The view from our roof terrace at the Hôtel de l’Université, out over the rooftops of Paris.
There are cities where we make plans. And then there is Paris. We go several times a year, usually because of the trade fairs, always by car, and the day in between has followed the same pattern for years. Three addresses in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, all three on foot.
In Paris we do not order. That sounds grand, but it is the opposite. It simply means that in these three places, they know us.
Morning: breakfast at the Comptoir des Saints-Pères
The Comptoir des Saints-Pères is in the Rue des Saints-Pères, a few minutes from our hotel. We walk in, we sit down, and the petit déjeuner parisien arrives. Without a word. Usually it is Rashida who brings it.
A breakfast parisien is nothing elaborate. Coffee, juice, croissant, baguette, butter, jam. That is exactly why it works. You sit by the street, you watch people on their way to work, and you are in no hurry at all.
The Comptoir is the sort of bistrot that used to stand on every corner in Saint-Germain-des-Prés. A small terrace facing the street, a dining room inside, and in the morning a mixture of neighbours, booksellers and people who have just found the place for the first time.
In between: Saint-Germain-des-Prés on foot
After that we set off, and we walk. The quarter is small enough for that. The Café de Flore, Les Deux Magots, the Brasserie Lipp, they are all only a few streets apart.
In among them stands the church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. That is where Jean-Paul Belmondo was given his farewell in September 2021, with Alain Delon sitting in one of the pews. The evening before, the Patrouille de France drew blue, white and red trails of smoke across the city. We were there and we saw it.
Afternoon: happy hour at the Hôtel de l’Université
By the afternoon we are back at the Hôtel de l’Université. We have been coming to this house for more than twenty years. It is in the Rue de l’Université, between the Seine and the Boulevard Saint-Germain, and it is exactly the spot from which everything is walkable.
The service is the reason we stay. They know us, they know what we need, and nobody makes a fuss about it.
Happy hour runs from four until eight, every day. Thomas makes the cocktails.
That is the hour when the day changes gear. The fair is over, the evening has not started yet. You sit, you talk about what you have seen, and at some point it is settled that we will be going back to Les Antiquaires.
Evening: Les Antiquaires in the Rue du Bac
Les Antiquaires is in the Rue du Bac, a few minutes from the hotel. That is exactly what makes the evening so easy. No taxi, no metro, no looking at the clock.
We have known the patron for years. Polo. When we come in there is a warm hug first and a table afterwards, even without a reservation. We are looked after beautifully, and that is true every single time.
That is the lovely thing about having a local in a city that is not your own. You are not a guest, you are back.
My usual: oysters, onion soup, crêpe Suzette
I order almost the same thing there every time, and I have never once regretted it.
Oysters to begin with. Fresh, cold, a squeeze of lemon, a glass of wine alongside and the view from the terrace onto the street.
Then the onion soup, which really is wonderful there. A lid of browned cheese on top, and the bread basket that is on the table anyway.
And at the end, crêpe Suzette. Polo flambés it right next to the table, and for a moment there is a blue flame standing over the plate.
Three courses that, for me, add up to Paris.
Two evenings I will not forget
I celebrated my sixty-fifth birthday there. That was not an accidental choice of place, it was a decision.
And we are often there on New Year’s Eve. We arrive around ten, let the evening take its time, and shortly before midnight we walk the two hundred metres down to the bridge over the Seine, between the Rive gauche and the Rive droite. That is where we stand and watch the fireworks. Afterwards we walk back to the hotel, straight through the middle of the city.
There are grander ways of arriving in a new year. I do not know a nicer one.
Why a day like this belongs here
You could ask what a breakfast, a hotel bar and a restaurant are doing on a blog about stationery, jewellery and beautiful things. For me it all hangs together.
What we choose comes out of trips exactly like this one. Between two days at a fair, at a table where you feel at home. An eye for what lasts, and for what only pleases briefly, does not sharpen itself in a catalogue. It sharpens on the road.
Which is why Rashida, Thomas and Polo belong in this story.
Another address we have been coming back to for more than twenty years is Le Relais de l’Entrecôte in Saint-Germain. I write about our visit here (in German).
Good to know: the three addresses
- Le Comptoir des Saints-Pères, 29 rue des Saints-Pères, 75006 Paris. Bistrot with a small terrace facing the street, breakfast in the morning.
- Hôtel de l’Université, 22 rue de l’Université, 75007 Paris. Small hotel between the Seine and the Boulevard Saint-Germain, happy hour daily from 4 to 8 pm.
- Les Antiquaires, 13 rue du Bac, 75007 Paris. Bar, café and restaurant with a terrace facing the street, open all day.
The three addresses are only a few minutes apart, all on foot. Prices and menus change; our details are from our visit in September 2026.
Where do they know you well enough that you no longer have to say anything?
My Sunday letter of 11 October 2026 is all about Paris. Here is what is in it.
