Please be gentle and remember it is already set in stone. We are renting an apartment in the 13th arr. We needed more space for 2 families and didn't want to break the bank. We are right in the center of Chinatown. now I am getting worried that we will be too far from touristy sites and that the area might be dodgy. I have looked for information on Virtual Tourist, Lonely Planet, and other websites.

What advice do you have? We are next to Metro Porte de Choisy. There is a Chinese Restaurant right in the building on the ground floor. I think it is Imperial Choisy, which actually gets good reviews on Trip Advisor.

Any suggestions of what to watch out for?

I do not know about being in the center of one of Paris' Chinatowns, but you could hardly be farther from the center of Paris without being outside Paris itself.

Not helpful, Michael. Did you read the warning to be gentle at the beginning of the post?

I am waiting for the kind people to show up and comment, like kerouac.

Well, I love the Butte aux Cailles and the interesting houses in that neighborhood, as well as all the lovely little cafés and bars there. And the Manufacture des Gobelins is pretty interesting. I frequently take trains south from the Gare d'Austerlitz, which is in the 13ème, and though I'm usually just there to get on a train, the area looks bustling and interesting, and I've never felt unsafe, even around the station itself, and train stations are often sort of iffy locales.. I don't specifically know the Chinatown area, though, so can't speak to that, but in en générale, I wouldn't worry about the area.

StCirq, thank you! I am just nervous about the trip which is less than a week away.

We all get that way, Tentek, even after hundreds of trips. Runningtab and I just booked an apartment in La Rochelle this evening for our September trip, and clicking on the Book Now button nearly gave me a heart attack (even though it's no fee to cancel if you do so 2 days or more before arrival). Seems like the older we get the more important it is to be sure we make good choices, even though at heart I'm a wild and crazy person who can usually go with the flow.

I agree. I really like traveling but the unpredictability of it and the unknown is terrifying when it is so imminent. I am sure when I look at this trip in retrospect it will be all fun memories.

The Metro line you are close to (# 7) will take you to Place d'Italy, which is a bustling place although lacking in tourist attractions vesides a large underground mall, and beyond that to Monge and Jussieu, which are very interesting areas. Although you are located fairly "far out," most things you would want to see are easy to reach by Metro.

A couple of Metro lines run into the Place d'Italie station, providing flexibility when headed for various tourist destinations. The walk towards the river is pleasant if not notably scenic until you reach Moufftard. Seeing a neighbourhood's daily life appeals to me as much if not more than trying to glimpse the towers of Notre Dame through the tourist hordes. You will do fine.

The middle of Chinatown? What's not to like?

Everything is within easy Metro or interesting bus ride.

Do follow St Cirq's recommendation to explore the Butte aux Cailles. It is the kind of Paris most visitors never see and yet more picturesque than many other neighborhoods.

Make an expedition to Parc Montsouris, a very nice large neighborhood park.

The only negative I can think of is the l-o-n-g boring frontage of the Salpetriere Hospital if you should decide to walk the the Jardin des Plantes. So take a bus.

Thanks Ackislander, now I am excited about the location. We travel to Paris just to be in Paris, so hopefully this location will give us an unusual new perspective. Merci bien!

A glorious trip report to come, when we get back.

While in that area you might like the popular pedestrian area and market street of Rue Mouffetard. I live in Paris and go there often. Don't tell Rick Steves or his army of Rue Cler fans.

I would love to stay in the center of Chinatown. There are plenty of metro lines and buses, and also the T3 tramway line to take you to other places.

You are going to enjoy a unique experience. Do not miss the Chinese McDonald's. Not many tourists can claim to have seen it.

Sure, it's not in the center of things. But the M7 is a very convenient line, snaking up through the 13th and 5th and then along the right bank in parallel with - but less congested than - the M1, before turning up to Opera before continuing northeast.

I don't know if you've ever had Chinese food in Paris, but I love it! Definitely has its own variation.

Looking forward to your trip report! (Not to rush you or anything. )

I should mention that a lot of North Americans think that the Chinese food in Paris is terrible because it is not like the Chinese food in North America. That's because Chinese from different regions emigrated to different parts of the world.

What makes the complaint about "badness" partially valid is because the restaurants make some of the more famous dishes from the other regions just to appease the clientele but without knowing that they are supposed to taste like or even caring. Sort of like if you demand that somebody from Vermont fix you a tex-mex dish.

<i>because it is not like the Chinese food in North America. That's because Chinese from different regions emigrated to different parts of the world.</i>

Yes, exactly!! And I'd add that the cuisine takes on a bit of the personality of the host country, too. Over time what is considered Chinese food by most Americans has weighed towards those dishes that were discovered to be most popular here and thus repeated at shop after shop. ("What do you mean you don't serve <i>moo shu</i> at this restaurant??")

So not only is your average Chinese cuisine in the States based primarily on Cantonese cooking (because of where so many Chinese emigrated from at one time), but it's a limited and modified menu from what you would find by traveling to China. And they throw in a smattering of "Szechuan" dishes that are a far cry from authentic. (Tentek, of course being from the Pacific NW, you probably have much better and more varied Chinese food than here in the Northeast!)

When as a student I first tasted Chinese food in Paris, I had only ever had the thick, gummy pork-filled pastry that passed for dumplings in the Boston suburbs of my youth. Steamed dumplings with thin wrappers filled with vegetables were a revelation!

Likewise, I was eager to taste "Indian-Chinese" when I traveled to India. I had been told to expect a much fierier range of dishes than in American restaurants, even the much-more-authentic ones we now have. And they weren't wrong! Happily, we now have an Indian-Chinese restaurant here in NYC - which *almost* replicates the original in Chennai...

I have had Italian Chinese in Bologna, where the Chinese menu is Italianized in a way that surprised us, though it is perfectly logical: aperitivo, primi (all the noodle dishes), secondi, etc.

Vietnamese food in France is similarly different from US Vietnamese food because it is Hanoi style rather than Saigon style. I love banh mi, which is what the Vietnamese did when they got their hands on French bread.

My favorite franco-asian cuising is Cambodian, which is just spectacular. Think Asian vegetables with French sauces. I'm getting hungry. Maybe we should stay in Chinatown next time!

Ackislander, banh mi has become popular in NYC (we have two of these sandwich shops in my Brooklyn neighborhood alone!). But *nothing* compares to banh mi on <i>French</i> French bread. Sigh.

Now you've gone and made me hungry too!

At the risk of getting really off-topic, have you read The Book of Salt by Monique Truong? Three of my favorite things all in one tome: Paris; Paris in the 20's; and food, both Vietnamese and French-!