Paris Planning a Trip
Tips on preparing for your trip to Paris from hotel suggestions to packing suggestions.
Paris Plus Amsterdam
Photo by Chris Card Fuller ©2008
If you’re planning on spending two weeks in Europe, the hardest part of your trip may be deciding which cities will best complement one another. Judging by Travel Advisor’s recent survey, Paris is considered Europe’s most romantic city, the best city for shopping and the best place for great meals, but Amsterdam is where you want to go if you’re looking for a friendly welcome combined with great nightlife (Paris received the dubious achievement of ranking #1 for the most unfriendly residents).
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Date: March 16th, 2008 |
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The Paris Syndrome
Last week, Francois Hauter reported on ‘the Paris Syndrome’ (le Bloc-notes Parisien “Ces Parisiens auxquels la Ville Lumiere tourne le dos” Le Figaro March 1 ‘08)
This is the term coined by Japanese soujourners in the ‘City of Light’ when their dream city becomes their worst nightmare. In French the expression ‘avoir du cafard’ means ‘to be depressed’. The state of mind (when it happens to foreigners ) is also referred to as ‘culture shock’. Why should one be depressed when you live in the ‘most beautiful city in the world’?
Hauter mentions the fact that Japanese residents (there are approximately 30,000 living in Paris) are virtually invisible (especially when it comes to elections). He writes:
“They are invisible. Nobody asks them about anything. No one polls them before elections. Parisians act as if they don’t exist. However all these foreigners have chosen to be here out of love.”
Date: March 8th, 2008 |
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Romantic Dining in Paris that you can afford
News Art Cafe/Salad bar. An intimate respite from Montparnasse traffic (just around the corner from Avenue du Maine on Rue de l’Ouest) All you can eat salad bar with exotic ambiance, great music, and peace and quiet for a comfortable tete-a-tete.
What is a romantic restaurant? I’m writing this post in response to a recent e-mail. One reader said that ‘romantic restaurants’ were out of the question for her budget.
Quite honestly, one of the most ‘romantic’ meals I’ve ever had were two bologne sandwiches which we ate by candlelight in the cellar of the Vagabond Lodge in Aspen, Colorado. In case you haven’t yet figured this out - a little big of candlelight makes any cave or cellar look suddenly romantic, but the real catalyst is the person who happens to be sitting across the table from you.
Date: March 5th, 2008 |
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Packing for your Paris Honeymoon
Sandals found at My Dream Wedding
Travel light - and you’ll be glad you did.
What to bring with you:
Cool shades.
Your best-fitting jeans.
An impeccably cut black or navy blazer.
Converse trainers for walking.
‘Just Married’ sandals for Paris Plage and Deauville/Trouville.
Cashmir pullover for cool evenings.
Pocket-size digital camera with extra memory stick and extra batteries.
Corkscrew for spur of the moment picnics on the Seine.
Raingear for summer cloudbursts (i.e. Travelsmith raincoats that roll up into pouches)
Adaptor plugs (220 volt) Make sure your camera attachments cords fit the adaptor plug socket.
For the bride:
Outrageous lingerie.
Little black dress
Cool shades.
Best-fitting …
Date: February 26th, 2008 |
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Footwear for Paris
So you’re coming to France this summer – and you want to do a lot of walking – but you don’t want to look like a tourist in clunky running shoes.
The solution is simple. Buy a pair of Converse trainers and you’ll fit right in.
In Peggy Frey’s article for Madame Figaro Magazine, Bien Dans Nos Converse’(Comfy in our Converse) she interviews some of Paris’s top names in the fashion world. They confide to Frey their passion for Converse.
Ines de la Fressange tells Frey her favorite colors – navy …
Date: February 24th, 2008 |
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Learn to Speak French
“Why bother learning to speak French? It’s a dying language.”
This was the test question my examiner asked of me for my finals after studying French language and culture at the University of Paris for a whole year. It seemed like too easy a question for a final exam – but I’ve often noted that examiners love to give students questions including just enough rope to hang themselves.
Because this coming week (until March 24th’08) is ‘French language’ week, I thought it might be helpful to talk about the benefits of studying French
Date: March 14th, 2008 |
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Paris Deals from Multiple Travel Sites
If you are looking for a way to combine cheap airfare to Paris with a hotel special during your stay you normally have to check quite a few different websites in order to know you are getting the best deal. The good news is that BootsnAll has just added a new place where they sort all the best available deals from multiple providers and then put them all on the same page.
There are airfare deals departing from specific cities, hotel packages for once you arrive in Paris, and packages that combine …
Date: March 6th, 2008 |
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Deciphering French Train Travel
Figuring out the SNCF’s train website - is baffling to say the least. If you haven’t already done it the easy way i.e. buying you’reEurail Pass or your Flexipass here is a follow up to some of my past posts on booking train tickets while you’re in France.
I will say the obvious once again. Booking a ticket with no seat reservations in second class is the cheapest and most flexible way to go-especially if we’re talking about mid-week, off-season travel. Today I took the train from Bernay in Normandy to Paris and lolled around in a car with just one other passenger for most of the one and a half hour trip. However for the return trip on a Friday night, catching a non-reserved seat might be a little more dicey. To ensure your chances of picking up a non-reserved seat, arrive at the train station early - i.e. 20 minutes before departure. Once the quai number is posted on the departures screen, you can proceed immediately to your car, and when it’s a non-reserved ticket, just walk and walk until you get to the very end of the train. The unreserved seats are always at the end of the train.
Today, the conductor didn’t even bother looking at my ticket - I tried to hold it up and he said ‘Later’ (which turned out to be never). He couldn’t help but throw in, “There must be a huge difference in price between the reserved and non-reserved seats.”
Of course, when you’re converting these into dollars from Euros - the answer is ‘Yes’.
Date: February 28th, 2008 |
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Book a Flight to Paris for the Early Spring
Paris in the spring is something quite special. This time of year in the city has been sung about and sighed about, so the only thing left for you to do is get there and sing and/or sigh about it in person. Even though it is not quite the height of the spring travel season in Paris, which means that maybe the weather will not be as perfect as it might be in April or May, going to Paris in March gives you a much better chance on finding a great deal …
Date: February 25th, 2008 |
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Museum Night in May
If you’re planning a spring trip for Paris, make sure to be in town on Saturday, May 17 (2008).(I’ve seen different dates posted, and because the official site isn’t set yet for 2008, be sure to reconfirm! This is the tentative date set for the annual national (as well as throughout Europe and parts of South America) free museum night.
The theme in France for this year’s museum night will be ‘The museum opens its doors’.
In past years, over a thousand museums thoughout France and Europe have participated in this event. Doors open around 7 pm and stay open, in some cases, until 1 am.
Date: February 22nd, 2008 |
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