The Paris Traveler

With gas in my neck of the woods reaching $3.75 a gallon today and our currency worldwide devalued to the point of making travel, even on a budget, an extravagance, I am continuing along the line of ways to see Paris on the cheap(er).
 
 Hôtel Saint Dominique is a delightfully charming 2-star hotel located in the 7th arr. on rue Saint Dominique.  This is a bustling street filled with fun clothing shops, coffee shops and fast food-ish restaurants (if there is such a thing here) as the surrounding area is home to a large population of foreign students (mostly American) attending AUP (American University …read more

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 This was my local watering hole for the year that I spent in Paris, Café du Marché, located on the corner of Rue Cler and Rue du Champ de Mars in the 7th arr.  It is nothing much to write home about but was and remains very popular with the locals.  The food is simple, consistently good and affordable.  Even with the current exchange you can walk away with spare change in your pocket.  The people watching is great as Rue Cler is a busy thoroughfare featuring mostly gourmet food products and markets.  This was literally a 2 minute walk from my …read more

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I’m in the process of weeding things from my surroundings as our family gets ready to pack up the last 12 years of our life and come July, all splitting off in different directions as we go through a monumental shift in how and where we live our lives.  As a result, I have been going through things and of course, get caught up and side-tracked in old photographs, magazines, the dilemmas of, “Do I keep this Mother’s Day card from 1987 and where do I pack it if I do?”  All things that take me totally off track from …read more

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As I sit here with a cup of coffee and various newspapers on a sunny, Sunday morning, not in a hurry to do anything in particular,  I have decided to stick to the little ritual of sending you off to other parts of the web so you can leisurely read through some interesting articles about all the goings on in France.  If I think something is amazingly interesting but has nothing to do with France, I am sending you there anyway just to be amazed.

 Villages fight over champagne  (telegraph.co.uk)
 Cohen:  Wine, haste and religion (iht.com)
 Prunes:  Better than chocolates in Paris (chicagotribune.com)
 How not to …read more

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Today we are back to Madame Guiliano’s  Top 20 To Dos in the City of Lights.  So far we are 2 for 2 she and I.  Today makes it 3 for 3 as we journey along the banks of the Seine from the Pont Neuf and spend time browsing through the vintage books and magazines sold by the bouqinistes, who also stock an array of art prints and knick-knacks that are a bit touristy but fun.  These vendors have been a fixture along the river since the 1500’s, initially pushing wheelbarrows filled with their goods and setting up shop on a …read more

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Put your pencils down people.  You have had plenty of time to try and figure out how my mind works….if indeed you have figured that out, please let me in on the secret, ok?  So, answers to this week’s haiku:  
 little eye contact, even less personal space, get me out of here

 Here you have a very crowded métro car, which is not even as crowded as they are capable of getting.  In some instances there would be absolutely no way to pull back and take a picture as there’s just a crush of bodies wanting to get to work in the morning …read more

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Ok people, here we go again.  Little riddles to jiggle your brain into activity.    
 little eye contact                                                                                                  even less personal space                                                               …read more

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 First off, I just have to say that I could not love this graphic more and would chop it all up and use it a million different ways in crazy collages or decoupaged on a pendent to create a necklace or bracelet charm.  Too much fun.  The guy is Napoleon and Musée des Arts décoratifs is honoring his influence on design with an exhibition: Symbols des pouvoirs sous l’Empire (Symbols of power under the Empire) now through October 5, 2008. 
As you may or may not know, Napoleon aligned himself with military heroes from ancient Rome and Greece, taking many of …read more

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Even in Paris…..little girls dream of happy ever after! 

 
Photo credits: webshots 

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Yes, yes, yes, by all means, this should be on your list of things to do in Paris.  As much as I talk about other gardens that are my favorites, Jardin du Luxembourg is equally as grand as the Tuilieres and can be as intimate as Palais Royal.  It is deceiving in size as it is surrounded by trees that creates a “cozy” feeling, however, it is the largest public park in Paris.  All the elements for awesomeness can be found here; fountains, flowers and beautiful sculpture.  
 
 As you can see, pulling up a chair and getting lost in a …read more

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