Posted by admin on July 31, 2007 under Rome hotels and events | 
Rome by night 31 July 2007
Posted by Danne75 in : Events in Rome , trackback
So you are at the end of another day sight seeing and everyone has told you that the only place to go for a night out in summer is near the beach in Ostia. Well this is not true…here are some ideas of what you can get up to on a night here in Rome.
 
A first stop would be the Trastevere quarter. There are loads of places to check out like pubs, bars and clubs. You can also enjoy the famous “grattachecca” , which is a mixture of ice, syrup and pieces of fruit, in front of Trilussa Square. It would be great at the moment especially with the temperature being so hot. Otherwise if that doesn’t tickle your fancy try a gelato from Pompi gelateria .
 
A first stop would be the Trastevere quarter. There are loads of places to check out like pubs, bars and clubs. You can also enjoy the famous “grattachecca” , which is a mixture of ice, syrup and pieces of fruit, in front of Trilussa Square. It would be great at the moment especially with the temperature being so hot. Otherwise if that doesn’t tickle your fancy try a gelato from Pompi gelateria .
 
Piazza Navona and Campo di Fiuori are always busy. Another great place to go close to Piazza Navona in Via dell’Anima is a club called Anima and you can dance untill 4 in the morning with r&b and hip-hop thumping away.
So someone may have bursed your party bubble a bit and told you that in Testaccio in the summer its not very easy to find great discos which are open but yes as was previously mentioned Ostia does give you some respite. To get there take metro line b (the blue one)Â till Piramide and than you take the train for Ostia. Just remember the blue line of the metro close at 11.30 p.m. and startS again at 05.30 a.m.
Going to Eur, using the same metro line, is good for every kind of evening. Try the Zen Disco or Le Terrazze which are close to the lake that you’ll find in Viale America.
 
Piazza Navona and Campo di Fiuori are always busy. Another great place to go close to Piazza Navona in Via dell’Anima is a club called Anima and you can dance untill 4 in the morning with r&b and hip-hop thumping away.
So someone may have bursed your party bubble a bit and told you that in Testaccio in the summer its not very easy to find great discos which are open but yes as was previously mentioned Ostia does give you some respite. To get there take metro line b (the blue one)Â till Piramide and than you take the train for Ostia. Just remember the blue line of the metro close at 11.30 p.m. and startS again at 05.30 a.m.
Going to Eur, using the same metro line, is good for every kind of evening. Try the Zen Disco or Le Terrazze which are close to the lake that you’ll find in Viale America.
 
Close to Termini Station there is Julius Caesar Disco Pub. It has a great pubcralw. Try it!! You can find it in Via Castelfidardo on the corner with Via Palestro. Tuesday, Thursday Friday and Saturday the crawl starts at 8 in the evening.
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Posted by admin on under One stop travel guide to Paris |
Isn’t it time for free wireless in all airports? It would have been nice sleeping on the floor at Newark to at least have the compensation of free Wi-Fi. No chance.
CDG (Charles de Gaulle Airport) is apparently going to give passengers a taste of free Wi-Fi between April and June of 2008. All terminals have internet access but you need to pay for your access, either by purchasing a card in one of the Relay bookstores, or by purchasing directly online (.15 centimes per minute). It’s possible that if you already have an Orange or a Sprint account you already have access. (I tried with my Wanadoo/Orange account and it didn’t work).
My question is, if the City of Paris provides free wi-fi in city parks, why not in the Aeroports de Paris? Let’s follow the good example of Iceland. Free Wi-fi for all. Do you agree?
Posted by admin on under Prague's Travel and Accommodation News |
The performance called Carmina Burana Open Air Opera
Carmina Burana Open Air Opera presents the performances of the Czech Symphonic OrchestraVUS choir of the Charles University, Saltatio Vitae
Carmina Burana Open Air OperaSaturday, 28th July to Sunday, 26th August, 2007 at 8.30 PM. The largest floating stage (350 square meters) in Czech Republic is situated right on the Vltava River near the Strelecky Island in the historical center of the Prague city.
