Why go to Paris only on Valentines Day?

GOOD TO KNOW: Paris, in February, it’s cold!! There must be a hot someone next to you, to warm your heart! Still, “the city of lights” can be romantic, even on a horrible weather. There are enough romantic spots, whether needed all over the place.

Here’s my list:

Le Butte de Montmartre – the neighborhood, there’s no need to go to Sacre Cœur, thou if you take all the stares up to the basilica you’ll have a free spectacular view of the city. Steal a kiss at the carrousel. Remember how Amélie Poulaine (« Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulaine », 2001) found her love there and follow their steps. Montmartre is mystic, bohemian, and deserves to be walked and admired. There is also a tourist little cart.

Pigalle – is a metro station between Moulin Rouge and Sacre Coeur. This is the Red Quarter of Paris. If you look for a kinky Valentines “the girls” work day and night, sex-shops are everywhere, some porn cinema, and even an Erotic Museum. As a friend of mine says: “At Pigalle you find only things, which when you keep them in your palms, they give you sounds and pleasure” – in this area you can find sex in any shape and musical instruments from all over the world.

Opéra Garnier – it is a gem of the architecture, has 2200 seats, beautiful interiors and magic shows. Can be visited when no rehearsals. One tour is 7 €. Palais Garnier – Place de l'Opéra, 75009 Paris, Mº Opéra, RER Auber, Bus 20, 21, 22, 27, 29, 31, 39, 42, 52, 53, 66, 68, 81, 95.

Arc de Triomphe – for 4 € you can climb the staires to the top deck to admire the Charles de Gaule l’Etoile square with its 12 boulevards rising from the arch. At 5pm the lights on the boulevards, on Champs Elysée, at La Défense (the financial district), and at the Eiffel Tower are switched on. At least 10 minutes every hour the Eiffel Tower blinks giving a dreamy sensation al over the city.

The Ice Skating Ring from the first floor of the Eiffel Tower – especially at night, when the city is lighted. The view is magnificent. Ice Skating is sexy and free. Take the stairs, not the elevator – 4€.

Cruise on Seine – the best cruise boats are Les Bateaux de Pont Alma (5€). They have the best narrations (on English, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, and Chinese) on the history and the traditions of Panames*. Such a cruise is most romantic in the evenings, when the 24 bridges and all buildings on each side of the Seine are beautifully lighted in the dark. The Bateaux-Mouches worth’s especially when it comes to romantic dinners on board.

Île Saint Louis – has nothing especially on it, but that gives the whole charm and romantic feeling of the old city. Get lost on this island, you’ll feel like on a different world, but also feel the real Paris.

The Quays of Seine – walk on any side, next to the water or on the sidewalk. A bottle of [French] Champagne is recommended, or better (it warms you up!) a bottle of red Bordeaux. Red wine is an aphrodisiac and 2001 was a very good year for red Bordeaux!

Pont des Arts – is the bridge where lovers meet. Start your walk in the evening, on the left bank, cross the walking bridge of lovers, admire the Seine, enter the Louvre’s interior yard and go to Napoleon’s Garden, where the pyramids are. In the night everything is lighted, and you might have the chance to hear talented musicians playing their instruments.

Rue de Rivoli – lies along Louvre. It is a commercial street, not really Champs Elysée, but if shopping can be romantic, that’s the place to be!

Cité Universitaire – this is the oldest campus in Paris. Established at the beginning of 1900s, the campus has 35 villas belonging to different countries, showing different architecture and style. The parks between the buildings are extremely romantic and bring you back to college years.

Going out:

Café Mabillon - Mº Mabillon, line 10, 164, boulevard St Germain. You find it between Odeon and St Germain, in the bohemian center of Paris when the café is vivid, especially in happy-hours from 7-9pm. The tables are full inside and outside, even if it is summer or winter because of the brilliant cocktails (4,50 €/cocktail) they do. Friendly advice: Don’t mind the annoying waiters – usually they’re not customer friendly because that’s a rare species in Paris!

Chez Papa (St Germain area) - has a great atmosphere, especially when there is live jazz music during dinner. Waiters are always nice with their clients. And at birthdays sing "Joyeux Anniversaire" for every 'aging' person in the house.

