Prepare Your Visit to Paris, France
Suitcase? Check! Camera? Check! Walking shoes? Check! French language? Always working on it! Reading material? Check!
Language? Brush up on that French grammar! Frantastique is my Wednesday exercise. Then when I go shopping or chat on the street, those proper verbs just slide right out … still studying though! Download for use offline the valuable application Linguee dictionary.
Prepare in advance for your Paris visit (actual or virtual)! Some books in my library about Paris are not meant to be, but become personalised walking tours. They provide enough material to stroll through Paris and explore. Another book in the library prepared me with a story and history for our Champagne tasting excursion.
David Downie’s books are walking tours of history. Each chapter of each book weaves a tale of discovery. Three reviews for “Taste of Paris”, “Paris, paris Journey into the City of Light” and “Paris to the Pyrenées”
Tilar J. Mazzeo‘s book whisks you into Champagne history with the Veuve Clicquot. (Reims is a 46-minute train ride away from Paris.)
Interested in Street Art? Capturing some images on rue des Vertus yesterday, a French lady stopped and showed me her Street Art Paris book with its maps to find well-known street art. “Some have been torn down, others replaced, many still intact,” she said (in perfect French).
What’s going on and transportation from CDG
Those were two questions a reader asked me most recently. For activities and current trends, my suggestions were a website, an airport guidebook and the Paris tourist office guidebooks. For transportation visit my transportation page and download three apps (applications) for your phone.
Visit the website: L’Officiel des spectacles for exhibitions, concerts, cinema, etc. You can buy the weekly small format magazine at any newsstand.
At the airport, pick up the recent, indispensable copy of Paris Worldwide. Worldwide is written in French and English; pick it up after security or in baggage claim.
Inside you have French and English descriptions, tips, test your knowledge quiz, the latest on Paris restaurants, hotels, nightlife, a “window shopping” (“virée shopping”): the March April edition is all about my neighbourhood Bréguet-La Roquette.
Free guidebooks are available at the official Paris Tourist office by Metro: Pyramides (25 Rue des Pyramides, 75001) just off avenue de l’Opera.
