The French Journal

Lonely Planet tours Paris

The travel guide Lonely Planet has a video page, and while it's not rich with items yet, there is the one that heads this post for a three minute swing around the city.

Top "archetypal" food experiences in Paris (with foot notes)

During your first visit to Paris, should you have any reasonable amount of time, there's are places you have to visit, right? You have to see the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower...make your own list. And there are foods you have to taste as well. One must experience the stereotypes if, for no other reason, you've been reading about these things all your life.

To help you fulfill the food imperatives of your journey, Diversion* magazine offers its suggestions for "The Top Ten Paris Tastes."  Here's a summary:

• Best baguette: Boulangerie Eric Kayser, Le Boulanger de Monge, Poilâne**
• Mouth-watering macarons***: Pierre Hermé****
• Magnificent cheeses: Fromagerie Barthélémy, Fromagerie Quatrehomme
• Incomparable ice cream: Berthillon
• Plateau fruits de mer: Le Dôme
• Irresistible crêpes: Crêperie at Relais Saint-Germain
• Sensational steak-frites: Bistro Paul Bert
• Incredible croissants: Pierre Hermé, Ladurée, Gérard Mulot
• Croque Monsieur and Croque Madame: Le Mabillon
• Champagne: Café de Flore, The Ritz Bar, Plaza Athénée

Addresses and much more background are available in the article.

* Diversion is a magazine for "physicians at leisure." Thanks for this post are offered to my doctor. I found this piece while waiting yesterday for my annual check-up.

**Obviously, this article was written way before yesterday's post about the best baguette.

***The author called them "macaroons" instead of "macarons."  Somewhere, a tear is being shed.

****A day late: yesterday was not only the Day of Francophonie, it was the Jour du Macaron. Had you been in Paris, and had I alerted you in time, tasting samples were available at some of the top purveyors. Zut! Next year!

Travel round-up: Ski stops, Backpacking, Paris with kids, Montmartre on the cheap, and danger

Here are links recent travel articles which I haven't featured because they're too short, or I've written about the subjects before, or some other reason.

• Chamonix lodgings. The Times (U.K.) reviews Les Granges d’en Haut, an agglomeration of ski chalets which have been restored as boutique lodges. The paper is impressed (even if the writer forgets to mention the lodge's name until the end of the article). There's also an adjoining spa. "This is simply an independent, family-run operation that channels a tasteful mix of mum and dad’s talents towards its aspirations of five-star comfort."
• Club Med in La Plagne. Another ski area, another hotel. The Daily Mail opines: "A touch of glamour and comfort in one of France's less celebrated ski resorts."
• Cheap stays in Montmartre. The Sydney Morning Herald recommends the Hotel Sofia, a one-star in the area's Arab district. It's clean, with big rooms, and a "in-the-middle of it all" location. A helping of local color makes this review enjoyable.
• Paris with kids. A mother with romantic memories of the city determines whether its magic is still in force with children in tow. (It is.) There's a good list of family-friendly activities. (Toronto Globe and Mail)
• Backpacking in the Auvergne. A grim beginning with lots of rain, but France's magic takes over by the end. (The Boston Globe)
• Courchevel landings: not so good. The folks over at ProTraveller have a post about the ten most dangerous airport landings in the world, and Courchevel has made the list. "Not only is the runway short, but you also have to navigate through mountains to get to it." Here's a simulation:

Happy landings!

A list of lists: The best Paris art galleries, chateaux, and campsites

There's something for every kind of traveler in this list of lists:

• Best Paris Art Galleries. The Guardian (U.K.) is in list-making mode again, Lord bless 'em. First of two: a list of great art galleries in Paris. A few of them are far afield, but there's a cluster around the third and fourth arrondissement if this type of experience would be part of your ideal day. The Passage de Rez, one of the choices, has a good web site for a virtual experience.
• 20 "fabulous" chateaux. Another Guardian list, the emphasis here is on those chateaux were you can bed down for a night or two and feel like royalty. In other words, Versailles didn't make the list. Most of them are in western France, particularly in the Loire valley and the Aquitaine, and they are put into categories: stylish interiors, budget, traditional, and best for families.
• Best French campsites. Even though I enjoyed the movie Camping, this is very much NOT to my taste, and the list is too long for me to absorb. One day, when I have time (ha!), I may try to spend some time with this article, if only to figure out where some of these regions are (The Gers?). Like the last one, this list is grouped: there are campsites for great views, great eating, great beaches, great peace, and great everything else.