Tickets can be bought via TicketPro or TicketPortal for CZK 1200 (EUR 43).
Posted by admin on under Prague's Travel and Accommodation News |
“Small Czech breweries complain that the largest Czech beer maker Plzeòský Prazdroj restricts their supplies to some restaurants,” Kamil Rudolecký, vice-chairman of the UOHS (antitrust office) told reporters on July 27th, 2007…
“The UOHS has received several complaints that Plzeòský Prazdroj (Pilsner Urquell) has violated an exception granted by UOHS in 2006. But the office, which monitors the situation on the market regularly, has not detected any flaws,” he added.
Plzeòský Prazdroj, a unit of SABMiller holding and brewer of the Pilsner Urquell brand, sold 10,700,000 hectoliters of beer from April 2006 to March 2007. The UOHS permitted the brewery to sign contracts on minimal annual purchases of beer with restaurants.
The exception sets a ceiling on the amount to be purchased from Plzeòský Prazdroj at 70 %. The rest is earmarked for other suppliers. But small breweries insist their share has fallen.
“The UOHS has dealt with Prazdroj several times and imposed a CZK 450,000 fine on the brewery for exclusive contracts with customers, but in this case it has found no offence,” Rudolecký said.
read more: ÈTK (Czech News Agency)
Posted by admin on July 30, 2007 under One stop travel guide to Paris |
Be sure to check out Businesstravellogue.com’s update on Paris’s Orly airport renovations. .
I have yet to read an article on the ‘big picture’ when it comes to Paris airports, but I’m hoping by the end of this decade CDG will see some major improvements. Long ago, most of the international flights from the US came through Orly which was pretty nice if you live on the left bank. It’s a lot faster than coming down from CDG. If more international flights start returning to Orly, that would be a good thing for Left Bankers.
If you plan on living longterm in France, you’ll also want to check out today’s post (July 30′07): The Expatriate Check List at
www.businesstravellogue.com
RE moving issues, I can speak from experience - we’ve moved crystal, furniture, etc, and everything arrived without a single thing broken. It takes time to do the paperwork, so plenty of advance planning is crucial.
Posted by admin on under One stop travel guide to Paris |
Okay, so the waiter at one of the Rue Mouffetard cafes told me “Mojitos have been around forever,” which is true, especially if forever begins in the 1980s, but according to Wiki, there’s been a resurgence of Mojitos - and judging by the number of mojitos I’ve seen in outdoor cafes at cocktail hour, the ‘mojito’ is going strong.
Here in Paris, they fill up the glass with almost as many mint leaves as you’re likely to find in your mint julep at the Kentucky derby (but definitely not as much alcohol!).
Here are some lighter selections to add to my last post re: cafe drinks.
Thanks Parisloguers for adding Orangina to the list.
Orangina is carbonated but non-alcoholic.
You can ask for a
Schweppes avec citron if you just want to play the part.
Liptonic - does for Lipton tea what Mountain Dew does for cafeine.
(the ultimate sugar rush)
You’ll note that more and more French kids are drinking:
Coke! and even Pepsi.
On the other hand, don’t assume that you’ll find ‘Diet Coke’ or ‘Diet Pepsi’. Not impossible, but not the norm.
You’ll also note that if you’re not at a wine bar, you’ll find very few people drinking a glass of white wine as an aperatif. Drinking white wine in a cafe still carries a tinge of ‘low life alkie’. Order a kir instead, if you want to fit in. Even though more and more cafes are getting used to the idea of people ordering glasses of wine with the new no drinking and driving laws, there’s still a lot of very mediocre white wine being served in cafes that won’t make your evening very pleasant.
Plain old ice tea? Forget about it.
Ever since the 2003 heat wave, I’ve noticed that more and more cafes/restaurants are willing to provide iced water in a carafe, but don’t expect drinks overflowing with crushed ice.
Super-chilled drinks are not the norm. Even champage is not served overchilled. Too cold and you won’t capture all of a champagne’s flavor.
