Paris Tips & Tidbits
Has your experience been the same? Or totally different. Three tourists in Paris are like the three blind men describing an elephant.
Free Paris Opera
It’s September - Parisians are back in town - and so is opera! Well, opera never left, but it’s just moved back indoors - partly. From today (September 5 to September 7, ‘08), you can enjoy FREE Paris street opera.
Something’s changing in Paris opera is not only going to the street - it’s going to the stadium as well. Later this month, September 27, ‘08, Verde’s Nabucco will be performed at the huge Stade de France (in nearby St. Denis) which is normally reserved for sports events or rock concerts. Perhaps Mitterand’s intentions for a ‘people’s opera’ will be achieved in a way which he never imagined.
For those that are curious about opera, but would rather not spend the entire evening sitting in a concert hall, I would suggest dining at a restaurant where opera singers entertain you while you eat. Bel Canto hires opera singers that often sing at the nearby Opera House. (This is also a nice option if you couldn’t secure tickets for an opera, or if you simply can’t afford to dine out and purchase opera tickets in addition to an evening dinner on the town).
If you’ve never been bitten by the opera bug, know that Paris’s two major opera houses are not only devoted to hardcore opera, but also ballets and orchestral concerts. Of the two opera houses, the 19th-century Garnier Opera House retains the fame of being the haunt of its illustrious phantom. The Bastille Opera House, built in the late 1980s was the brainchild of former president Francois Mitterand who wanted to create an opera house for ‘the people’. If you’re planning on attending an opera or other musical event during your stay in Paris, be sure to book your tickets long in advance. Season tickets are snapped up quickly. Now’s the time to check out the Opera de Paris’s site for their Fall/Winter program and book your places.
Garnier Opera House
Metro: Opera
One of the big events of the Fall season is the opening Gala. This year (September 18th), the New York City Ballet will and American Friends of the Paris Opera will join in the Gala. Although the event has already been sold out, you never know when last minute tickets may show up. The best thing to do for last minute tickets is to show up at the opera house about half an hour before opening time (with cash in hand), but do beware of scams and judge the ticket seller with care!
Keep in mind that the ticket office has temporarily relocated to the BACK of the Opera House due to recent restoration work. You will find it at the intersection of Rue Auber.
Date: September 5th, 2008 |
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Paris Parks & Gardens: Outdoor Art
On a perfectly sunny day in Paris, you may be loathe to spend hours rambling through stuffy museum corridors, but you don’t have to stay indoors to enjoy Paris’s art treasures. The idea of using gardens as a backdrop for unusual sculpture is nothing new. Louis XIV made sure that his royal grounds at Versailles had the requisite number of statuary - and in the event that a commissioned work was less than he hoped for, he could always relegate said statue to a distant corner of …
Date: September 3rd, 2008 |
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Fall Fashion: The Keffiyeh Goes Mainstream
August has barely slipped away, but (thanks to a cold snap during the third week in August), Parisians have already pulled their boots out of storage (some of us were still wearing them in June) and the essential Fall accessory- a long scarf to protect the neck.
This Fall (2008), you’ll undoubtedly spot French students wearing a keffiyeh. The scarf/headdress is most commonly associated with the desert regions of North Africa and the Middle East.
Way back in 2005, the keffiyeh scarf was considered in some fashion circles to be ‘cool’. According to my Canadian fashion trends source, she noted that the kefifyeh-bearer profile differed depending on which side of the pond you inhabited. “In Canada, it was more often the skinheads that wore keffiyeh but the keffiyeh was also very much part of the gay chic. Here, in France, it looks more like a preppy thing.”
Date: September 1st, 2008 |
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Mysterious Paris: The Woman in the Fifth
One might argue that the best Paris guidebook is fiction.
I’ve just finished reading Douglas Kennedy’s novel The Woman in the Fifth If there’s anyone left on the planet (aside from me) who hasn’t already read this Paris-based thriller - described by The Times as ‘a thriller for people who don’t like thrillers’, then let me know who you are, so I’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that I’ve passed on the word about an exceptional sort of guidebook to Paris. It basically warns the down-and-out expat - that no matter how bad things were back home - it’s sure to get much worse if you decide to run away to Paris.
Date: August 29th, 2008 |
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France’s New Blonde Bombshell: Louise Bougoin
For any of you who’ve spent a little time in France, you may have developed a sentimental attachment to France’s weather reporters, but no real-life weather reporter can stand up to the typhoon that Louise Bougoin stirs up as an ambitious ‘Miss Meteo’ in Anne Fontaine’s recently released film ‘The Girl From Monaco’.
This long-legged bronzed blonde goddess wouldn’t need an extraordinary plot line to keep a film in motion. She exudes enough ‘it’ to mesmerize her co-actors into what one French magazine describes as a ‘jaw-gaping’ Luchini. Nevertheless, Fabrice Luchini snaps out of it long enough to match her charm with the self-searching, and self-conscious attentions of a high-power Parisian lawyer, Bertrand Beauvois, newly arrived in Monaco to try a big case.
Date: August 26th, 2008 |
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An Invitation to the President of the French Republic’s Office
Journees des Patrimoine - 2008
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21 - SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 22
Once a year, you get a chance to look at where the president of the French Republic gets to start his work day. Thanks to the Journees du Patrimoine, those of us who don’t have the privilege of being within the inner circles of power get to sneak a peak at rooms that we only see occasionally on television. Each year, during the second to last weekend of September, you can brave the lines visiting the Elysee Palace where current president Nicolas Sarkozy resides - or you can choose from a vast list of governmental buildings that would be normally off limits for tourists.
