The patisserie (or rather, it was a bakery firstly) La Duree was founded in 1862 by Louis Ernest Laduree on rue Royale between the Church of Madeleine and the Place de la Concorde. Only nine years later a bakery passed into a patisserie. The author of interior decorations was Jules Chéret, who also created the official logo — angel.

Today some patisseries work in Paris under the brand name La Duree, however, many Parisians believe that the first (on rue Royale) is the most cozy. It is noteworthy that this place was once a symbol of Parisian lifestyle – l’art de vivre à la française. In addition, La Duree – the first institution in Paris, where women could come without a man.

What about “core” merits of confectionery, so in the first place La Duree is famous for its almond cookies “macaroons”. The delicacy has appeared thanks to an idea of a grandson of the founder of the patisserie Pierre, who proposed to «glue» two cookies with ganache.Technology of macaroons preparation has not changed since that time, and cookies available for sale only 48 hours after baking. Macaroons at La Duree have a large number of different fillings – from coffee to vanilla.

Patisserie La Duree is also known for excellent chocolate, cakes, pastries. These products are not only delicious, the local bakers (including designers) pay great attention to appearance — a local cake could be called a work of art. The same concern the boxes for products of La Duree.

The patisserie offers not only an opportunity to eat sweets, but also breakfasts and dinners. Food is very tasty, but the prices “bite”, and you can wait a table long enough.

The main patisserie La Duree is located at 16, rue Royale in the 8th district of Paris. Official site — www.laduree.fr

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Frankly, we should recognize that there are many grocery shops in Paris. This concerns as large supermarkets as small specialized shops.

What about the big supermarkets, so minimum one of them is in every administrative district of Paris (there are 20 of them). Small specialized stores are on almost every street of the city. Among them you will find «boulangerie» – real Parisian bakery with a wide selection of rolls and baguettes, «patisserie» – sweetshops with surprisingly delicious desserts and pastries, «charcuterie» – stores of meat delicacies, «boucherie» – butcher shops, and, of course, «fromagerie»- the famous French cheese shops.

The most expensive grocery shops of Paris, including the famous Fauchon, are situated near the Place de la Madeleine. The price level is largely due to a luxurious entourage of stores. The Parisians are not frequent visitors of these local supermarkets. But even here you can find chic Parisian delicacies at very acceptable prices.

The center of Paris is the most “poor” for supermarkets, and you’ll have to endeavour to find a similar shop here. As a small “note” you can remember the stores at 21, Avenue de l’Opera (near the Opera Garnier) and 52, Avenue des Champs Elysees. If you go shopping at the legendary Galeries Lafayette, visit its Gourmet department, offering a huge range of seafood, cheeses, meat delicacies, ready snacks and dishes from many parts of France.

The French Government is very concerned about supporting of local producers, so major part of food in the shops is French.

Paris is the real paradise for lovers of cheese. Local stores offer their customers hundreds varieties of goat milk cheese and cheese with a noble mold. Wine lovers can go through a culture shock, being in the wine department of a supermarket. It’s impossible to count up the number of sorts, and the price of a bottle of wine or champagne starts from 1 Euro. Although the locals prefer to buy wine for themselves at price from 5 Euros.

As any big city Paris has several large food store chains. For example, the cheapest of them are the stores ED, specializing in products of not very famous manufacturers; and their range is relatively small. According to local residents, a much better selection is in grocery stores LEADER PRICE, and the cost of food is almost the same as in ED. Large assortment is presented in mid-priced stores – Champion, Franprix, Monoprix and Carrefour.

In fact, in the center of Paris (as in any other popular touristic city) close to the most popular sights such as Notre Dame, the Louvre or the Eiffel Tower, you can always buy all kinds of magnets, trinket, shirts, mugs with symbols of Paris. And if you’re willing to satisfy your travel hunger by these products, we advise not to rush and buy them in crowded places of the capital of France. Large Parisian shops offer souvenirs more cheaply than the street vendors. The most low prices are offered by numerous souvenir shops in Montmartre near the Place du Tertre and the Basilica of Sacre-Coeur. Here you will find a variety of lithographs and greeting cards with pictures of sights in Paris.

If you are looking for more interesting and original gifts, be sure that you will find them. In Paris there are plenty of shops selling all kinds of gifts that can bring pleasure even to the real connoisseurs.

So, on 186, Rue de Rivoli the shop La Dame Blanche, famous for its magnificent porcelain and faience products, whose beauty can affect any imagination, is located. Other store Diners en Villes (27, rue de Varenne) is known for a wide selection of table accessories – perfect gifts for any hostess.

Naturally, the trip to Paris without visiting its museums will be absolutely useless, so, being in any museum, do not go by the museum shops. Believe us, along with the usual standard products you can find very exclusive gifts. That can be calendars, books or wonderful reproductions, dedicated to the museum’s masterpieces. Also some art museum sell “Puzzles” which you can make a copy of the famous painting from.

Tourists like very much scarves with prints of famous water lilies by Monet or “starry night” by Van Gogh (Orangerie Museum, Orsay), beautiful jewelry with the symbol of the royal power in France – lilies (Versailles Palace). Historical museum of Carnavalet offers its visitors not only the city guides but also copies of ancient vases, goblets, wine glasses.

