Travel

I read here that tourists had been drinking French champagne in a well known cabaret in Paris. Actually champagne can only be French because no sparkling wine is allowed to call itself champagne if not produced in the area of Champagne (33.000 hectares). As a general rule, grapes used must be the white Chardonnay, or the dark-skinned red wine.

i agree with everyone. cold is pretty relative depending on where you live. i am from santa barbara county, california. i went to paris in jan. '08 and although it wasn't snowing, it was freezing and windy and dreary. it also rained for about 4 days. it kept our exploring to mostly indoor venues. museums, restaurants. we walked but ended up just.

It's not surprising that the culture which gave us the bikini would also be the first to figure out how to bring the beach to their fabulous city! The original "plage urbaine," the Paris Plage began in 2002, with the French converting the Seine's banks into pedestrian areas as well as sandy sunbathing spots. The first plage spread from the Louvre to the Pont de Sully on Voie Georges Pompidou, covering three kilometers (1.86411 miles) along the Seine River. The popularity of the event caused organizers to build additional plages at Port de la Gare and Bassin de la Villette. The beaches open around July 20 and usually last four weeks, with all Paris Plages open until midnight daily.

Paris is uniquely Paris in any season. While spring and fall are considered the best times to visit, I also enjoy the December Holiday season. The stores are so festive and the skating rink is. more

The "must sees" in Paris are "musts" for a reason. VT traveler tips are your best resource for all the helpful hints you'll need to spend your time wisely. But don't forget just to slow down and look at the details of Parisian life. While there are many illuminated structures at night, the city's moniker "City of Light" comes from the excellence of the intellectual life during the Enlightenment period. The Latin Quarter remains the university area and home to Le Sorbonne, Ecole Normale Superieure and other university units. Paris' history is still visible in the the city as seen in this series of tips about the 1210 Philippe-Auguste Wall (l'Enceinte), which guarded the then City of Paris while Philippe was off on the Crusades. There are 11 tips in all, beginning here: "Philippe-Auguste Wall (l'Enceinte): Part I" - Walking Around Tip by BeatChick that describe how to walk the circumference of this wall.