Paris Life
'the infinitely successful Paris Plage just keeps on a-growin' and is now called Paris Plages' In the build-up to the 40th anniversary of May 1968, the month and year that rocked Paris and the world, it was fitting that the French capital was once again visited by strikes, riots and protests and the slogan, Sous les pav s, la plage ' Under the cobblestones, the beach . But while your average Parisian enjoys nothing well almost nothing better than a good r le a moan or a whinge the city is a...
Le Petit Bofinger
Map p180 French, Brasserie 01 46 92 46 46 1 place du D me menu 20.50 amp 25 Hunch amp dinner until 11pm daily M La D fense Grande Arche It's easy to find this glassed-in dining room. Just head to the cinematic glass dome of a building, immediately on your left right as you walk up down the steps of the Grande Arche. The fare is typical bistro, bolstered by a good-value formule bistro 21.80 which invites its overwhelmingly business clientele to network over saucisses de Strasbourg and choucroute...
Stgermain Odon Luxembourg 1
Jardin du Luxembourg pi 19 Mus e National Eug ne Delacroix pi21 7th centuries, but their tombs disappeared during the Revolution. The bell tower over the western entrance has changed little since 990, although the spire dates only from the 19th century. The vaulted ceiling is a starry sky that seems to float forever upward. 01 46 33 21 78 place St-Sulpice, 6e S 7.30am-7.30pm St-Sulpice In 1646 work started on the twin-towered Church of St Sulpicius, lined inside with 21 side chapels, and took...
Le Petit Machon
01 42 60 08 06 158 rue St-Honor , 1er starters 7-12.50, mains 14-22 S lunch amp dinner to 11 pm Tue-Sun M Palais Royal-Mus e du Louvre Close to the Louvre, this upbeat bistro serves some of the best Lyons-inspired specialities in town and the welcome is always warm. It takes its name from a Burgundian variety of galette des rois kings' cake , a puff pastry filled with frangipane cream that is eaten at Epiphany Twelfth night p222 . DJAKARTA BALI Map p86 Indonesian 01 45 08 83 11...
Restaurant Bioart
01 45 85 66 88 www.restaurantbioart.fr 1 quai Fran ois Mauriac, 13e starters 8, mains 18 S lunch Mon, lunch amp dinner to 11.30pm Tue-Fri, dinnerto 11.30pm Sat M Biblioth que Split across two floors, this Seine-side eating space with neon lighting and glass windows is 100 bio. Less formal snacks, salads 10 and bowls of pasta ' n' risotto 10 make up the ground-floor caf menu, while the risotto au cognac la cr me is typical of the more formal fare served upstairs. Savouring 'un plaisir naturel'...
Le Refuge Desfondus
01 42 55 22 65 www.lerefugedesfondus.com, in French 17 rue des Trois Freres, 18e menu 17 S dinner to 2am daily M Abbesses or Anvers This odd place has been a Montmartre favourite for nigh on four decades. The single menu provides an aperitif, hors d'oeuvre, red wine or beer or soft drink in a biberon baby bottle and a good quantity of either fondue savoyarde melted cheese or fondue bourguignonne meat fondue . The last sitting is at midnight. LE MONO Map p169 African, Togolese 01 46 06 99 20 40...
Right Bank Time Passages
Stepping into the passages converts covered shopping arcades of the Right Bank is the simplest way to get a feel for what life was like in early-19th-century Paris. These arcades emerged during a period of relative peace and prosperity under the restored House of Bourbon after Napoleon's fall and the rapid growth of the new industrial classes. In a city without sewers, pavements or sheltered walkways, these arcades allowed shoppers to stroll from boutique to boutique protected from the elements...
A La Grande Bleue
Map pp144-5 North African, Berber 01 42 28 04 26 4 rue Lantiez, 17e starters 4.50-7 50, mains 10-18.50, menu 10.90 lunch only S lunch Mon-Fri, dinnerto 10.30pm Mon-Sat M Brochant or Guy Moquet You'll find unusual barley couscous 11.80 to 18.50 prepared in the style of the Berbers Kabyles of eastern Algeria, as well as the usual semolina variety 10 to 17.50 , tajines 13 to 23 and savoury-sweet pastilla au poulet chicken pastilla 18.50 . The rare cr pes berb res Berber crepes 8.50 to 11.50...
top picks Rjm
Feeling fang Flit into urban high life for a taste of Paris Harry's New York Bar opposite Closing time tends to be 2am, though some bars have later licences. See p304 for clubbing spots and p307 for live music venues - great places to drink, too. Since 1 January 2008, the Parisian drinking scene has been smoke-free - kind of. Following the blanket smoking-in-public-places ban see p220 , smokers have simply moved from inside to out, socialising on the street in front of bars instead or lighting...
