Paris | Paris with a Parisian

Seen from Paris, le blog Francetitle_li=Paris

Seen from Paris, blog about Paris

You thought Parisians are witty, arrogant, bitching about everything and anything, obsessed with food and culture, and always up for discussion? Well... you're perfectly right! And you're on the right page to check it out.

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Paris

Versailles, the French monument where citizens have been deprived of their freedom of speech

Today, no one is allowed to give explanations within the Palace of Versailles, as a corporation of “guides” have finally managed to get a grasp on the French monument, in a rather hardcore way. Versailles… A name that conveys a flavor of opulence and style. But more than anything, it has a flavor of freedom […]

At le Bistro Poulbot, contemporary cuisine bumps into traditional French

In this little neighborhood venue, hidden in steep rue Lamarck behind Montmartre, chef Lorenzo Torrini fools around the codes of old French cuisine to enhance it. If Bistro Poulbot is called like this, it’s because it really is a little bistro, with its little counter and it’s blackboard menu swinging everywhere. In the dim red […]

Paris

The Paris Taxi War: news from the front.

In an utterly corporatist France, where entrepreneurship and competition is locked by Kafkaesque regulations and powerful lobbies, the awful Paris cab thought he had won the war. Until VTC happenned… VTC? Véhicule de Tourisme avec Chauffeur, bien sûr!! That simply means cars with a chauffeur. The idea is since being a Taxi is a regulated […]

Paris

the Tour Paris 13 makes Paris the world street art capital in October

With the energy of a little street art galerie of the 13th district, Galerie Itinerrance, a whole tower building has been given out to street artists before it gets tore down at the end of the month. A must-see. The question buzzing in Paris these days is “how long is the wait?”. 2 hours for […]

Paris

The irrestible Paris love padlocks outbreak

Since 2008, love padlocks have invaded a few bridges of the City of Lights. Is it a good tradition or a disgrace to the Seine river ? As the sun sets over the Trocadero Palace, a passer-by walking on le Pont de Carroussel and looking towards the Island of the Cité could think he needs to […]

Paris

Paris tourist tricks: The different ways to get cash out of your wallet in the streets

With over 25 millions visitors each year, tourism has grown to be a major source of income for the City of Lights. A financial opportunity for all kinds of frauds… Here is a list of tricks regularly performed in Paris, mostly with tourists. Why with tourists? Because tourists are more likely to give away money, […]

Paris

A threat to Parisian nights: Would the last call move from 2am to 1am because of terrasses?

As the ban on cigarettes pushed people out in the street to smoke, the noise of their conversation might make the bars close earlier in the City of Lights. Paris, almost 1am. As I gave an -outstanding- tour of some of the jewels of the Parisian night scene to an American couple in August, that […]

Paris

Pipi ou pas? Or how Technology created the Parisian Roulette…

The Paris city hall is obviously very proud of its new « Sanisettes », these state-of-the-art public toilets that can be found all around the city of lights. However, the beauty of these little merveilles might be at the expense of the walker’s need… I am a tour guide, therefore I walk a lot. Hours. Days even. […]

Paris

The Metro: So easy to get around, yet so hard to get a ticket…

In the past years, the automation of the ticket buying process has turned out to be a major ordeal to foreign users, while the century old metro system remains the best way to move around the City of Lights. Gare du Nord, any day… A biblical line stems from some faraway tunnel to the little […]