Headed to La Rochelle? Try a ‘pineau’, an cognac version fruit juice.
Headed to Normandy? Try a pommeau, a blend of Calvados and cider.
Here are some other aperatifs that one friend would call ’sweet and sticky’:
Muscat
Sweet Vermouth on the rocks
Martini (which is Sweet Vermouth on the rocks! if you order it in France, not a martini as you know it in the US)
And by all means, if you’re in a wine bar, try a Coteaux de Layon which is a sem-sweet white wine that you can drink very respectably.
Salut!
Other toasts:
‘Chinn-chinn’ (imitating the sound of crystal clinking)
‘A tes amours’ (to all your loves)
-A l’amitie’ (to friendship)
-A ta sante or A votre sante (if it’s a business acquaintance)
-and with old friends:
‘Cul sec’ Bottoms up. (but a little bit more graphic)
Posted by admin on under One stop travel guide to Paris |
In the 1970s, the City of Paris built a battalion of low-income housing skyscrapers between Porte de Choisy and Porte d’Ivry in Paris’s 13th arrondissement. Little by little, refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Chinese immigrants moved into the neighborhood.
The sterile Euromarche, one of the first supermarkets within the city limits of Paris began to take on a distinctly Asian flavor. Across the street from Euromarche, restaurants offering authentic Cambodian/Vietnamese and Chinese cooking became neighborhood fixtures.
Angelique introduced me to the Tricotin restaurant, a huge family style restaurant (really two restaurants), one which specializes in steamed dishes, and the other which features some traditional Cambodian dishes and huge soups.
If you’re looking for a meal in a soup, this is the place to go.
When I first moved into the 31st floor of the Residence Massena, the building was clean and well-maintained. The whole concept of low-income housing in Paris was meant to provide clean, contemporary housing for everyone - and in this case- even luxurious (compared to the maid’s quarters stuck in the garrets of some of the more toney neighborhoods).
In the seventies, it was a great neighborhood for middle and lower income-earning families (and you’ll notice that I use the word ‘earning’ because the majority of the people that I met as neighbors were all working. Across the street, there was a soccer field. For a nominal fee, you could join the association.
During these days, I was teaching English as a tutor. I would visit all sorts of neighborhoods in Paris, including Belleville where one student was a squatter in an apartment scheduled for demolition. This was a difficult building to manage in the evening because there wasn’t any electricity. At night, he would have to escort me back down the steps with the help of a cigarette lighter.
By comparison, living in the 13th arrondissement at Porte de Choisy was much more pleasant in some respects. We even had a view of the Eiffel Tower from the window, however, I found living in a skyscraper very depressing and claustrophobic. If you are rich or poor, I don’t think that human beings were ever meant to live in skyscrapers. They are unnatural. Human beings were meant to live close to the land, not in pigeon coops - even if some idiots in NYC are paying 20 Million dollars AND MORE to live in a pigeon coop with a view of Central Park, they’re still fools.
In the seventies, 31 floor, highrises weren’t the norm so much so that one visitor was so horrified by the idea of taking an elevator up so many stories that he took the stairs instead.
Nowadays the number of Asian restaurants and shops selling fresh produce has quadrupled. As I’ve written in past posts, the 13th arrondissement’s Chinatown is a fine place to spend Chinese New Years or take a martial arts class - or just have an inexpensive meal. It doesn’t get much coverage by most tour guides to Paris simply because it’s relatively distant from the major sites you’d want to see as a first-time visitor to Paris, but if you’re working on a tight budget, remember that the Metro connects you to every part of town you might want to visit and you might find the 13th to be more in line with your budget.
Even though I had lived in the 13th for almost a year, I didn’t get to know the Buttes aux Cailles district or the quaint streets named after flowers like Rue Iris until I took a bicycle tour with Paris a Velo, C’est Sympa! (22, rue Alphonse Baudin, 11eme, near La Bastille. Tel. 01 48 87 60 01). When I took their 13th Insolite, or Unusual 13th Arrondissement Tour is when I really began to get a feel for the variety of neighborhoods one can find in the 13th.
