neko's Blog

Of course Paris France museums are not to be missed. Many Paris vacations start at the world famous Louvre, home to the Mona Lisa, and 35,000 other pieces of art. Connoisseurs could spend several days covering the Louvre. Paris France has an extinsive modern art collection at the Pompidou National Center of Art & Culture. The building was designed with the pipes and duct work on the outside, and the glass escalator running up exterior of the building is an exciting ride. The Musée d’Orsay, in a former railway station, displays French art nouveau, impressionist, and postimpressionist works. The Musée de Cluny, contains works from the middle ages, and a former Roman bath house, dating back to around 200 AD. Those are only a sprinkling of the quality museums visited during Paris vacations.

Other Paris tourist attractions worth checking out are Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise and le Catacombes. The cemetery includes the remains of Chopin, Moliere, Gertrude Stein, Jim Morrison, and the much kissed tomb of Oscar Wilde. For a darker side of Paris, some Paris tours descend Le Catacombes, an underground corridor made up of the stacked bones of millions of Parisians exhumed from their graves to solve a hygiene problem in Paris France in the late 18th century.

For tours in Paris, try a walking tour, focusing on the history, monuments, and museums of Paris. Some are self guided, while others provide guides. The obvious advantage to self guided tours in Paris is that you can move at your own pace. There are several companies that offer this service including Paris Walking Tours, Classic Walks, and French Adventures. There’s also biking tours in Paris which peddle past famous monuments and icons of the city. One could book a tour through a travel agency, before leaving. With enough to see and do for weeks, the heart of France has delights for young and old.

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Balloon rides aren't just a luxury for well-heeled sightseeers. In Paris, the Eutelsat Balloon offers 10-minute rides to an altitude of 150 meters, or about 500 feet, for as little as 10 euros. (That's for a weekday adult ticket; kids pay half price.)

The balloon is at the Parc André Citroën in the 15th arrondissement, on the left bank of the Seine within leisurely walking distance of the Eiffel Tower. It's a tethered or captive gas balloon, making it a spiritual descendant of "l'Entreprenant" ("The Enterprising"), a hydrogen balloon that the French Army used as the world's first aerial military observation post in 1794.

Captive sightseeing balloons have a long and honorable tradition: From 1884 to 1899, the Frenchman Louis Godard operated captive balloons around the world, from Paris to Chicago to Buenos Aires. In Paris alone, one ballon did 1564 ascents over Trocadero and carried 19,194 passengers over a 161-day period; later, in 1895. another of M. Godard's balloons operated for 110 days at the Champ de Mars (near what is now the site of the Eiffel Tower).

The current tethered Parisian balloon began service in 1999, when an insurance company sponsored the balloon and offered free rides to Parisian children during pre-Millennium celebrations. The balloon then went into storage for several years until Eutelsat, a French Paris-based satellite communications company, became its new sponsor. The balloon (in Eutelsat livery) was relaunched in May, 2004, and it now operates year-round.

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The Aerophile balloon used by Eutelsat is claimed to be the largest balloon design in the world, measuring 22 meters or 72 feet in diameter. Its fabric envelope is held within a net formed by 9,000 knots, and the balloon is tethered to the ground by a winch-controlled cable.

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The balloon's spherical shape is preserved by a fan that blows air into a "balloonet" underneath the helium-filled envelope. The round profile minimizes the effects of wind as the helium expands and contracts with changes in atmospheric pressure and temperature.

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photoThe aluminum gondola or basket is designed to hold 30 adult or 60 adult passengers, with an overload capacity of 1.5. (The 150-meter tethering cable can resist up to 44 tons of traction, even though the balloon pulls a maximum of 3 tons.)

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If electricity fails, the balloon can be reeled in with a backup diesel winch.

Where and when to come:

photoThe Eutelsat Balloon is in the Parc André Citroën, a few blocks from the Balard station on the Paris Métro. (Take the Métro in the direction of Balard, which is at the end of Line 8.) Signs will direct you to the park.

photoIf you're coming from the Eiffel Tower, the Musée d'Orsay, St-Michel, or other neighborhoods on the Seine, take RER Line C along the Left Bank toward Versailles Rive Gauche or St-Quentin-en Yveline and get off at the Boulevard Victor RER station. The park is hard to miss--just look for the balloon.

The balloon normally offers 10-minute rides from 9 a.m. until 30 minutes before the park closes, but the schedule sometimes changes, and rides may be cancelled for a day or two at a time because of windy weather. (For aerodynamic reasons, the balloon's capacity drops as the wind increases, and rides are cancelled when anticipated winds or gusts exceed 35 km/h or about 20 mph.)

http://travels-paris.blogspot.com/

Practical Guide To Plan Your Trip To Disneyland Paris

Disneyland Paris provides a great family vacation, while allowing the family to also enjoy the city of Paris a few minutes away. Get all the basics you need before visiting Disneyland Paris, Europe's #1 tourist destination.
About Disneyland Paris
Europe's top destination, Disneyland Paris, features two theme parks (Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios Park), Disney Village, seven themed hotels and Golf Disneyland.

