Paris

48 Hours in Paris

Nov 28th, 2010
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Paris

Paris Poster
24 in. x 36 in.
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It’s the City of Love, a fascinating mix of history, culture and commerce and a great place to explore. If you have only a weekend to spend in Paris, there’s no time to waste – hit those Parisian boulevards tout de suite (pretty damn quick), says Ray O’Shaughnessy…

Day 1: Morning

The best way to appreciate what the French capital has to offer is to take an open top bus tour around the city. Your two-hour ride will take you past all the main sights, including the Champs-Elysees, Eiffel Tower, Sacre Coeur, the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Pompidou Centre. The Cityrama tour (pounds 16) allows you to hop on and off the bus at stops around the city over a two-day period.

Afternoon

The pull of the high-class shops and restaurants of the Champs Elysees will be irresistible. Delve into the perfumeries and splash out on some Chanel – you know it makes scents – or wander through the car showrooms and admire the Mercs, Renaults and Peugeots. The Louis Vuitton designer store will catch your eye – not least because its exterior is a 100ft suitcase. If you want to eat, you can give your wallet punishment at a top restaurant like Le Touqet’s or grab a meal deal of a filled baguette, fizzy drink and French tart for pounds 5.

Evening

The famous shopping street is dominated by the Arc de Triomphe, built by Napoleon to celebrate his military victories and now a monument to French war dead. It is on a roundabout which attracts the craziest of French drivers, so it’s best to take the subway. Pay pounds 4.70 to climb to the top of the Arc and gaze down on the frenzied drivers, the Champs Elysees and the other boulevards which radiate out from the monument.

Day 2: Morning

Dive into one of Paris’s Metro stations and head for Montmartre and Sacre Coeur. A green carnet of 10 Metro tickets is great value at pounds 6.70. Each ticket covers a single journey almost anywhere in Paris.

Leave the Metro at the Abbess station and take the funicular train up the hill to the Sacre Coeur. This domed church is full of stunning statues and artwork.

The acoustics are also outstanding – it’s worth trying to attend a service. Then amble down the hill to Montmartre, the home of street artists and a great choice of restaurants, with three-course meals with a glass of wine from around pounds 10. The artists will urge you to be the subject of a painting or quick- fire caricature from around pounds 10.

Afternoon

Take a Metro train and head for the Louvre, the biggest museum in the world with 30,000 exhibits. You could easily spend a day there and still not get round all of the paintings and statues. Make sure the Mona Lisa – whose smile has beguiled art lovers for centuries – and Venus de Milo are top of your list. Both draw big crowds.

Evening

ALL that culture will leave you feeling hungry and a great place to satisfy your food craving is Chez Chartier at no 7 Rue de Faubourg. The French flock to this banqueting hall for its great-value cuisine and atmosphere.

For just pounds 10, you can have three courses (such as French sausage, roast pork with Lyonnaise potatoes and creme de marron) with half a bottle of wine.

Huge mirrors hang from the walls and waiters in classic black and white outfits attend to your every need. The meal sets you up perfectly for the high point of the weekend – a trip to the Eiffel Tower at night. The 1,000ft masterpiece of Gustav Eiffel, built in 1889, is lit up every evening and from a distance looks like a huge dazzling jewel.

Searchlights revolve around its summit into the Paris night. Entrance to the tower and a lift to the third floor at its peak costs pounds 6.70 – and it is well worth it.

Cast your eyes at the streets below and see the majestic lay-out of central Paris and the Seine.

Every top sight around the city is visible, including the Place des Invalides (a magnificent building for French ex-servicemen), Stade de France (home of national sport) and Longchamp racecourse.

Also take your time exploring the first and second floors of the tower, with their restaurants, gift shops and cinema showing some of the key moments in the tower’s glorious history.

It will all have you humming the Marseillaise and thinking Vive La France!

Source: Travel on Made in Atlantis

Eiffel Tower Cafe de France Print – French Travel Posters

Jun 3rd, 2009
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Cafe de France


Cafe de France Art Print
Lewis, Ronald
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Ronald Lewis Travel Painting Print – French Sidewalk Cafe in Paris near Eiffel Tower, France.

