‘A certain romance’: How to pretend you’re in Paris

Paris is more than a city — it’s a mind-set, it’s a fantasy, a ‘moveable feast’. While visiting the city may be out of reach right now, bringing a taste of it to your home is possible, writes Stephanie Rosenbloom

The romance of Paris is timeless (Getty Images)

Paris is a collective fantasy, from the booksellers along the Seine to the gray zinc rooftops of its cream stone buildings. For ages, the city has been the place to turn for lessons in l’art de vivre — the art of living — influencing fashion, philosophy, culture, art and gastronomy around the world. Today, pop-up shops and hipster brunch spots are as much a part of Paris as street lamps and Gothic architecture. But the romance of the city is timeless.

When visiting, I like to be a flâneur, a stroller with no destination, winding through the medieval streets of the Marais, pausing to hear a jazz band, dipping into the Musée Carnavalet, shopping in SoPi (South Pigalle), popping into Éric Kayser for croissants, sitting in the sun on a green metal chair in the Luxembourg Gardens. Evening might bring a ballet at the Palais Garnier, or a sidewalk bistro table from which to watch the crowds go by.

These days, my apartment is the bistro, boutique and boulangerie. Yet, it turns out, this too has a certain romance. There are countless ways to invite Paris into your home. All you need is a little creativity. And perhaps a glass of Champagne.

Make your kitchen smell like a boulangerie

Éric Kayser, the artisan baker who opened the first of his shops in Paris, teaches you how to make classic French breads, including “la baguette”, on his lively Maison Kayser Academy YouTube channel. Game for a full meal? Julia Child’s television episodes, including some shows with Jacques Pepin, are on PBS online (you’ll also find her on YouTube). A New York Times Cooking editors’ collection, “French at Home,” tempts with dozens of recipes. And for dessert? Cookbook author and New York Times columnist Dorie Greenspan said that in France: “Dessert might be cheese, fruit or maybe the sturdy gâteau that almost all French cooks know how to bake: Yogurt Cake. I make it often and always think of Paris and my friends when I do.”

Turn your couch into a box seat at the ballet

Dim the lights and nestle into your sofa like it’s a box at the Palais Garnier to watch ballet and opera clips on the Opéra National de Paris’ YouTube channel. When you need an intermission, do as the audiences do and get a glass of Champagne. The New York Times’ wine critic, Eric Asimov, offers recommendations online.

Museum hop from your laptop

Take your time contemplating masterpieces and monuments through virtual tours. Get up close to paintings by Renoir and van Gogh at the Musée d’Orsay. Zoom in on the brush strokes of Monet’s Water Lilies in the Musée de l’Orangerie. Discover masks from places such as Central Africa and Papua-New Guinea at the Musée du Quai Branly — Jacques Chirac. Explore Sacré-Coeur. And relish vertiginous views from the Eiffel Tower.

Fill your home with French jazz

On the other hand, you don’t want to look sloppy. That scarf just happened to fall artfully around your neck

Begin with guitar legend Django Reinhardt, a founder of the Quintette du Hot Club de France in Paris, and his bluesy “Nuages”. Sip a coffee as Eartha Kitt tells you “C’est Si Bon” (be sure to cue up Dean Martin’s breezy rendition of the song too). And kick up your heels (or fuzzy slippers as the case may be) as Nat King Cole woos you with the French version of “L-O-V-E”.

Knot a scarf like you were born in Paris

Parisian chic may be as close as your coat closet. “Whatever you do, do not channel Emily in Paris, with its kooky combinations of hats, boots and hot pink jackets,” advises Vanessa Friedman, the New York Times’ chief fashion critic, referring to the Netflix series. “Cast your mind back, rather, to Jean Seberg and Au Bout de Souffle in her striped mariniere and capri pants. To look French, you must not look as if you are trying too hard. On the other hand, you don’t want to look sloppy. That scarf just happened to fall artfully around your neck; that trench simply slings naturally around your shoulders. The word you are going for is insouciance.” Learn to knot scarves like you were born in Paris with this indispensable video from Cosmopolitan France. Naturally, Hermes has pointers too.

Redecorate, Parisian-style

Ready to spruce up your home for autumn? Spark ideas with the Instagram accounts of Elle Decoration France, Marie Claire Maison, and Côté Maison, even boutique hotels like Le Narcisse Blanc Hotel & Spa. Elle Decor has some “French Interior Design Rules to Live By” in which Paris-based designer Jean-Louis Deniot explains: “The whole idea is anti-decor. To make it look like the owner did it himself — to make it look natural. Which is, of course, very French.”

Curl up with a French author

Download classic novels and poems by Victor Hugo, Émile Zola, George Sand and Honoré de Balzac free from places such as Apple Books. If you haven’t already, discover the works of one of France’s most respected writers, Annie Ernaux. Amble around Paris with Edmund White in The Flâneur. Delve into the city’s dark underbelly with Luc Sante’s The Other Paris. Or escape into another world like the French do, with a comic book or graphic novel such as the long-running Asterix series about Gauls resisting Roman occupation.

Be a flâneur

Never mind that your sidewalk doesn’t lead to the Seine. Being a flâneur is not about being in Paris but rather, being of the place you’re in — using your senses to savour sounds, scents and colours right where you are. So tie on a scarf, and go for a socially distanced stroll.

© The New York Times