We'll Always Have Paris

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.

A Single Girl

Virginie Ledoyen stars in A Single Girl

I'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 Women

Movie Suggestions

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.

The Best Baguette in Paris 2004—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.
Map

The 2005 winner, Eric Sana, 3 rue du retrait, 20th arrondissement.
Map

And the 2006 winner, Jean-Pierre Cohier, can be found here.
Map

Carnet de Voyage

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.

Apartment Rentals in Paris

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.

Eurocheapo

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 Abba
Hotel Bema
Hotel de la Haye
Hotel de Lanterne
Hotel de Westertoren
Hotel Groenendael
Hotel La Bohème

La Cinèmathéque Française

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.

Rick Steves' Audio Tours

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.

Site Maintenance

I've tweaked the code and layout of the site a little bit. Added some more links to the Resources list and a description of the blog.

I notice this blog is a bit light on the Amsterdam, I shall have to try to remedy that situation.

Restaurants In Paris

Restaurants to check out:

Chez Marianne
2 Rue des Hospitalieres-St-Gervais
M: St. Paul — Le Marais
Map — Review

Le Cafe de la Place
23 Rue d'Odessa
M: Edgard-Quinet
Map

The NYT on Paris

A link to the New York Times travel section on Paris

I will add it to the sidebar soon.

A Brand New Blog

Welcome to my new travelogue blog. This was created as a way to track the planning I'm doing for our upcoming trip to Paris and to keep all my research in one place.

Down the left side of the page are a list of resources. The top is books that I have read in preparation for the trip and that I think are worthwhile for others too read as well. If you are interested in learning more click the titles and you will be taken to an Amazon page about them. And if you should happen to buy one after clicking the link, I will get a small kick back.

Directly underneath the Reading list are a list of links to travel resources that I've found whilst researching. They include guide book sites, places to stay and ways of getting around, as well as other generally useful stuff.

The center column is the blog, of course.

And on the right side is some other trip and blog related stuff. On the top is the itinerary as it currently stands (we haven't actually gotten plane tickets yet, so this is tentative) and underneath that are a list of previous posts and the site archives.

I will also be using this blog to post while we are traveling, and when we return, I'll be using it to post my photo's as well.

That's all for now, but keep checking in and be sure to visit my home page.