What's in a name...

This is the white wine we bought from our picnic hosts 'Domain Paris Père et fils' over at Chançay last Monday. It is lovely and the label happens to have the name of two of our favourite places!

Paris visit April 2026 day 2...part II. Visiting Bercy Village: Paris’ Historic Wine Cellars Reborn.

With time to kill before our visit to the 'Musée des Arts Forains' so we decided to revisit Bercy Village which is in the same set of former wine cellars. We had last visited way back in 2013.

Once a bustling 19th-century wine hub, 'Cour Saint-Emilion' which was home to the cellars, fell silent in the 1960s. Today, the cellars (42 apparently) have been beautifully converted to form Bercy Village.

Saved from decay and listed as a Historical Monument, the site underwent a major transformation in the late 1990s. The result is a lively, all-generation destination blending history with modern energy set in the 12th arrondissement of Paris.

There are around 30 shops and probably too many restaurants with sunny terraces, plus fun leisure spots: a climbing wall, games bar, and immersive Science Experiences. We started our visit off at one of the coffee shops and finished it with a light lunch at another spot. We did no shopping as we had planned to also visit the nearby Parc de Bercy.

A popular 18-screen cinema and year-round cultural events complete the mix here.

Atmospheric, welcoming, and refreshingly different, Bercy Village proves old cellars can become one of Paris’s coolest hangouts, according to the official website - it does have a good vibe but 'coolest hangout', not so sure.

 Bercy Village is best accessed by taking metro Line 14 to station Cour Saint-Émilion. This brings you out directly at the main entrance to the 'village'.

 

Paris visit April 2026 day 2...part 1. A metro ride down to Bercy from the 19th.

Quick burger before heading down the Metro (only joking) - entered the network at station Stalingrad (line 7) which was only 10 minutes from our hotel. As you know we like to walk when we are in Paris but we had booked a time slot to visit the 'Musée des Arts Forains' (more later) down in Bercy so to make the most of our day we decided to add a visit to Bercy Village before the museum and take the metro to get us there early.

Our charged Navigo passes should have made the journey easier but they fell at the first hurdle, or should that be turnstyle. I got through with mine but Pauline's failed to work and left her stranded behind bars! Fortunately,or not,we had the same issue on an earlier journey where it was explained to us that there was a call button to summon help/allow you access. The system still has 'teething troubles' apparently. 

Our destination station was 30 mins away with one change at metro station 'Pyramides' where we changed onto line 14. 

The station we were headed for wasn't the obvious 'Bercy' but the one following that 'Cour Saint-Emilion' which takes you directly to the entrance of Bercy Village.

Line 14 is the newest in the network which, since June 2024. now goes all the way to Orly Airport.

It is always worth checking your map/metro map or Sat/Nav to check for the less obvious destination stations relative to where you want to end up in the city. Must do something on this on my Paris site.

Paris visit April 2026 day 1...part 2 , Ending in Saint-Germain-des-Prés.

Our walk down from our hotel in the 19th arrondissement ended at our intended destination '1925-2025 – One Hundred Years of Art Deco' at the Museum of Decorative Arts. This temporary exhibition closed yesterday so we were happy to have made it. You can see more here on my Paris site.

After our visit to the exhibition we headed down rue de Rivoli and across Place du Carrousel in front of the Louvre.

Then onto Quai Voltaire where you can capture the fabulous Musee d'Orsay on the other side of the Seine.

Then over Pont du Carrousel to Quai Voltaire.

Looking back over the bridge towards the Louvre.

We were heading to the Latin Quarter in search of a restaurant for dinner. We headed down toward rue de Seine with one of the city's domes,that of the 'Institut de France', acting as a beacon.

From rue de Seine we continued onto rue de Buci, a popular choice for tourists looking for a restaurant in this part of the city. The street entertainers were out for them but it proved too busy for us. 

We turned up the quiet rue Grégoire de Tours and were 'accosted' by the friendly proprietor of 'Gavroche' just around the corner. Normally we would not be drawn in by this approach but we were ready to eat and he seemed like a nice guy. So we entered the the restaurant which had a few customers spread around. We ended up in the 'window' so as to attract others in!

It proved to be a great choice with great service very tasty food at a good price. It didn't take long for the place to fill up - probably the attractive couple in the window!

Rue de Buci took on a different vibe after dark.

After dinner we headed over to the legendary 'Caveau de la Huchette' to check out the jazz on offer as recommended by a friend. 

There was already a long queue outside the venue and as we joined the end only to be told that this was in fact queue number two - the other, even longer, one was across the road! We decided that maybe we will try agin on our next visit.

We decided to take the metro back up to the 19th catching it over the river at the Hôtel de Ville, passing the illuminated Notre Dame. It was interesting to see that the 'love locks' have reappeared - not sure how long they will be allowed to stay.  

Crossing the Pont d'Arcole was magical.

Paris visit April 2026 day 1...part 1.

We started our weekend in Paris by dropping the car at the parking lot at Chatellerault train station before catching our comfortable TGV to Montparnasse station.

 First stop, top up 'Navigo' pass we had from previous visita,with metro tickets then taking the familiar trek to line 4 to start our journey.

One change at 'Gare de l'Est and then on to our destination station Laumiere in the 19th arrondissement. We now find navigating the metro system in Paris fairly easy having now had a lot of experience of it, good and bad. Tip: avoid Châtelet – Les Halles if you can!

You definitely know you have arrived in Paris when you are greeted by the classic red metro sign - something intrinsically comforting about them!

We had chosen the 19th as we wanted to revisit Parc des Buttes-Chaumont somewhere we had not been since 2011! Plus also have another look at the Bassin de la Villette which has seen many changes since then.

We had chosen the the unpretentious Ibis Budget Paris La Villette hotel,good value,comfortable and offering very good value breakfast. It proved to be ideal from a location point of view, as it was only 3 mins from Bassin de la Villette,10 mins from Parc des Buttes-Chaumont and a comfortable 1+ hour walk to our first planned visit of the trip - the Musée des Arts Décoratifs on Rue de Rivoli.By the time we checked in it was a quick change and about turn back out as we had booked a 5pm time slot for our visit to the museum.

The hotel was on the tree lined Avenue Jean Jaures which afforded us a second metro stop (Jaures) with a number of watering hole options!

We walked on under the raised section of the metro line leading to nearby Stalingrad station past the Rotunda and onto the start of the 

Canal Saint-Martin.

As you step onto the Quai de Valmy you are actually going from the 19th arr. into the 10th arrondissement.

Looking back towards the 19th arrondissement.

Whether you look towards the canal or the buildings that border it  your eyes will be rewarded.  

We walked along the canal until it heads off left towards the 11th arrondissement where we made a right turn at the popular L'Atmosphère restaurant onto Rue Lucien Sampaix.

Then it was onto Rue des Vinaigriers and Rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin,passing the Mairie of the 10th on the way down to Porte Saint-Martin.

Then over to Porte Saint Denis and onto the long rue de Clery which took us into the 2nd arrondissement and closer to our our destination.

Rue de Clery leads onto Rue du Mail from where we went around behind the Jardin du Palais Royal and past the Pl. Mireille into the 1st arrondissement.

We arrived on rue de Rivoli with just enough time to partake of a wee refreshment at Café Carrousel on Pl. des Pyramides with a view of the golden Joan of Arc on her horse.

Next stop was our final destination '1925-2025 – One Hundred Years of Art Deco' at the Museum of Decorative Arts.