Before moving to Paris I could not get enough of the Parisian bistros found on nearly every corner. To sit and imagine my life as a French girl. These days, I no longer need to imagine as I sink further into my mostly blissful reality as an expat in France. I still revel in the cafe culture and often find myself sitting at a cozy cafe with every intention of studying French but much too preoccupied with studying faces and street style of the passersby.
Recently, on my way to such a cafe I discovered a doorway leading into a hidden paradise. A place to hide from the world and that could quite honestly be anywhere in the world (apart from the fact that there are floor to ceiling shelves of used French books lining the walls, a minor detail). This is my new haven. A place of tranquility and refuge in my beloved neighborhood of the Marais. A place to study, meet a friend or make a new one, peruse a French comic book (that’s about my level these days), splurge on coffee and cake, or simply dream. And should you need a new designer shirt, a Liberty mug, a dining table to put it on, or a lightbulb, voila! To the creators of this conceptual one-stop wonderland all I can say is Merci!
Passing the Fiat Cinquecento and stepping into the 3-story loft space that creates Merci, you feel like you are entering someone’s dream, if not your own. In fact, Merci is the realized dream of Marie-France and Bernard Cohen, the founders of the famous children’s clothing line Bonpoint. What makes this store so unique and even more highly venerated is that that all of it’s proceeds are donated to a co-op for young women in Madagascar. Thus, it’s impossible to feel any guilt while shopping! Not to mention that much of the unique, fashion-forward men’s, women’s and children’s clothing has been designed exclusively for this space and cause.
I’m wondering if they would mind if I moved in…
Merci, 111 Boulevard Beaumarchais, Paris 75003 http://www.merci-merci.com
I absolutely love your blog! Being a lover of all things French, a good friend sent me a link to it and I’ve been hooked from the time I laid my eyes on it. I should tell you that you are living my dream. I am of Polish heritage currently living in Toronto Canada. I work as a Publicist for a popular TV network and am married to wonderful man who also works in television. We’ve been talking about selling our house, picking-up and moving to Paris for a few years now. I konw you’re loving it in Paris, but how was it getting a job? Do you have to be fluent in French to get hired?
I look forward to hearing from you.
Cześć Ursula!
Nice to hear from you! Where are you from in Poland? My family is mostly in Sanok.
So happy that you are enjoying my Parisian adventure! There is so much to say about life here, much more than I can fit into this blog! It’s definitely a big adjustment. Would love to hear more from you, my email is: kasiadietz@gmail.com. Do usłyszenia!