In French, a flâneur (or flâneuse) is someone who strolls, saunters, and wanders around a city. It’s a delightful sounding word, one that rolls off your tongue, and the act of being a flaneur is just as satisfying, as I…
Why Paris Is Always A Good Idea
One of my favourite memories from my last visit to Paris is sitting on the steps across from Notre Dame with my Mum. It was autumn, so we were wrapped up in coats and scarves. We were admiring the cathedral’s…
Meandering Around Montmartre
Until recently, my memories of Montmartre were hazy. When I was still studying secondary-school French, six of us students sat in a dimly lit Parisian restaurant somewhere near an ornate Art Deco Metro station. We ordered escargots, and our steaks…
Parisian Perfection: A Winter Stay in the City of Light
I had forgotten. After a few years of adventures in Asia and America, I had forgotten that first, I fell in love with Paris. I swooned over the city as a sixteen year old, and almost a decade later I…
Michelin-star Marvels at La Cuisine
Wine bottles are arranged artfully on the far wall, letting light filter through lenses of red, rose, and white. Splashes of colour cover the ceiling, a fresco by French artist Stéphane Calais. Pierre Hermé croissants are clustered under sparkling chandeliers….
In Love with Luxury at Le Royal Monceau
Rudyard Kipling once said “When at Raffles, why not visit Singapore?” The writer was a regular visitor at the original Raffles, along with the likes of Joseph Conrad and Somerset Maugham. At first glance the sentiment might seem ridiculous –…