My Life in Paris and Travels Around France
I coincidentally walked by Diptyque Bazar on the way home from my Palais Garnier last week. I honestly just expected it to be a regular Diptyque boutique and decided to pop in to do a little Christmas shopping. As it turns out, Diptyque Bazar isn’t a regular Diptyque boutique. I think it’s so much cooler, and it has an interesting link to the history of the brand.
Yesterday Romain surprised me with the best early Christmas gift ever: a behind-the-scenes, top to bottom private tour of the Palais Garnier Opéra House. Palais Garnier is my favorite building in Paris, so to discover it in such an up close and personal way felt like a beyond unimaginable dream.
If you’ve read my previous Christmas in Paris posts (here and here), you’ve probably gathered that I’m a little bit obsessed with Christmas and consider myself to be an expert on the subject. I’m here to tell you, if you’re in Paris and are looking for Christmas ornaments, go directly to Astier de Villatte.
One of my all-time favorite streets in Paris is Rue du Bac. It’s home to so many different things including a few of my favorite cafés, my butcher, my flower shop, a few pastry shops and finally tons of great boutiques. For Christmas, the entire street is lined with lights. I thought it would be fun to compile a Rue du Bac Gift Guide filled with a few selections from some of my favorite shops. While some are holiday specific, many are available to purchase year-round as well!
I’m a huge Christmas fanatic in general, so experiencing Christmas in Paris takes things to a whole other level. I personally don’t get into the Christmas spirit until after Thanksgiving (regardless of living in France), and the first thing I always do is get my Christmas tree – ‘Sapin de Noël’ in French.
