After a few trips to Paris do you still send post cards? <BR>Do your friends and family like to receive them if they already have one or two from the same place?<BR>Do YOU enjoy receiving them?<BR>Where is the best place in Paris to buy post cards? I will be there in the end of this month and because will be buying 33 post cards I need to find nice looking but also inexpensive cards

Hi<BR>Last time I looked post cards (a year ago) postcards were about 5 francs each, which in your case, plus postage, will certainly add up. For that amount of money, you could have dinner or make a few long distance calls to home or buy a few gifts.<BR>I'd rethink writing 33 postcards. Even with pre-printed labels, that's too much time and effort imo and too much expense.

Elaine, <BR><BR>You would find me nutty then - I have a running list of 40-50 friends & rellies I send postcards to... (I figure, I love getting them, so spread the joy..) I have about 80 on my fridge, including some from some friends here at Fodors! (I also send them out to whomever asks from here, too...)<BR><BR>You can sometimes find a 12 postcards for 15F deal, in the little kiosks around town. 45 francs, not too bad for 36.<BR><BR>I usually count on spending a buck a postcard including postage, could be more though if you have fancy tastes.<BR><BR>they are nice to write when you have a moment of downtime at a cafe. order a libation and wax poetic as you watch the world walk by...<BR><BR>Beth

Trish- My husband and I were wandering around Paris and found a internet/computer user room-a cybercafe without the cafe. We sent email messages to everyone whose email address we could remember. It was quick, easy, cheap (45 franc/hr) and our friends/family thought it was neat to get le eposte card. I always buy postcards but never get around to mailing them. This worked out better for us.

Always! I use the cyber cafes to check on the house and kids, but I collect postcards for myself to go in the book with pictures taken and I send postcards.Email is fine but people still enjoy getting cards with pictures on them.I do~I get cards wherever I see them, along the Seine on the Left Bank, near Notre Dame,at the Louvre,D'Orsay-there are places that you can never get a great picture,as in Notre Dame, but there are great postcard pictures from the roof...

#1/#2 Can't answer these questions as I've only been once, but I would probably send them, idiotic sentimental person that I am. Usually, everyone wants you to bring something back & this is the least expensive thing to do.<BR><BR>#3 Yes, I enjoy receiving them! Immensely!<BR><BR>#4 There is a GREAT place at the corner of Quai de Montebello (on the left bank side facing Notre Dame running along the Seine) and Rue des Grands Degres. It's roughly about 5-10 mins. walk from Shakespeare & Co. going east & almost at Pont de l'Archeveche. I cannot remember the name of the place but it's right on that corner. Really, really pretty postcards here. Items ran from the very inexpensive typical cards to some arty, art noveau "postcards" that you mail in an envelope. My Mom & Nanny (grandmother) enjoyed receiving the latter.<BR>The shop it's cute and the proprietor is VERY charming & nice & speaks wonderful English, even helping along at my horrid attempts at French. He even was kind enough to steer me away from the cheesy stuff & gave me good deals on items I bought in bulk, such as small Eiffel Towers (10ff?), and then he threw in some Eiffel Tower key rings for free. He also gave me advice on how to spot quality souvenir items should I decide to buy them elsewhere. I do remember that these items were better & less expensive than anything hawked on the Bir Hakeim or along the street that runs north from near the entrance to Notre Dame.<BR>Okay, I'll stop. I'm writing a book.<BR><BR>Have a wonderful time,<BR>Mary

okay, okay, I'll 'fess up. I tend to send 10-15 postcards each trip; 33 just seemed overwhelming to me personally, but the rest of you are truly dedicated.<BR>Even with sending fewer, I always<BR>prepare address labels before I go; it's one less thing to write when I get there.<BR>MaryC, thanks for the shop tip.