The Supremacy of Paris

Mar 8th, 2009
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Paris

Paris Art Print
Villemot, Bernard
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One of the most distinctive features of France is the great importance of Paris in the life of the country as a whole. The location of Paris is almost ideal. Orleans alone among the cities is more central, but it lacks the waterways of Paris and the surrounding fertile soil. Located originally on an island where it is easy to cross the Seine River, Paris has become not only the capital of France, but also one of the world’s greatest cities. The term “greatest” applies not so much to the number of inhabitants as to cultural influence. In this respect no other city rises to such a level, and no other city attracts so many visitors, temporary as well as permanent, to enjoy that culture.

Paris exerts an almost mystical attraction not only on Europe but on the rest of the world as well. Its architecture may be rather oldfashioned, its general appearance far from clean, and its entertainments not always of the highest, but the visitor forgets all this. The wide tree-bordered boulevards with their sidewalk cafes, the crooked streets of the Montmarte, and the Latin Quarter, where little shops offer all sorts of products from paintings to bad-smelling cheese, the quiet border of the Seine River where open-air bookstalls invite the literary enthusiast, the public gardens and parks where children, guarded by uniformed nurses, sail tiny boats on the grass-bordered ponds, all this is the Paris which one learns to love.

Nevertheless, the educational, social, and political attraction of Paris has been a tremendous drain on the rest of France. No other city has had a chance to become even locally a cultural center. Today, as for many centuries, Paris is the focus of all ambitions, the magnet attracting the country’s brains and energy.

Area of l’Opera, Paris Budget Hotels

Jun 24th, 2008
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Area of l’Opera

Finally, the streets around the centrally-located Place de l’Opera contain several good budget finds for older tourists. There are three such streets, which rıı list in my own order of preference.

The Rue d’Antin, just off the broad Avenue de l’Opera, is where you’ll find the recently-remodeled Hotel de France, at 22 Rue d’Antin, possessing an elevator, two breakfasts included. Next door, the really lovely Hotel des Etats Unis, 16 Rue d’Antin, and the Hotel d’Antin, 18 Rue d’Antin (the latter possessing a particularly fine, mediumpriced restaurant), are just slightly outside our range, breakfast and all else included. Both hotels have elevators, and both were refurbished, when the entire block underwent a face-lifting. It is only two short blocks from here to the Opera.

Only one block from the Opera, the beautifully-furnished, elevator-equipped Paris-Centre Hotel, 11 bis Rue St. Anne, is another superb two-star hotel, for which reservations will probably be necessary. Elevator in the building, and three nearby metro stops: Pyramides, Palais-Royale, Opera.

Two other little side streets which run off the Avenue de l’Opera are the Rue Daunou and the Rue Gaillon. Just 10 yards in from the Avenue, at 1 Rue Daunou, the Hotel d’Egypte et de Choiseul. Breakfast, service and taxes included; is managed by the same people who own the Hotel de France; has a somewhat shabby exterior, but comfortable, clean rooms; and is off a segment of the Avenue de l’Opera very near to the Opera.

Further down the Avenue de l’Opera, on the way to the Louvre, is the little Rue Gaillon, which runs into the tiny “Place Gaillon,” site of the famous and expensive Restaurant Drouant. Running off the Place Gaillon is then the equally tiny Rue St. Augustin. The Hotel Gaillon, at 9 Rue Gaillon, is aneat, little one-star hotel with no elevator and no lobby to speak of, but with a knowledgeable French-and-international clientele who know a value. Better, however, is the Hotel de l’Ile de France, 26 Rue St. Augustin, which is “two-star-B” (slightly lower than the Hotel de France on the Rue d’Antin), and has an elevator. Despite the complex street instructions for finding the Gaillon, it’s only a long black from here to the Opera, breakfast and all else included.

A less expensive street is the Rue du Helder, again near American Express, and running between the Blvd. des ltaliens and the Boulevard Haussmann, east of the Opera. Our first choice here would be the Hotel du Nil, 10 Rue du Helder, followed closely by the Hotel de l’Opera, 16 Rue du Helder, with slightly higher rates; and the Hotel du Helder, 4 Rue du Helder, about the same. This is a pleasant, well-located street, with three good budget hotels.

Champs Elysees, Paris Hotels

Jun 24th, 2008
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Champs Elysees

The most plentiful cluster of budget hotels on the Right Bank is found-surprisingly enough-in a small area just two and three short blocks from the Are de Triomphe. if you want to be sure that you’ll find an available room on the Right Bank without much searching, then this is the area to visit.

Walk up the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe. That monument stands on a plaza known as L’Etoile-so called because it forms the axle of twelve broad avenues which radiate out lik e the spokes of a wheel. The inexpensive hotels are to be found at the right of the Arc de Triomphe, as you face it from the Champs Elysees, and they are mainly on the side streets which intersect the spoke-like avenues.

