It is now well and truly summer here in Pairs. The days are long and warm, and life is now meant to be lived outside. Last night, we ventured outside the city limits to visit les guinguettes, which we only learned about a few months ago when a friend sent us this article . The guinguettes (pronounced gan-GET) were once a mainstay of Parisian culture, especially during the Belle Epoque era of the late 1800s, when the lure of cheap booze and dancing brought people out of the city and onto the banks of the rivers for live music and dancing, fueled by simple food and cheap wine. What could possibly sound better than that? I was sold. Guinguettes were originally located outside of the city limits to avoid the hefty consumption tax that was imposed on wine entering Paris until the 1940s. Also, it's damn nice to have dinner under strings of colored lights on an island among the chestnut trees. This is what Renoir painted of the guinguette on a sunny summer afternoon over one hundred years ago. While the experience (and fashion) have changed a bit since then, it is still an absolutely fantastic experience to take a train out of the city and find an entirely different world in the guinguettes. The food wasn't anything to write home about, but it was indeed a good simple meal, accompanied with a good bottle of wine and great company. And as promised, live music urged the diners to the dance floor, leaving their inhibitions and worries behind in Paris, if only for the evening.
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AuthorBecause why not get married and move to Paris to really kick off your thirties? Archives
December 2016
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