Articles

What’s New in Paris Now? Why We Need to Get Back to the City of Light in 2021

During the Indagare Future of Travel Summit, Indagare CEO and founder Melissa Biggs Bradley spoke to on-the-ground insiders from Paris to discuss France’s second lockdown, how covid is changing travel in France now—and in the future. “This crisis accelerated a lot of trends we’d been seeing before,” explained Corinne Menegaux from the Paris Convention & Visitors Bureau. Read on for more from Melissa on why she misses Paris more than ever and hopes that American travelers can return to the City of Light soon.

Missing Paris: The Monumental City

We’ll always have Paris. It wasn’t just a phrase that evoked memories; it was a vow full of promise. We could always escape to the beauty of Paris, the certainty of the pleasures of Paris. And yet, no. Today, we, as Americans, cannot go to Paris. We are left to dream, to fantasize, which may be why so many of us are watching Emily in Paris (all the while thinking it is quite silly). It is irresistible, simply because the true star is Paris, not Emily. Here are a few good reasons that we are desperate to return to the City of Light.

Apartment to Get: Hotel Particulier Villeroy

Set in a neoclassical stunner, one street off Avenue Montaigne, this gorgeous newcomer has just 11 rooms, suites and apartments. The latter will be the new address for privacy, space and the latest in sanitization and health-safety standards, all in the heart of the Golden Triangle. 33 Rue Jean Goujon, 8th arrondissement

Shopping In-Person or Online: Galeries Lafayette

Since Galeries Lafayette opened its Art Nouveau flagship store near the Opera Garnier in 1912, it’s become one of the city’s most glamorous shopping hubs. Each year, around 12 million foreign shoppers—plus millions more chic Parisians—stand in its grand atrium, which is topped by a colossal glass and steel dome. This year, as the company faced months without its customer base, Galeries Lafayette pivoted in a novel way that blurs online and in-person shopping. Now, hopeful buyers can connect by video with an in-store personal shopper in their own language. The new service, along with other improvements to their distribution logistics, have paid off: online purchases for June and July of this year eclipsed what was shipped in all of 2020, explained Thierry Vannier, Galeries Lafayette’s director of client development and operational marketing, during the Indagare Future of Travel Summit‘s Paris Now! panel. (That said, we cannot wait for the day when we can stand in the atrium and look up at the dome in person again.)

Rooftop Dining: Tortuga

– Melissa Biggs Bradley on November 24, 2020

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