Walk away from the Arc de Triomphe down the Avenue de Wagram. After three blocks, you’ll see the Rue Brey on your 1eft. This little street is lined with budget hotels: The Hotel Neva, 14 Rue Brey, (especially recommended but only for couples; the single rooms are high; very clean; very friendly staff; Hotel Studio Etoile, 7 Rue Brey, Hotel Tilsitt, and the Hotel Wagram (also particularly good, but somewhat steeper in price).

Another excellent side street off the Avenue de Wagram, just short blocks from the Are de Triomphe is the Rue Troyon, where you’ll find the excellent Hotel Royal Magda, at 7 Rue Troyon, $5 for a ci”öü1JIe, breakfast included; and on the same street, the Hotel Modeme,4 Rue Troyon, and the very best of the lot-the Hotel Princesse Caroline, 1 bis Rue Troyon. Of the two streets, I’d try the Rue Troyon first, but avoid the Hotel Troyon, whose recent treatment of readers is a case study in cupidity. The metro stop for both the Rue Troyon and the Rue Brey is: Etoile.

Other and better hotel-bearing streets jut off from the Champs Elysees itself, a few hundred yards before you reach the Are de Triomphe. The side streets to the left of the Champs, as you approach the Arch, house the expensive ones. The narrower and more bustling shopping streets to the right of the Champs have a few good budget choices. On the Rue du Calisee, for instance, just twenty yards from the Champs Elysees, the Hotel du Colisee Lat 6 Rue du Calisee, has lovely double rooms; while, across the street, the Hotel Royal at 7 Rue du Calisee, is not quite as good, but still suitable.

Though both hotels are on the busiest little side street you can imagine, their location is a superb one, just a few feet from a metro exit on the Champs Elysees (which I believe is the Franklin Roosevelt stop).

Now a last, major find in this area. Further up the Champs Elysees, again to your right, you’ll find the Rue Washington. Walk up the Rue Washington for a few feet and on your left you’ll see the Rue Chateaubriand. At 6 Rue Chateaubriand stands an inviting white-painted building-the Hotel Arromanches -whose English-speaking owner. Highly, highly recommended.

The Louvre Area, Paris Budget Hotels

Jun 24th, 2008
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The Louvre Area

Most of the older readers of this post, however, will probably prefer to live in an area closer to the shopping districts of the Right Bank, and less infused with students. While the Odeon and Ecole des Beaux Arts area will appeal to some, there is one section on the Right Bank which suits these wants with precision; it contains a number of hotels of the greatest dignity an decorum, and yet with thoroughly reasonable priees. Among these hotels is one (the Montpensier) which ranks among the top budget finds of Paris.

Take the metro to the stop: Palais Royal. You’re a few steps from the Louvre, from the gardens of the Palais Royal, and from the Comedie Française. You are also a long-ish walk (but still accessible on foot) from the Opera and American Express. Alongside the Palais Royal, you’ll see a narrow street called Rue Richelieu. At 12 Rue Richelieu, the Hotel Montpensier, is nothing less than superb. The rooms are immaculately clean; they have foam rubber mattresses; and they’re serviced by a particularly sharp and conscientious staff. If the Montpensier is booked up, then walk up the street to the less desirable Hotel du Piemont, breakfast included, and again caters to the mature. . . . Fifty yards further down the street (Rue Richelieu), the Hotel Washington Opera charges almost as much as the Montpensier, but isn’t much better than the Piemont.

Running parallel to the Rue Richelieu is the Rue Montpensier. If you will walk to the end of this street, and turn right, you’ll be at the quaint Rue Beaujolais, and down this street you’ll see the building in which the French author, Colette, lived until her death in 1954. From here, walk a few feet over to the Rue Vivienne, then twenty feet up to the Rue des Petits Champs, and then wa1k down that street for a few feet until you come to the Rue de la Banque. At 3 Rue de la Banque, the elevator-equipped Hotel de Normandie, is housed in a relatively modern building (for Paris), and has a classification higher than that of the Montpensier. An excellent choice, which is also only a minute away from the amazing Restaurant Colbert, about which you’ll learn in our restaurant section. 

