39Vaugirard

@Craigorama #macspeech – you’re a stronger man than I! I still find it a challenge. Amazing at first, yes, but hard to stay with.

Cafe Medicis at 19, rue de Vaugirard. Nice spot for a café gourmand « FIVE ONE EIGHT http://ow.ly/Zt8K

Cool. Gotta love how TweetDeck handles mulitple accounts. Easy as “tarte.”

33 years ago, I was this person, fresh off the boat (or 747), not knowing what to expect from a year in France (Rennes in my case).

Bonjour!

It is hard for me to believe that I am actually in France. At the moment, I am sitting in my bedroom in Nantes, home from a brief three day orientation trip with the IES Nantes group in Tours, France. This past week has truly flown by.

Tuesday feels like a month ago. My plane left from Charlotte and as I sat in the tiny blue airplane seat, fighting the stranger next to me for armrest room, I began to wonder what I had gotten myself into. I was a twenty-year old college student on an eight hour flight to Paris, France but I felt so much more like an eight year old headed to sleep away camp for the first time. Never before had I been on a plane alone so therefore I was very nervous. What if I missed my connection? What if I arrived in Paris and was incapable of finding the correct train to Nantes? Luckily, all of my worrying was for nothing. I made my connection in Newark with minutes to spare and arrived in Paris safely.

[From Bienvenue to me! | Inside IES Abroad]

Be picked up anywhere in Paris and the parisian drivers of Paris Authentic take you for an unusual discovery of their city…Paris night tour, Paris romantic tour…an unsuspected tour in Paris to satisfy your curiosity!

[From Paris Tour in citroen 2CV by Paris Authentic Tour - The traditionnal french car tour]

Once the 2CV (or Deux Chevaux, as it’s known) was the Volkswagen Beetle for all of France. Now they are more rare, but you can still enjoy the ride in these tours organized by a group of French guys who enjoy showing off their city from the vantage point of a fun little car. Worth a try for those looking for a change from boring bus tours or long metro rides.

Worth a try if you’re looking for a different way to see Paris next time.

Here I’m sitting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, leafing through a local magazine and I see a dispatch from Paris. What do you know. People barely make US$600 on average here but they aspire to visit Paris.

Don’t we all.

Their recommendations are terrific, and I agree with most of them. And think, I had to go all the way to Cambodia to discover a few things in my own neighborhood. Such is the life of a global nomad.

Deyrolle, the 170 year old establishment on rue du Bac (near Blvd. St. Germain) that is the most extraordinary taxidermy shop, a realm of French institution. Deyrolle.com,

Sennelier, debuted in 1887, by a passionate chemist Guastave Sennelier, is located across from the Louvre and nearby l’Ecole des Beaux-Arts. It is an atelier of all things colors, pigments, and creations, for any palette created by an artist. 3, Quai Voltaire.

Galerie Martine Gossieaux, opened in 1992, has regular exhibitions of graphic artists of international fame: Savignac “affichiste”, Sempé, Steig, Chaval, André François, Ronald Searle, Benoît and Pierre Le Tan.They are all regular collaborators for different and important magazines around the world, such as “New Yorker”. 56, rue de l’Université.

Hotel Verneuil, has almost the perfect location, in the quartier antiquaire, right on the boundaries of sixiéme and septiéme arrondisements. The hotel is blushingly romantic, bathed in history and discreetly housed in a handsome 17th century building, and stylish in a way that weds the past (miles of printed fabrics from France’s old-guard textile houses) to the present (iron cube tables with a deliberately rusted finish). Some of the 26 guest rooms are a bit tight, but Flore and Deux Magots are your local cafés— complaining seems like bad manners. 8, rue de Verneuil.

L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, is a must on a gourmet’s list. With a restaurant empire all over the world (Las Vegas, Macao, London, Tokyo, New York, and Monaco), Joel Robuchon this is chef and his Atelier is no ordinary dining experience. It’s a Michelin-star restaurant, in the Hotel du Port Royal, on rue Montalembert, in the tony septiéme. It’s a open kitchen concept, with only 36 seats, with tapa size beautiful food. No reservations are taken, so be strategic and get there early for a seat at the counter. It’s a favorite sport of chic Parisians to time a table just right. 5, rue de Montalembert, corner of rue de Bac.

