Secret Paris revealed

Discover the secret Paris by bike. Paris Charmes Secrets takes you for a ride, not just on any bike, but an electrical bike, that can be useful specially when you have to do the uphill parts to discover Montmartre or the less steep but still up hill rue St Jaques past Sorbonne to discover the charms of rue Mouffetard area. You could take a Vélib but then you would miss out on the guided tour that shows you around town the places you never would see otherwise. And you would probably be too caught up in avoiding encounters with cars and cursing the fellow road users.
A French, English and Spanish speaking guided tour takes 4 hours, costs 45 euro, rain and warm biking gear provided if needed. 3 tours daily : 9:30 am 2:30 pm and 8 pm (this one is 3 hours).

French food at Chartier

An absolute must for every visitor in Paris is to have a meal at Chartier. It's a slice of typical Parisian way of eating. Or arguably what used to be typical a long time ago and is now one more "disney-fied" cultural left-overs with the queue to go. But it's still there for you to enjoy and luckily has not made way for some design eatery which you could find in any self respecting city.
Chartier,
7, Rue Fbg Montmartre
Paris 9e

National Qi Gong Day in France

Since it's not so common to see this in Paris' streets we'll have to do with one day a year. Sunday 8 June is the 14th national Qi Gong Day. In major cities in France there will be demonstrations, workshops and conferences to inform and show what Qi Gong is all about and you can experience for yourself the good it can do for your mind, body and spirit.
In Paris it's from 10am-6pm at la Grande Pagode du Bois de Vincennes, 40 route circulaire du lac Daumesnil, 12e. Metro : Porte dorée. Price for the whole day: 8 €, reduced price: 5 €, free for licensees of the Féderation de Qi Gong et Art Energétique and kids under 12 years.

Parisian metro will run late

Starting on December 7th, the metro service will be extended by one hour on Friday nights, setting the arrival of the last metro at its terminus at 2:15am.

Compared with 1:15pm now-a-day. This schedule will be identical to that on Saturdays and celebration days that benefit from the extension of service since December 2006.

These evenings, service is enhanced with a metro average every five minutes from 9pm and every ten minutes from 0:30am.

The STIF believes that the results of the traffic "show the interest of Ile-de-France inhabitants for these new schedules, evaluating averaged 37,000 entries in the metro network between 1:15 and 2:15, while the evening traffic has increased by 69,000 trips on average compared to 2006.

Thanks to catirebcn for the photo

Champs Elysees goes green on Christmas

The lights of Christmas and New Year on the Champs Elysees will be using for the first time this year,energy efficient bulbs, from November 26th to January 20th, a longer period than usual covering the winter sales.
From the Arc de Triomphe to Place de la Concorde, about 2.4 kilometers, over 415 trees in the rear will be decorated with crystals or "dynamic flash," says the mayor of Paris.

A total of one million points of light, almost eight times more than in past years, will decorate the trees in the most beautiful avenue in the world.
For the whole French capital, more than one hundred squares and streets will be illuminated, double the previous year, according to the council.

The mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoe will launch the illuminations on November 26th at 06.00pm.

Via Yahoo! Actualités.
Thanks very much to wilf for the great photo.

Ski Resort in Paris

Holidaymakers, visitors and Ile de France residents, take note: the slopes of the winter sports resort at the Stade de France will be opening soon!
The ‘resort’, which has opened every winter for the past 5 years, is a very popular venue for winter fun in the city...

A few years ago, the organisers came up with the brilliant idea of opening a proper ski resort 15 minutes from the heart of Paris to allow people to hear the call of the mountains and discover the joys of winter sports.
The event has proved to be extremely popular these past few years: over 50 000 visitors flocked to “Milka Rêve de Neige” every day in 2006.

Initially meant for families lacking the means to take a skiing holiday in the Pyrenees or the Alps, “Milka Rêve de Neige” has in fact been such a success that the organisers have introduced two separate sets of opening hours, for charities and the general public respectively, to ensure the event remains accessible as originally planned to the financially disadvantaged.

There are a number of attractions on the programme at this winter sports festival: a surf simulator, a 70 metre ski slope, a frozen waterfall, a giant 1 250 sq. metre rink, an ice garden, a working farm, an adventure trail, a trapper trail, two rope bridges, a sled run, rock climbing walls, a water wall and much more.

Via parisinfo.fr

Bruce Springsteen in Paris - Concert

He is the hero of ordinary people struggling through life, the resounding voice of an angry America. The “Boss” is back...

Bruce Springsteen is known worldwide by his nickname, “The Boss”.
His career embodies the American dream. His is the story of a young man growing up in urban, working class America who achieves his aim of becoming a major rock star through sheer dint of will and perseverance.

Emotional versatility is his greatest strength: he sings of sadness in “Streets of Philadephia”, tragedy in “The Rising” and pride in “Born in the USA”.
Bruce Springsteen and his long time mates in the E Street Band will be performing their new album “Magic” at the POPB in December.

The concert is sure to be an explosive one, not least because Parisian audiences have by no means forgotten past performances by “The Boss” in their city.

December 17th, 2007 @ Palais Omnisport de Paris Bercy

Source: parisinfo.fr

Parisians can be friendly

If you are about to visit Paris and want to try a new experience, Paris Greeter will help you enjoy Paris as Parisians do.
The Paris Greeters are local Parisians who volunteer their time to share with visitors the districts of Paris they know and love so well. They will introduce places and insights into Parisian life that are not always found in the published tourist guides.
They are not professional tour guides but enthusiastic, friendly individuals with knowledge of Paris who will accompany you on a visit of the city, without charge, as a friend would.
PARISIEN D'UN JOUR, PARISIEN TOUJOURS is a non-profit making organisation offering a free service to visitors.
This organisation implements the program: Paris Greeter, as many other cities do, in order to welcome visitors with a free service. See Global Greeter Network.

Thanks to Luke Robinson for the great shot.

November in Paris

Ok so it's November, we are getting closer to Christmas time but not yet December so what are we going to do till there? Get bored? Stay at home because it's getting colder outside? No way, you are in Paris!

- Christmas Markets -> These markets start appearing in the city, around the end of November, sometimes even earlier than that. It's usually in a street(s) or on a "place" and you find there everything related to Noel. Everyone is happy, some Noel songs, things to eat and things to drink. It's absolutely lovely!

- Beaujolais Nouveau (November 15th) -> It's a French red wine coming from the Beaujolais region. It's released every year the 3rd Thursday on the month of November. It is said to have fruits and berries taste. Some people say it isn't a very high quality wine but that date is known in the whole world and it's definitely an opportinity to party.

- Thanksgiving (November 22nd) -> There is an American store in the Marais, called Thanksgiving (of course). There is a real good chance you find whatever you need and want for that day!

Thanks to sarahwoo for the great photo.