Packed with iconic museums and monuments, together with low-key treasures cherished by locals, Paris is a city that emanates "la belle vie" (the good life).
27.07.2023 - 18:02 / smartertravel.com
As travel editors, we’re happiest plotting our next trip, charting out all our side trips, and then mapping out every meal. Give us some frequent-flyer miles to cash in and we’re in heaven. Now that we’re doing our part to stay home and flatten the curve, we’ve had to find other ways to occupy our time. Thankfully all our exploring has made us a curious bunch, so we’re using this time to test new recipes, learn a language, even try our hand at kombucha. If you’re a fellow jet-setter that needs ideas for quarantine activities, steal some of ours below.
Baking Bread“Instead of photographing hotels all over the world right now, I’m taking pictures of golden, crusty loaves of bread, fresh from the oven in my small Brooklyn apartment. When I’m traveling, frequenting local bakeries is a number one priority. But right now, I have an unprecedented amount of time to perfect my own bread-making skills. During the first week of quarantine, my friend gave me some of her sourdough starter, so I feel connected to friends making bread from the same starter at the same time. Plus it gives me one less reason to go to the supermarket, makes me feel self-sufficient, and the rewards are delicious in the most comforting of ways. If you want to give it a go, I swear by this no-knead recipe from King Arthur Flour” —Laura Hinely, Senior Photo Editor at Oyster
Learning French“My happy place is sitting in a Parisian café, nibbling the corners off a croissant and listening to the murmur of French around me. Just hearing the trill of words en français makes my heart rise. Since I’m not going to La Belle France any time soon, I’m trying to bring it to me by stocking up my bathroom with French spa products, buying macarons, and taking French lessons through Babbel. May as well use this time to brush up a foreign language! Now I’ve used free apps before on my commute—they do a fair job of reminding you of basic vocab. But Babbel’s lessons have real depth to them, like I’m back in my high school French class when Monsieur Beeckman was grading my papers and playing “Joe le Taxi” for us. Babbel does cost money, one month starts at $12.95, but I’ve spent more than that on a bottle of Blanc de Blancs. Plus the folks at Babbel have extended a 50%-off offer to our readers. To stay entertained and engaged during quarantine for around six bucks? Well, as the French say, c’est formidable.” —Maria Teresa Hart, Executive Editor at What to Pack
Meditating“One thing that I’ve been prioritizing during this quarantine is my meditation practice. I try to start my day off with a 10- to 15-minute meditation and positive intention-setting (cut to me saying, “Today’s going to be a great day!” in the mirror), and then an hour of meditation at night,
Packed with iconic museums and monuments, together with low-key treasures cherished by locals, Paris is a city that emanates "la belle vie" (the good life).
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With summer in full swing, Cannes becomes its own festival, long after the last end credits have rolled at the city’s annual film fête. The Croisette is abuzz, restaurants packed and designer stores brim with the latest in resort luxe. It’s hard to find better settings for enjoying la belle vie than a Cannes beach club, where celebrities have long come to see and be seen/snapped, the seaside menus menus offer rosés chilled and fish grilled to perfection, and views from the sun lounger take in the yacht-strewn Bay of Cannes. And just before summer slips into fall, the always highly anticipated Yachting Festival (September 12-17, 2023) comes to town.
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