Parisian Chic City Guide: Shopping, Dining, and More

In the very famous words of the late Audrey Hepburn “Paris is always a good idea” and so it is especially apropos since the publication of Parisian Chic City Guide: Shopping, Dining, and More. Never could Ms. Hepburn have known how prophetic the words would be considering the development and immense usage of the Internet.

What de la Fressange and Gachet have provided is a sort of cheat sheet for those who wish to stray from the usual itinerary of visitors to the city of light and move in more rarefied shopping, dining, and habits of all things Parisian. The added bonus of it all is that most of the entries include a website, which are provided, making a trip to Paris not all that out of reach. Thanks to the ladies for bringing a slice of Paris to your nearest Internet accessing device.

The authors cover boutique hotels, cuisine, and everything else from watch straps to haute couture to housewares to hair colorists as inveterate Parisians are all about the French experience. Each suggested destination has an assortment of statements or questions: “why go?” and the “must have” and “what to order” and then there is the key to them all, which is “Say it like a Parisienne!”

Not only are the suggestions creative and well researched but there is a great wit accompanying most of the entries. In a way that most travel guides don’t always provide, the Parisian Chic City Guide is broken out by arrondisements and not by classifications of said entry, so museums and hotels may inhabit the same chapter.

Maybe Karl Lagerfeld summed it up best when he said, "I never go anywhere. I do sketches and make phone calls, and people visit. It's more fun to come to Paris."

And now de la Fressange and Gachet present the genuine visit or the virtual. Either way you will not be disappointed.