Paris Tips
Here it is. I know you've all wanted to know my recommendations for visiting this fabulous city. I'll try to keep it short since one could fill volumes.
Things to pack, Places to stay, How to get around...
- on my recommended list...
Let me preface this list by saying it's from the perspective of someone who lived in Paris. All the museums and monuments are backdrop - they can be visited anytime and for free the first Sunday of every month - so the resident can fill up years visiting different places of cultural/historical interest for free. This list you probably won't find in your guidebook, but they are all things which changed my life. I believe the "inner richness", some call it spirituality, of a person can be culivated and developed completely independently from the act of spending money. I know it sounds obvious, but unfortunately where I live now in Washington D.C., it is believed that a person's cultivation and spirituality are directly proportional to the rate of flow of money that passes through that person's hands. In D.C. the concepts of "rush" tickets or "standing room" are tantamount to political dissidence, unsold seats to cultural events are rather left empty than allow the masses to enjoy them, and every buddhist service is called a "class" and has to be pre-registered and paid for in advance to the tune of $10/hour of intended meditation. "Fellowship" as a concept is not understood in D.C. I digress, back to Paris.
- First Sunday of every month. All national museums and monuments are free and open to the public.
- Quartier d'été. http://www.quartierdete.com/Free cultural events all summer spread out through every neighborhood of Paris. This was when I first heard the Tzigane music of Brätsch http://www.bratsch.com/ and the Japanese folk of
- Journées du patrimoine. Usually happens in fall. One weekend a year when the the French equivalent of the White House, historic mansions and other places usually not open for everyone, are open to the public.
- Salon des Grands Vins. Usually happens Jan.-March time frame, just when the wines from two years before first become available.
- Salon du Chocolate. Usually happens in October.
- The Forum des Images (in a yucky place, les Halles), where you can watch a good movie and choose 2 videos (from their collection of over 6000 films at your fingertips) included with your entry ticket (4,50€) and check the Internet.
- Sales events are 2x per year: once in the summer July through early August. Again in the winter from mid-January through mid-February.
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Coming soon!
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