A Woman's Paris ~ Joie de Vivre

By Abby Rodgers

My love affair with Paris began when I was fourteen. I romanticized the cobblestone streets winding into twenty districts. I pictured the smell of fresh baguettes and the windows of artisan pastries on display. I spent three summers in Paris before deciding to move to this city that seemed like a dream.

I first stumbled upon the Pont des Arts on a walk by the Seine while living in the sixth district of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. It was unlike any bridge I’d seen, more industrial than the typical Parisian pont, but unique as it was plastered with padlocks inscribed with initials and profusions of love. Lock after lock provided a story and moment in time. I’d fallen in love with the notion.

The Pont des Arts was the first metal bridge constructed in Paris. Meant to be used as a pedestrian bridge, it has become a symbol for eternal love.

Pont des Arts, Abbey Rodgers

So many people come to this bridge to seal their affections. Locking their love and tossing the key into the Seine. It is so popular that now you can lock your love for a euro, thanks to vendors selling padlocks next to the bridge. If you are a romantic, then this is the bridge for you: stroll by the Seine and fall in love—with Paris.

Abby Rodgers was born in South Korea, raised in Rochester, New York and is currently living in Paris, France. She is a student of International Relations at Schiller International University in Paris and works at Art Galleries Europe/London and Paris. Abby lives in the bustling 6ème arrondissement near the famed Café Flore and Luxembourg Gardens, providing the ideal landscape for creativity. She is a self-proclaimed Francophile and dessert connoisseur.

You may also enjoy A Woman’s Paris® post, Paris in the Rain, by Parisian Abby Rodgers who writes about how Paris becomes a different place when it rains. As Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris” comments, walking through Paris in the rain can be a magical experience because you have the ability to discover the city from a whole new point of view. Including Abby’s suggestions of favorite boutiques, museums, and shops to explore while walking around Paris.

Parisian Springtime: the city in bloom, by Parisienne Abby Rodgers who is ready to leave her umbrella behind and dreams of the perfect Parisian picnic at the Champ de Mars near the Eiffel Tower. Included is a list of Abby’s favorite public parks and gardens in Paris.

Paris, a particular shade of gray, by Mary Evans a former cooking school director and founder of The Write Cook. Mary recalls the cozy refuges in her long ago memories of Paris and shares her recipe for Chicken Bouillabaisse.

Café Culture in Paris, by Parisienne Flore der Agopian. The café, writes Flore, is a pleasurable way of sitting unbothered for hours on end with a book, with friends, or jut watching all sorts of people coming and going. Le Café de Flore, one of the oldest and most prestigious in Paris, where you can meet or observe its famous clientele among the Parisians, tourists and waiters dressed in their black and white uniforms as if they were still in the 1920s.

Paris macaron, love in the afternoon, by Barbara Redmond who tells about the French women who vanished into the streets of Paris and later exited Pierre Hermé, an elegant confectionary, clutching little cellophane bags of macarons, a little ‘Le goûter’ (afternoon treat). But, Frenchwomen do not snack… or do they? Paris locations included for Pierre Hermé and Ladurée, beloved for their Parisian macarons.

Text copyright ©2013 Abby Rodgers. All rights reserved.
Photography copyright ©2013 Abby Rodgers. All rights reserved.
Illustrations copyright ©Barbara Redmond. All rights reserved.
barbara@awomansparis.com