Paris for The Solo Traveller: a Friday-to-Monday weekend
Zinc roofs, limestone, and the long grey light.
The weekend that is entirely yours. Counters instead of tables, a morning hike before anyone is up, a gallery at opening, and the freedom to change the plan at noon.
Friday: Up the crag
- Parc des Buttes-Chaumont
A quarry turned park in 1867, the Temple de la Sibylle on its crag and the suspension bridge over the lake.
- Rosa Bonheur guinguette
A Friday-evening dance under the trees, cheap wine in plastic cups and no one who came alone stays alone for long.
- Le Petit Cambodge
A counter seat and a bobun with lemongrass beef, then the canal locks and the iron footbridges on the walk back.
Saturday: The long way east
- Coulée verte René-Dumont by Vélib
Ride the old Vincennes railway line, elevated over the Faubourg then sunk through the twelfth, out to the woods.
- Rowing on Lac Daumesnil
Hire a boat by the hour and row around the island temple while the pétanque players argue on the bank.
- Clown Bar
The former clowns' canteen of the Cirque d'Hiver, ceramic clowns on the walls, a bar stool and a glass of something unfiltered.
Sunday: Out to the forest
- Fontainebleau forest
Forty minutes to Fontainebleau-Avon, then the Bas-Cuvier boulders and the blue-blazed trail through the sandstone.
- Barbizon and the Auberge Ganne
Walk out of the forest into the painters' village and the inn where Millet and Rousseau paid in canvases.
- Breizh Café
Buckwheat galettes and a bowl of cider at the counter, open Sunday night when half the city is not.
Monday: River and ferry
- Parc Rives de Seine
The lower quays with the cars gone, a flat run or walk under every bridge before the city wakes.
- Batobus
The river shuttle as public transport, hop off at the Louvre and back on, the only way to see the bridges from underneath.
- L'As du Fallafel
The green-fronted falafel counter, open Monday, eaten standing on the pavement with the rest of the queue.