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Cabinet of Chic Curiosities

Category / Don’t Be A Tourist

Before Disneyland Paris, there was Human Roulette and Drag Balls at the Lost “Magic City”

Dragons curled up under the bridge. Toboggans splashed Parisians in to the Seine, benches twirled, and wine flowed freely. It was a Saturday afternoon like any other at the “Magic City” of Paris, the long lost fun fair that was the nation’s very first parc d’attractions. As such, it was quite literally the gateway to…

Liberating Paris with Mixed Reality

Vive la resistance! Join me 600m below Paris to liberate the city in a special new “Don’t be a Tourist” episode with Microsoft. Discover a WWII bunker deserted for decades and relive the liberation of Paris with HoloLens mixed reality technology through the eyes of French resistance fighters in the underworld.

Why Teddy Bears Are Invading Paris

They came quietly. Massive teddy bears, popping up along Paris’ boulevard des Gobelins to cozy up in a bookshop, or relax en terrasse. Week after week, they seemed to multiply as if by magic, inciting joy and mystery in the otherwise humdrum 13th arrondissement. A little over a year later, and the nounours des Gobelins…

The ’90s are Still Alive & Well at this Totally Ace Airbnb

Jauntily hung Friends posters, VHS movies, gel pens, furniture that looks like it’s been taken straight off the set of Saved by the Bell, and nonsensical – but absolutely necessary – squiggly lines on every surface. We love the 1990s more than Cher Horowitz loved her Alaia handbag, so naturally, we lost it when we…

A Sleeping Chateau, Untouched since the Revolution, is For Sale

We held our breath as its story unfolded. That of a curious, half-moon shaped castle unlike any other we’d seen before, tucked away in the quiet warmth of Bordeaux’s countryside. Something in our gut told us that this castle, of the many we’ve fallen for, was to be different from the rest – and we…

Get Back to Nature this Fall at these Airbnb Fairy Compounds

There’s no return from the orbit of SunRay Kelley. Not that we’d ever want to leave the little compound he’s built in Washington state; it’s a wonderland of moss covered fairy houses and sparkling waterways, wood shingled roofs and Hobbit-sized windows that started welcoming visitors long before the days of quirky Airbnbs. “SunRay Shire,” as…

Inside the Secret Parisian Warehouse where the French Presidents Go Furniture Shopping

Picture an IKEA warehouse – but make it chic – and add an inventory of priceless furniture, textiles and objects that date as far back as the reign of the Sun King, Louis XIV, who indisputably raised the bar on what we’ll call French ‘power decorating’ for centuries to come. A sprawling Art Deco reinforced…

The Undertaker Village of Paris: Then & Now

It was a time when divorcées were only allowed to be buried at night, when the Arch of Triomphe wore a black mourning veil, and the business of death was booming in Paris. In fact, over one thousand undertakers worked together in their own veritable mini-city at the town’s edge, from coffin makers and casket…

I See a Road Trip to New York’s Village of Psychics in Your Future

When the forests of Upstate New York are blanketed in orange and brown hues during the fall of Autumn leaves, there are few places more bewitching to escape for the weekend. But there is certainly no place quite like the enchanting hamlet of Lily Dale, NY, population: 275, where over 50 registered spiritual mediums are in residence…

A Brief Compendium of the Most Petite Places in Paris

Space is scarce within Paris’ péripherique. As the most densely populated city in Europe, residents of the City of Light have learned to be creative with every nook and cranny. Beyond the mind-bogglingly miniature apartments and comically small lifts, there are those who have transformed the unlikeliest of spaces into fully functional cultural spaces, boutiques…

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