Thursday, November 09, 2006
National Geographic Traveler offers a number of interesting podcasts,
one of which is a series of walking tours narrated by Rudy Maxa of PBS' Smart Travels.
Destinations covered include a wide range of cities including
Paris,
Amsterdam,
New York,
Washington, D.C., and San Francisco.
I haven't listened to them yet, but I'll check out one soon and write a little review.
To subscribe to this podcast in iTunes click
here.
Labels: amsterdam, audio_tour, california, dc, europe, france, iPod, new_york, paris, san_francisco, united_states
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Ooo, I very much want to go
here when we're in Paris. Looks like my kind of store. All sort of art supplies and pens and such. And big, too, apparently.
A map can be found
hereLabels: art_supplies, europe, france, paris, shopping
Friday, June 30, 2006
Here are some great tips for travelers visiting Paris. As well as some restaurant suggestions.
An example:
Talking vs. Shouting
Americans talk LOUDLY. (As do people in several other countries). If you don't believe it, watch cable television "news" for a few minutes! It's gotten so that restaurant reviews in the United States now include 'sound' ratings to denote the volume in restaurants. Many of us are used to speaking loudly, especially when we get into groups. If you've ever tried to have a peaceful dinner next to a table celebrating their annual office party, you know what I'm talking about. In Paris, people will modulate their voices so as not to disturb other diners.
Labels: europe, france, paris
Thursday, May 25, 2006
There's a character in
Under The Roofs Of Paris
who bears a remarkable resemblance to
John Cleese, I have no point in bringing this up other than I found it amusing.
This charming little movie from the 1930's is one of the early "talkies" and it's interesting to see how it still retains much of the conventions of silent film, whilst seeming to be a little uncertain what to do with this new fangled sound thing. Consequently music is featured prominently. Not a musical, per se, but many of the scenes focus around groups of people singing a song as this must have seemed like the most obvious thing to do with the new technology.
The story revolves around a song selling Frenchman and his pursuit of a beautiful young woman who is being pursued by the evil John Cleese look alike. Complications ensue. It's most worth watching for the glimpses of Parisian life and cityscapes from the early part of the 20th century. Fun movie.
Labels: europe, france, movies, paris
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
I had no idea there was a
wine museum in Paris, but I probably should have assumed...
Labels: europe, france, museum, paris, wine
Friday, May 05, 2006
There's a scene in
Blue where
Juliette Binoche is sitting on her own in a café, she orders a coffee and when it arrives she picks up a sugar cube and dips the corner of it into the cup. The camera holds on the cube as it slowly absorbs the coffee and turns brown. It's little moments like these that make this film such a pleasure.
Binoche plays Julie Vignon, the wife of France's most celebrated composer. The movie opens with a car accident that claims the life of her husband and child and leaves Vignon in the hospital. When she recovers she decides to start her life over, selling her house and all her possessions and moving into a small Paris apartment.
The plot revolves around her attempts to get her life together and various outsiders attempts to her husbands final composition which was almost complete at the time of his death. By the end of the movie we're not entirely sure that it wasn't in fact Vignon herself who was responsible for her husbands music.
It's a beautiful film, and I highly recommend it. It is the first in the
Three Colors Trilogy by
Krzysztof Kieslowski. They are all well worth seeing, but Blue is the only one set primarily in Paris.
Labels: europe, france, movies, paris
Monday, April 24, 2006
This site offers a couple of walking tours of Amsterdam.
I'm particularly excited about the Rembrandt tour.
Labels: amsterdam, audio_tour, europe, iPod
Friday, April 21, 2006
A rental site called
Paris Attitude, found via the
Paris Voice Magazine web site.
This one looks like it has some good inexpensive rental units. And lots of them.
Added to the sidebar.
Labels: accomodations, europe, france, paris
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Cinèma Trail is a new website produced by
PDIF.com, the official tourist website for Paris, to coincide with their new promotion campaign "Paris au Cinèma". Here is an
article from the
New York Time about it.
I must say I love the idea behind the promotion, but the web site is a bit flawed in the execution. For instance there is a section called
Wanders and Walks. Now a title like that would lead one to believe that is contained walking tours of locations used in various films, but not really. It instead offers general descriptions of films shot at in a particular location without providing details.
I was hoping for something more along the lines of the
Rick Steves walking tours. In particular, a map with spots marked off and a short description of what was shot there and when.
I think this is still a good idea, and perhaps someone will come up with something along these lines sometime.
Labels: europe, france, movies, paris
Friday, March 31, 2006
We'll Always Have Paris by John Baxter
I just finished reading this book yesterday and really enjoyed it. It covers the sexual underside of Parisian history through out the last 100 years, but hangs it on the framework of the author's first year in Paris and the impending birth of his first child. They are strange bed fellows to be sure and while both strands of the book work independently, they don't really work together. But that's ok, because as I said they are both interesting and entertaining in and of themselves.