Do not forget, that a good gift from Paris could be tastefully decorated local delicacies, wine or cognac in bottles in form of the Eiffel Tower, beautifully packaged tea sets, candy or foie gras.

In any way, you can always buy interesting presents and not to spend a lot of money. The main thing is a creative strategy.

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Now we’re talking about so-called stock and discount stores in Paris. You should not think that they offer their customers not best-selling goods. These trading places offer for sale the remains of the last year’s season or trial lots of wear and footwear of known brands, goods «degriffe» with torn labels. This affects to the quality of goods in no way, but their cost is lower than the original price by 30 – 70 percent. And you’ll find a lot of these shops, but what is most importantly – look closely at shop windows and sign-boards. The word «stock» will say that you have found a store you need.

One of the largest stock shop is located in the heart of the French capital on 190, Rue de Rivoli. It offers its customers cheap wear mid-price bracket: Zadig & Voltaire, GAP, Naf Naf; as well as the products of such famous design houses like Dior and Nina Ricci.

If you are a true connoisseur of trendy goods you have to go to the 14th district of Paris to rue d’Alesia. Here you will find a large number of discount stores, including the shops of well-known companies like Sonia Rykiel, Cacharel, Amazone, Chavignon, George Rech. Moreover, here you can buy not only ladies’ and men’s wear, but interesting goods for children.

The another area of stock shops is not far from the rue d’Alesia – on rue St-Placide. The most popular of them is Le mouton a 5 Pattes, which sells children’s and adult wear and footwear and household goods. Look closely the things that are in baskets, where wear of such well-known designer brands like Gaultier and Ferre can be pelted.

Concerning specialized men’s stores we can mark out Bidermann Stock B (located on rue 114, Turenne) – suits, shirts, jumpers, sweaters by Kenzo, Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent and many other famous brands.

The women of Paris loves to visit a children’s discount store chain Bonpoint (rue 6, Tournon (6th district) and others) – cheap fashion wear and shoes for little boys and girls.

Of course, the stock stores have an important shortcoming – very, very many of goods. Customers have to spend a lot of time selecting a purchase. However, your patience may be rewarded with a pleasant surprise. So, you can see on rack or shelf an excellent evening dress or fashion jeans of a famous brand for purely symbolic value. And be sure to try on wear at discount stores, as the size on a label does not match the actual size of things often.

Wish you pleasant shopping!

Remember, coming to Paris, you can always rent an apartment where your shopping will be more convenient.

Despite the fact that the museum is located near very busy Rue de Rivoli in Paris you will be at pains to find it. This place is fairly well hidden from prying eyes in local courtyards.

Paris Doll Museum was opened rather recently, it had happened only in 1994. The basis of today’s museum collection has become the legacy of a father and a son by the name of Odin. The older representative of this family – Guido – worked as a costumier in a theater of Piedmont for a long time. When his son Samy was sixteen years old he had given him a rare book on the making of antique dolls, French costumier and artists whose names are associated with the production of dolls. Maybe it might sound strange someone, but thanks to this rare book the Doll Museum had appeared in Paris.

Initially, Odin junior was finishing his philological education and gathered own collection of dolls. And there is a remarkable fact – the title of Samy’s thesis was “Doll magazines in France of the early 20th century”. During this time he has visited many libraries and archives, received a lot of useful information. It was more than enough for opening of theme doll museum.

Today the Paris Museum of Dolls is known not only among collectors from different countries, but it has also become a very popular place for local children. Regular theatrical performances, exhibitions, birthday parties in the circle of puppet characters (grandmothers and great-grandmothers of today’s children could play with the same ones) are organized.

The exposition of the Museum of Dolls in Paris has about two thousand items, many of which were made in the nineteenth century by the best French masters. Unfortunately, the museum is not very large to display the entire collection at once, so, as a rule, visitors can see about four hundred exhibits.

We can talk about this museum for a long time, but it’s better to see with own eyes and get unforgettable experience. We wish you good mood – Paris Doll Museum will necessarily give it!

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Do you like advertising or are an expert in this field, or maybe just interested in all the original? In this case, you definitely need to visit Parisian Museum of Advertising (Musee de la Publicite), collected under its roof the brightest examples of the French advertising.

It is considered that the symbols of Paris are Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre or Eiffel Tower, and there is no point to argue. But regarding the advertising, Paris also has its own symbols. For example, one of the most striking symbols of the city is created in 1896 ad of the cabaret Tournee du Chat Noir, whose author was well-known graphic artist Theophile Steinlen. The cabaret was located in Montmartre – the most glamorous and bohemian place at that time.

But let’s return to our hero – the Museum of advertising. It was established in 1978 and collected the best advertising posters, radio and video clips. Today the museum’s exposition includes more than 400 thousand materials, made from the middle of the 18th century to the middle of the 20th century. Also the museum has a large collection of modern advertising products – this is 45 000 graphic works, posters, videos… The exposition is so varied that it would be interesting not only for connoisseurs and specialists, but also for people who are far from advertising.