Latin Lover (rue d’Harpe – St Michel area) - very gay bar, with very gay waiters, and also with really crazy cocktails. Worth tryin'!

Bistro des Artistes (6, rue des Anglais – just across from Notre Dame Cathedral) - hided from the tourists' view, and still in the most touristic area of Saint Michel, the bar brings in more Panames than foreigners.

Bario Latino (Mº Bastille, line 5) - look for Bossa Nova night. Good food, nice cocktails.

Noura (Mº Vavin, line 4) – The best Lebanese restaurant in town. Moderate prices, delicious food, extraordinary Lebanese wine.

Au Pied du Chameau (Châtelet area) – Moroccan restaurant with traditional belly dancing shows.

Bistro (Mº Jaurès, line 7) – Typical French bistro with delicious raclettes and fondus.

Dans le Noir ? (rue Quincampoix, 75004, tel +33 (1) 42 77 98 05, Châtelet area) - offers an unforgettable experience. In this restaurant all waiters are blind. The guests have to be guided to their table by the assigned waiter and then to eat in perfect dark. This unusual exercise awakes in everyone of us some strange primeval instincts. More surprisingly is the fact that we learn in a dinner time how to rely on other senses than our sight. (www.danslenoir.com)

Bonus: France is under 26 friendly

*Paname - nickname for Parisian citizen

Catri's guide to Paris..., France

Remember that Paris is a very touristic city. Therefore, despite the traditional French nationalism you will find help. And if you don’t, and get lost on its streets… enjoy it! That’s where most of its charm lays...

FROM THE AIRPORT: From CDG take RER B and will take you in 30min all the way to downtown in Place St Michel. One metro ticket can be used for one trip and transfers. The tickets look the same for metro, bus and RER (just in the city!) – for trips that will take you out of Paris (i.e. Versailles) you need to buy different tickets. In the bus you can buy tickets from the driver.

ORIENTATION: Wherever you find (airport or metro station), get a free city map. In metro stations there are some small pocket maps which are actually the most complex plan of the Parisian metro and RATP – extremely helpful whereas Paris has 14 metro lines + 5 RER lines (a rapid train which travels as an express in town and as a connection between small neighborhoods out of the city) + ‘n’ bus lines… At the metro stations you also find tourist maps.

OBJECTIVES:

• M° St Michel -- Place St Michel -- Saint Michel Fountain (ground 0 for gay ppl, meeting point for everybody). Try the cafés in the area.

Routes:

1. rue de Harpe (facing the fountain at your left) – just get lost on those tight streets with tones of ethnic restaurants. Advice: they are a little pricey and the food is not always extraordinary (I had a good meal just about once!), but is nice to see the night promenade, especially when the Greeks break plates and sing to pretty ladies… Local bars on the other hand are precious (e.g. Bistro des Artistes – 6 rue de Anglais 75005 Paris; M° Maubert Mutualité, line 10; www.bistrot-des-artistes.com or Latin Lover – rue d’Harpe – St Michel area)

2. rue Andrés des Artes (facing the fountain at your right) – plenty of lovely bars. If you walk down this street and follow its curves, you’ll end up on rue de Buci which ends at Caffé Mabillon (164 Blvd Saint-Germain 75006 Paris; M° Mabillon, line 10) – Happy hours 7-9 pm – DO NOT MISS the best cocktails in town. Plus, right now you are in the Odeon – Saint Germain de Press area – walking distance. Try Chez Papa restaurant (St Germain area) – it’s a nice restaurant with live jazz music.

3. turning your back to the fountain, cross the street, then the bridge and you are right in front of Notre Dame – I was always fascinated by the transparent, multilingual confessionals. You can go up the cathedral’s tower (7€), but it takes allot of time. There are other free options to see the Parisian panorama. – Facing the cathedral, in your left, across the street there is Shakespeare & Co bookstore (full of romantic history) and further down the oldest tree in Paris.

4. go around the fountain, on Blvd Saint Michel and walk down to the Latin Quarter (Rîve Gauche), Sorbonne, Jardin de Luxembourg.

