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One Saturday afternoon we planned on enjoying the
10th annual garden festival (Fête
des Jardins). Instead, we were sidetracked, did the unplanned which
produced many surprises.
You might consider this for a casual afternoon during
your Paris visit: We went on a walking tour of the Marais, then to a
wonderful concert in the
Hôtel de Soubise and tried a new restaurant.
Walking tours
On of the numerous Paris walking tour guides is
Claude Marti. We spotted him
along the Boulevard Beaumarchais surrounded by a group of people and
were in time to join his Marais hotel and garden tour (in French). Since
we had already been on his Belleville tour, we were familiar with his
wonderful ease, humor, knowledge, patience and consistent fresh interest
in his subject.
The tour ended at the Hôtel de Soubise which is part of
the national archives (Centre historique des Archives nationales)
in the third arrondissement.
While in the entry hall we noticed that a concert was
planned within the next 15 minutes. This was perfect timing and what a
gorgeous room in which to spend one and a half hours listening to a
beautiful soprano voice and a wonderful pianist.
Shigeko Hata and Karolos Zouganelis are part of the young
talents (Jeunes
Talents ) association. Their
website
says that it is "a very special way to visit the Soubise Palace...".
This is part of prestigious tradition carried on since the 18th century.
This was the opening of the season which will continue to
June.
Paris
Walks - 10:30 Thursday
Fat Tire Bike
Tours - 10 a.m. It is unique among the other walks around Paris The
Classic Walk gives a overview in this very walkable city.
Paris Tourist Office - visit their website for one-two or three-day
visits.
Each of their six themes provides a mini sightseeing
tour!
To begin, scroll down to the bottom of the page to the
heading "Some excursion ideas".
Move the cursor over each photo and a route will appear.
They list what you will see and the basic route to follow
on their map.
The site even takes you into more detail when you click
on a point of interest from the list. It provides a description of the
tour and where to visit next.
The themes are broken down into:
The essentials
Paris and its history
Paris and romance
Shopping, urban energy
A different Paris
Bohemian Paris
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May 2008