Rerun: Inexpensive Paris hotels

Hotel de Varenne

I always hesitate to recommend lodgings in France because one person's bargain is another person's flea trap. Yesterday's New York Times, however, rushed in where angels like me fear to tread with a list of affordable "chic" Paris hotels. Under these circumstances, I will admit that my two faves are featured: the Hôtel de Varenne in the seventh and L'Hôtel des Grandes Ecoles in the fifth (no A/C there...so you know).

The rest of the cheap best are:

• Hôtel de Nice, 4th
• Hôtel Amour 7th
• Hôtel Lindbergh, 7th
• Hôtel Verneuil, 7th
• New Orient Hotel, 8th
• Hôtel Langlois 9th
• Hôtel Chopin 9th
• Hôtel Muguet, 11th
• Hôtel Windsor Home, 16th
• Hôtel Eldorado, 17th

Rerun: My favorite Paris guidebooks

I've been to Paris five or six times in the past several years, but I still pack a small library whenever I travel there. Here are the guidebooks that I usually take with me.

• Walking Paris by Gilles Desmond has thirty walks in different areas of the city, each of which lasts about two hours. By now I've completed most of the walks, and they've added immeasurably to my enjoyment of Paris. I've poked around alleys, passages, little museums, parks, cemeteries, and more. For those of you who want to get away from the heavily traveled tourist routes, this is the one to get (although, to be frank, tourists are everywhere in Paris; it's just a matter of how many).

Walking Paris is overdue for an update; once or twice it may advise you to go someplace that's no longer accessible (there's usually an easy workaround). And it may not be the only guide you'll need for a first trip. Despite these qualifications, it's one that I treasure.

Following Marie, short of the ax

After writing about Alsace yesterday, and after le mari suggested recently that he may want to visit the country home of a favorite saint, there's a definite German color to the atmosphere at my home. Since I have a big problem with German vacations (i.e., they're not in France), I've tried to ease into the idea by reading an article from IOL-South Africa, written by chum Daphne Beames, which traces the journey of Marie Antoinette as she left her home in Austria and onto France and her fateful marriage to Louis XVI.

This itinerary has its start at an inn in the Black Forest, one where Marie herself spent the night. Nearby is "wild, magnificent countryside." Crossing at Strasbourg into France (hooray!), Daphne proceeds through Barbizon, home of an artists' movement (post-Marie) and Robert Louis Stevenson (ditto). There are stays at Fountainebleau, St.-Germaine-en-Laye, and Versailles, with modest residences at each of them. (Think of them as very, very, very ornate highway rest stops.)

This may not be a journey for radicals -- but the Royalists among you can bask in the opulence and remain focused at this high point, before "the whole, elaborate structure of the Bourbon kings came tumbling down."

Trucs, Part I: Politics, food, culture, web stuff

Francophilia galore:

• Politique reborn. Boz, the blogger whose site Politique closed down earlier this year, is back with Sarkozy the American, a similar mix of observations on the French political scene. A welcome return!
• Meringues, as a matter of style. A writer from The New York Times remembers fondly a French friend who could throw together a dinner party menu in about six seconds. One secret: a dessert made with meringues. Here's the formula.
• Just when you thought the "Death of French Culture" was dead. The Cultural Services of the French Embassy has made available "A Letter to Our American Friends," a translation of the "official" French response to the much-discussed Time magazine article.
• Do you iGoogle? If so, Samantha of The French Corner has put together a theme/wallpaper that might add a little French flair to your homepage.
• Gay, Ex-pat, living in Toulouse, Part II: I erred last week in suggesting that CyberFrance: Lost in France had this territory all to himself. Here's another: France Tales, a melange of photos, videos, and observations. There may be more...
• What's new for the French traveler? The Independent (U.K.) offers a list of some of this year's new options for exploration: The Wellington Quarries in Arras, Lourdes's 150th, the Toulouse version of Vélib’, tours for the family, etc.