I must forewarn all older readers that the hotels we’ve just described, in this area off the Palais Royale and the Comedie Française, are part of an historic neighborhood, where nothing new has been built for centuries. The streets are tiny and, on first impression, shabby. But I think you’ll grow to love them. Remember always that the gardens of the Palais Royale are never more than a two-minute walk from where you’ll be staying. If, however, you’d prefer a hotel on a wider boulevard, still near to the Louvre and the Palais Royale, then head immediately for the extremely good Hotel Sainte-Marie, 83 Rue de Rivoli, where there’s a big, old-fashioned, homey and comfortable lobby, and equally comfortable double rooms, breakfast, service, taxes included. This is only a short block-and-a-half from the Louvre subway exit, midway between the elegant section of the Rue de Rivoli and the cheaper stretch of that famous shopping street.

Rated in order of preference, the hotels in this area would shape up: first the Montpensier, then the Sainte-Marie and the Normandie; and finally, the Piemont and the Washington Opera.

Place de l’Odeon, Paris

Jun 23rd, 2008
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As our last Left Bank hotel area, we’ve chosen a locale for older readers who’d like to be near the excitement of the Left Bank, but who wish to stay in quiet and relatively dignified surroundings. That prescription is filled by the stately Odeon, a square dominated by the marble Theatre de France, which is one of the three state-run theatres in Paris. Only three blocks away is the Boulevard St. Michel; but here it’s a different world.

On one side of the square, the Michelet Odeon, 6 Place Odeon, is a beautiful budget hotel, service and tax included. On the streets that run off from Odeon, several other fine hotels include the Hotel Racine, at 23 Rue Racine, wiht prices similar to those of the Michelet, and with especially posh rooms with private bath, breakfast included. There are red carpets on the stairs and a bust of Racine in the lobby. The cheaper hotels are on the Rue Casimir Delavigne, where three low cost choices, all close to square, are excellent for older tourists: the Hotel des Balcons, 3 Rue Casimir-Delavigne, the excitingly low-cost and highly recommended Hotel Delavigne, 1 Rue Casimir Delavigne; and Hotel St. Sulpice, 7 Rue Casimir-Delavigne. The metro stop for all three choices is, of course, Odeon.

The Luxembourg Gardens, Paris

Jun 23rd, 2008
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For families traveling with children, the top hotel section in Paris is just below the beautiful Luxembourg Gardens (still on the Left Bank), where there are enclosed playing areas, with attendants, and an atmosphere of peace and charm. And on a quiet street called Rue Madame, which runs just parallel to the gardens, there are three superb budget hotels to which families have flocked for many years, with good results.

I’d rate them in the following order: first, Regent’s Hotel at 44 Rue Madame, in a completely new building, modern and sparkling clean, and with elevator; and then, further up the block, the older Hotel de l’Avenir at 65 Rue Madame (it also has an elevator), and the Hotel Perreyve, 63 Rue Madame. The latter two are only 50 yards from an entrance gate to the lovely gardens. At Regent’s, two breakfasts included; at the l’Avenir, quite elegant, turn-of-the-century-Perreyve!

Finally, this area possesses one of the best pensions in Paristhe “Orfila”-a big place (the deceptively small main building actually extends into other buildings), which stands at an intersection where the Rue Madame meets the Rue d’Assas, at 60 Rue d’Assas, a minute’s walk from the gardens. This is an old and quite quaint Parisian building in the center of a nice neighborhood, well-maintained inside, and with a pleasant proprietress.

To reach any hotel in this area, take the metro to the St. Sulpice stop. You’ll find that you’re only a short walk away from the bustling St. Germain des Pres, and yet in a calm residential section.

St. Germain des Pres Budget Hotels

Jun 23rd, 2008
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St. Germain des Pres

Although the Sorbonne area has more budget hotels than any other district in Paris (and thus provides you with the optimum chance of finding a budget room in the summer months), nevertheless, the district can’t compare in color and charm with the bustling area around the Ecole des Beaux Arts, near the Seine. How would you now like to live la vie Baherne, and plunge into a world of art galleries and studios, palettes and beards? Walk down the Boulevard St. Germain to the breathtakingly-beautiful Eglise (church) St. Germain des Pres, and turn right on the Rue Banaparte, to the Seine. As you approach the river, you’ll pass the Rue Jacob. And if you turn right on the Rue Jacob, you’ll come to the Rue de Seine. These are the three blocks for budget hotels in this area: the Rue Bonaparte, the Rue Jacob, and the Rue de Seine. The metro stop for all three is called: St. Germain.