This involves shops, restaurants, bars and clubs.

• Îlle de la Cité: Notre Dame -- Hotel de Ville (City hall) – in winter they always have an artificial ice skate ring Conciergerie (the jail where Marie Antoinette was decapitated) Palais de Justice the Cathedral St Chapelle. These buildings are one next to each other.

• Îlle Saint Louis is the second island of the Seine and is there just to walk through, but is the place that gives the quintessence of Paris.
• walk along Seine’s quays and its beautiful bridges (there are 35 in total).
• at the end of Saint Louis cross the bridge and visit the Institute du Monde Arabe - the architecture of the building is amazing. Look at the windows’ shade mechanism.
• Rîve Gauche – the left bank of the Seine: Institute du Monde Arabe, Cart Latin, Place Saint Michel, Sorbonne, Jardin de Luxembourg (designed by the same architect that imagined the Cişmigiu garden in Bucharest) – there you’ll see the building of the Senate house, Panthéon, Eglise de Mont (this is my favorite white cathedral which looks better than the next door Panthéon)
• up on the left bank: Musée d’Orasy, Assemblée Nationale (the Parliament)
• trip to Eiffel Tower: start at Pont Alexandre III (the most beautiful bridge on Seine) walk the esplanade + Les Invalides museum, walk around the right side of the Invalides to Ecole Militaire (on the area you'll find the Romanian Embassy - a very nice building), on your right you'll see the Mure de la Paix (hint: is made of glass) -> Champ de Mars - ideal for nocturne picnics in the summer (somewhere on the right side is the Romanian Restaurant Doina – the only Romanian restaurant in Paris) -- > you’re facing the Eiffel Tower
• the Eiffel Tower (10€ to the top) – first go all the way up (I know you won’t resist it!), but when you go down please stop at the first floor (2^nd for US ppl) and don’t miss: the movie in the cinema (it is only 7min long), the hologram of the tower (next to the cinema), try a hot chocolate at the bar or a full dinner at Jules Verne Restaurant. And if you visit it in winter DO NOT MISS the ice skating ring!
• when you leave the Eiffel Tower you have 2 choices:
• 1. in front is Trocadero – is nice to be visited in day time or at New Years Eve
  2. IT'S A MUST! Go down the stairs at the river, at Pont d’Alma, on the right from the Eiffel Tower and take the Bateaux de Tour Eiffel (5€ for students, 10€ for adults). Don’t waste your money with some other cruises (unless you want a private dinner cruise), because this is the most complete in cultural/historical information and the most beautiful one. It takes 1hr and it worths every Euro cent. I repeat: do not take another boat! It’s a pity. Oh! The cruise is lovely at night when all the city lights are on.

• the right bank of the Seine: rue de Rivoli (waaaay cheaper and stylish than Champs Elysée) -> (go along) Musée du Louvre -> Napoleon's Garden (the one with the pyramids) -> Jardin de Tuillerie (if you cross this park you arrive in) -> Place de la Concorde -> (and here's where it starts the famous) Champs Elysée -> Arc de Triomphe -> (now you can go on top of the arch and admire the 12 famous boulevards - 3€ for students)
• another beautiful route is to cross the street at Musée d’Orsay over the lovers’ bridge (the only pedestrian bridge over the Seine), it’s an wooden one which will take you over the Seine directly into the Louvre’s courtyard (more romantic in the evening)

• Châtelet Les Halles is some sort of mall – can be checked out, but more worthy seam the small streets and little bars around it. Is nice just to get lost. In the same area you’ll find Centre Pompidou - the contemporary art museum will stick to your eyes because is made only of glass and metal tubes. However, in front of it you'll find Brâncuşi’s workshop.