La Hune, is an artist’s art bookstore. This place is part of the history of St. Germain des Prés with the likes of Max Ernst, André Breton and many other artists through the decades who have come to hang out here as well as Café de Flore which is next door. 170, Boulevard St Germain.

Astier et Villate, is the haute emporium of all that is beautiful about maison et objets of French china and things for the house. 173, rue St. Honoré.

Coton Doux, is a must if you’re stocking up on the most beautifully made, fantastic colors and design, in men’s shirts and pajamas. Boutiques throughout Paris. 68, rue Mazarine is in the neighborhood.

Leave it to the Cambodians in the know to reveal Paris to me.

Whether with the economy, it’s a “good” time for a trip to Europe, I can’t say, but it’s suddenly gotten cheaper by about 20% than it has been in a while:

This is just too silly. It’s not even comparable to “Should I have the chicken or the steak?” And throwing in Ireland as a third option doesn’t make it any better.

Of course, if you asked me, I’d probably be doing as aggressive a sales job as I could on Paris, but then I was never much of a London fan after living there in the 80’s. I also have lived/worked/studied in Paris for years, so it’s more home to me than many places in the States. Still, to each his or her own, and I can understand the UK Capitol’s charm to real Anglophiles, or even to those preferring an English-speaking holiday. There is really no objective standard to compare the two to each other, but still, on museums, food, subway, weather, and just about anything else, I’ll take Paris.

[From What’s your opinion on Paris,France compared to London,England and Ireland? - Travel | FAQ’s About: Frequently Asked Questions]

everyone has an idea of the best places to visit in Paris. Some ideas are obvious and others are creative. This one is funny because it only has five items, three of which are old standards, and other two are mostly unknown.

1) Le Fumoir a tart café with book lined walls and an eclectic mix of indie Parisians and hip cat’s hints at thirties culture indie rock goodness. Come here for a decent cup of coffee and excellent treats. But stay for the people watching and to scavenge through the book walls.
2) Centre Pomidou is the like the little sister to The Louvre without the lines of waiting. It’s got some of the best art in the city without all the hype of its older counterpart. Housing the most expensive and comprehensive collection of modern art in all of Europe, as well as the most innovative building in all of Paris. It’s not easy to find and is housed near plenty of great places to shop and eat after your done pursuing.
3) Le Café Charbon is a wonderful restaurant not to be missed and dating back to the 1900’s with a plethora of chandeliers and shiny ornate mirrors. A dish here isn’t out of this world but the beer and absinthe get high marks with flying colors. Basking in the ambience of its rooms will leave you missing another time and wanting to pen a poem or two or paint a picture.
4) The Moulin Rouge is forever known from its Nicole Kidman movie but the cliché attraction is a million times flashier. Go here expecting to pay out of pocket the experience is well worth it when your greeted by over a hundred different new acts every night and as many scantily clad girls that can fit in one room without paying them. Expect hokey loveliness and a lot of great music, fun for a night out after some drinking or even completely sober and no somber ending either.
5) Bateaux Parisians is a wonderland boat tour not to be missed. The scenery is lovely and offers a unique and pleasing way to explore the city off your feet and free of crowds of bust tourist.

[From Otel.com Blog » Must See Places in Paris France]

If you are following France and Paris, here are a few places I like to watch to get a feeling for the culture and social movements:

Ô-Chateau, a Paris wine-tasting company (with champagne cruises on the Seine!) has a funny and pointed blog called Stuff Parisians Like. It’s modeled after StuffWhitePeopleLike.com, and has some funny and wise bits. It’s very well-written and will give you some idea of the inner workings of those French minds.

We’ve always loved following Kristin Espinasses continuing travails as she inserts herself deeper and deeper into provincial French life in her French-word-a-day blog. Using examples from her life with her husband and two kids, she tells funny and often poignant stories of her life in France, including things she loves, hates and is just plain confused by. She has also collected these columns in several books, which make good presents for the Francophile in your life. Her site has grown to include other recommended books on French history, language, and culture.

InParisNow.com, or TheParisBlog.com (not to be confused with ParisBlog.com, the unbelievably well-written musings of a thirteen year-old girl) is a group blog. More than two dozen bloggers contribute to it, most of whom are Anglophones living in Paris. Most days, there are three or four new articles. This one could keep you busy for a while. As soon as we live in Paris again, I’ll ask to join on with them.

Where else do you like to look for information about Paris?