I’m a Canadian in love with France…..
While our backgrounds and lifestyles are very different, I am in love with Paris and the French way of life. Every day I learn more, which is pretty important if you want to be taken seriously. France is a country built on rules and seeped in history. A country that sincerely expects you to know, or at the very least, try to know how things are done. How to act in the Metro (hint…nothing loud or boisterous), to always say Bonjour when entering a shop, any shop, all shops, to know the difference between “pardon”, “excusez-moi” and “désolé” and to use them accordingly, how to ask for your tab at the restaurant or cafe. Note: enjoy yourself, there is no hurry. Take the time to savour the atmosphere, the food, the wine, the conversation and the moment…after all, you are in Paris and Paris is the most beautiful city in the world.
Photo Credit: Frazier
The Canadian Rockies Photo Credit: Frazier
Born in Canada. In love with France.
Canadians are a friendly, caring, fun-loving, adventurous and loyal bunch. We grew up blessed with an abundance of natural beauty; mountains, lakes and wildlife; 42 percent of Canada is a forest. Canada is 9,984,670 km2 and holds just 37 million people. It is a vast, wild, and beautiful country. France can fit into Canada over 15 times! The great Canadian wilderness is right outside our backdoors. I grew up outside, under the Northern Lights with canoes, skis, boats, snowshoes, on mountains and lakes, in cabins, tents, camper vans and around campfires making Smores and Mountain Pies.
Northern Lights, Aurora Village, Yellowknife, Canada
As a country, Canada is very young. Historically France began in 51 BC while Canada officially entered the history books just 150 years ago, that’s about as young as it gets. As far as our cities are concerned Paris holds almost 4 times the number of people than Canada’s largest city, Toronto. So, you ask me, what does this have to do with anything? As a Canadian in love with France, practically everything. France is filled with dazzling, heady, overwhelming and incredibly wonderful things. France encourages you to be fearless, Paris asks that you be fearless and fashionable.
Jean-Honoré Fragonard
To be in love with France means many things.
For me, the French are wonderfully brave, outspoken, confident and loving. They spend very little time worrying about things they can’t control nor do they focus on flaws but boldly embrace eccentricities, uniqueness and intelligence. Rarely if ever, have I had a boring conversation with a French person. They are witty and smart and have such passion. They stand up for things they believe in. I love their smart, spirited conversations. I immensely enjoy sitting around a table with French friends, it is one of my favourite things to do.
Photo Credit Frazier
Throw in some great bottles of wine and voila! you have wonderful evenings that sometimes last all night. Most endearing of all, the French love to laugh and enjoy life. They love to cook for friends and family and spend many evenings being either wonderful dinner guests or excellent dinner hosts. They know their wines and love their food, they have 621 Michelin restaurants and 15 wine regions right outside their door!
Marianne de France
French Women
French women are smart, fun, funny and confident. Bare-faced beauties, French women go makeup-free. Beautiful skin, natural hair, add the perfect red lipstick and you have a beautiful French woman. Strong by nature, French women speak their minds and stand their ground. French women throughout the ages have been the backbone of France; the national symbol of the French Republic is Marianne, the embodiment of liberty and reason. I am very thankful for the French women I know. They’re strong, kind, generous, beautiful and as Canadians would say….pretty freaking awesome.
French Men
There is something special about the French man. In the country that invented love, romance and chivalry, French guys have it figured out. Don’t get me wrong, Canadian guys are great, the world loves us Canadians for a reason but for me, there has always been something special about French men. They are smart, considerate, cultured, stylish, attentive and interesting conversationalists and for the most part, are perfect gentlemen who are interested in what you have to say. I love having doors opened and wine poured. I love that French men dress beautifully. I love that the French aren’t afraid of love, they are very much in love with love and I love being a part of that.
The French invented “living in the moment”. They are open to new ideas, curious about the world and are incredibly thoughtful speakers. In the end, no one is perfect, but for someone like me who is in love with France, I am truly even more in love with the French and their invincible joie de vivre.
Window Shopping 13 Rue du Cherche-Midi Photo Credit: Frazier
Paris is the playground of fun and fashion and a great place to learn to embrace your life, your style and treat yourself to beautiful things because you’re worth it. Shopping in Paris is like a candy store, there is everything for everybody, including key luxury basics like silk, wool, linens and cashmere.
Minimal accessorizing is the French way. Except for bracelets, bracelets really matter and minimalism is only a suggestion once it comes to bracelets. Please, no sweatpants or running shoes. Classic pieces are what makes Parisian men and women look so pulled together. Once you have a few key pieces, your wardrobe is trouble-free. A great wool jacket, a perfect pair of shoes, a great silk tie, beautiful cashmere sweater, a crisp tailored shirt; there’s something easy and effortless about the way the French dress. There are many different and amazing boutiques all over Paris, so finding key pieces is always fun! 
