Our Stomping Grounds: The 16th Arrondissement

The City of Paris was once surrounded by a wall in the past to primarily defend the city. There were seven walls constructed and demolished to accommodate the city's growth. The last wall, The Thiers Wall, was constructed from 1841 to 1846 and demolished between 1919 and 1929. Today the Paris wall is primarily the Blvd. Périphérique highway, "The Périph". 

We live "inside the wall" very much like saying "inside the loop". The city is divided up into twenty arrondissements inside the wall and suburbs outside the wall. We live on the west side of the city in the 16th arrondissement. The 16th arrondissement is the largest arrondissement encompassing 1,939 acres of land area and 2,090 acres of the Bois de Boulogne park (the second largest public park in Paris). The 16th is known for sharing the Arc de Triomphe, Place du Trocadero where Palais de Chaillot stands, many museums, phenomenal international schools, and sporting venues such as the stadium where the PSG football club plays. 

Our neighborhood, Trocadero/Passy, is known as one of the top expat arrondissements just behind Neuilly-sur-Seine just outside the wall and the Invalides - École Militaire in the 7th. Without knowing that before we moved, we fell in love with the area!

Our apartment is in an ideal location, just minutes from Place du Trocadero which has stunning views of the Eiffel Tower and one of the most famous hot chocolate cafe's and Rue de Passy, a bustling main street in the neighborhood with several shops and cafes.  

We walk down the beautiful Avenue Georges Mandel lined with trees towering over the street every morning on our way to school. Some of our favorite places to sip coffee during the school week are right in the circle of Place du Costa Rica along Rue de Passy. 

Our daily lunch spot is our second favorite boulangerie, La Pompadour. An easy 7-minute walk west of our apartment, La Pompadour is famous for the Poulet Tradition (chicken sandwich) and yes, it is amazing. My favorite item on the menu is the Le Symphonie dessert. It is the most perfect mousse au chocolate cake.

Our usual week day afternoon consists of stopping by our favorite boulangerie, Malineau, for viennoise au chocolat, picking up the kids from school, racing over to the Jardins du Trocadero to play with school friends before heading home to cook dinner.  Conveniently, our grocery store, Franprix, is a couple steps away from La Pompadour so picking up a baguette and a dessert on the way home from shopping for dinner is always an easy yes.       

If we cannot find what we are looking for at Franprix, we head about 10 minutes north of the apartment to the Monoprix and on the way home we stop at this amazing florist in the Place du Mexico circle. We can pick the flowers and then they make the arrangement and cut them for you to your preferred height! 

When we first moved our Airbnb's were very close to Avenue Mozart which again is a stunning street with trees everywhere! There were so many cafes and shops catering to our love of food. Our favorite butcher, fish monguer and fromage monguer can be found down Avenue Mozart. 

There are parks everywhere and we are always finding new ones to play and meet the nicest people! I could go on and on about Passy and the 16th. We could not have asked for a better location and absolutely love where we live.