All posts tagged: fiction

Paris in August

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Spending August in Paris and not sure how to survive the boulangerie closings, the Parisian exodus and the empty streets? Don’t worry, we have your back! Below are some of our suggestions to keep your creative juices and morale up in the midst of a Parisian August. Picnics No summer in Paris (let alone August) is complete without a few full-fledged picnics, lying out into the late afternoon on a towel, drinking picnic wine (aka cheap rosé or white) and running your bare feet through the grass. Some of our favorite spots — Buttes Chaumont (bonus: it’s open all night this summer), Canal de la Villette (if you prefer no grass), Jardin des Plantes, Square du Vert Galant. Courtyard of the Swedish Institute A new favorite summer spot, the courtyard of the Swedish Institute in the 4th offers free lawn chairs (in exchange, you have to check out a book from their pop-up library with an ID). Their stand serves up bagels, cinnamon rolls and refreshingly cold iced tea. If you lay back and open …

Montparnasse: A Guide Inspired by The Dud Avocado

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Inspired by one of our favorite books about Paris, we decided to spend an afternoon in the Montparnasse neighborhood, formerly a happening bohemian scene in the 1920s and then again in the late 1950s. Now less of a nightlife destination, we were curious to see what the area still has to offer and also to check out the hotspots of Sally-Jay Gorce, the book’s young American protagonist. Although The Dud Avocado is a work of fiction, it’s based on the reality of this once booming left bank neighborhood and the lives of the creative, free spirits who spent time there. Settling in with tea at her go-to bar, Le Select, we tried to imagine the environment as it was 60 years ago– filled with intriguing artists, French regulars sweating out their drinks, and East Coast crossovers. “The waiters at the Select comported themselves with that slightly theatrical mixture of charm, complicity and contempt that one would expect from servants in Hell.” pg. 93 The Dud Avocado Explore the neighborhood in the present: – Pay a pilgrimage to …

Window Sketch

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For this creativity break, take a picture of a window that you like visually or that intrigues you in some way. Maybe it’s a window you pass daily, or one that stands out in an unfamiliar area. Write a short character sketch about who you think lives inside, what they do, or what goes on behind the window. It can be a more formalized short story, or simply a free form writing exercise in imagination. bonus: send us your photo and text and we’ll publish a collection of window sketches from around the world!  Nora: Behind the orange and white striped windows lived Cornelius. He spent his days selling popcorn at a movie theater, and at night he chain smoked, wrote bad poems, and sometimes tried to paint in search of the romanticized “starving artist in paris” life he had read about so many times. He’d been squatting in this abandoned building for 3 weeks, eating tuna out of a can, and trying not to start a fire with the candles scattered all over the room–so far …