Address of the museum: 107, rue de Rivoli, Paris. Tuesday – Friday 11:00-18:00 (Thursday 11:00-21:00), Saturday – Sunday 10:00-18:00. Day off – Monday.

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This interesting museum is located under the roof of the National Library of France and it contains a rich collection of over half a million artifacts from all over the planet. There are rare and unique medals, coins, jewelry and adornments among them.

History of the museum began many centuries ago when the King Charles IX had created a special position in the Royal Household – the keeper of the royal coins and medals. And each his successor maintained this position and increased the collection of jewelry, coins and medals, which eventually had became the richest in Europe.

Significant stocking of the depository was received in 1765, thanks to a rich collection of antiquities of the famous French art historian and archaeologist Count Caylus. Also the museum received a collection of pre-Christian artifacts that were kept at Sainte-Chapelle.

In 1846 a buried treasure related to the V-VI centuries was discovered (about a hundred of ancient coins and other gold items) in the town of Gourdon, which had also become a part of collection of the Cabinet des Medailles et Monnaies. Later the museum received a collection of Greek coins of Louis XIII favorite Charles d’Albert duc de Luynes.

Today Parisian Museum of coins and medals offers its visitors the opportunity to see many unique items, including the Husraw Bowl of gold and crystal (6th century), the largest in the world cameo (1st century), the Bowl of Ptolemies of sardonyx (1st century BC).

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Rivoli street runs from the Place de la Bastille to the Place de la Concorde along the Seine and is considered one of the brightest achievements of Napoleon on the issue of city planning, although it was completed during the reign of Louis Philippe. The authors of the project on construction of Rue de Rivoli were well-known architects Fontaine and Percier.

Small rectangular Square of Pyramids, surrounded with beautiful buildings with arcades, is a nice adornment of the street. And in the center of the square there is an equestrian statue of the national hero of France – Jeanne d’Arc (author – Fremiet, 1874).

Today there are numerous boutiques, shops selling traditional souvenirs of Paris at the arcade houses, located along the Tuileries Gardens. Between the Pyramids and Castiglione street the famous Manege des Tuileries was situated, which had been given to Paris Constituent Assembly in 1789. Exactly in this building the Republic was declared in September 1792 as well as the death sentence to the King Louis XVI.

At various times many famous people of France and Europe loved to rent apartments on Rue de Rivoli. In our days the street attracts thousands of tourists from around the world with its historical splendor.

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Probably, the main advantage of Paris in winter – absence of a huge number of tourists from all over the world. The exceptions are Christmas and New Year. This allows you to see this wonderful city in a different way – freely and without rush. Winter in Paris can be compared with a quiet family celebration, while in any other season the city looks more like a noisy friendly party. Thereat, if you’re going to look at usual sincere Paris – come here in winter. Believe, in winter this city becomes more colorful and romantic, fairly melancholic.

Paris weather in winter would scare just inhabitants of a very hot country. As a rule, it’s quite warm – very rarely the air temperature is below five degrees centigrade, so you will not feel uncomfortable. The only problem can be the high humidity (Atlantic coast is not far) and drizzle with a rare snow.

If we talk about visiting of many museums in Paris and other attractions, it is obvious that wintry Paris has its advantages. As we have already said, the number of visitors is significantly decreased, what means that the problem of queues (eg, at the Louvre) is becoming less relevant. In this case you have more time for visiting of other places in the city. The same can be said about the family vacation – in winter you with children can easily get to the famous Disneyland.

Winter in Paris attracts shoppers. If you’re a big fan of stylish shopping – this city is for you. Paris is the capital of fashion, style and, accordingly, numerous boutiques, which cut their prices in winter. For example, sales of the previous collections of many famous fashion houses start in January (maybe it’s time to get your ducks in a row for the trip? )

Naturally, in Paris in winter you can find not only the positive features, but in any case, believe, that there are many more than negative ones!

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Today anyone can see Paris from a bird’s eye view. And the world’s largest tethered balloon «Air de Paris» is based in a city park, named in honor of the legendary industrialist Andre Citroen.

All year-round every 15 minutes the balloon with 30 passengers in its basket rises over the French capital to a height of 150 meters. The flight lasts 10 minutes – this is enough time to enjoy the magnificent panorama of Paris.

It firstly appeared in the Parc André Citroën in 1999 and since that time more than 600 thousand Parisians and visitors of the city had become its passengers.

The attraction begins to work daily from 9.00 am and closes half an hour before the closing of the park (it depends on the season and varies from 17.30 in January to 22.00 from May, 16 to August, 31).

A ticket for one adult passenger of “Air de Paris” costs 10 Euros on weekdays and 12 Euros on weekends and holidays. Children under three years rise into the sky for free; from 3 to 11 years – for 5 or 6 Euro, depending on a day of the week, 12-17 years – for 9 or 10 Euros.

More information on the Paris balloon can be read on the official site of the attraction www.ballondeparis.com.

Parc André Citroën, those thematic parts are made in different colors, also deserves attention. As many experts say it is one of the biggest parks created in the second half of the 20th century.

Address of the park – 214, Rue St.-Charles, Paris. The nearest metro stations – Balard and Javel.

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