There are places that belong to me. @lesdeuxmagots is one of them. When I first moved to Europe 22 years ago, this was my cafe in Paris. It was around the corner from where I lived on Rue de Seine. From my kitchen on my 5th floor walk-up, I could see the top of the tower of the Eglise Saint Germain opposite #lesdeuxmagots. It was where I went on Sunday afternoons to read the newspaper in the sun after eating croque madames.

It was where I sat and wrote in my journal on Tuesday afternoons before running across the street to Monoprix to pick up groceries to make dinner for my Women’s group. It was where I met friends for coffee and croissants 🥐 in the morning or wine in the evening. It was my local. When I moved from Paris to Amsterdam, Les Deux Magots was replacing all their cafe chairs and selling their seats. My ex and I drove back to Paris and brought 4 chairs with us to Holland where they sat at my kitchen table. The brass plate with Les Deux Magot was written on the back of each chair. Later living in Berlin the cafe chairs sat on my balcony in the apartment where my neighbor caught the building on fire. Our apartment and everything we owned went up in flames but the chairs - they survived. Moving to Venice, I don’t have an outdoor space, and they don’t fit the style of my kitchen so they are in storage, but someday I’ll have a terrace again. But each time I’m in Paris I try to go to Les Deux Cafe. To remember. To keep the tradition alive. I’ll bring my laptop and work in the conservatory during Paris Design Week. It’s the perfect place to run into industry friends.

This week I took my sister. I’ve taken all 6 of her kids with me to Les Deux Magot over the years. I’ve taken both our mother and father and my stepmom. It’s one of the places I call home. When you live abroad for over 20 years, when you travel like I do, you make places into home wherever you are- so home is always nearby. Les Deux Magots is more than a cafe, it feels like a part of me, like home.

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Truly Venice is a trademark owned by Property Solutions, a Swiss based company that operates as an agent for property owners wishing to lease their properties for short and long term stays. The company was founded in 2007 by a small entrepreneurial team that sees a great opportunity in offering people all over the world an alternative accommodation to hotels going beyond the traditional tourist trip.

We aim to offer a personalised service, organizing restaurant bookings and taxi services, finding the appropriate meeting and exhibition space as well as offering flowers, special wines and food baskets. Property Solutions is a customer focused company that values your ideas, comments and thoughts. We encourage you to give us feedback on any aspect of our business, whether it be about the website, the service or one of our apartments.

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