But there is one piece of fashion that is unequivocally and ubiquitously French, one thing that elevates style and is a beloved part of every French person’s life …..the French scarf.
The French Scarf
In France, the scarf is a way of life. Beautiful lightweight silk and linen scarves for summer and lush cozy wool or cashmere wraps for winter in every texture and colour imaginable. Every store, from cute, independent little boutiques to Chanel and Monoprix sell beautiful scarves. Promod, Etam, Pimkie, Kookai, Camaieu, Morgan, Naf Naf, Jennyfer, Mango, even the huge Zara on Boulevard Haussmann sell scarves at really great prices.
French women have a different scarf for every mood and are never seen without one, neither are French men; a looped scarf is a signature French man’s accessory and a way of life that never looks out of place. It pulls your look together, makes you look snappy, it adds to your confidence and you feel like a million bucks. 
Confidence is a wonderful French trait and is one of the many things that makes French people so alluring. If you want to start somewhere, start with confidence. As a Canadian who grew up barefooted running around under the vast Canadian sky, France was so intimidating at first, so elegant, so effortless and assured. I was like a barefooted child trailing after her classy older sister. Over the years, France asked me to believe in myself, demanded that I be fearless and to learn the finer points in life. To be settled and centred and to know what knife goes with what dish. To dress with pride and speak your mind. To be polite and gracious, interested and interesting and to appreciate all parts of life. I learned that the French are wonderful, warm people who are generous and thoughtful and that if you learn basic French, even just a little, if you learn how to survive the metro, order water, buy a baguette, say hello, or conduct yourself in public, if you show you are trying, you will have tonnes of support.
The French are kind and helpful and they love it when you try.
I have learned so much during my time in France. How to wear red lipstick (GIORGIO ARMANI # 403), properly slice salmon, choose the right cheese, walk on cobblestones while wearing fantastic shoes, navigate the arrondissements and make my way around the Paris Metro. I’ve learned Ambassade de Bourgogne is wine drinker heaven, Pierre Hermé and Jean-Paul Hévin are my favourite Chocolatier and Pâtissier and that I adore the Passey and the Canal Saint-Martin/Pont d’Amélie areas of Paris. I’ve learned a lot about myself while soaking up the French way of life; to appreciate grace under pressure, champagne at any hour, long lingering afternoons in the cafe, reading a book in the park, to travel to the countryside and coastlines, to appreciate today because tomorrow may never come, to enjoy Gâteau au Chocolat, Lemon Tarts and Crème Brûlée, to savour beautiful Côte de Nuits, Margaux, Pomerol, Saint-Emilion and Gamays and to always appreciate my time with the smart, funny, fun and endearingly charming French
Photo Credit: Frazier
I have learned a lot about myself over the years too. Sunset on the Louvre always makes me cry, churches, especially Sainte Chapelle, Saint-Denis and Saint-Étienne-du-Mont give me great moments of stillness. I enjoy watching things go by on car rides to the coastline and countryside and that, on a cold day, I crave grilled cauliflower from King Falafel in the Marais.
The Marais Photo Credit: Frazier
I have discovered that in Paris I have my favourite trees, one sits on Ponte Neuf, at the tip of Île de la Cité and the other is where Rue Pavée meets Rue Malher in the Marais. The Grand Bassin Rond in the Grand Carre area of Jardin des Tuileries is one of my favourite places in Paris to beat the heat. No shade, but wonderful sprays of water to keep you cool. After all this time, Montmartre Cemetery is still one of my favourite autumn walks and I have realized that I really really love roaming the Christmas markets; funky Marché de Noël de la Gare Saint-Lazare, romantic Marché de Noël à Montmartre and I love the saucisson from Marché de Noël de Paris Notre-Dame.
Marché de Noël de Paris Notre-Dame Photo Credit: Frazier
But mostly I’ve learned that I am inspired by the French to always be bold and brave and to always make life interesting and fun. I have learned that I too, love wearing French scarves. After all, it’s not a really a scarf is it? It’s a French way of life.
Winter in Paris Photo Credit: Frazier
Paris is the city in which one loves to live. Sometimes I think this is because it is the only city in the world where you can step out of a railway station—the Gare d’Orsay—and see, simultaneously, the chief enchantments: the Seine with its bridges and bookstalls, the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Tuileries Gardens, the Place de la Concorde, the beginning of the Champs Elysees—nearly everything except the Luxembourg Gardens and the Palais Royal. But what other city offers as much as you leave a train?
-Margaret Anderson
Frazier's France 