If you’re converting dollars to Euros, the news is grim. We ‘ve spent the last few days scouting out restaurants in traditionally inexpensive neighborhoods - the Latin Quarter and Montparnasse, and even with serious self-control i.e skipping dessert or the second beer or glass of wine, the bill is going to be a little more than you’d like.
So here it is:
You’ll be hardpressed to dine for less than $35 for two people i.e 23 Euros. That being said, you can be radical about this and cut out all beverages except a carafe of tap water, order …
No Comments
No. Currently (February 8, 2008), taxi drivers and cashiers have recently staged strikes, but Paris remains a primarily peaceful city. During our last visit stateside, people still seem to be in a time warp when it comes to the 2005 riots. So, just to confirm - the riots have been OVER for a long time. I don’t know what it is about the ‘power of the media’ that seems to allow images of burning cars to remain indelibly imprinted into people’s image of Paris. The reason I titled this post ‘Is there rioting in Paris?’ is because this still seems to be an issue for travelers.
Even when there was rioting or massive transportation strikes, Paris somehow continues to manage whatever unusual turns the politics or the social problems of the day may be. As a visitor to Paris, you might want to consider checking the local news reports. For news in English, one of the most reliable sources is the International Herald Tribune which is published daily in Paris. The French television station France 24 is also a useful source of information. http://www.france24.com/en/
No Comments
Photo by Chris Card Fuller ©2008
Photo by Chris Card Fuller ©2008
Springtime in February? Unseasonably warm this first week in February 2008, those that decided to sneak away for an ‘escapade’ in Paris to celebrate Valentine’s Day, Chinese New Years (which began yesterday) or simply to take advantage of the winter sales will have little to complain about this week - when it comes to weather. Ideal, cloudless skies and brilliant sunshine have brought out premature spring blossoms on some of Paris’s avenues.
What better time to do a little souvenir shopping? Although our goal was to replace a broken lid to a porcelain coffee pot, anyone interested in picking up a Limoges set of dishware at an exceptionally good value would be happy to stumble upon Porcelaines M.P. SAMIE at 45 Avenue General Le Clerc, 14th Metro: Alesia
No Comments
For the first week in Paris, you find yourself getting inexplicably famished at 3 pm. Most restaurants finish up their lunch service between 2 and 3:30 pm and dinner won’t be available in traditional French restaurants before 7 to 7:30 pm. For that matter, most Parisians rarely dine before 8 or 9 pm.
So, for all our good intentions of finding local bistros with traditional French cuisine, the first pangs of jet-lag hunger send us running for the closest ‘Ouvert’ sign. (Ouvert=Open).
This week we’ve had very good luck with stumbling into eateries that offer warm respite to the jet-lagged English-speaking visitor
No Comments
Paris is gearing up for the annual Chinese New Year’s celebration. 2008 will be the Year of the Rat. Although the actual new year begins this Thursday (February 7th), the two major parades in town will be held over the weekend. Depending on which neighborhood is closer, you can attend dragon parades either in the 3rd or the 13th arrondissements.
No Comments
Good news for fans of Etruscan antiquities. The Louvre has announced plans to create a chrornological display of the Etruscan and Roman antiquities department. The projected date for finishing this project is 2012. In addition, the Sphinx court will undergo renovations. An Islamic department (newly created in 2003) will be expanded. The Visconti court with a new glass roof designed by Mario Bellini and Rudy Riciotti will be inaugurated in 2010.
A new entrance is also planned which will eventually allow groups to enter by the Charle V hall. This should help with …
No Comments
This past Wednesday (Feb 6 ‘08), taxi drivers blocked the Porte Maillot entrance to Paris as well as access to Paris’s airports. Now we know why so many taxis had already been parked at the CDG airport as early as last Sunday. Fortunately, the taxi drivers demands have been answered - which means if you’re flying in to Paris in the coming weeks, you should be able to get to town without being obliged to travel by the RER (Regional transit). Earlier this week I had been praising the benefits of arriving in town outside of high …
No Comments
Robert Capa’s photo of the ‘New Look’ (greatly enlarged as an exhibition advertisment in front of Hotel de Ville)
The photo exhibition at Hotel de Ville (Paris’s City Hall) is a definite can’t miss show. It’s worth the wait in line on a sunny afternoon in February - but some of the star attractions are surprisingly bypassed by the majority of visitors.
I’m referring to the wing devoted to the photographer Peter Cornelius, a German in Paris who has been overlooked in past years, partly because of his early demise in …
No Comments
Ellen Page’s Juno has hit the Paris screens and the first reviewers are taking a liking to the wise for her age very pregnant teenager. I’m not surprised to see this film embraced by French reviewers. Wise for their age adolescents is a popular theme and the fact that there’s no gun fights and chase scenes in this film is another plus for this audience.
No Comments
Groundhog Day, I discovered, is a great day to fly to Paris - or anywhere for that matter -because chances are you can definitely get the feeling that your in the movie Groundhog day. To begin with, CNN reports the same event over and over again. As we wait for our flight in the Dulles C wing, that furry groundhog keeps reappearing on the television monitor.
After a while you don’t even hear the recording to keep all of your personal belongings close to you - or they will be destroyed.
But the plot thickens.
No Comments
