K-Rae Nelson's Toast2Taste: I Love Paris in the Springtime: 5 Ideas for April

Notre-Dame: check; Eiffel Tower: check; Louvre: check; Champs-Elysées: check. If you 'did it all' your last trip, think again. There is so much to discover in Paris. So, this time, relax and open yourself to the quiet beauties of the city. Springtime in Paris can be delightful. Sun and clear skies are making their appearance with increasing regularity, daffodils, tulips and crocuses, flowers that a native Californian usually sees only in shops, now pop up in every garden space. On the weekend, Parisians flood the streets and lounge in cafes in anticipation of summer. The unpredictable nature of the weather only adds to the appreciation of the moment.

Les Berges de la Seine

1) Sunday Walk along the Seine

On Sundays, the expressway that follows the Seine is closed to traffic on the Right Bank from 9 AM – 5 PM, from the Louvre, past Notre Dame and the Ile Saint Louis to the Bercy stadium in the 12^th arrondissement. You'll see people walking, jogging, biking, and rollerblading. You can begin at the Pont des Arts, the wooden pedestrian bridge connecting the Institut de France and the Louvre, crossing from the cobblestone quai onto the asphalt expressway. If it’s a nice day, you may see people picnicking, playing music, or selling souvenir images of Paris.

A walk in this direction should include a stopover on the Ile Saint Louis for ice cream at Berthillon, which has concessions on rue des Deux Ponts, rue St. Louis-en-l’Ile, and at the café Flore en l’Ile with a stunning view of the flying buttresses of Notre Dame. Beware of imitators. Hold out for the true Berthillon. My favorite ice cream flavors are agenaise (vanilla ice cream with prunes soaked in Armagnac), and cacao au whiskey. Berthillon is renowned for its exquisite sorbets: pamplemousse (grapefruit), thym citron (lemon thyme), poire (pear), fraise des bois (wild strawberries), and pomme verte (green apple) to name just a few.

Maison Berthillon, 31 rue Saint-Louis-en-l’Ile, 4^th, M: Cité or Pont Marie.

2) Visit a Marché or Rue Commerçante

A visit to a Parisian market is an absolute must. Well known weekly markets are the Marché couvert des Enfants Rouges in the Marais, the oldest covered market in Paris; the more working class, or populaire, Marché d’Aligre in the 12^th with indoor and outdoor spaces; and rues commercantes, commercial streets, such as rue Montorgueil on the rive droite, and rue Daguerre on the rive gauche, where you will find numerous boulangeries, patisseries, boucheries, fromageries, small supermarchés, cafés and tabacs.

Marché couvert des Enfants Rouges, 39 rue de Bretagne, 3^rd, M: Temple

Marché d’Aligre, 12^th, M:Ledru-Rollin

Rue Montorgueil, between rue Turbigo and rue Reaumur, 1^st and 2^nd, M: Les Halles or Etienne Marcel

Rue Daguerre, beginning at Ave. du Général Leclerc, 14^th, M: Denfert-Rochereau

3) Take a cruise on the Canal St. Martin

After walking along the river, get another perspective of the Seine, from the river itself. Several companies cruise the Seine through the center of Paris, but for a water view off the beaten track, take a leisurely cruise up the Canal St. Martin. Beginning from the Port de l’Arsenal (M: Bastille) you’ll cross the 11^th arrondissement underground below the Richard Lenoir and Jules Ferry boulevards and then pop up in the 10^th arrondissement to pass through a series of locks as you make your way up the canal to the Parc de la Villette.

Canauxrama, Porte de Plaisance Paris-Arsenal, across from 50 bd de la Bastille, 12^th, M: Bastille (Opéra Bastille exit), Reserve by telephone or email at Tel. 01 42 39 15 00, or canauxrama.croisieres@wanadoo.fr. Departures at 9:45am and 2:30pm. The 2 ½ hour trip arrives at the Parc de la Villette, perfect for a visit of the park and the Cité des Sciences or the Cité de la Musique. 16€ (book online for 13.50€).


Springtime on the Canal St. Martin © Isabelle Vianu

4) Museums – Off hours and off the tourist circuit

Friday Night at the Louvre

Visit museums in the evening, during their nocturnes, when the tourist crowds are gone. The Louvre is open late on Wednesdays and Fridays, until 9:45 PM, and is free Friday evening after 6pm for young people 26 and under. Otherwise, the usual fee of 10€ applies.

The Musée d’Orsay nocturnes begin at 6pm on Thursday nights with reduced entry of 6.50€.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

For a change from the greatest hits museums, visit one of Paris’ lovely house museums. Several Paris City Museums in the Marais offer free entrance to the Carnavalet Museum of the History of Paris, Jay-Cognacq for 18^th Century paintings and furniture and Victor Hugo’s House on the Place des Vosges. For an early 20^th century reconstitution of an 18^th century home, visit the lovely Nissim de Camondo House in the 8^th district near the Parc Monceau. The art collecting couple turned their home into a museum. The Jacquemart-André, former home of the art collecting couple Nélie Jacquemart and Edouard André, is just a few blocks away, and has an impressive permanent collection of European paintings and sculptures, with a particular emphasis on Venetian and Florentine Renaissance art, along with the private living spaces of the couple.

5) Laze about in a Park

Spring flowers Buttes Chaumont

Parc des Buttes Chaumont for its grottos, waterfall, ponds and folies. M: Buttes Chaumont or Botzaris.

Jardin du Luxembourg for its staturary, people watching, basketball courts chess playing grandpas, and jogging firemen. There is a separate children’s playground, basket swings, a childrens theater, and toy boat rental for the fountains behind the Senate building. RER: Luxembourg.

Jardin du Palais Royal for the black and white Buren columns, the green benches under one of the 400 tilleuls, or linden trees, the covered galleries, and revolutionary history. M: Palais Royal.