Ronda

We will be in Paris the end of the month and are looking for ideas for evening activities. We enjoy jazz and have been to Pinot Franc which we enjoyed. Please share your ideas. Many thanks.

SusanP

If you are there the last Tuesday of the month, go to Le Petit Journal on Blvd St. Michel and hear Claude Bolling, a wonderful jazz composer and pianist. If you're there when he's doing one of his flute & piano jazz numbers, consider yourself lucky! And you can also have dinner there, which is very good.

Walk along the Seine, especially to see Notre Dame lit up for the night, and make sure to go far enough east to see the back of the building. If you do this and you like books, stop in to Shakespeare & Co., a wonderful bookstore on the Left Bank. I think they are open until midnight.

Go to a concert at Ste. Chappelle and come out to just a misting of rain and walk down the quai to Les Bookinistes for a wonderful dinner in a little corner table at the front of the restaurant where you can look out onto the street and talk with the French couple at the next table because they are so close, you might as well be at the same table...

Go to La Fontaine de Mars for dinner and then take a fairly short walk over to the Eiffel Tower to see it at night with all the lights...

Can you tell that we did all of these things?....
Have a great trip!

dln

Hi Ronda! When you get to Paris, buy a copy of Pariscope at the newstands. It costs less than a euro and has all the goings-on for the week, organized by what type of music and/or event. There used to be an English section in the middle of it, but no more. All in French now. Nonethess it's easy to figure out where to find some good jazz! Have fun!

francophile03

I have not done it yet but have gotten recommendations of taking a Seine cruise. I'm referring to the bateaux Parisiens cruise boats and not the tourist dinner/cruises.

ira

Hi ronda

For Jazz, consider

Caveau des Oubliettes 52 rue de Galande

Caveau de la Huchette 5 rue de la Huchette

nytraveler

Movies! Paris is a great cinema town. there are alway festivals of one type or another - sometimes double features - usually in the Rive Gauche. We have done several - my favorite being a Marx Brothers triple show. The audience was about 1/2 French and 1/2 English speaking - you could tell by the 2 sets of laughs - first for the audio, second for the sub-titles. A great evening with a little cafe sitting and walk home along the Seine afterward.

Ronda

Would love to go to Ste. Chapelle for a concert but I don't see any listings for the period we will be there

http://www.ampconcerts.com/

Have also read Ste. Chapelle is unheated .

It will be Nov/Dec. but how about areas where there is some activity (action if you will). I have read here about the Bastille area. I do want to eat at Bofinger which is in that area so perhaps we can walk around there after dinner. It is going to be cold though.

A cruise is a good idea too. I wonder if there will be many lights up along the river for Christmas? Remember that movie with J. Binochet "Lovers of/on the Bridge" where they take a boat down the Seine (I believe it was Christmas time)? There were lots of lights then.

kdk1965

Bofingers has a 20% discount if you book online. We will be there for Thanksgiving.


This is a great thread. Thanks for starting it!

Mary in Naples

sandypaws3

Hi, Ronda..
We have enjoyed the following:

Lapin Agile Cabaret in Montmartre:

http://www.au-lapin-agile.com/

A ballet at Opera Garnier:

http://www.operadeparis.fr/

Jazz at Le Bilboquet on rue Saint Benôit, right down the street from Café de Flore:

13 r St Benoît 75006

Sandy

WillTravel

Classical music concerts in churches are nice. I enjoyedthe Ste.-Chappelle one plus several others.

mamc

We found Ste. Chapelle concert we attended last month on the website of the Orchestra des Archets de Paris. Unfortunately, I can't find the URL for the website.

Christina

There are always classical music concerts in some churches -- there is no reason to go to Ste Chapelle in particular if you just want to go to a concert. If you want to see the church, which is quite special, you can do that in the daytime. There is a nice concert in that time period in St Julien le Pauvre and maybe St Emphram, and always the Madeleine but I don't like that church for acoustics. There are not any in Ste Chapelle for some reason during your time frame. However, I don't think any of these churches will likely be heated for that -- I"m not positive, though.

They also have some concerts in the Cluny (Moyen Age) museum, specializing in music from that time, like chants. You'd have to like that kind of stuff to enjoy it, but it sounds interesting.

Just go to the Paris Tourist OFfice web site and click on events, concerts, and you'll find everything like that in one place.

I'm not a big jazz buff (although do like Claude Bolling, would love to hear him) but Paris is great for it, and I've been to a couple things. There are all kinds of places -- I'd recommend the little hole-in-the-wall Sept Lezards (10 rue des Rosiers) over in the Marais or see if they have something at the Hotel d'Albret over that way (rue de Francs-Bourgeois). There are many good clubs around Chatelet, and New Morning is well-known. I'd just check things out in Pariscope or some entertainment guide when you get there. That's what I do.

I wasn't crazy about Caveau de la Huchette. It's an experience, sure, but was really more swing-jazz or dancing and if you don't want to do that, I don't think it the best environment for listening or relaxing (difficult to find a place to sit, if you do, it might be okay).

kfusto

We did the boat cruise and its quite enjoyable. Paris is lovely at night and it is nice way to spend a few hours.

isabel

In addition to the concerts mentioned already, and the boat rides, and just walking around (Paris is beautiful at night) there are plenty of movies. All the recently released US made movies are shown in English with French subtitles so even if your French is not good enough to understand a show, you have no problem with the movies. Can be quite relaxing after a day of walking around all day, not to mention relaxing for your brain to to just be in automatic mode listening to English after a day of trying to converse in French.

Also different museums are open different nights, for example the D'Orsay on Thursday and Louvre on Monday and Wednesday.

Ronda

Thanks for the tip on Bofinger!

Sandy, was the Lapin Agile show in French or English? I had heard it has a comedy show in French.

I think walking around Sacre Coeur and the Place de Tertere might be fun (perhaps in summer). Someone posted (on another thread) that Sancerre on Rue des Abbesses is a fun place to go. The Michelin Green Guide gives it a good write up.

Beatle

And don't forget a walk, or rather a "stroll" down the Champs-Elysees to Place Concorde, a beautiful square at night.

Robespierre

Here ya go:

<b>http://www.bourjoisusa.com/scent</b>

Ronda

Thanks Robespierre for posting that site for Evening in Paris but there must be something wrong with my computer. I clicked and clicked on the &quot;spot&quot; that said scent and I never could smell the perfume! he he

I have seen old bottles on e-bay if anyone is interested. I have often wondered if there is somewhere in Paris to buy vintage perfumes but that would be another thread.