Five hotels on these blocks offer especial values. On the Rue Jacob, the Hotel des 2 Continents, at No. 25, is an unusually appealing, sunny place, taxes and service included; and a few feet away, the Hotel d’Isly, at No. 29, is slightly higher in price, but much better appointed, with an elevator and newly-redecorated rooms. On the Rue Bonaparte, the Hotel St. Germain des Pres , a moderate, two-star hotel, has the best location of all, just a few short steps from the Boulevard St. Germain. . . . On the Rue de Seine, at No. 52, the Hotel de Seine (14), has “grand lit” (double beds), twin beds, an elevator, and is just as highly recommended. . . . Nearby, on the Rue des Beaux Arts, which is lined with high-priced art galleries where you ought to browse but not buy, the Hotel d’Alsace, 13 Rue des Beaux Arts, is the place to which Oscar Wilde was exiled af ter his release from Reading Gaol. lt’s a quiet, peaceful hotel, with a deep, sunny stairwell running through its six stories. The Hotel de Nice on the same block is quite elegant, but too high in price. Several other hotels in this area are almost equally as good. On the Rue Jacob, for instance, you’ll also find the elevator-equipped Hotel du Danube, 58 Rue Jacob (including breakfast, service and taxes for two) and the Hotel de Tours, 15 Rue Jacob (everything included), both in the direction of the post office as you look left, facing the street. On the Rue de Seine, no more than 10 feet from the Boulevard St. Germain, you’ll pass the Hotel Welcome, 66 Rue de Seine, which is marvelous for younger people, wıth same rooms overlooking the Boulevard St. Germain itself, and with rates, for perfectly proper doubles. On the Rue Banaparte, only 20 yards from the Seine, the Hotel de Londres & Malaquais, 3 Rue Banaparte, is one of the better third class hotels in the area, quiet and nicely-furnished with service and taxes included. Again on the Rue Bonaparte, but this time on the other side of Boulevard St. Germain, you’ll find the Hotel St. George, at 49 Rue Banaparte, and the Hotel Nancy, across the street at 56 Rue Bonaparte. The Nancy is nicest, breakfast included, and is highly recommended. The St. George is about as typically French as a French hotel can get: narrow, winding hallways; a red-geranium lined walkway over a patio; and attractive, buxom maids; they don’t speak English here, but you’ll get along perfectly well with sign language. . . . Finally, just down the street at 61 Rue Banaparte, the Hotel Bonaparte, is a turn-of-the-century-type establishment, with elegance, chic, and enormous rooms, breakfasts included. Many ladies stay here and love it; don’t be discouraged by the small and incongruous service station on one side of the street-around the corner is a lovely little square. How would I rate this confusing batch of choices? In the “higher-priced” category, the Hotel St. Germain des Pres is by far the best, followed closely by the Hotel Bonaparte, Hotel de Seine and the Hotel Alsace. In the moderate range, the Hotel du Danube and the Hotel de Londres & Malaquais seem best to me, followed by the Hotel d’Isly and the Hotel de 2 Continents. In the rockbottom category, the Hotel Welcome and the Hotel de Tours are your best bets. if all these hotels are filled, then walk down the Boulevard St. Germain (or the parallel Rue Jacob) to the Rue Saint Peres, where a long-time favorite of students, the well-appointed Hotel de l’Academie, at #32 Rue Saint Peres, has good double rooms and its own little restaurant off the lobby. Throughout this section, inexpensive restaurants abound, and there are markets, cafes, theatres-much life. Jean-Paul Sartre lives one black from the St. Germain metro stop.

The Pantheon, Paris Budget Hotels

Jun 23rd, 2008
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The Pantheon

If you’d like to live cheaper (or if the hotels on Rue des Ecoles are packed), then keep walking up the Boulevard St. Michel for two more blocks until you hit the Rue Souffiot, and again turn left. 100 yards ahead stands the Pantheon, a shrine to France’s most illustrious public figures (entombed here are Voltaire, Rousseau, Zola, Victor Hugo, among others). At the right of the Pantheon are two long-established budget hotels, the Hotel des Grands Hommes, 17 Place du Pantheon, and the Hotel du Pantheon, 19 Place du PantMon, both with plenty of singles for less.

The Grands Hommes’ location and view remain spectacular. But the Pantheon is quite suitable, and a third hotel-the University Hotel, at 160 Rue St. Jacques, just a few feet from the Rue Souffiot -is not only on a par with the Pantheon, but offers twin-bedded rooms. All three hotels are mainly recommended for young tourists, who will be excited by the flavor of this central university quarter.

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