Place des Vosges – A fine people watching spot

The thing people always tell you about Place des Vosges is that it’s architecturally perfect (oh and Victor Hugo lived there for a bit too). They bang on and on about its corners, its lines, the light…

The thing is though, it’s all true. It’s amazing and I never seem to tire of it. Even when it’s packed out with surly smoking teenagers, brogue-wearing men and shouting kids.

It’s confident and elegant, restrained and haughty. Basically it’s French, or more accurately, Parisian.

So gaze upon its flawlessly proportioned lines and let the evening light warm your cheeks, this is Paris at its most stylish, self-conscious and undeniably beautiful.