Paris_ City Guide (Lonely Planet, 7th Edition) - Lonely Planet [123]
Art, design, architecture, dictionaries and kids’ books are the mainstay of this large bookshop with titles in English and bags of browsing space. For maps, guides and travel lit hop two doors over to its Librairie de Voyage (Map; 01 46 34 82 75; 63 blvd St-Germain, 5e; 10.30am-7.30pm Mon, 9.30am-7.30pm Tue-Fri, 9.30am-8pm Sat; Maubert Mutualité).
SHAKESPEARE & COMPANY Map Books
01 43 26 96 50; 37 rue de la BÛcherie, 5e; 10am-11pm Mon-Sat, 11am-11pm Sun; St-Michel
Paris’ most famous English-language bookshop sells new and used books and is a charm to browse (grab a read and sink into one of the two cinema chairs near the stairs out back); the staff’s picks are worth noting and there’s a dusty old library on the 1st floor. This isn’t the original Shakespeare & Company owned by Sylvia Beach, who published James Joyce’s Ulysses; that was closed down by the Nazis.
ALBUM Map Comics
01 43 25 85 19; 8 rue Dante, 5e; 10am-8pm Mon-Sat, noon-7pm Sun; Maubert Mutualité
The ultimate in adult fantasy: bandes dessinées (comic books) – huge in France – is the speciality here. For graphic novels or comic characters modelled in plastic or incorporated in a grown-up designer toy or gadget, nip to its other nearby branch (Map; 01 53 10 00 60; 67 blvd St-Germain, 5e; Maubert Mutualité).
PÂTISSERIE SADAHARU AOKI Map Food
01 45 35 36 80; www.sadaharuaoki.com; 56 blvd du Port-Royal, 5e; 9am-7pm Tue-Sat, 10am-6pm Sun; Port-Royal
‘Exquisite’ fails to describe the creations of one of Paris’ top pastry chefs, Tokyo-born Sadaharu Aoki. Too beautiful to eat, his gourmet works include ‘eye-shadow’ palettes, boxes of 72 different flavoured macaroons and green-tea chocolate.
MAGIE Map Hobby Items
01 43 54 13 63; www.mayette.com; 8 rue des Carmes, 5e; 1-8pm Mon-Sat; Maubert Mutualité
One of a kind, this 19th-century magic shop (1808) is said to be the world’s oldest. In the hands of world-famous magic pro Dominique Duvivier since 1991, professional and hobbyist magicians flock here to discuss king sandwiches, reverse assemblies, false cuts and other card tricks with him and his daughter, Alexandra. Should you want to learn the tricks of the trade, Duvivier has magic courses up his sleeve.
AU VIEUX CAMPEUR Map Outdoor Gear, Books
01 53 10 48 48; www.auvieuxcampeur.fr, in French; 48 rue des Écoles, 5e; 11am-8pm Mon-Wed & Fri, to 9pm Thu, 10am-8pm Sat; Maubert Mutualité or Cluny La Sorbonne
This sporting-gear chain runs 26 shops in the Latin Quarter, each selling equipment for a specific outdoor activity. Find camping gear at 6 rue Thénard; clothing for le froid urbain (city cold) at 50 rue des Écoles and 3 rue de Latran; and Paris’s most complete range of maps and guides at 2 rue de Latran (Map).
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ST-GERMAIN, ODÉON & LUXEMBOURG
Bijou art galleries, florists, antique stores, designer furnishings, stylish vintage clothes (Click here), moderately priced fashion…the northern wedge of the 6e between Église St-Germain des Prés and the Seine is a dream to mooch. Left Bank fashion in the shape of midrange boutiques (Ventilo, Cacherel, Penny Black, Vanessa Bruno, Joseph etc) where middle-class French women buy clothes goes down rue Bonaparte and rue St-Suplice and continues with chain stores on rue de Rennes.
For children’s fashion, walk the length of rue Vavin, 6e (metro Vavin), avoiding, if you have the kids in tow, chocolate-maker Jean-Paul Hévin (Map) at No 3, who sells chocolate stiletto shoes and 15cm-tall chocolate Eiffel Towers. If it’s smelly wellies that tickle your kid’s fancy go to Boatilus (Map; 18 rue du Dragon, 6e; St-Germain des Prés).
Don’t miss the old-fashioned boutiques selling music boxes, carousels and globes in the Cour du Commerce St-André, an enchanting glass-covered passageway built in 1735 to link a pair of Jeu de Paume (old-style tennis) courts.
IVOIRE Map Art & Antiques
01 43 54 71 09; 57 rue Bonaparte, 6e; St-Germain des Prés
This family-run business dating to 1913 is a two-man team comprising father Pierre Heckmann (in his mid-80s) and son Jean-Pierre (apprenticed