Don’t Be A Tourist In Paris – Chic Secrets of the City of Lights

A couple of weeks ago I received a priority mail package from Paris.

In order to understand how hard I geeked out at this you have to know that I love Paris.

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I read endless books set in Paris. I’m just finishing a book called A Paris Apartment, which is set in the 9th arrondissement, one of my new favorite areas. (If you walk down from Montmartre toward the Galeries Lafayette you will be cruising through the 9th.)

When I’m working in my office French Traditional Radio is playing on my Pandora. (In fact as I write this post Emilie-Claire Barlow is on Pandora singing about being alone tonight.) I spend far too much time on Pinterest looking at all things Parisian, and I  love to read Paris based bloggers.

My favorite blog out of Paris is Messy Nessy Chic. Nessy is a British thirty-something who went to Paris, fell in love, (dreamy, non?) and stayed. She wandered all over the City of Lights, discovered the coolest things in the city’s nooks and crannies, and started blogging about them.

When I first found the Messy Nessy Chic blog I couldn’t stop clicking through it. If you have been reading my travel posts then you already know that I like to color outside the lines when I travel. I like to get away from the big tourist spots and discover the real city. I like to come away with an experience of the place I’m in, not just postcard photos of the main tourist sights.

I have lost many hours online wandering through Paris with Nessy. Then while in Paris I’ve eaten at her recommended lunch spots, searched for her hidden courtyards, looked for a chair outside an alley in Le Marais. She is the most glorious guide to Paris, leading you through the obscure and the unknown. The things you don’t find in guide books, but that make your trip to Paris just sensational.

I get Messy Nessy Chic in my inbox. On Fridays she delivers a cool post on conversation starters for the weekend ahead, with all kinds of quirky and interesting things that she has found. On Monday she sends out a post called 13 Things I Found On The Internet, which has more obscure, intriguing vignettes that I am always excited to look through.

Then there is my favorite, Don’t Be a Tourist. In this section she takes you off the beaten path to some of the most fabulous and fascinating parts of Paris. If you have been to Paris, if you are going to Paris, if you are dreaming of one day going to Paris you will absolutely love this.

And it gets better. Nessy just released her first book, Don’t be a Tourist in Paris. I signed up for mine on the first day of pre-sale, and now here it is, having traveled all the way from Paris to my home in Phoenix.

Shooting a coffee story for le blog, and reading parts of the book to photographer and very dear friend, Kristina Wood

I have been pouring through it the past two weeks. There is just so much in this book! My copy is full of dog eared pages, book marks, notes in the margins. She has sections on where movie scenes took place, another on where to shop like a Parisian in gorgeous boutiques that line picturesque roadways far from the main street regulars. She breaks down each arrondissement and where to eat or stop for a glass of wine in each, she tells you about places to visit in underground Paris. Romantic spots, places to go if you’re traveling with kids, places to take your parents – there are so many cool things in this book! It is the ultimate guide to Paris.

Check out her video, just for a little tease…

I’m heading back to Paris in a couple of weeks, and although I know this city so well I’m taking Don’t Be A Tourist In Paris with me.

I don’t personally know Nessy or anyone at Messy Nessy Chic.   I just want you to know about this book because it’s fantastic. I want you to see another side of Paris that doesn’t involve climbing the tower, waiting in line at the Louvre or stomping along the Champs Elysees. The Paris of my mis-spent youth was wild and fun and involved smoking cigarettes at outdoor cafés  and flirting with french boys on vespas. It was all about a fun and chic city filled to the brim with killer cool things to do, offbeat, quirky things to see, the real Paris where the locals live out their über-chic lives, being Parisian.

I want you to know that Paris. I want you to not waste time leaving a lock on a bridge but instead wander into an alleyway on the left bank, head past the antiques shops and down to the best lunch spot in town. I want you to explore Paris with this wonderful book as your guide.

Order your copy of Don’t be a Tourist in Paris: The Messy Nessy Chic Guide  on Amazon.com here

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All images in this post are from Kristinabeth.photography