The Paris Traveler

This is a guest post from Mary Jo Manzanares, Travel & Culture Channel Editor and blogger at Flyaway Cafe
 
Bateaux Parisiens is a cruise company that conducts sightseeing, lunch, and dinner cruises on the Seine, along with operating a river-boat shuttle called Batobus.
I opted for an evening sightseeing cruise, and for an hour we cruised the Seine while the hostess pointed out a number of attractions.  The commentary was pleasant and informative, and not filled with the typical puns and drivel that you so often get on tours.
Schedules vary, but details and information can easily be found in the city.  …read more

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Friends, lamenting the fact that they paid $4.17 a gallon for gas this past week, generated  a conversation over dinner of how the US, aside from a handful of major urban areas, lacks so significantly in good public transit.  The town I lived in for the last 12 years is so un-pedestrian friendly for both walking and biking, sprawling outward for miles that if you don’t have a car, you are sunk.  Citing my very positive experience with the Paris metro and my girlfriend’s upbringing in Germany, where again, public transportation was available and part of daily life, we tried …read more

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My daughter just took a job teaching English to high school students in Dijon, France starting this fall.  She has been there already in her travels, but I have not, so I thought I should do some research into where my baby is going to be living and what fun place I will get to visit!!
 
 A quick overview of the city:  Dijon is located in eastern France about an hour and 40 minutes outside of Paris by high speed train.  (Gare de Lyon station is where you would catch it) and is the historical capital of Burgundy–and people, what does …read more

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 Back in July of 2007, Paris unveiled what has become a widely popular bicycle transit system, Velib, which provides citizens and visitors alike access to more than 20,000 bikes located throughout the city, that can be picked up and dropped off at any one of 750 “parking” stations.  Riders select a one day card, weekly pass or annual card. The self-serve stations are equipped with “muni-meters” that allow you make and pay for your selection and provides information on locations of other stations for eventual drop-off.  This is a great way to traverse the city for a day or to use …read more

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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 city is filled with all things beautiful……and unusual.  Which can be the same thing depending on the eyes you are using to look at the world.  Here are a few things I found to be delightful….   

A vintage scooter which looks like a child’s toy, hardly suitable for traffic in Paris that on closer inspection has been decoupaged with hundreds of “pin-up” photos.  
 
 Or, a beautiful mosaic that greets guests at a hotel in Montparnasse…this is just one tiny part of it…the mosaic, that is
 
Another building right around the corner caught my eye.  How can so much creativity be …read more

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I thought you should feel as though you are here with me so I am putting up some photos of the street that I am staying on.  Located in the 6e arrondissement, it is centrally located to practically everything–Notre Dame, St-Germain-des Pres shopping area, the Louvre and Tuilleries is in walking distance as well.  I am right between two metro stops on the 4 line if you are familiar with that–Odeon and Saint Michel. 
 
 This is why many people feel they need sneakers or some other type of comfy shoe while touring Paris.  Not me, of course.  Today I traversed the …read more

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I let things slide last week and didn’t challenge your knowledge (or  mine for that matter) about Paris but now’s the time to fire up your brain cells. 
Question:
How many bridges span the Seine river?

 16
 26
 36
 46

A number of beautiful and not-so-beautiful bridges carry pedestrians and traffic back and forth between the right and left bank and onto the city’s two islands. Each has its own unique tale to tell and place in Paris’ history.  These are three of my favorites.
 The Pont Alexandre is surely the  most over-the-top beautiful bridge.  It was built for the Paris Exposition of 1900 taking visitors from the …read more

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There’s lots of ways to get around Paris–traditionally walking is good, using the metro and walking is good or taking the bus and walking is good too.  Even a combination of the three–which I always try to avoid–is not as good, but works.   
If, however, you are a bit more adventurous and want to make transportation an event,  I have a few ways that will allow you to get a feel for the lay of the land, see the sights and have a good story to tell back home.  

 On a beautiful, sunny day I really can’t think of a …read more

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I received an e-mail today from Instant World Booking, a travel website that I found interesting and helpful, especially for travelers leaving their country for the first time to travel abroad. The post is about (what else!) “How to Travel Safely”!
It’s worth reading, even for experienced travelers. You can click here to read their post and I can only add that I hope everyone stays safe no matter where your journeys take you!
Photo Credits: Flickr

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