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The
ultimate in private walking tour |
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The Paris Insight walks are
more than walk-by descriptions of buildings.
The history of Paris, old legends,
and characters "full of color" who have haunted Paris in olden
or more recent times will come alive.
Following in the footsteps of Hemingway,
Wright, Joyce, Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Picasso, Man Ray, Chagall,
Gauguin, Oscar Wilde, Modigliani, Delacroix, Jim Morrison, be
guided to the homes, cafés, studios, parks, places they associated
with and immortalized in their "chef-d'œuvres".
Find out where various episodes of
Victor Hugo's novel "Les Miserables" took place; bring to light
his Paris of 1830. "Smell the roses" in the Luxembourg gardens
and, who knows, you may just come across Hemingway walking up
to see Gertrude Stein at her big studio apartment "where there
was a big fireplace warm and confortable, great paintings like
in the finest museum…".
Discover new worlds and atmospheres
as you slip discreetly into those mysterious, hidden, romantic
courtyards that Paris preserves so carefully.
A wide range of walks are available,
from custom-made to classical tours.
My Paris walks are limited to small
intimate groups, therefore reservations are strongly recommended.
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CUSTOM-MADE
TOURS |
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Do you have your own dream or passion
about Paris ?
Make it real with the custom-made
tour, always a new and truly original offer. Tell me the subject
you are interested in. The walk will take as long as is necessary,
but will comes as close as possible to your dream.
The rate for this tour depends on
the time required for its preparation and also on the number of
hours or days the walk takes.
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THE
BEGINNERS’ WALK OF PARIS |
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This is ideal for those who have
never been to Paris before, who speak little or no French, who
are unsure about the "flavour" of the Paris Metro or other "questionable "means of public transport, for those who have "no time to waste" and need to feel at home in Paris quickly,
and for those who were last here a long time ago and need an "update". During this walk the secrets of places and monuments
we pass by are revealed, your questions are welcome and are always
answered and the public transport …a souvenir full of enjoyment.
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40
Euros/person |
time
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3
h |
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“A
MOVEABLE FEAST” Hemingway’s Paris in the early 20th century |
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“If you are
lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever
you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris
is a moveable feast” wrote
Hemingway to a friend in 1950.
If you are not that lucky,
then enjoy a delightful memorable experience of this walk.
My thanks go to Pat and John for whom I created this walk and
with whom I spent magical hours in the steps of Hemingway. Pat's
sweet voice reading extracts from Hemingway's book "A moveable
feast" still floats in the Paris air …
| price
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40
Euros/person |
time
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3
h |
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“LES
MISERABLES” Victor Hugo’s Paris & the district of
Le Marais |
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Paris
is the real-life stage of Victor Hugo’s novel Les Miserables.
The Marais is its most seductive, secluded, historical scene.
The spirits of Gavroche (le gamin de Paris), Jean Valjean (the convict),
Cosette and Marius still wander through the narrow 17th century
streets.
On this walk we discover 16th and 17th century former residences
of the lords and ladies of the Marais; good king Henri IV, Catherine
de Medicis, the Princes de Guise, Madame de Sevigné, (second
only to Voltaire as the greatest letter-writer in French literature),
whose accounts of public, political, literary and artistic events
vividly describe the great age of Louis XIV. We also lift a veil
on the Marquise de Maintenon, who secretly married Louis XIV after
having been his mistress and the governess of his eight illegitimate
royal children.
| price
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40
Euros/person |
time
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3
h |
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FROM
THE ILE DE LA CITE TO THE PANTHEON |
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When,
where and how was Paris born, who were Heloïse and Abelard
why is the Latin Quarter so called, where is the oldest tree in
Paris, is the University of the Sorbonne the University of Paris,
have you ever heard of the legend of Saint Julien le Pauvre, where
did the composer Saint-Saens play the organ, what was student life
like during the Middle Ages, why is the body of Saint Genevieve
not in its grave?
The answers are to be found around the Ile de la Cité, Cathedral
of Notre Dame, the Latin Quarter, the old Churches of Saint Julien
le Pauvre, Saint Severin, the Sorbonne and also in the narrow little
streets of the Montagne Saint Genevieve. Typical beautiful courtyards
bring a special charm to this walk
| price
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40
Euros/person |
time
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3
h |
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SAINT
GERMAIN DES PRES |
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The Saint Germain district has money,
elegance, sophistication and an easy going tolerance. Home for
artists, art schools, artists’ cafés, galleries and
at least 40 licensed bordellos before 1945. Every square inch
in this district is dense with famous events, artists and creations.
Henry Miller… for the Paris
Review: "…I found a freedom such as I never knew in America. I found
contact with people so much easier… I met more of my own kind
there. Above all I felt that I was tolerated. I didn’t ask
to be understood or accepted. To be tolerated was enough. In America
I never felt that”.
The cafés are an institution
here. The writers Simone de Beauvoir and Jean Paul Sartre spent
most of 1930-40 "….at
the Flore, at least it wasn’t cold… It was our special
resort. We felt at home there, it sheltered us from the outside
world. You would see Picasso there, smiling at Dora Marr … and
Jacques Prévert holding forth to a circle of acquaintances”
wrote De Beauvoir.
Le Café des Deux Magots is
neutral ground between opposing camps (the Right and Left Banks
of Paris), a favorite of American artists for decades and a place
for surrealists’ meetings in the late 20th century.
