Practical Info
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Prepare Your Visit to Paris, France
Suitcase? Check! Camera? Check! Walking shoes? Check! Reading material? Prepare in advance with some book ideas! 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! Some of the books in my library are Paris walking tours. They provide enough material to stroll through Paris and explore. Another prepares you with a story and history for your Champagne tasting. David Downie's books are walking tours of history. Each chapter of each book weaves a tale of discovery. Tilar J. Mazzeo's book whisks you into Champagne history with…
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Saying Goodbye to Icons in the Bastille Neighborhood
Living in a small neighborhood of the Bastille, the hardest phrases to hear over the last year have been: "We're closing and retiring" and "They have sold the shop for their retirement": Holmes, the stationery store, and now à la Petite Fabrique, the chocolate factory. Holmes was transformed into an upscale Italian restaurant and word is that Alain Ducasse is buying the Petite Fabrique.... The neighborhood in the area of Hugo's Les Miserables and the French Revolution has gone upscale.
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Transportation Tips In and Around Paris
The RATP (Paris transportation system) has highly upgraded their website. They provide clear information when you find it. Some pages are in English, French and Spanish. Others include German, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Russian, Brazilian. How would a party of five find their way into Paris from the airport?
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Time to Write to the North Pole – Père Noël (Father Christmas) is Back in Business
Don't complain about a full email inbox. Last year, Père Noël (Santa Claus) received around 91,000 emails once the season opened. And it is that time again. Madame and Père Noël's post office opened November 9. This year, you can email or send a colourful paper letter. Get out the crayons and colourful ideas. The secretariat is part of la Poste France. The elves are working in Libourne in the Gironde region. According a LaDepche.fr, 1.2 million children from over 140 countries wrote paper wish letters addressed to Père Noël".
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David Downie’s Parisian Love Affair with Food
"A Taste of Paris, A History of the Parisian Love Affair with Food" is a fun book in David's style. David combines history, travelogue and a personal quest. David's quest this time: "What is it about the history of Paris that has made it a food lover's paradise?" You can follow his Paris food seduction from 53 BC to the present. Bringing Paris food history alive, David presents lots of written culinary activity between the 1300s and 1792 (end of the Ancien Régime) with all the King Louis's, their chefs and the chefs’ cookbooks. David takes us back to the barbarian Parisiis squatting, eating with no tableware and demonstrates how the…
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For the Paris Police Dial 17
When an emergency arises in Paris or you want to report a problem to the police, dial "17". Today a security guard at the Banque de France helped me after an incident at the BNP Paribas Beaumarchais, Bastille. After speaking with the police on the guard's phone, I noticed the number on his screen "17". I will never forget that number and used it about an hour later. By coincidence the same three teenagers who hassled me earlier at the ATM inside the BNP Paribas were leaving the line one metro train the same time as I walked off. I dialed "17".
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Free Things in Paris – A Partial List
Gluten free in Paris-Food, Museums, Guide books, Movies and Toilets Gluten-free flour – Affären is a Swedish specialty store near the Swedish Church and Parc Monceau that carries an unsweetened gluten-free flour mix (in Swedish: glutenfri mjölmix osötad) by Finax, which is a family-owned enterprise and leader in Nordic cereal companies. This page has been updated with one change. ZeVisit.com no longer does tourist audio guides in English. Thank you Amanda from AmericanFille for linking to my page. Affären-Paris 3 bis, rue Léon Jost 75017 Paris Metro: Courcelles Open: Tuesday to Sunday Tuesday/Thursday 11 am to 8 pm Wednesday/Friday/Saturday 11 am to 6:30 pm Telephone: 01 42 81 91 75 Le Charlain 23, rue Clauzel…
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Art of Graphic Novels at Arts et Métiers
Are you interested in futuristic graphic novels? machines? retro drawings? You may be interested in the graphic novel, “Paris Revoir”. A recent exhibition in Paris uses instruments, models, machines from the Musée des Arts et Métiers that illustrates Paris Revoir. If you are interested in architecture, you may have seen more of these drawings from the novel at the Paris Revoir exhibition in 2014 Cité de l’architecture et du Patrimoine. Videos Arts et Métiers video trailer: Drawing Machines Machines à dessiner Arts et Métiers long version video: Birth of a poster (Naissance d’un affiche) The Illustrator, François Schuiten and the writer, Benoît Peeters are the creators of “Obscure cities”, an…
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Children and Teens, Events and Trade Shows, Food, Drink & Health, Life in Paris & France, Museum exhibitions
Salon du Chocolat Junior is New Addition
On Sunday evening, the opportunity arose to visit the last opening hours of the Salon du Chocolat. The show continues through November 1 in Pavilion 5, Porte de Versailles and is a five-day event that began the 27th of November. My goal this year: See what is happening at the Salon du Chocolat Junior on the main level. For the first time in 2016, the Salon du Chocolat Junior, gives young chocophiles the chance to sign up for pastry classes, Choco-Tours of the salon wearing cooking toques, workshops, visit the beauty boutique with delicious chocolate treatments, enjoy cultural heritage and entertainment activities with African cocoa-producing countries and watch the production…