Bonjour mes amis! I leave for Paris on Air France on September 1 for Shirleyfest #15 and arrive Tuesday September 2nd.

I uber quickly to my new home in the 11th arrondissement. It is a vibrant, residential neighborhood filled with with Parisians taking their children to school, running for the bus, strolling to the cafés. I like my apartment very much and the neighbors are really friendly.

Now I must start walking to avoid jet lag! I immediately find my “first place in the morning” cafe, “On Partage.” I walk into this lovely coffeehouse on my block and Marion greets me warmly. The coffee is wonderful and all the people working there make me feel right at home. I wisely hold off on the pastries and order a healthy option.

After a coffee, I walk for miles getting to renew my love of this beautiful city. I stroll through three arrondissements on the right bank before crossing the Seine and exploring the left bank. I am almost home when I come a cross Le Pure Cafe, which beckons me for a glass of wine and some nourishment.

France and Poland are playing basketball on the tv behind the bar. I meet Antoine, Anita and Sebastian and now I have my “last place at night” place. After dinner, many miles on my feet and 30+ hours since I left home, I finally turn in for my first night in Paris.

Wednesday: First thing first. I have to buy my monthly metro card. It is the one thing that makes traipsing all over the city a breeze. Charonne is my station on the 9 line so I go there and I am lucky to get a patient attendant to make my card. Voila!

I know I want to buy an annual membership to the D’Orsay Museum and the L’Orangerie. I set off for the museum ticket office.

I like having an annual membership because then I can go every day for an hour and actually enjoy the museums. Also I like providing support for the arts in my host city. The water lilies at the L’Orangerie never disappoint.

At the D’Orsay, I head for Van Gough’s Starry Night and say hello before eating at the museum’s cafe under the famous clock.

If you get the right vantage point, you can catch a glimpse of Sacré Coeur through the clock. After the museums, I wander the left bank, browsing the lovely shops and after a while stop at Gérard Mulot, a famous patisserie for a pain aux raisin and café allongé ( basically an Americano).

It is difficult to not indulge in even more of their beautiful wares, but I reluctantly leave.

I head home just before a rain shower that lasts all of 5 minutes before blue skies arrive and out I go again.

This time I go to the 2nd where I check out the area known as Montorgueil. It is an off-the-beaten path pedestrian area in the heart of Paris.

I spy many historic homes, cheese shops and brasserie-bars. Then I see it. Stohrer’s!

It is the oldest patisserie in Paris, founded in 1730 by King Louis XV’s pastry chef, Nicolas Stohrer. Nicolas invented rum baba, the Chiboust cream tart and the puit d’amour. This last one I learned from the shopkeeper was the pastry the king would send to his mistress as a signal he wanted to rendezvous with her. I have my own love affair with this beautiful pastry and now I’m off for home.

Thursday: Today Laura arrives for a quick visit. She is like me and wants to start walking as soon as she arrives so we head off down Rue Voltaire. We stop in at Paperboy for coffee and admire their sandwiches, but it is too early for that! We walk to Marché des Enfants Rouge. This oldest covered market in Paris dates back to the 17th century and gets it name from a nearby orphanage founded in 1534. The children were dressed in red, a color symbolizing Christian charity, hence the name.

We shop there and then visit 134 RDT, which won the award for the best croissant in Paris and which happens to be across the street from Jacques Genin, the chef turned famous chocolatier. It is climate-controlled and it is like entering a goldsmith’s shop.

We find some lovely home stores before completing our walk back home. We stop for lunch at a local café called Belle Equipe and meet hilarious waiter Gregory.

Tonight we head to OOBATZ for dinner. It is one of the most talked about new restaurants in Paris and it is pizza! Laura had this on her radar and got in the queue for a reservations minutes after our dates opened up. It was delicious, minimilist decor, great food and attentive service.

Friday (Laura’s second and last day): We start to do a walking tour and then thought a better use of our time would be shopping.

We head to the left bank and enter the world of French beauty products known as Aroma Zone. Just to demonstrate the popularity of this store, in France the brand sells a hyaluronic acid serum every 10 seconds. Exhausted from shopping we get baguettes of jamon and fromage and sit in the Luxembourg Gardens for a picnic.

Crossing back over to the right bank, we do more shopping on Rue Vieille du Temple which houses the competitor to La Labo perfume, Perfumer H, conceived by Lyn Harris,a British perfumer trained in Grasse. We also stop in Laïze-Sainte-Avoye, a Taiwanese beautiful tea/coffee house for tea and delicious lemon cake.

We visit a wine shop and secure a natural wine which we take home for happy hour while we get ready for dinner. Dinner tonight is at Mezetiere in the Marais and it is delicious.

Afterwards we take a walk through this gorgeous neighborhood.

There is still time to jump on the metro and take it out to view the sparkling Eiffel Tower.

Saturday:Laura has been here less than 48 hours and now she is flying back to New York. I will miss her energy and her systematic way of finding the coolest places in a city she barely knows.

After I wave goodbye, I head for a hike along Paris’ inspiration for New York’s Highline, the Coulée Verte. It is a beautiful fall day and I do the entire length. There are ivy covered arches and elegant rooftops as I walk through the breezy path.

I then join my San Francisco friend, Patrick, at the St Regis for a coffee and a little browsing on I’Île Saint- Louis.

Patrick is staying at our friend Bob’s gorgeous apartment on the Seine and that evening I am delighted to attend a cocktail party there. It is a terrific party with such fun guests. While sipping champagne, eating pâté and French cheeses and gazing at the river views, I start to wonder how I can possibly live in Paris full time. A memorable evening!

Sunday: There is an open air market, Rue Ponchlet, near the Arc de Triumph that I’m looking forward to seeing. It is near an English speaking Catholic Church and I have the idea that I might go to mass there. My timing is off for that, so I go directly to the market. It is rowdy in a good way and people are buying up the produce and flowers excitedly.

I buy my provisions and go to Parc Monceau for lunch at the carousel.

Afterwards I walk to the famous Père-Lachaise cemetery. I have studied a map and I am proud to say that in this enormous place I found Jim Morrison’s grave easily.

I then explore the rest of the less famous graves, like Proust’s.

Later I set out for Notre Dame. I have an idea to at least get in to hear vespers and hopefully mass. I am amazed that while the line to view the newly renovated cathedral is long, there is no one online for vespers.

I go right in and I have a seat in the front row. It is beautiful eveningsong and prayers and the church looks spectacular. I ask if I can stay in my seat for the mass which follows and I am told “but of course”. The mass is presided over by a bishop and at least 20 priests. I can’t take pictures during mass, of course, so I patiently wait to do this afterwards. Of course the mass is in French, but I can follow pretty well. It is breathtaking to be there and experience Notre Dame in this fashion.

I walk the 40 minutes home in a lovely trance. Of course I stop at Le Pure Cafe, my last place at night bar, for a glass of Chablis and I toast my first week in Paris!

Tomorrow morning, I am excited to meet Elena, a friend of Nick and Ivan’s who lives in Paris. Stay tuned.