I know I'm forgetting something. Will add as the day passes.

Trains: New, Bleu, and otherwise

I got a membership in Linguality, the French book club, for Christmas, and after I've lived with it awhile I'll offer my impressions. For now, I'll mention the first volume I received, a novel called Chemins de fer, which has as one of its themes the changes in the TGV railroad line and how local, less traveled routes are being left to deteriorate while high-traffic runs are being remodeled and packed with amenities.

The novel was on my mind as I read a story from the Sydney Morning Herald about the future of train travel in France, and in particular, the iDTGV, a concept line that's up and running. The system offers internet reservations, cheaper tix, and upscale bars for the socializing set. There's even a plan to have an all-night party train that will take patrons slowly from Paris to a circuit of beach resorts.

Another article, from the Independent Online - South Africa, has a different take on train travel; it tours the train stations of Paris. There are seven:

• Gare St Lazare, which Monet painted,
• Gare d'Austerlitz, an impressive glass and metal edifice,
• Gare de L'Est, with "representations of 32 important cities in eastern France decorating the access arcade,"
• Gare de Lyon, home of the famed Le Train Bleu restaurant,
• Gare du Nord, designed by Jacques Hittorff, who is also responsible for the beautiful fountains the Place de la Concord
• Gare Montparnasse, "(b)eyond dispute, the ugliest of Paris's stations,"
• Gare de Bercy, small and generally overlooked, not far from an old wine distribution center where you can still go for tastings.

Plus, don't forget that the Musée d'Orsay is the converted Gare d'Orsay.

I think that's it for wheels today.

This month's quirky French hotel list

Talk about a idiosyncratic list. The Times (London) has come up with a list of ten unusual French hotels for people to try, and, -- as far as I can tell -- the only specific criterion is that the lodging be in France. That gives the paper permission to come up with odd ball categories into which it can stuff whatever strikes its fancy. But for those who like the unusual, or who may fit one of the groups -- fashionistas, anyone? -- this one's for you.

• Best for "novel" encounters: The Chateau de Montreuil-sur-Mer, in the town of the same name. A setting that inspired Victor Hugo.
• Best for art lovers: Le Chateau de Ligny, Ligny-en-Chambresis. The birthplace of Matisse, who donated many works to the town's museum. Perhaps it should be the "best for Matisse lovers."
• Best for towering views: Hotel Everland, Paris. The one-room installation atop the Palais du Tokyo -- yet again. I, for one, would be self-conscious.
• Best for history lovers: Hotel Caron de Beaumarchais, Paris. Its "quaintly cramped" rooms evoke the late 18th century. Let that be a warning to you.
• Best for relaxation: Pol Hotel, Le Touquet. A spa a spa a spa a spa. (The Telegraph UK also wrote about Le Touquet recently.)
• Best on a Budget: Hotel Brughel, Lille. Particularly if you like to poke around second-hand shops. A budget double-entendre.
• Best for groovy couples: Murano Urban Resort, Paris. A hot, seventies throwback. However, if you use "groovy" to show your trendiness, well, I have some sad news for you.
• Best for Royalists: Pullman Versailles Chateau, Versailles. Stay near the palace; presumably the proximity to opulence will thrill you.
• Best for fashionistas: Hotel du Petit Moulin, Paris. By Christian Lacroix. Bring the pooch.

The biggest oddity about this top ten list is that I seem to find only nine hotels on it, but math has never been my strong point.