If you are looking for an apartment in Paris, for example, you can find some unbelieveably quaint locales - and feel like you are in a Paris of a completely different era - don’t expect to be the first, though, many of these house, and leafy spots of Paris have already been snapped up.
The 13th arrondissement also has its share of artists’ ateliers and the famous ‘Gobelins’ tapestry workshops. I am embarrassed to see I have yet to visit the Gobelins workshops. However, I have visited the Jardin des Plantes (which once was the home of the 19th century giraffe who made an impressive overland tour, first from Africa, and after crossing the Mediterranean, traveled with its guardian from Marseilles to Versailles and its final home at the Jardin des Plantes).
If you are making your first trip to Paris, the 13th arrondissement probably shouldn’t be your first priority, however, it’s a neighborhood that you shouldn’t overlook if one plans on making Paris a frequent destination.
Want to get to know the 13th via bicycle?
www.parisvelosympa.com
Paris a Velo, c’est Sympa!
22 Rue Alphonse Baudin
Metro: Bastille
(33) 1 48 87 60 01
Posted by admin on under One stop travel guide to Paris |
View of the Eiffel Tower from the 31st floor of Residence Massena
Metro: Porte de Choisy
Photo by Chris Card Fuller, ©2006
If you’re watching the film Paris, Je T’Aime, from the viewpoint of looking at Paris neighborhoods or arrondissements, you may be either surprised or disappointed by how each director portrays the arrondissement he or she has chosen for a five-minute movie.
As I said in yesterday’s post, some of the neighborhoods such as Place des Fetes in Paris’s 19th arrondissement, you are not likely to encounter during a first visit.
Actually, I worked as an au paire at Place des Fetes in the seventies. It doesn’t look like the neighborhood has improved since then, and even in the seventies, it was a part of Paris that seemed to lack any soul. It’s ironic, that just a hop, skip and a jump away from (three metro stops) you can visit one of Paris’s most romantic parks the Buttes Chaumont. For any who prefers their parks with more twists and turns in the 19th-century style as opposed to formal geometric gardens, this is the perfect spot to take a stroll or go for a jog that includes hills.
Of all the neighborhoods, maybe Christopher Doyle does the best job of capturing the Porte De Choisy highrises. I lived in one of the tallest of them (on the 31st floor). It’s also true that this neighborhood has a distinctly Asian flavor. Porte de Choisy is located in the 13th arrondissement. When you think that within the same arrondissement, the director could have chosen areas like The Cite Fleurie, 65 Blvd. Arago (the artists’ studio I described a few days ago) or the old workers’ lodgings around the Bievre river (featured in 13eme Insolite tour by Paris a Velo, C’est Sympa!), you’ll quickly grasp one of the underlying themes of Paris, Je T’Aime: This movie is NOT a travelogue!
Rather, as Leila Bekhti’s character in Quais de Seine insinuates - ‘this is MY Paris’ (By the way, this segment includes one of my favorite locales in Paris, the Paris Mosque even though the mosque is nowhere near the Seine!).
It is moreso an hommage to people who have lived, loved, felt lonely, or watched loved ones die, in the City of Light. Depending on where you live in Paris, your reality can be a prison of four walls - even if you’re within the city limits of one of the most beautiful cities in the world. You can still be a prisoner in that city - even if your home address isn’t Rue de la Sante (the city jail) - even if you have a view of the Eiffel Tower.
One of my favorite segments is the Tour Eiffel directed by Sylvain Chomet (he also directed The Triplets of Belleville - another ‘must see’). One reviewer insinuated that you had to be French to appreciate the story of two mimes (Paul Putner and Yolande Moreau) falling in love in Paris. Not true. This story is exquisite. Magical, sweet (what some jaded reviewers called manipulative).
As for the portrayals of the other arrondissements, the 16th predictably included a pricey pierre de taille apartment building with parquet floors and a working mother (who doesn’t appear on screen). It’s juxtaposed to the au pair’s La Defense neighborhood. (Here the director ‘cheats’ a little because La Defense is not in the Paris city limits).
