I only have www.pariscope.fr<BR><BR>Hope this helps.<BR>

Thanks for all the tips! Elaine, I've already received your file and it is very useful. The one I obtained from you on London was also very useful.<BR><BR>One of the recommendations above was to write down the name of our hotel and hand it to the taxi driver. I know I'm perhaps slipping into idiocy here, but is writing down destinations/locations/sites recommended in general to try to communicate?

Mike, my husband and I returned from a Paris trip two weeks ago. I concidered it my &quot;first&quot; since the last was a brief time in 1994 with little exploration. So let me give you a &quot;newbie's&quot; point of view:<BR><BR>It is MUCH easier than we anticipated. All the advice you've been given is excellent--always greet the store-owner, waitperson, etc. in French and they'll soon fall into English with you. We learned only key phrases (how much..., where is..., etc.) <BR><BR>Miscellaneous info: If you enjoy coffee, you will LOVE Paris! Order a cafe creme anywhere--I never had a bad cup! The Metro--I'm a big fan of London's tube and I found the Metro inferior. The long tunnels underground to make train changes, the wait for trains--we just really preferred walking--Paris is definitely a city for walking!<BR><BR>I took Rick Steve's book mainly for the d'Orsay tour info, but it came in handy more than once. I also took Fodor's slim paperback for the maps.<BR><BR>Finally, for an excellent romantic dinner try La Bookenista (incredible fish soup) and Au Gourmet de l'ile for the best French atmosphere, small and intimate and an excellent bargain for a 3-course pre fixe menu that includes Kir and 1/2 bottle of house wine.<BR><BR>Don't stress the cultural differences--you'll love Paris!

One day trip that hasn't been mentioned is Giverny. If you enjoy gardens, the gardens at Giverny are exquisite in June. Giverny, located outside the small French town of Vernon, is an easy day trip by train from the Gare du Nord.

L'Officiel des Spectacles does not have a web site. While it is a few cents cheaper than Pariscope, I recommended Pariscope to Mike because it has an English language section and l'Officiel does not. Most listings might be understandable in French but I find the English section rather interesting myself, it has specific recommendations for the best of that week, mainly. <BR><BR>No one else commented, but I sure think it's a good idea to write down addresses etc to avoid mis-communication, why not. It will be a lot quicker and easier to communicate with a cab driver, for example, if you just hand him/her a piece of paper with the name and address of your hotel, or a printout of the website or email confirmation from them. You wouldn't even have to say anything else as they know you want to go there, but if you wanted you could write simply &quot;je voudrais aller a ....&quot; (I would like to go to....) or just &quot;je vais a&quot; (I am going to)... with a please or something. It could be useful for any other place you go, also. I think cab drivers would appreciate that rather than trying to figure out what you are saying, whether in English or phrasebook French, especially due to accents or pronunciation problems. It could also be useful when buying any kind of special ticket or pass at a metro station, or train station. Some people don't know the correct pronunciation of French place names, for one thing, as well as very different accents.

Mel, I don't really share your comparative view on the London tube and the Paris metro. Being a regular user of both, I can tell you that the metro is far better, for about one third of the tube price. The problem in London is that, when it rides normally, it's OK, but for any given ride, you can spend 20 to 50 minutes... And now they even have tube srikes in England (three so far this year ! ).<BR><BR>Mike, something you also should get acquainted with (no big deal, though), is the slightly different restaurant etiquette in France and in the US. First, the &quot;odd&quot; restaurant hours you refer to are the ones most Western countries - bar the States - have dinner at, ie 8 PM onwards (having dinner at 6 will remind French people of any hospital stay they might have undergone). When you sit down, the first thing the waiter will do is give you the menu, not pour you water or ask you for your choice of drink/cocktail (he might sometimes ask you what you want for aperitif, but only in more upscale restaurants). Then, during the meal, he won't come round every three minutes to ask you whether &quot;everything is OK&quot;; nevertheless, if he's a good professional (and most Parisian waiters are, they even graduate as waiters, which always baffles my American friends ! ), he is constantly keeping an eye on &quot;his&quot; tables and will quickly respond to any request. And, last but not least, the waiter will never slam down the bill on the table, until you ask him to, and you can linger on as long as you want.

