Bon Appetit executive editor Christine Muhlke has exquisite taste in everything. Especially real estate: She has apartments in New York City and in Paris. She let us tag along on a perfect Sunday, and you can read more about her Parisian exploits in the May issue of Bon Appetit.
PARIS - Sundays in Paris are unfathomable to most Americans - What do you mean all of the stores and restaurants are closed?! -- but they don't have to be a complete wash. While Parisians spend the afternoon eating home-cooked meals with their families, I have a quietly lovely day.
To Market
I got priced out of the marché aux puces at Cligancourt a decade ago. Luckily, a local friend (and master chineur, or bargain-hunter) told me about Vanves. The manageable market at the edge of the 14th arrondissement sells what fans like John Derian call "smalls," i.e., things you can pack. There are plenty of fine wares available on the tables, but I love digging around in soggy cardboard boxes tossed around them for 1-euro silverware, postcards, art books, chipped bowls and the like. You can find great furniture, too. The market dog-legs around a corner, and that's where things get really haggle-y and interesting for diggers like me. You have to get to Vanves early: The main drag (avenue M. Sangnier) closes at 1 p.m. sharp (start your serious bargaining at 12:30: you'll be surprised), while the vendors on avenue G. Lafenestre stick around until 3 or 5.