Sharing the passion: Immersed in indulgent, intimate member-only gatherings in Paris, December 2012 – francophiles & French – MyFrenchLife.org

We loved meeting, chatting, eating, drinking and laughing with members in Paris last week: some old friends and many new ones. Irrespective of the venue, we’ve been told that MaVieFrançaise™ events are something special. But what does ‘special’ mean?

From ‘high tea’ at Le Meurice for over four hours, to dinner at Frenchie, followed by beautiful wine at Frenchie wine bar with chef-owner Gregory Marchand, our December indulgences were indeed something special.

The à la carte selection of indulgences also included L’Ecaille de la Fontaine, a tiny seafood restaurant owned by Gérard Depardieu. At Racines 2, Chef Nicolas Gauduin also greeted us warmly for a delicious three-course lunch with mystery wine. We ended a wonderful week by sharing wine with a small group at the relatively unknown, cosy and intimate Le Dokhan’s champagne bar in the 16^th.

With enormous stamina and a desire to find warmth, we continued to socialise and indulge beyond our six scheduled events.

With lunches at Le Petit Colbert, and Le Comptoir du Relais to drinks in discreet, elegant bars in the 16^th (including the unique Le Singulier); apéro and cocktails in the 6^th to tea in the 8^th and more… Wow, it was quite a week!

We shared these intimate moments with such a diverse group of members: internationalists who share curiosity, passion, creativity and the desire to meet with like-minded people. French, English, American, Canadian, Belgian, Dutch, Irish, Australian…

Socialising until midnight or beyond on a Monday evening is not necessarily the norm when living and working in Paris, but that didn’t stop Gail Boisclair, Mary Kay Bosshart and her daughter Sara, who’d just flown in from New York.

We dined with Sarah Towle who said that she tries to not miss any MaVieFrançaise™ events: “Every time I come to one of your events I meet really interesting people.”

Rachel Kaplan missed our previous soirée in Paris and she’s still regretting it, but she didn’t miss out this time. “I could feel the difference in this group the moment I walked into the restaurant,” she said.

“I felt warmth radiating from the group; I felt welcome and I met some terribly savvy women from all over the world.” In fact, we braved the freezing weather again to meet Rachel for tea in front of the fire at The Keppler, to talk about her high-end tour business.

Even if our ‘high afternoon tea’ indulgences at Le Meurice weren’t very French, our conversation was particularly wide-ranging, from travel to careers, politics to food, and of course sex.

We were laughing and chatting with François Roland, author and raconteur; passionate about the topic of French male sensuality. As new member Emily Fitzell remarked: “You can tell we are dining with the French when the conversation comes back to sex… different from an afternoon tea in England!”

The political discussion was even more interesting as, par hasard, Madame Chirac was seated next to us!

We’d love to see you at our member-only February 2013 events. Stay alert, watch out for your invitation to intimate gatherings at indulgent venues in Paris.

We met so many other fabulous people, most of whom live in Paris, while others were travelling through on holiday just before Christmas. There is insufficient space here to mention everyone, so let us simply say: we had a ball, and it seems you did too!

Our events are designed for members only. Please feel free to bring a guest and ensure that they join too. We invite you to join the MaVieFrancaise™ community to ensure you receive an invitation!

À la prochaine !