About 32 kilometers or 20 miles outside of Paris, it is about one-fifth the size of Paris itself. Millions have visited since it opened (amidst much anti-Mickey controversy) in 1990.

While this isn't exactly the most tres chic destination in France, it provides a great opportunity to make the kids and the parents happy. Not only is it close to Paris, but Paris is 2 hours, 40 minutes from London via Eurostar.

Getting to Disneyland Paris

* By Car: A4 motorway Metz-Nancy, exit 14 "Parcs Disney". For Disney's Davy Crockett Ranch, exit 13 "Provins/Serris".
* By RER: line A – Marne-la-Vallée/Chessy station.
* By Train: There are direct TGV (France speed train) connections to the Marne-la-Vallée/Chessy station in the heart of Disneyland Resort Paris from over 25 cities in France. The SNCF and Disneyland Resort Paris offer packages including transportation from all of these cities.
* By Plane: If you arrive at Charles de Gaulle or Orly airports in Paris, VEA shuttle service offers daily links to Disneyland Resort Paris hotels with departures every 30 to 45 minutes.
Where To Stay at Disneyland Paris
There are seven hotels right inside Disneyland Paris,featuring sports and leisure facilities, including swimming pools, exercise rooms, tennis courts and pony rides. They also offer guests a further opportunity to meet the Disney Characters. Packages, which include a two-night stay with a three-day pass, are also available. There are also several hotels which recently opened a short drive from the park.

Where to Buy Disneyland Paris Tickets
You can buy Disneyland Paris tickets at the following locations:

* at Park admission ticket windows
* by phone at 33 1 60 30 60 30 (calling to France)
* in the Disney Store on the Champs Elysées, Paris
* in the FNAC stores in Paris
* at the Virgin Megastore on the Champs Elysees in Paris
* at the Paris Tourism Office and in Parisian airports
* at certain RATP ticketing windows in Paris (metro and RER)

Disneyland Paris for Disabled Visitors

The "Guide for Disabled Visitors," can be obtained it at City Hall at the entrance to the Disneyland Park, at Studio Services at the entrance to the Walt Disney Studios Park and at the reception office in any of the Disney hotels.

http://travels-paris.blogspot.com/

Bercy Village has been described as a "faux French village in the heart of Paris," but there's nothing faux about it: The urban-renewal project in the 12th arrondissement, next to the modern Parc de Bercy and the Seine, consists largely of small wine warehouses from the late 19th Century that have been saved from decay by conversion into shops and restaurants. It's a great place to spend a few hours, especially if you have more than a passing interest in urban design, architecture, or retailing.
 

The project had its genesis in 1990, when the city of Paris staged an architectural competition for the redevelopment project. The winning firm, Valode & Pistre, designed a plan that consisted of the restored warehouses with modern, taller buildings behind. Instead of turning the old cobblestoned lanes into a covered shopping center, as its rivals wanted to do, Valode & Pistre proposed leaving the streets open with a network of awnings to protect visitors from the weather.

(You can read an abstract of the development plan at SpringerLink's page about Valode & Pistre Architects, a book by Philip Jodidio.)

Although Bercy Village's retailing milieu leans toward the upscale, it isn't just a shopping mall for yuppies. Our own favorite store, Animalis, is a pet-lover's paradise with everything you might need for your dog, cat, bird, or fish. You'll also find a cinema, art galleries, beauty parlors, and several restaurants and cafés. Allow time for a visit to the Parc de Bercy next door.

For a complete list of shops and other establishments in French, see the "Vos Boutiques" and "Plan de Bercy Village" pages at Bercyvillage.com.
How to reach Bercy Village:

Gare de Lyon metro stationRide any Ligne 14 Métro train to Cour Saint-Émilion. (This is the new "Météor" line between the Gare de Lyon and the Bibliothėque National de France.)

Bercy Village is open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

http://travels-paris.blogspot.com/

Along with the Gallo-Roman Baths at the Musée National du Moyen-Age in the Hôtel Cluny, the Arènes de Lutèce or Arenas of Lutetia are among the oldest tourist attractions in Paris. The Roman amphitheatre, which dates back to the 1st Century A.D., was once the site of Gladiator-style combat and other Roman entertainments,  with seating for an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 spectators and animal cages beneath the stands.

After the fall of Lutetia in 280 A.D., the amphitheatre became a ruin and eventually was filled in as medieval Paris grew. In the 1860s, the arena was discovered during excavation for the Rue Monge (now a major thoroughfare in the 5th arrondissement), and the dug-up ruins were turned into a public square in 1896. Today, the Arènes de Lutèce form the core of a public park that neighborhood residents use for boules, bouncing footballs off the apartment buildings behind the arena, and other urban recreation.

When and how to visit:

The park is open daily from 8:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. during winter and until 9 p.m. in summer. Admission is free.

Of the three entrances, the easiest one to find is at 47 rue Monge, where an arched passageway leads from the sidewalk. (See photo at bottom of page 2.) If you're coming by Métro, the nearest stops are Cardinal Lemoine (Line 10), Jussieu (Lines 7 and 10), and Place Monge (Line 7)

http://travels-paris.blogspot.com/