Vicarious Paris: One woman's candid account of moving to Paris, with insights on: food, nightlife, and living like a local

Introduction

Hi.

Here are some personal details before we embark on our journey:

1. My love for Paris is earnest but I’m not naïve; the city has its quirks, y’all. I’ll let you know.

2. On the niceness scale from “saccharin sweet” to “just plain mean,” I tend to hop around a little. I go from kind...to deadpan...to pointing and laughing if I feel such behaviour is warranted. It’s a mixed bag, and I just didn’t want there to be any surprises.

3. I am Canadian, so Canadian spelling will follow (and it already happened two sentences ago).

Now that my autobiography has concluded (why are you sighing with relief?), I’d like to steer your focus to the book that lies ahead.

I hope this book proves useful to all sorts of readers; to first-time Paris travellers looking for recommendations, to “some day I’ll go to Paris” dreamers looking for inspiration, and to those who have already been to Paris before, but are looking to discover something new. Above all, I hope it’s entertaining.

On that last note of entertainment, I made a spreadsheet of over a hundred places I wanted to talk about in this book. I organized the data by neighbourhood and category, hit the handy “filter” button, and in minutes found myself in a nerdy heaven on earth.

This does not sound entertaining.

There is indeed a certain order to this book (parks, cocktail bars, pastries), but topics might intertwine sometimes, if it’s relevant to certain memories. My biggest goal is to honour the book’s title, by offering vivid experiences, and having you along for the ride. For those in need of strict organization, fear not, for I shall note the name, address, and nearest métro stop of each destination as it’s mentioned (along with a comprehensive summary in the appendix; ooh la la!). In other words: relax, sit back, and enjoy some tea (or liquor if that’s more your thing), because the journey is about to begin... 

On y va!