We spent a glorious weekend in Paris last month. Late September is one of the many perfect times to experience this city, and we were blessed with warm sunny weather for the few days we were there.

Galerie Lafayette - who wouldn't want one!

I know Paris fairly well - I taught English there for a year back in my early 20s, but I really got to know it when I spent some years travelling back and forth for work when our headquarters was based in La Defense, that grimly futuristic outcrop past the western suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine that always seems to be under construction.  The rule was never to stay there - better to travel out from the city and we were lucky to be able to stay in Le Meridien Etoile at Port Maillot or the glorious Splendid Etoile on Avenue Carnot, just off the Etoile.

For this trip I'd picked a 'meal deal' from British Airways which provided a good flight and a cheap hotel - not the most inspiring, but it was in a great location just off Boulevard Montmartre and beside Grands Boulevards metro.  Mrs CdP said she thought she'd left hotels like this behind - I tend to agree but actually it didn't matter that much.

Sushi at Galerie Lafayette

On arrival we wandered down Haussmann to Galerie Lafayette, exploring the foodhall and stopping amongst the food bars for sushi, then eying up wines that no-one but football players, oligarchs or royalty could possibly afford.  That night we stopped off for cocktails at Harry's Bar where we talked to Americans (as you'd expect) and paid a ransom for cocktails, but hey it was my birthday.  I'd booked Roger La Grenouille for dinner, an old favourite of mine on the Left Bank.  This is Old School French food that lives a happy life in a 1930s brasserie, served by proper French waiters (read 'no friendlier than they need to be')  Mrs CdP had duck cooked to perfection while I had the plat du jour of Boeuf Bourguignon (simple, huge chunks of melting beef with onions and mushrooms in a big big sauce)  The escargot starter was exquisite, although I lost one of the little buggers deep in its shell and had to do some serious fishing - but the house special of frog's legs in nine varieties didn't tempt me (when I saw a fellow diner's little plate of leg bones I just thought no)  

CdP at Harry's Bar

On Sunday we had lunch at the venerable Cafe le Select -  a haunt of Hemingway and Fitzgerald back in the 20s and little changed since then.  You pay for the memories and the location on Boulevard du Montparnasse, but the Onglet de boeuf 'Race d'Aubrac' was an amazing cut of meat - very 'beefy' and very tender even when cooked rare.  It's almost unknown in the UK - in the US they call it 'hanger steak' - although it's sometimes referred to as "butcher's steak" as it's coveted for its flavour.  I asked my (very good) butcher whether they knew it but they weren't sure ("yeh those Frenchies have some unusual cuts - bring us a picture of a cow and we'll see what we can do")

Cafe Panis - the perfect seat

 On Monday I took Mrs CdP to another favourite - Cafe Panis - just across from Notre Dame on the Left Bank.  I always imagine this is where Bryan Ferry wrote 'A Song for Europe', and we took the window seat overlooking Notre Dame to eat croque madame and omelette.  It's such an unpretentious cafe, with a real mix of tourists and locals, and that makes it special - I used to go there pre-dinner around 7pm when it was relatively empty and the tourists had gone home, and for a Parisian cafe it is notoriously friendly.

Sadly, coffee in France is not catching up with the 21st century so we found Costa on Bvd Montmartre to satisfy that need.

Still my favourite city after all these years - Mrs CdP says hers is London and I agree that London has more variety and vitality, but for atmosphere and downright elegance Paris is hard to beat.