Practical Info
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Learning French-Babes to Adults
Learning French comes in a variety of ways. From interactive toys to online lessons to French theatre with English surtitles to language speed speaking to traditional one-on-one lessons or studying abroad. The list keeps growing to fit your convenience. Some ideas from the past for young ages like the P’tit nours bears have given way to Snow & Stella, Lily Lapin, a friend of Pierre Lapin’s, and the very popular ChiChi Love, the showstar Chihuahua. Two large toy stores in Paris stock and innumerable quantity of French and bi-lingual toys and animals. Adults over 15 need not worry because fun is in store for you! Frantastique, a humorous online learning…
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RER C Renovating – Reroute Your Journey
Between Gare d’Austerlitz and Javel, RER C resumes normal activity August 27. You will only see a diagram of the stations affected at the bottom of the stairs to the platform. Plan on buses or other metro lines to circumvent this summer riddle. Posters are plastered all over the metros and RER about RER A with only a mention that something is going on with RER C. Even at Gare d’Austerlitz the information is limited. With digging, I was able to find maintenance information about the other RER works scheduled. Use Google Translate to read the page. I was heading to the Eiffel Tower (Tour Eiffel) area, for example. I…
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Paris RER A Renovating after Forty Years
After forty years, RER A is renovating between July 23 and August 21. Alternative transportation options are available. Two videos and a website explain the details. The RER A serves forty-six stations (35 RATP metro and 11 SNCF) and carries 308 million travelers a year with two minutes between trains. Read more about the RER A project and other statistics. Guides for How to Get Around this Summer on RER A and C can be downloaded as well as the special instructions booklet, practical guide to prepare ahead, guide for the disabled and how to get around Paris and the outlying areas this summer.....
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BHV and Other July Changes in Paris
Every July 1, new legislation and modification to daily routines take effect. This year, the changes include plastic bags, polluting vehicles, contraception, Sunday shopping hours …. These are some of the main changes for 2016 gleaned from Direct Matin . Beginning July 3, BHV/Marais (part of the Galeries Lafayette group) is the first Paris department to open on Sundays as a result of the Loi Macron (Minister of the Economy, Emmanuel Macron) ...
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Sightseeing Using Trains in Île-de-France
Exploring nature, art or history in the Greater Paris area just got easier. The simple search words “impressionists transilien and bike” in a search engine, points directly to the correct and simple-to-use new page “Sightseeing with Transilien . While searching transportation information on the Chantilly Racecourse, I found an interesting Australian website: Rome2Rio. They provide info on TER, RER, taxi, car, etc. The SNCF radio pop-up window starts playing to put you in the mood. If you hold a monthly or annual Navigo pass visit Use Navigo for Weekend and Holiday Advantages if you want to tour in zones 1 through 5 around Paris. Then take your pass and enjoy some of these…
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Paris Art Déco with Walk My Steps
The design style of Art Déco is a hobby for some Paris visitors. This modern style was a focus for a Chicago couple one Saturday afternoon on a tour with Walk My Steps. Our guide, Andrea, introduced us to one neighborhood of Paris in the sixteenth arrondissement that traces the eclectic, ....
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Angels of Paris Tour Marais
Scattered around the third and fourth arrondissements of Paris are sculpted angels on buildings. The buildings range in century ages from 1400s to 1600s to 1700s to 1800s to the early 1900s. After 1914, the angels become living relics of the past yet still enjoyable...
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Walk and Roll Event-100 Trains for Ataxia
May 8 is the Paris date for the 100 Trains for Ataxia. This global event, an "accessible walk”, is taking place along the Promenade Plantée (Coulée verte René-Dumont). Iain McGeachin, organizer and participant, wrote to me about the event, one of a series of 17 similar walks taking place in major European cities. Due to Ian's own physical limitations with Ataxia, ....
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Colleen’s Paris in Top Paris Blogs
The Canadian company, Languages Abroad organizes language immersion trips for students and adults. They paid me a compliment recently by naming Colleen's Paris one of the "Top 9 Paris Blogs". I guess it was hard to find ten. :-) They contacted me via Twitter (@colleensparis): "We'd love to write a feature on your blog...". I like considering writing and photo contributions to Colleen's Paris ... Read more