Given that the European Cultural Heritage Day is supposed to celebrate European culture, I doubt that the word ‘Weekend’ will appear anywhere else but Parislogue, but the fact remains that this year (2008), Cultural Heritage Day or Journees du Patrimoine will be celebrated for the entire weekend of Saturday and Sunday, September 21-22nd.
It’s almost worth planning a trip to Paris to coincide with cultural heritage dates because not only are normally closed-to-the-public buildings open for discovery, but many of the museums will offer free admission.
Date: September 4th, 2008 |
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5 Surprising Ways to Lose Weight: The ‘Paris’ Diet
1. Stand around a lot.
2. Suck ice cubes.
3. Eat your food cold
4. Take a cold shower.
5. For the first three to five days of the diet, don’t exercise.
This are five suggestions included in Dr. Dukan’s bestseller diet book Je ne sais Pas Maigrir (I don’t Know How to Get Thin)
(Sounds like the perfect diet for Amsterdam’s Red Light district denizens!)
Summer is over and it’s time to do damage assessment: Far too many aperos - wasn’t that Loupiac tasty with the foie gras de canard? Mmnnn, Christina’s sponge cake recipe for Jean-Pierre’s birthday, Daniel and Francoise’s imported rum for poolside rum & Cokes.
But fortunately, early in the summer season, Davine, a family friend who is also a doctor (and diet knowledgeable) left me with this book title: “Je ne sais pas maigrir” by Dr. Pierre Dukan.
Translated as ‘I don’t know how to lose weight’, the book (which I picked up at FNAC bookstore (the sales clerk knew the title immediately) is plugged as ‘The Dukan Phenomena - already 1 million conquered readers!’.
At first glance, Dr. Pierre Dukan’s ‘Je ne sais pas Maigrir’ diet looks like a rehash of Atkins, South Beach, or some of those seventies protein diets. But it really was designed for French taste: Eat lots of meat as often as you want and don’t exercise. No surprise that a French diet or ‘regime’ has some amusing twists on the typical American style diet.
Date: September 2nd, 2008 |
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Saying Goodbye to Summer
Paris Plage is closed (once again, I arrived too early and too late). The Tuileries Gardens ferris wheel (La Grande Roue) will be packed up until next summer. Already there’s a crisp note of autumn in the air (but I’m hoping for an Indian summer in September and October after the cloudy August). 
Daniel and his friend Sylvain met us for coffee at the Bistro de La Tour, 4 Rue e la Arrivee (which is located on the opposite side of Tour Montparnasse from our favorite Greek panini stand).
“Normandy looks so sad. The country houses are all shuttered.”
Summer memories. An empty picnic table that was so recently laden with yummy dishes - plates of foie gras de canard, sweet melons, fresh apricots, and bowls full of blood-red cherries, a velvety Savigny burgundy, fresh mussels from Barfleur, all of these delightful flavors served up in a flurry of friendly chatter.
Summer goes by so quickly in this part of the world that you’ll have to forgive a little nostalgia - so here are some of the favorites garnered from the Spring/Summer of 2008:
Date: August 30th, 2008 |
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Late Night Paris Restaurants: Le Quinze
Described as a ‘neo-traditional’ restaurant, Le Quinze transcends categorization. ‘Branché’ i.e. ‘hip’ minus the attitude, very democratic, the clientele ranges from the super- chic, the super belle, to the adorable couple from the Savoy region who wander in for some wine degustation by the glass.
You may also recall from a past post that Rue Daguere’s ‘plus beau mec du quartier’ bartends. Stop in and say ‘hello’ to Luther.
But even more important -this is the restaurant/bar for those of you searching for a place to hang your hat - up until 2 am, (every day except Mondays) It’s not every semi-residential neighborhood that has late night restaurants. The Rue Daguerre neighborhood in Paris’s 14th arrondissement is just one market street, part of which is blocked off for pedestrian traffic on market days. By night, there’s a number restaurants with a similar neighborliness (such as Plan B mentioned in a past post). Perhaps because Rue Daguerre isn’t frequented by tourists in the evening, it’s retained this attribute.
Date: August 27th, 2008 |
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Paris Daily Budget: How Much Money do I Bring?
Parisgirl suggests $100-$125 per day per person (not including your hotel/hostel charges).
This estimate covers the cost for a continental breakfast (croissant and coffee), four Metro tickets, one museum entrance admission, one sandwich and beverage for lunch and one main meal. If you’re extremely frugal, you can cut this down to $60 or $75.
Just to emphasize how the cost of living has increased, July 1st, 2008, the Paris Metro has once again raised its prices. A Metro ticket will now cost you 1.60 Euros or 11.40 Euros for a ‘carnet’ of 10 tickets. There’s no doubt about it. Paris is expensive.
Here are some tips on deciding how much cash to bring with you, assuming that you’ve already booked a hotel or hostel and that you’ve budgeted the cost of your lodging.
Fueling the body
If you want to really save money, don’t eat. (Sacrilege in Paris!) Or, don’t eat so often. And, especially, don’t drink anything but tap water. Of course, for most of us normal people, that’s not an option, so the next best solution is to think very carefully BEFORE you get to Paris about the various options for ‘refueling’.
Date: August 25th, 2008 |
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