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By Root 1090 0

paper (it’s never a bad idea to start out each day with some tissues in your pocket), and many are still even à la turque, meaning squat toilets. I have read (and I believe) that these are actually physiologically healthier than our fashion of sitting on a toilet seat; however, anyone who has trouble squatting and standing up again—to say nothing of those who find the prospect repellent—may not enjoy navigating one of these. It can also be confusing to figure out how to flush the toilet. Typically, there is a chain or a lever marked tirez (pull), and when you do water can produce quite a wave, sometimes coming up over the basin and your feet—so you should prepare to flush as you simultaneously open the door of the stall and step out. If these seem like unnecessary details, I share a comment from author Bill Gillham in Parisians’ Paris: “All I can say is that a bad experience in a Parisian lavatory can spoil your day; or at least put you off your meal.” Gillham also reminds visitors that, “if you are not to experience a minor trauma,” if you find yourself in complete darkness when you close the door to some bathroom stalls, don’t panic: the light will come on when you slide the bar to lock the door.

Wine Shops

Lovers of the fruit of the vine will find wine sold mostly everywhere: in supermarkets like Monoprix and small neighborhood grocers, at the wine retailer Nicolas—the oldest wine chain in France, founded in 1822, with more than four hundred stores in France and some other European countries—and at renowned and beautiful shops. Here are some of my favorites:

Lavinia (3 boulevard de la Madeleine, 1er / lavinia.fr). This three-floor shop, Paris’s largest wine store, carries many very affordable wines in stock as well as rare bottles.

Legrand Filles et Fils (1 rue de la Banque, 2ème / caves-legrand.com). In the beautiful Galerie Vivienne, Legrand is one of the oldest grocers and wine merchants in France. On one side of the galerie is a shop selling glasses, books, and other wine paraphernalia, while on the other side is the actual wine store, with more than four thousand wines and a great espace-dégustation for tastings.

Les Caves Augé (116 boulevard Haussmann, 8ème / cavesauge.com). Founded in 1850, Augé has a reputation for carrying the very best wines, but there are lots of bottles for twenty euros and under.

Clos Montmartre (9 bis rue Norvins, 18ème / commanderie-montmartre.com). Paris’s own vineyard, fifteen hundred square meters planted with Gamay and Pinot Noir grapes. The land was set to be exploited by property investors for a housing development but was saved by artist François Poulbot in 1929. The first vines were planted in 1933, and every October since then a five-day Fête des Vendanges has been held, with proceeds from all the wine sold going to children’s charities. Clos Montmartre’s location seems appropriate, as Romans built a temple here on this hill dedicated to Bacchus.

Z

Zouaves

The stone Zouave soldier on the Pont de l’Alma, built in 1856 to commemorate Napoléon III’s victory in the Crimea, is one of my favorite symbols of Paris. The Zouaoua were a fiercely independent tribe living in the hills of Algeria and Morocco; in the summer of 1830 some Zouaoua lent their services to the French colonial army, and later that year were organized into two battalions of auxiliaries. Over the next decade the Zouaves, as the French called them, proved their valor in dozens of bloody desert encounters. Even as Zouave units began to be increasingly composed of native Frenchmen, their distinctive uniform remained a derivation of traditional North African dress: a short collarless jacket, a sleeveless vest, flowing trousers, a long woolen sash, white canvas leggings, and a tasseled fez and turban. By 1852, the Zouave units were made up entirely of native Frenchmen, and Louis Napoléon restructured them into three regiments of the regular French army. Algerians and Moroccans alike were assigned to units of the Tirailleurs Algériens, or Turcos, and wore their own distinctive light blue version of the Zouave uniform.