#x1C;Beautifully written and refreshingly original& makes us see [Paris] in a different light.#x1D; -- San Francisco Chronicle Book Review Swapping his native San Francisco for the City of Light, travel writer David Downie arrived in Paris in 1986 on a one-way ticket, his head full of romantic notions. Curiosity and the legs of a cross-country runner propelled him daily from an unheated, seventh-floor walk-up garret near the Champs-Elys#xE9;es to the old Montmartre haunts of the doomed painter Modigliani, the tombs of P#xE8;re-Lachaise cemetery, the luxuriant alleys of the Luxembourg Gardens and the aristocratic #xCE;le Saint-Louis midstream in the Seine. Downie wound up living in the chic Marais district, married to the Paris-born American photographer Alison Harris, an equally incurable walker and chronicler. Ten books and a quarter-century later, he still spends several hours every day rambling through Paris, and writing about the city he loves. An irreverent, witty romp featuring thirty-one short prose sketches of people, places and daily life, Paris, Paris : Journey into the City of Light ranges from the glamorous to the least-known corners and characters of the world#x19;s favorite city. #x1C;I loved his collection of essays and anyone who#x19;s visited Paris in the past, or plans to visit in the future, will be equally charmed as well.#x1D; -David Lebovitz, author of The Sweet Life in Paris #x1C;[A] quirky, personal, independent view of the city, its history and its people#x1D;-Mavis Gallant #x1C;Gives fresh poetic insight into the city& a voyage into #x18;the bends and recesses, the jagged edges, the secret interiors#x19; [of Paris].#x1D;- Departures

An American journalist based in Paris since 1986, David Downie has written about European culture, food and travel for magazines and newspapers worldwide. He was a Paris correspondent for Salon.com, Departures, Appellation, and Art & Antiques, and has contributed to epicurious.com, concierge.com and many other websites. Currently he is a European correspondent for Gadling.com, the popular literary travel site.
The author of a dozen works of nonfiction and fiction, Downie’s writing has also appeared in many anthologies, among them The Collected Traveler Paris, Southwest France and Central Italy; Salon.com’s Wanderlust; Travelers’ Tales: Adventures in Wine Country; By The Seat of My Pants; and A Moveable Feast. Please visit David Downie’s website www.davidddownie.com