Imagine you have 24 hours to spend in the capitol of Perfume France.
What would you do with those precious hours?
Where would you go?
Who would you see?
What would you eat?
What would you buy?
My Answer:
I had 24 hours of precious time in Paris last weekend and you will hear all about it soon, but today it is your turn!
Imaginary 24 hours in Paris are yours. What do you do with them?
Olfactoria's Travels 
Panic probably.
To avoid panicking, read the comments for suggestions. 😉
I am awake now. So….
Frederic Malle
Père Lachaise Cemetery
Maybe the Pompidou
Get a load of wonderful cheese and bread and go to a park.
Palais Royale
xxx
What a lovely day that would be!
Maison du Guerlain, Jovoy, JAR, Serge Lutens at Palais Shiseido – not necessarily in this order… . In the berak between parfum sniffing I’d eat at Pierre Gagnaire’s GAYA and have tea & macarons at Pierre Herme (yes, I prefer his macarons !)
Lovely! And yes, Pierre Herme… sigh.
Have a croissant and cafe au lait for breakfast in cafe while people watching. Then I’d go to the Musée de l’Orangerie and sit with the Monet water lily murals for quite some time. I’d have lunch at a creperie or maybe Sorza on Rue Saint Louis en l’ile. Then I’d either go to Dior, Guerlain, Hermes or Chanel depending on what one perfume I wanted or needed the most at the moment. I’d pick up an assortment of macarons at Pierre Herme and dinner at Semilla because the food and service there is very good and very comfortable. After I’d find a place to have a nightcap and then call it a day, wishing I could be back soon.
Hope whatever you did, you had a wonderful time!
That sounds like a truly beautiful day!
(Must look up Semilla for next time.)
Oh – Paris! Lucky you!!! I would go to the Louvre, sit in the Toulerries, eat lunch at Cafe Victor Hugo in Le Marais and then head off to Guerlain. Hope you enjoyed it.
I did. Paris has thorougly charmed me and I might just fall in love.
OMG! Only 24hrs.
Laduree for breakfast, pop in to Drout auction rooms, wander Galleries Lafayette & Primtemps then to Serge Lutens & Parfums de Rosine in Palais Royale then to Jovoy, across to Musee d’Orsay, Guerlain Champs Elysees for lunch (hopefully with buddies), wander Le Marais and dinner somewhere in there. Then go to the Opera as I’ve never been. Hopefully fall into bed exhausted at Banke Hotel.
Portia xx
Words from an expert! Thanks for sharing your ideal 24h in Paris, Portia!
Can’t wait to hear how you spent your day.
I’ll tell you on Wednesday!
Ha!
Go to Notre Dame, Serge Lutens, Guerlain, Jovoy, sit at a bistro for lunch (for a foie-gras salad and some wine).
And then if there were some more time left, probably visit a clothing store for finding a nice summer dress. 😉
Great plan, Ines! 🙂
Would visit Atelier Cologne boutique, Jovoy, Galleries Lafayette, try to schedule a meeting with Madalina and Julien of JUL ET MAD, or with Neela Vermeire or with Viktoria Minya (or all of them and more)
An exhausting day! 🙂
Eat, I think. I’d have a handsome Frenchman, an older gentleman I think, to take me to the best places away from the tourist circuit, where I could get simple, honest fare, superbly cooked, that French people like to eat. We would ignore the Louvre in davour of the flowet markets and tge flea markets. This urbane French guide would also know the most charming boutiques and perfumeries. He would dismiss the Guerlain flagship store with a shrug but take me to a little place he knows which used to blend his mother’s signature scent for her. Madame still has some oak moss from a supplier Edmond Roudnitska recommended. ..
I love this daydream, Annemarie! It is perfect!!! Thank you.
Oww, I’d have breakfast in a nice cafe in Montmartre, visit le Musee d’Orsay, have lunch in the Marais, visit Serge Lutens, Jovoy and Ateliers Cologne and have a long stroll at la cimetière du Père Lachaisse and try my samples:).
That sounds like a very good (and doable in the timeframe) plan!
If only I could run away for ever from this place!
Oh Florence! Sending you a hug, my dear. xox
Drop off the bags and presents for the inlaws at their place near Bastille and the walk to the Marais via a short stroll past Rue du Pont Louis Philippe for the hand crafted paper shops. Lick windows of various shops, have lunch somewhere over priced and nice, go to a French Pharmacy and buy all the skin care, take metro to Tuileries and go to Jovoy. Smell stuff. Take metro home, have an apertiif in a local bar, meet all family in a nice bistro around the corner, eat, drink and be merry.