Of all the segments, I felt that ‘Quartier Latin’ seemed the least representative of the neighborhood. Maybe it’s because Gerard Depardieu who plays the restaurant owner (he actually does own a restaurant in Paris), Ben Gazzara and Gena Rowlands look like they should be 16eme, not the student quarter.
High kudos for Alexander Payne’s portrayal of an American woman in the 14th arrondissement. You’ll note that Margo Martindale, who beautifully embodies a middle-aged postal worker, after a series of hit-or-miss meals, finds her way to the Parc Montsouris. Payne has got the 14th arrondissement nailed. Chapeau!
Posted by admin on under One stop travel guide to Paris |
Paris Je T’Aime was released in France over a year ago in 2006. It was released in the U.S. this past spring and is still playing in some theaters. I’ve wanted to see the film since it came out last year - and finally have gotten around to it. At the time of its screening a year ago in Cannes, the reviews were mixed. Sometimes it’s a good idea to let a little dust settle.
Paris, Je T’Aime may be one of those films that needs aging to appreciate. Its best qualities like a fine wine will definitely improve with time. First of all, a big bravo to the original opening music by Pierre Adenot. Those first few measures set the tone. I didn’t really care what happened next after hearing the music (that’s not completely true - but you know what I mean - the music’s so good - something good is bound to happen, right?)
Paris, Je T’Aime isn’t one film. It’s an assortment of 18 flavors of Paris, short and bittersweet. With 21 directors and so many topnotch actors. Skim across the billboards and you’re bound to recognize some of the ‘biggies’: Nick Nolte, Miranda Richardson, Gerard Depardieu, Ben Gazzarra, Marianne Faithful, Fanny Ardant, Gena Rowlands, Elijah Wood, Bob Hoskins, Maggie Gyllenhaal to name just a few of the excellent actors that squeeze the maximum of their skills into their alloted five minutes on screen.
The original assignment was to create 20 different short films (one film for each arrondissement), 20 stories about love in the city of lights. However, only 18 films were realized. The XV and the XI are missing.
There’s a good chance that if you’re coming to Paris for three or four days, you may never set foot in some of the neighborhoods featured in Paris Je T’Aime. For example, Place des Fetes, located in Paris’ s northeastern corner of the 19th arrondissement might rate as one of the least likely to succeed as tourist trap.
The scene between Aissa Maiga, an emergency response medic and Seydou Boro, an immigrant stabbing victim is one of the most moving segments (in my opinion).
Although past reviewers have mentioned the lack of cohesion and the fact that not all stories measure to one another seem to miss many of the binding elements to these stories. Loneliness. Separation and Death are probably just as strong or stronger images than love in this film, and most certainly violence and drugs are prominent in several of the vignettes.
One viewer mentioned that when she walked out of the film she didn’t know whether to love it or hate it - or felt just confused.
Of the seventeen different stories, you will most certainly find one that will become your favorite. Think of going to see Paris Je T’Aime more like a mini film festival. It’s definitely worth the price of admission.
Posted by admin on July 27, 2007 under One stop travel guide to Paris |
Sunday, July 29th the Tour de France will finish up its last 130 km leg of yet another alledgedly ‘enhanced’ event.
The last day’s race will begin at the Centre National de Rugby’s training center at Marcoussis and will end at the Arc de Triomphe on Paris’s Champs Elysees.
Parisinfo suggests ‘if you’ve never seen this event, it’s a can’t miss’. If you do choose to go to the Champs this Sunday, go early and stake out your spot at one of the cafes near Charles de Gaulle Etoile.
You’ll note that some of the hopefuls for winning this year’s race (mentioned on the Parisinfo site i.e. Vinokourov and Moreau) will not be going home wrapped in glory.
Given all the press coverage concerning ‘dopage’ you’d think eventually it would sink in. Or is greed that so blinding?
If the athletes cannot say ‘no’, those that view sporting events can say ‘no’.
