A quick chat with the Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo

Plus Versailles, Notre Dame, and a new gin distillery.

I got an email recently from a university in the US. They asked me to take their Urban Sustainability students on a tour of the Seine river, and I did it this morning. What a perfect day for it. The sun was shining, the river seemed energetic, and there was a winter spark in the air. A crisp chill with a side of sunshine.

Who’d have guessed that our walk would coincide with the unofficial re-opening of Notre Dame after the fire five years ago? President Macron, mayor Anne Hidalgo, and the 2,000 people involved in the rebuild of Notre Dame were all on hand, visiting the cathedral for the first time. And this meant my walking tour went into change-the-plans-on-the-go mode (which is incidentally my favourite mode).

We turned a corner on Ile de la Cité, past some police tape, and I practically bumped into none other than the Paris mayor, Anne Hidalgo. The students looked on with eyebrows raised as I ditched everything (what an unprofessional guide!) to tell Hidalgo and her team about my podcast. She told me she has family in Perth, Australia (where I’m from!).

We got on like a house on fire, which I didn’t say out loud given the whole Notre Dame thing.

I suggested to the mayor and her team that she surely should be a guest on the biggest Paris podcast, and her team took my card and said “absolutely, let’s do it”.

And as we all know, that could mean anything. Watch this space.

As for Notre Dame, the interior looks lovely, based on the videos I saw of today’s visit. I will do my best to get in there as soon as I can and share it with you all.

A day in Versailles

Further afield, this week I shared the story of my recent visit to Versailles. But not the palace, mind you. Oh no. I spent a day in the town itself, which I highly recommend you to do too.

Here’s the podcast episode, featuring the trusty Bertrand d’Aleman from My Private Paris. If you’re thinking to book some kind of private tour in Paris, Versailles, or beyond, please do it with them. You’re in very safe hands. Here’s their Versailles full day tour - and you can use your imagination to plan any of trip with them here.

Hidden treasures in Paris

Next week on the podcast, I’m trying a new double whammy! I’m going to introduce you to the guest - and her workplace - the day before in a video.

The guest will be Charlotte Buisson Dackow from the new gin micro-distillery, La Distillerie de l'Arbre Sec, which is, incidentally, beautiful.

This video will be a walk from Charlotte’s workplace in central Paris to another cool destination a short walk away. The idea will be to showcase 5 hidden Paris gems that are side-by-side in a 25-minute walk.

So, usually I save these live watch-along invites for the Patreon members, but let’s all watch it together this time. On Saturday night (tomorrow) I’ll release the video (below) live as a watch along party. Join us, I’ll be there on hand writing live commentary. Here’s the link.

When:

Saturday Nov 30th, 9pm Paris time

Saturday Nov 30th, 3pm New York time

Saturday Nov 30th, noon Los Angeles time

Sunday Dec 1st, 7am Sydney time

Last time we had 50 people watching - can we top it? Then, the podcast episode featuring a whole new conversation, will come out on Monday morning, as always, where you’ll get a deep dive into craft gin and the Paris drinking scene.

I’m excited about these new videos. The previous video in the series had 10,000 hits which is very encouraging! We might be on to something here.

Christmas Parties

Incidentally, if you are a member on Patreon or Substack, I would like to cordially invite you to our annual members-only Christmas party which will be in central Paris in mid-December. I will send the invites tomorrow.

That party will be small and exclusive and special. But we also plan to have a more general Christmas event too, open to everybody, almost certainly on December 9th. Maybe see you at one of them? Keep the date/s free. More info to come.

That will do for me.

Have a lovely weekend

Oliver