History unfolds as you walk past
the church of Saint Germain des Pres, rue Jacob, where the peace
treaty between England and the United States was signed in 1783,
the School of Beaux Arts, built on the former estate of Queen
Margot, Le Procope, the oldest restaurant in Paris, 300 years
of history and events, the romantic Cour de Rohan opened in 1776
and where Dr Guillotin first tried out the guillotine, Rue des
Grands Augustins where Picasso painted his Guernica.
| price
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40
Euros/person |
time
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3
h |
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MONTPARNASSE,THE
GOLDEN 20TH, THE EXPATRIATES |
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Montparnasse, the center of "le
monde artistique et litteraire" from 1890 to early 1930,
but also “a
weird little land, crowded with artists, alcoholics, prostitutes,
pimps, poseurs, college boys, tourists, society slummers, beggars,
homosexuals, drug addicts, nymphomans, sadists, thieves, political
refugees, anarchists…men and women without a country. A land
filled with gaiety sometimes real and often feigned”, recalled
Samuel Putman, a writer who lived in Paris at that time.
Today, its memorable past cannot
really be revealed by the lone visitor.
Unless you are a skillful treasure hunter, this is the area of
Paris where you need an interpreter. Someone to guide your steps
through those silent streets, to the right and the left of the
Boulevard Montparnasse, someone to take you to the homes and studios
of Hemingway, Ezra Pound, Foujita, Man Ray, Max Ernst, Kadinsky,
Kisling, Pascin, Gauguin, Modigliani, Soutine …
The cafés of Montparnasse
(La Coupole, La Closerie de Lilas, Le Café du Dôme,
La Rotonde) were centers and meeting places, second homes for
all these extraordinary artists.
| price
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40
Euros/person |
time
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3
h |
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PROMENADE
TO THE ROMANTIC PERE-LACHAISE CEMETERY |
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"Père-Lachaise
is my favorite place in all of Paris. My fondness was fixed on
that first visit. It was late afternoon, a fine day, early in
September.
A time of lengthening shadows.
I was wandering aimlessly among the antique stones, when a gnomish
woman slipped from between two mausoleums, flagged me down and
asked, "Cherchez vous Sarah Bernhardt?” wrote
Bill Richardson in the preamble to his delightful, humor-filled
book Waiting for Gertrude.
Père Lachaise is also one of my favorites
as… "it is the only place in Paris where I can feel the four seasons!".
Its extravagant collection of French statuary (19th century),
representing pagan beauties, languishing widows, beautiful mourners
and naked Muses is set in an abundant vegetation, quite unique
in Paris. Romantic alleys and little cobble-stoned roads turn
this famous, beautiful cemetery into a unique, mysterious place
of promenade.
Temples, pyramids, obelisks, lofty
columns and chateaux with stained-glass windows shelter the tombs
of the illustrious and the not so illustrious, and offer a home
to a colony of happy, independent cats. Mr Tomy-Tom-Tom, one of
my cats, is a native from here. You should hear the stories he
tells when he is in a good mood ! Stories about…
Heloïse and Abelard, Pissaro, Visconti,
Rossini, Jim Morrison, Gericault, Bellini, Chopin, Ingres, Colette,
Lalique, Corot, Molière, La Fontaine, Modigliani, Edith Piaf,
Maria Callas, Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein, Isadora Duncan, Richard
Wright, Balzac, Delacroix, Bizet, Enescu and…
My special thanks to Bonnie Tregov
and Rhea Lazar for whom I designed this walk, and also to my good
friends Ruth and Catherine, thanks to whom the "research" work
turned into a treasure hunting game.
| price
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40
Euros/person |
time
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3
h |
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MONTMARTRE,
le temps de "la Bohème" et le temps "d’Amélie"
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Picasso, Braque, Van Dongen, Modigliani,
Renoir, Van Gogh, Toulouse Lautrec, Corot, Cézanne, Manet, Sisley,
Utrillo, Poulbot, Erick Satie, Berlioz and Max Jacob all "heard
the call" of Montmartre. It is here that they lived and "gave
birth" to famous works. It was during the period 1870 to 1920
- the time of "La Bohème" when Montmartre was but a little village,
with vineyards, orchards, farms, maquis and a "bidonville de
genie" (no electricity, no gas, no running water and no central
heating). The construction of the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur (1919)
marks the end of that epoch.
The modest cottages, the maquis and
the windmills have been replaced by beautiful little villas and
typical Parisian buildings. The "penniless" artists of the 1900's
have given way to the "argentés" and "desargentés" artists
of 2000. Painters great and small, film directors, actors, pop
singers, successsful young managers, alongside religious communities
and charming authentic "montmartois" share the beautiful romantic
steps, the poetic streets and this unique atmosphere.
Montmartre continues to make us dream
at least as much as the French film "e fabuleux destin d'Amélie
Poulin" ("Amelie").
Do you think this could be due to
the miracle and sacrifice of Saint Denis and his companions Rustique
and Eluthère, whose souls might still haunt the heights of Montmartre
?
| price
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40
Euros/person |
time
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3
h |
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SO...FIND
ANOTHER WAY TO DISCOVER PARIS ! |
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For further information and reservations
please Email or contact:
Virginia Dae
170/172 avenue Ledru-Rollin
75011 Paris, France
e-mail vdae@club-internet.fr
From US call Phone/Fax: (011) (33) 143 723 882
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Footsteps of Gertrude Stein, Picasso, Man Ray, Chagall, Gauguin, Oscar Wilde, Modigliani, Edith Piaf, Maria Callas.
Footsteps of Delacroix, Jim Morrison, Victor Hugo, latin quarter, the University of Paris, Notre Dame, Sorbonne, Saint Germain des pres, Montparnasse, la Coupole, la closerie des lilas, pere lachaise cemetery... |
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