If I wrote postcards every time I go to Paris, I would be bankrupt by now!<BR><BR>I love to buy cards that I use over the year in bookshops in Montparnasse, usually b/w ones. Very often, I choose them already knowing for whom they will be. I have a friend who loves Paris and who moved to NYC a couple of month ago. I found a beautiful b/w card showing the Eiffel Tower AND the Statue of Liberty. I will send it for Christmas.<BR><BR>On the other hand, I will definitely write some cards, when I get back one day to NYC.

Re;buying Postcards..I discovered a little cardshop in NYC (I know this is Europe-forgive me please) on Prince St in Soho-they have the most fantastick selection of pretty/odd/weird cards...worth sending to your nearest and dearest.

I actually make a habit of sending MYSELF postcards! I have whoever I am travelling with write a little something about what we are doing or talking about and I do the same. Then years later I can read them and remember little things about the trip that normally I wouldn't!<BR>Sorry I don't have any info on where to buy them!

I stopped sending postcards about 10 years ago. I spent so much time trying to find good postcards, writing them, then hunting down someplace to buy stamps that I didn't find it enjoyable - it became a heinous task. It wasn't how I wanted to spend my vacation. When I added in the cost ($.50-1.00 per), it didn't seem worth it. If someone is worth a card, they're worth a souvenir.

I like to hear from my friends. So yes, the post cards are nice. <BR>The email idea is a good one, but in my age group not everyone has email. They want no truck with this new fangled electronic stuff!!<BR>I got a little discouraged on post cards in 2000 year because we sent our grandsons post cards and they never, ever got them. This past year we brought the cards home and sent them so they could have the pictures for school.<BR>(Of course we were buying some of them after September the 11th and were not sure when they would get back to the States.)

I stopped sending so many becauserice; they seemed to arrive after have arrived home; or People toss them. However is some one collects cards or stamps, we would send them one. If i find a card I like, We send it to our cat and dog.

I often send postcards, and when I do I sent 20 - 30 of them.<BR><BR>But as I travel many times during a year on shorter trips of 3-5 days, I don't send them from every trip.<BR><BR>I don't think it impacts on me whether I have been there before since I am unlikely to pick the same card anyway.<BR><BR>I usually find cards in Paris for about 20FF each, look in cheaper tacky souvenir shops on the left bank near the Notre Dame and Latin Quarter.<BR><BR>Near the Rue du Chat qui Peche or something like that.<BR><BR>I figure if I can pay a flight of often hundreds of pounds and a significant amount on hotels per night, I can afford to share the pleasure with family.<BR><BR>Especially since my husband's family don't travel much and have said how much they enjoy sharing the trips with us through the postcards.<BR><BR>I also just remember how much I LOVE getting postcards myself.<BR><BR>I don't write much...<BR><BR>Sometimes, just a few words...<BR><BR>"Sitting in a cafe overlooking Funchal harbour enjoying coffee and sun, love Pete and Kavey"<BR><BR>Although a friend showed me recently a postcard I sent from Kenya as a teenager (having suffered extreme racism as well as illness there).<BR><BR>It read<BR><BR>"The elephants are nice, the cheetahs are nice, the lions are nice, the leopards are nice, the birds are nice, the trees are nice, the hotels are nice, I hate it here and want to come home"<BR><BR> LOL<BR><BR>Kavey

Elaine, you're welcome. It's the least I could do since you sent me your wonderfully informative Paris file that I still re-read (plus, I have it on diskette & on hard drive).<BR>Ursula, that's such a good idea. Even with writing just a few words on each postcard can be time-consuming all in one shot.<BR>LOL, Kavey. (Even the elephants are nice )<BR><BR>Mary

Elaine<BR><BR>I think the name of the shop is Maison de Paris @ 5 Quai de Montebello.

Kavey-my son sent me a postcard once,while touring in Europe,it read-"cold,wet,tired,but the food is ok."..I guess that is what a mother needs to hear <BR>I have friends who go on these wonderful(to me) trips to Florence or Provence in the summer and send a postcard with tiny handwriting telling us all about th entire trip..part of the fun is figuring out the handwriting~C