Get Patricia Wells' book on the food of Paris. She has a great guide to allmatters of eating while there. For a great set price meal I recommend Astier in the 11th. They serve both lunch and dinner with a &quot;discovery&quot; menu. It is worth checking out but do take your dictionary. The metro is the only way besides walking to get around Paris. Since you are going to be there for awhile buy orange cards when you arrive. These will permit you to get on and off the metro with great ease. Despite what many others have said about the Parisians and language I found most people to be quite generous trying to communicate. Good manners seem to go a long way everywhere. Buy a museum card as well. This will allow you to enter a variety of museums for the same fee over an extended time. It's a great city with lots to see. It's really one of the easiest places to find ones way. Walking is the best way to see it all.

As someone else mentioned, there are lots of pubs in Paris. Go to Google and search for 'irish (or english) pubs paris'. I found a list of over 40. <BR>Another good evening activities is museums~the Louvre is open late on Monday and Weds, and the D'Orsay is open late on Thursday. Also, my own personal recommendation is to make two visits to the Louvre, one in the evening. It's much better than doing a marathon day.

A couple more things about dining in Paris. While most Parisians don't dine till 7-8 or later, most restaurants do open around 6 and often have specials (I guess kind of like our &quot;early bird specials&quot. They have all the prix fix menus on a blackboard or sandwhich board out front and often have one that is less expensive that dissapears after 7 or 7:30. If you like to eat with lots of other diners around don't go till after 7. Also as someone said, they won't give you the bill until you ask for it. You have to ask the waiter for &quot;L'addition&quot; (don't forget to say please). If you want you can sit there all evening.<BR><BR>The Seine River cruises that leave from the tip of the Ile de la Cite are somewhat smaller boats than most of the others. Still not exactly intimate but definitly better than the huge ones. Go down the steps near the Pont Neuf, The trip is most enjoyable once dark and in June it doesn't get dark in Paris till after 10:00pm (22:00 in European time). Paris is so beautiful after dark - you really want to see the Tour Eiffel, Notre Dame, etc. so you may want to plan to walk around those areas between about 9 and 11pm. You can also climb the Notre Dame tower at dark and that's a wonderful view of Paris as the lights come on. Actually you can do quite a bit of sightseeing in the evenings so there's no need to go to pubs or cafes or such if you don't want to. I always find plenty to do to keep me busy till midnight or so without any kind of nightclub or theatre scene. Paris is very lively and safe (in the usual touristy areas) at night. Have seen a few drunks in the metro around midnight but nothing compared to what you'd find in New York. The metro overall is wonderful - effecient, safe, pleasant and inexpensive. I wish we had a metro system like that here.

Mike, <BR>You've gotten so much great advise, but thought I'd add a few of my favorites. I agree with Maryjane about Giverny, especially if you are a Monet fan.<BR><BR>Also, a jazz club I'd recommend (if you like jazz) is Le Bilboquet at 58 rue des Lombards. Doesn't open 'til late (after 10) and you need to knock on the door to get in.<BR><BR>Another place we loved and go back to again and again is Le Grand Cafe at 4 boulevard des Capucines near the old opera house (worth going in to see the Chagall ceiling). The place is all stained glass (even the ceiling) and the food is delicious--made right at your table--and very reasonable priced. <BR><BR>I think it's great you're planning now--it will add to your trip immensely. (Plus it's fun!)

Just seconding the night boat tour from the Pont Neuf, smaller boats, fewer people. For evening entertainment, I highly recommend any of the church concerts; we really enjoyed the gospel group at the American Church and the classical one at St. Chappelle. Just eating dinner takes up most of the evening also! Nothing is better than just walking the Seine with Notre Dame lighted in the distance. I don't speak the language either but we found that most shop people spoke enough that we could communicate, and some were fluent enough to joke with. Just make sure you can say thanks, hello and goodbye.