I got a number of good movie recommendations from the book, and immediately added them to my
Netflix queue.
Labels: books, europe, france, paris
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Virginie Ledoyen stars in
A Single GirlI'll warn you right up front that this movie is not for everyone. There's not much plot and nothing major really happens, it is rather, what French films do so well and American films don't, a slice of life drama.
The action centers around a young woman who just found out she is pregnant, is starting a new job, and is breaking up with her boyfriend all on the same day. A lot of the film takes place in real time as she goes about her new job as a room service waitress at a posh hotel, and chronicles her interactions with her coworkers and the hotel guests, most of whom are insane.
If you like quite and thoughtful films, this is a good one with good performances all around. If, however you are just looking for mindless action, look elsewhere.
Virginie Ledoyen also starred in another fun French film that I would recommend called
8 WomenLabels: europe, france, movies, paris
Monday, March 27, 2006
I'm going to add a new category to the left sidebar for movies about Paris.
The first one I'm going to recommend is
Amélie which I'm sure you've probably all ready seen, or at least heard about. This movie is really a love letter to Paris, granted it's a prettified, fanciful version the real thing but still...
It's a charming heart-warming movie you can't help but enjoy. As a reviewer for
The Stranger noted: You don't have to be an asshole to not like this film, but it helps (or something like that, I'm quoting from memory).
Update: These have been moved onto the country/city resource pages.
Labels: europe, france, movies, paris
Sunday, March 26, 2006
According to a post at
this site 2004's winner can be found at La fournée d'Augustine, 96 rue Raymond Losserand, 14th arrondissement.
MapThe 2005 winner, Eric Sana, 3 rue du retrait, 20th arrondissement.
MapAnd the 2006 winner, Jean-Pierre Cohier, can be found
here.
MapLabels: europe, food, france, paris
Friday, March 24, 2006
I have another book to recommend,
Carnet De Voyage by Craig Thompson.
Now this one is sort of cheating as most of it takes place in Morocco, but some of it is set in Paris. This book is not so much a story as a beautifully illustrated travel journal. The pictures are mostly done in brush pen with no preliminary drawing, which irritates me to no end. This is the way I wish I could draw. Sigh.
Any way, pick it up, you won't be sorry.
Labels: books, europe, france, paris
Thursday, March 23, 2006
This site looks like it has some decent deals.
No internet in the apartments though. It would be ideal to find a place that had a computer and internet. Some of the places through
Kudeta seem to have for a little extra cash.
Labels: accomodations, europe, france, paris
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
This looks like a pretty good resource for cheap hotels in Europe.
I know there are tones of these sites around, but most seem to be light on information and heavy on promotion.
This one looks like it's got a lot of information and opinions and not just about hotels. They've got some nice
city guides as well.
I'll add it to the resource sidebar.
Hotels for Amsterdam that look good:
Hotel AbbaHotel BemaHotel de la HayeHotel de LanterneHotel de WestertorenHotel GroenendaelHotel La BohèmeLabels: accomodations, amsterdam, europe, france, paris
Monday, March 20, 2006
Located at
51 rue de Bercy The
Cinèmathéque Française is housed in the former home of the American Center. A building designed by
Frank Gehry.
Here is a page with a little information about it.
When we were in
Prague last year, I very much wanted to go see the Gehry building known as
Fred and Ginger but completely spaced it until near the end of the last day of our visit, by which time it was too late. I hope I will not make the same mistake this time.
Labels: architecture, europe, france, movies, paris
Friday, March 17, 2006
Rick Steves' is finally producing Audio versions of the walking tours in his books. And lucky us, he's starting with Paris!
The first two up are audio guides for the Louvre and d'Orsay museums along with maps.
They can be downloaded from his site
here or you can
subscribe to the podcast through
iTunes.
Next up is are tours of Versailles and an historic Paris walk.
This is great. I love to do the walking tours in his books when traveling, and it will be so much nicer not to have to carry around the books and stop to read every few minutes. This way is much more inconspicuous.
Labels: audio_tour, europe, france, iPod, paris
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Restaurants to check out:
Chez Marianne2 Rue des Hospitalieres-St-Gervais
M: St. Paul — Le Marais
Map —
ReviewLe Cafe de la Place23 Rue d'Odessa
M: Edgard-Quinet
MapLabels: europe, france, paris, restaurants
Sunday, March 12, 2006
A link to the New York Times travel section on
ParisI will add it to the sidebar soon.
Labels: europe, france, paris