• here you MUST try a memorable experience – Dans le Noir restaurant – has only blind waiters, and the clients have to dine in the dark (51, rue Quincampoix, 75004, tel 1 42 77 98 05; www.danslenoir.com) – it’s a parallel street with the Centre Pompidou – turn your back to the Centre and walk forward, it is the last street before Blvd de Sébastopol.
• also try Au Pied du Chameau (Châtelet area 20, rue Quincampoix 75004 Paris; www.aupieddechameau.fr) – Moroccan restaurant with traditional dancing show.
• don’t miss a tour in the Opera Garnier (7€ for a walking tour), then go around its right and enter the Societé Generale Bank, behind the opera – it is the most beautiful bank premises in the world! Behind the bank you’ll find the Galeries La Fayette and Printemps. Shopping!!!
• behind Printemps there’s Madeleine and in front of it Place de la Concorde
• go to Gare du Nord, then to Montmartre (M° Anvers), climb to the top of the stairs of Sacre Coeur and admire the free town scape, take the funicular and then get lost again on the streets
• another MUST – take line 14 to Gare de Lyon – the most beautiful metro station in Paris, then go up in the rail station and look for Le Train Bleu. Built in 1900 once with the Eiffel Tower and the Opera Garnier this restaurant seams depicted from the Titanic. Go up the stairs, enter the restaurant (have lunch or not), then walk to the end of the hall in the left. On the right side is the Big Ben Bar (you won’t see it above the door, but is written on the menú) – is more of a salon. Stay at least for a tea – is one of my most loved places in Paris…
• check out the Marais neighborhood – the Jewish neighborhood at M° Saint Paul
• try the Hägen Daaz ice cream and desert places along Paris (my favorite are the one in front of Louvre & la Comédie-Française, and the one on Champs Elysée) – don’t mind the prices, they’re the same everywhere (in the world!).
• if you get to Montparnasse, go to the top floor deck for the view, but it will cost. In the area don’t miss the Lebanese restaurant Noura - is the best in town! I bet you’ll love it... (Mº Vavin, line 4)
  
• there’s Père la Chaise cemetery – home of Jimi Hendrix, Victor Hugo, etc., but I never went there. Is like taking a trip to Bellu in Bucharest.

  Out of Paris:

• Chateaux de Versailles (RER C – make sure you buy the right tickets!) about 6€. Buy the 12€ ticket so you get to see as many as possible rooms. The gardens are paid separately, but in winter look very sad… in the summer on the other hand there are beautiful music and water shows.
• La Défense – the financial quarter. Check out Arc de la Défence – looks more modern than the Arc de Triomphe, and has a nice restaurant on the top. If you have one day for shopping and you’ve seen everything that was to see in Paris, take RER A (make sure you buy the right ticket!) to Val d’Europe – as soon as you exist the metro station you are in Marne la Vallée – an outlet mall/village European style. Closes at 5pm!
• 2 RER stops away is Disneyland Paris – useless to say, you need a whole day there. (40€/pers)

Places I've been and I love

Visited Lived in Wanna go to

1. Ro: Bucharest, Vama Veche (2001- _)
2. Hungary: Budapest (2003)
3. Austria: Vienna (2003)
4. USA: New York [NY], Niagara [NY]('04,'08); Honolulu [Oahu, HI], Lihue [Kauai, HI], Lahaina [Maui, HI], Hilo [Big Island, HI]; Los Angeles [CA], San Francisco [CA], San Diego [CA] ('07-'09); New Orleans [LA]; Las Vegas [NV] (2009); Washington, D.C.; Boston [MA]; Miami [FL], Key West [FL] (2010)
5. France: Paris, Normandie, Cote d'Azur (2004-2005)
6. Czech Republic: Prague (2005)
7. Italy: Milan ('05, '06,'10), Venice (2005), Rome (2007), Florence (2007), Verona (2010)
8. Germany: Köln (2005)
9. Monaco: Monte Carlo (2005)
10. Netherlands: Amsterdam, Rotterdam (2005)
11. China: Shanghai, Beijing (2005)
12. Switzerland: Lugano (2006)
13. Spain: Barcelona ['06,'09,'10,'11], Granada, Seville, Ceuta (Africa), Ibiza; Madrid, Toledo (2006); Bilbao (2010); Tarifa (2011)
14. Turkey: Ankara (2006)
15. Vatican City (2007)
16. Mexico: Baja, Mexico City, Playa del Carmen (2009)
17. Bulgaria: Balchik Castle (2010)
18. UAE: Abu Dhabi, Dubai (2011)
19. UK: London (2011)
20. Morocco: Tangier