Ah, to have family there must be great. Such a good reason for a visit… 🙂
I’d visit the Nicolai Boutique, Maison Guerlain and Colette. If the two new Serge Lutens scents are available yet, I’d also pass by at Palais Royal. Instead of museums, I’d visit a few opticians, because I need new glasses again, first on my list would be Caroline Abram, followed by Anne et Valentin and Face a Face.
Looking forward to reading your adventures!
Cheers
Safran
Good luck finding the perfect pair of glasses, Safran!
Thank you!
Coffee and croissant to set me up, pop into Jovoy and then Serge at the Palais for some retail therapy, lunch/cake at Angelina’s, afternoon at the Musee d’Orsay, glass of champgane near Notre Dame and then dash to get the eurostar home – happy sigh x
The eurostar is so practical!!! Another reason for me to conspire to move to London one day…
Oh this is fun!
For culture, Musee d’Orsay, Montmartre, the Sacre Coeur and Père Lachaisse. For perfume it would be Serge Lutens, the Guerlain mothership and Gallaries Lafayette. For food, as much as possible but definitely Pierre Herme since hearing how good their macaroons are!
I would buy a SL bell jar and a Guerlain only available in Paris, to be decided when there.
Ah, I enjoyed that.
It’s nice to dream a bit, isn’t it? Despite having just returned, I can’t wait to go back… deep sigh.
The only thing I would add to the wonderful ideas above would be a visit to the Hermes flagship store for perfume, scarves, and printed enamel bracelets.
I was in Paris last September and did some of these things, but not in 24 hrs!
Ha, no need to tell me that! 😉
The Hermès mothership is… it seems words fail me at the moment. 😉
Will spend most of the day in Marai as can never get tired of that. It’s always so alive and vibrant. Start with nice breakfast with croissant and coffee. Wonder off to Surge Lutens and try some exclusives. Probably dash out with overdose of cinnamon notes.. walk in the park there. Come back to Marai and have lunch in one of the two bars that are very good for lunch. Then walk by the river do some cloth/window shopping. Probably visit Guerlain/Dior if my nose is ready and then some more coffee again.
Not the very cultural plan but have been to everywhere else at least 3 times! I have got a few more ideas though from this forum.
Just standing around in Paris is a cultural event, so don’t worry! 🙂
Your day sounds delightful, Mahesh!
I’d start the day with coffee and tartine, then go to ‘my’ hairdresser, who’s amazing! I wouldn’t want to miss the new Maison Guerlain, and perhaps even their new (and turisty) tea shop, I’d also want to visit Jovoy after which I think would be the right time to stop for champagne and fois gras 🙂 An opera/ concert in the evening wouldn’t be a bad way to end a splendid day.
You have a hairdresser in Paris??? I am impressed, very glamourous! 😉
I should have eaten more Foie Gras!!!
I would stay in my favourite (affordable!) arrondissement near the Rue Mouffetard, have breakfast – croissant, big pot of tea, predictable, me – and would revisit No 68 as it was closed when Undina and I went there last year. I would then pop to Jovoy and buy a bottle of Ambra di Luna (I think I would, you know, if I ever came face-to-face with it again), before mooching around my twin stomping grounds of Le Marais and the Canal Saint-Martin. If there was time I would flop in the Jardin de Luxembourg or the Palais-Royal one, where flopping can be readily teamed with checking out the sepulchral gloom of Serge Lutens.
Sepulchral goom – o how wonderful a description!!!!
Your day sounds lovely, V, I hope it comes soon!
If I had 24hrs in Paris, I would visit two places of olfactory significance:
1) The premiere boutique dedicated to absinthe, Vert d’Absinthe, 11 rue d”Ormesson in Marais, where if you have attraction to wormwood, fennels and anises, you can spend the day selecting your favorite blend of these.
2)Then mixing absinthe elixir with sugar and cooled water which releases their full aromatic uniqueness can be done relaxingly at La Fee Verte, 108 Rue de la Roquette in Bastille.
Wonderful tips, thank you! Next time! 🙂
My top Paris stops (and can be done in 24 hours with no lines and no traffic – which happens, right?)
Frederic Malle, because I’ve never been and love the scents.
Atelier Cologne, because I love the descriptions and would like to try.
Serge Lutens, because I’ve been and everybody needs a bell jar (in my case, a second, but who’s counting?)
Notre-Dame de Paris
La Sainte-Chapelle (le joyau de l’art gothique, for the Queneau fans)
The Louvre. Long periods in front of the Nike of Samothrace and the Madonna of the Rocks.
Saint-Sulplice. Just because.
Walks and window-shopping around my old neighborhood – rue de Seine, Saint-Germain, Saint-Michel fountain
Gibert Jeune to stock up on Clairefontaine.
And since this is a fantasy and money is no object: dinner at Laperouse. I took my husband there for dinner in 1987 – time to go back!
A great itinerary! I will write that down (but plan three days for it!) 😉