L'Officine Universelle Buly, also known as simply Buly 1803 is a beautiful shop based on the Rue Bonaparte in Paris, it specialises in refined, artisanal beauty products.

A grubby, ugly and grey crossroads, yet strangely beautiful by the evening sun. It always makes me happy when I pass through because ten minutes walk in any direction leads to some of my favourite places: the best fromager, thrift stores, the best boulangerie for tartes, the canal, bars, my apartment, B.D. (comix) shops, the best butcher, the huge deco Rex cinema, the best veg markets, my band's underground rehearsal room, my part time job, art galleries, etc etc!

This is another artistic centre that opened recently, this time housed in a former 19th century music hall that later became an indoor roller coaster attraction (yeah, really). The temporary exhibitions can be hit or miss, but I like hanging out in the free, open-to-all library on the first floor where you can sit in the futurist media pods and flip through the latest arts, culture, music, design and architecture magazines. Their shelves are also filled with a growing endowment of books which seem to be acquired according to the theme of the aforementioned exhibitions. Internet access is available on a dozen or so PCs (or via WiFi on your own machine) and for gamers, there are a few consoles connected to largish plasma screens. The café upstairs, with its classic baroque meets retro-futurist interior, is a sight to behold.

Since 1946, this bakery and traiteur has been offering Jewish and eastern European specialties, from cheesecake and strudel to pastrami. One item you can’t miss is their signature Super Sandwich, the “Big-Pletzel,”. You have your choice of pastrami or turkey, which gets layered with eggplant caviar, red pepper caviar, cucumbers, pickles and fresh tomato slices, all on one of their soft homemade onion and poppy seed rolls...BIM

Café Breizh will hit the spot if you’re in the mood for a crêpe. Which in my case, is often. They’ve got them in spades, along with savoury galettes and buckets of cider. Mmmm. It was a popular spot so get in there early. The reason it made my favourites was the delicious (organic) fare. But more importantly (for me anyway) the lovely staff who brought my kid an extra plate with a sweet, for her toy ‘Doggle’. So Café Breizh—you’re ace. I would have taken some more useful pictures but I was distracted by the ‘Timbres Papiers Timbres’ tile typography outside.