowds huddled outside of gyms, puffing in between Pilates and mat classes. I’ve since abandoned my SoCal sanctimony, preferring to make like a New Yorker when I travel internationally. My When in Rome... ethos gives me license to smoke when I’m off gallivanting in places where cigarettes are as fundamental as bread and coffee. It’s a sacrifice I "selflessly" make for cultural immersion, which is why I am so confounded by France’s ban on smoking in public places, which was announced this week. Quell horror!

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Posted in Europe, France
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I recently embarked on a journey through the regions of France, not just to see the sites, but also to experience the culture through its yummy cuisine. Mmmmm, heaven!

I started planning this eating extravaganza before I even booked my ticket – mainly by working out and eating healthy. Hey, I needed some wiggle room if I wanted to pig-out on vacation! One thing I didn’t plan for was the fact that I’d be traveling to France, the land of cheese, with my vegan friend.

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