Rock Pop Indie
With several venues in and around the city regularly hosting international performers, it can be easier to see big-name Anglophone acts in Paris than in their home countries. Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy Map pp158-9 g 08 92 39 01 00,01 40 02 60 60 www.berg.fr, in French 8 blvd de Berg, 12e Berg Stade de France Map p182 08927009 00 www.stadefrance.com, in French rue Francis de Pressens , ZAC du Cornillon Nord,St-Denis La Plaine M St-Denis-Porte de Paris and Le Z nith Map pp174-5 0890 71 02...
Au Pied De Cochon
Map p86 French, Brasserie 01 40 13 77 00 www.pieddecochon.com 6 rue Coquill re, 1er starters 7.90-18.50, mains 16.50-35,2- 3-course menus 19.50 24 S24hr M Les Halles This venerable establishment, which once satisfied the appetites of both market porters and theatre-goers with its onion soup and pieds de cochon pig's feet or trotters , has become more uniformly upmarket and touristy since Les Halles was moved to the suburbs, but it still opens round the clock seven days a week. Generous...
THE ISLANDS Rpl
LIBRAIRIE ULYSSE Map p105 Books 01 43 2517 35 www.ulysse.fr 26 rue St-Louis en l'Ile, 4e S 2-8pm Tue-Fri M Pont Marie A delightful shop full of travel guides, maps and sage advice from well-travelled staff. The 20,000 back issues of National Geographic are not to be sniffed at. LA PETITE SCIERIE Map p105 Food 01 55 4214 88 60 rue St-Louis en l'Ile, 4e Sl1am-8pm Pont Marie This little hole-in-the-wall sells every permutation of duck edibles with the emphasis - naturellement - on foie gras. The...
Green Paris
For a densely populated urban centre inhabited for more than two millennia, Paris is a surprisingly healthy and clean city. Thanks mainly to Baron Haussmann p27 , who radically reshaped the city in the second half of the 19th century, a small army of street sweepers brush litter into the gutters from where it is hosed into sewers, and a city ordinance requires residents to have the fa ades of their buildings cleaned every 10 years. These days, despite the city's excellent and cheap public...
Laundry
There's a laverie libre-service self-service laundrette around every corner in Paris your hotel or hostel can point you to one in the neighbourhood. Machines usually cost 3.50 to 4.50 for a small load around 6kg and 5.50 to 8 for a larger one about 10kg . Drying costs 1 for 10 to 12 minutes. Some laundrettes have self-service nettoyage sec dry-cleaning machines. You usually pay at a monnayeur central central control box - not the machine itself - and push a button that corresponds to the number...
E ARRONDISSEMENT Pzg
With its dearth of food shops and twin-set of quintessential caf -cum-bars on seemingly every pair of street corners, this is one arrondissement where you know real Parisians really live. Solidly down to earth and stoically free of any trendy concept dining, the 15e cooks up fabulously simple bistro fare. Rue de la Convention, rue de Vaugirard, rue St-Charles, rue du Commerce and those south of blvd de Crenelle are key streets. Near the water, two culinary innovators add an element of surprise...
transport versailles
Ca A13 from Porte de St-Cloud, exit 'Versailles Ch teau' Bi 171 1.40 or one metro bus ticket from the Pont de S vres 15e metro station to place d'Armes every six to nine minutes 5am to midnight RER trai Fastest way the RER line C5 2.80 from Paris' Left Bank RER stations to Versailles-Rive Gauche station is 700m southeast of the chateau trains run every 15 minutes until shortly before midnight. Less convenient RER line C8 2.80 stops at Versailles-Chantiers station, a 1.3km walk from the chateau....
Les Sans Culottes
Map pp94 5 French, Bistro 01 48 05 42 92 www.lessansculottesfr.com, in French 27 rue de Lappe, lie starters 9-15, mains 14-20, menus 18 amp 23 S lunch amp dinnerto 11pm Tue-Sun M Bastille You wouldn't cross Paris to eat at Sans Culottes - the place takes its name from the working-class 'men without breeches' who fought in the French Revolution - but in a neighbourhood that has become somewhat trendy in recent years it's a comforting reminder of the past. The interior, with frosted glass, huge...
Women Travellers
In 1923 French women obtained the right to - wait for it - open their own mail. The right to vote didn't come until 1945 during De Gaulle's short-lived postwar government, and a woman still needed her husband's permission to open a bank account or get a passport until 1964. It was in such an environment that Simone de Beauvoir wrote Le Deuxi me Sexe The Second Sex in 1949. Younger French women especially are quite outspoken and emancipated but self-confidence has yet to translate into equality...