Le Pompon

Le Pompon is a great new addition to the Paris bar scene. Despite the fact that it has only been open a couple of months and that this discrete wood-paneled bar is on a quiet street in the 10th arrondissement and has no name on its exterior, Le Pompon's reputation already precedes it and it is invariably packed with a good mix of people by about 8pm. It's unpretentious, non-gimmicky and has a laid-back but lively, anything-goes atmosphere. Downstairs is a hidden bar-cum-club where DJs spin and spirits are served.

Le Pompon
39 rue des Petits Ecuries, 75010
www.lepompon.fr

Morcheeba Live at Bataclan, Paris

Last night UK trip hop act Morcheeba played the first of their two live dates at Paris' Bataclan. Singer Skye Edwards, who rejoined the band earlier this year, was on top form - charming the crowd with her meliflous tones, her homemade beautiful dress and her cute commentary between tunes.  Their recently released album hasn't been met with great critical acclaim but they mixed a lot of their old classics into their set last night to keep the fans happy. Tonight is the last night in Paris but is also sold out, so get blagging if you want to check Morcheeba out!

Morcheeba - 11th - 12th October, 2010

Bataclan

50 boulevard Voltaire, 

75011 Paris 

Happy New Year!

After travel adventures (Eurostar was down, flights were grounded, trains were cancelled - even terrorism tried to make a comeback) over the holidays, and lots of champagne and food excess, I Heart Paris is now back in the game and ready to face 2010!

Lots of fun things are happening in Paris this year - we're already looking forward to the imminent sales (starting 6th Jan), galettes des rois, world cup mania in the summer (we're just hoping Henry behaves) and Takashi Murkami at the Chateau de Versailles (late 2010)....as well as plenty of events that our party-addled brains are too fried to remember right now.

You'll just have to stay tuned to I Heart Paris to find out about all the exhibitions, fashion, eating, drinking and shopping scoops in the capital this year. In the meantime, Bonne Année!

Snow White at Chateau de Versailles

Last night I went to see Preljocaj's Snow White at the Chateau de Versailles and I have never been so impressed by a ballet in all my life. The setting was sublime: an open-air amphitheatre looking on to a stage floating on one of the expansive garden's ponds, the sun setting on the chateau in the distance by way of a backdrop. Even without the ballet I would have been overawed but the performance itself was spectacular - Preljocaj has stayed close to the Grimm Brothers' narrative to produce a powerful tale of love, jealousy and beauty, with emotive dance sequences for the love scenes (for which I bawled my eyes out), incredible cirque de soleil type acrobatics (for which we ooohed and aaaahed), and an extremely dramatic choreography for the iconic moment when the Wicked Step-Mother murders Snow White with the poisoned apple (gasps all round in the audience). The Jean-Paul Gauthier costumes were stunning - Snow White wearing a fluid white body suit type thing with strong shoulders, and the Prince wearing fabulous fluorescent orange accessories. At the crescendo of the performance, with tears streaming down my face, the crescent moon bathing the audience in magical moonlight, when things just couldn't get any better....they did. An array of fireworks was set off behind and around the stage - red, smokey affairs for the evil Step-Mother's last scene, and glittery golden and white streams for Snow White and the Prince's. A fairy tale performance in a fairy tail setting of the ultimate fairy tail ballet. The only downside - nothing will ever top this! Oh, and the fact that trains stop running from Versailles shortly after the performance finishes - getting home was just as epic as the ballet...