Paris Things to Do

It’s the City of the Dead all the world comes to visit, the resting place of many icons: Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison, Marcel Proust, Edith Piaf, Chopin, Modigliani – the list goes on. Pere Lachaise Cemetery is also very beautiful. Opened in the early 19th century it became the place for celebrity burials as a bit of a marketing ploy; many people at the time felt the cemetery was too far from the center of Paris and did not want to be buried there, so the city literally moved a few well-respected citizen’s graves to Pere Lachaise making it the place to be buried.

At first sight, central Paris can seem like a city crammed with buildings. Look closer and of course you’ll discover the manicured lawns and clipped trees of large gardens like the Luxembourg and Tuileries. Tucked away though are smaller stretches of greenery …

104 Centquatre in Paris is an artists’ studio and exhibition space that’s reenergizing artistic life in Montmartre. Once home to visionaries such as Picasso, Dali, Monet, van Gogh, Montmartre inevitably became trendy and gentrified and too expensive for artists to inhabit.

The Shakespeare and Co. Bookshop place is one of my favorite haunts in Paris. It has a wonderful location on a small street, Rue Bucherie, beside the Seine, within eyeballing distance of Notre Dame, and close to the crepes and red wines of the Latin Quarter.

The Pont Neuf is one my favourite bridges in the world. Although the stone doesn’t lend itself to vibration, this means I can take a break from making experimental sound art, and simply revel in the elegant arches and curved love-seats which offer a gorgeous view of Paris and a perfect location for a picnic.