Yesterday I posted the Top 20 To Do List in the City of Lights according to Miriele Gilianio, author of French Women For All Seasons and Why French Women Don’t Get Fat. I have personally taken advantage of all the sites she has proposed and I think it is only fair to give you some additional information so you can make informed choices as to whether they are something you would like to do on your next visit to Paris.
Passages or galeries in Paris were conceived by town planners in the 19th century to protect pedestrians from weather, mud and horse drawn carriages, while creating space for shops that line these ornately decorated pass throughs. Only a handful survive to this day and are located predominantly in the 2nd arrondissement.
This is Galerie Vivienne, my personal favorite, located off rue des Petits Champs behind Palais Royal. I stumbled upon it as I was purposely trying to get lost just to see what I might find and voilá.
By the 1960’s many of these reminders of the past were in terrible disrepair, but with so many things in France, they were lovingly restored to their former grandeur as opposed to being torn down to make way for something new. Just look at the mosaic floors and glazed rooftop! Imagine yourself back in the days when a long gown would have been destroyed by a muddy street and how grateful you would have been for these precursors to our modern day “malls”. Not quite the same thing is it?
You will find a nice mix of shops in here–clothing stores both with new items as well as a great resale shop where I have bought some wonderful “gently” used items. The picture to the left is one of my favorite places to eat, A Priori Thé, a tiny, tiny tea salon whose menu changes daily with five items tops to chose from, wine, teas of course and a fabulous dessert menu. Certainly save room for that when you visit. It gets very busy as the secret is out how delicious everything is, so get there early or late, but not on time!
Here is Legrand Filles & Fils, a wine shop/bar/delicatessen that does tastings as well. This may be hard to believe for those of you who know how I feel about wine, but I have never been inside. Not sure why. Last time I passed by, they were expanding into more space across the hall–I’m curious to know what that is all about. It is set up with large tables for the tastings, so if you are traveling with a big group I would think this should be a stop.
I sort of worked back assed-wards because at the entrance to the passage, off rue des Petits-Champs is this candy colored shop with all things incredibly girlie, Odette & Zoe. As you can see in the photo, those crazy city of the world inspired pillows were featured in In Style and oddly that meant something here–for all the tourists at least! I have not stopped in without walking out with something. See, that must be why I haven’t been in the wine shop–I would exhibit little to no self control and walk out with way too much wine: in me and otherwise ;-)
So, I do believe Madame Guiliano and I are one for one regarding list worthiness. Stay tuned for future installments!
Additional Information: Galerie Vivienne
Photo credits: Personal collection, A. Frich
译文:
异域奇葩：薇薇安廊巷[巴黎旅行者]
昨天我根据《四季法国女人》和《法国女人为何不胖》的作者Miriele Gilianio的观点发表了《光之城20件值得去做的事》（注：巴黎被誉为“光之城”）。我本人已经捷足先登，参观了她推荐的所有景点，我认为，只有给我亲爱的朋友们一些本人的经验，下次你游览巴黎时做出一些精明的选择是很不错的一件事。
19世纪的城市规划者们利用封顶的廊巷或者通道用来保护步行的人们不受天气，泥土和四轮马车的干扰，同时为沿着走廊的华丽商铺腾出空间，二者相映成趣。但是现存下来的已经为数不多，巴黎第二街区的廊巷就颇为著名。
这个是薇薇安廊巷（Galerie Vivienne），我的个人最爱，它位于皇宫后面的rue des Petits Champs对面。就好像我故意想在这城市里走失，看看我到底能看到或者找到些什么，然后我就发现了它。
到二十世界六十年代，巴黎城内许多古老建筑都呈现出年久失修的破败景象，但是法国有如此多的古迹，它们应该被善意地恢复成原来宏伟的样子，而不是被推倒让位于新的建筑。只要看看那些马赛克的地板和玻璃屋顶！想象你回到了当年，泥泞的道路将你的长裙弄得污渍斑斑，你就会感恩于这些给现代“购物中心”提供借鉴的早期模型。这不是一个道理吗？
你会发现这是个综合了各种商铺的不错的地方---有发布新款时装的服装店，也有特别大的二手店，我在里面买了一些不错的都没怎么用过的二手货。 左边的图片是我最喜欢的一个小吃店，优优红茶坊，一个很小，很小的茶餐厅，那里的菜单每天都更新，有五款招牌菜可供选择，有酒有茶，当然还有奇妙的甜点。菜单的设计应该是为了节省空间吧。那里菜肴的美味已经不是秘密，所以生意很好，所以你最好早点或者晚一点，但不要赶在饭点去！
这里是“罗格朗一家”，一家卖酒和熟食的酒店或者叫酒吧，味道也不错，那些知道我的酒品的人可能很难相信---我从来没有踏进过这个酒吧。我也不确定自己是为什么。上次我路过，发现这个酒吧在走廊那边也拓出一片地方---我很好奇，想知道那是用来干什么的。原来是用来放提供游客品酒的大桌子，所以如果你是团队旅游的话，我建议可以在这里停留片刻，小憩一下。
好像我得倒回去说个地方，那就是位于廊巷入口处的一家有着糖果般彩色招牌的商店，这家店在rue des Petits-Champs 对门，叫Odette & Zoe。店外一个个裸体的假人模特，在玻璃天窗的柔光中，摆弄着各种姿态。就像你在照片上看到的，那些是来自世界各个新概念城市里所有有创意的枕头，在《品位》里可以看到的极具特色和稀奇古怪的枕头在这里都极富韵味---至少那些游客看来是如此！我进去从来不空着手出来。看，这可能就是我不进酒吧的原因---我可能会毫不节制地喝个烂醉：或者还拎一些出来。
所以，我相信Guiliano女士和我都是认同这个景点的。未完待续！