Truly unique experiences in Paris?
Feb 10th, 2005, 12:32 PM
#21
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You all will probably think I'm a nut, but I really enjoy our visits to Castorama - which is sort of a Home Depot equivalent. I don't know why I find it so compelling, probably because I'm a home improvement nut, but you might enjoy it. There are two in the city. The one the hubby and I frequent (due to renovating our Paris apartment) is: 1/3 rue de Caulaincourt on Place Clichy. www.castorama.fr. It was there we were shocked to discover duct tape costs 8 Euro a roll!
One of my girlfriends and I really enjoyed shopping in the multi-level fabric stores in the 18th around Place Saint Pierre. One of them had these bizzare dress form/manequins that sort of looked like really huge Barbies -- not people-sized manequins, but not doll-sized either. They were dressed in little suits and outfits made of the fabrics in the store. The place was bustling with customers - each floor offered a new adventure. Lots of fun if you like fabric.
One of my girlfriends and I really enjoyed shopping in the multi-level fabric stores in the 18th around Place Saint Pierre. One of them had these bizzare dress form/manequins that sort of looked like really huge Barbies -- not people-sized manequins, but not doll-sized either. They were dressed in little suits and outfits made of the fabrics in the store. The place was bustling with customers - each floor offered a new adventure. Lots of fun if you like fabric.
Feb 10th, 2005, 01:22 PM
#23
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On the hardware store front, the Bazare de l'Hotlel de Ville (BHV) basement, has a cafe rigged out as a workshop! Tons of tools, etc., on the vast floor around it and if the clerks are in top form they will totally ignore you!
Feb 10th, 2005, 01:27 PM
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We did a walking tour of Perer Lachesse(sp!) cemetary - I think the company was Paris Walks. A bit of a change from museums and shopping. There are some interesting grave markers and traditions that have evolved for visitors to the cemetary.
Feb 10th, 2005, 01:32 PM
#26
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the Catacombs are very interesting. they were closed for "repairs" in 2001 but we returned in 2003 & toured the place. They have a real theft problem with teens taking bones apparently--you cannot take a backpack down there. The Shakespeare book store is on the opposite side of the Seine in the Notre Dame area. When I return I will have to revisit St Sulpice bcause of reading about the "line" in DaVinci Code. An interesting bar is Deux Magots, a favorite of Hemingway--you will find it in the Latin Quarter not far from Sorbonne. Enjoy!
Feb 10th, 2005, 03:31 PM
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suec1, I'd be interested to hear about the 'traditions' at Pere Lachaise.
nini, I'm interested in knowing what you like about Deux Magots.
The experience is so different imo depending on where you sit--where were you situated?
nini, I'm interested in knowing what you like about Deux Magots.
The experience is so different imo depending on where you sit--where were you situated?
Feb 10th, 2005, 03:33 PM
#29
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We have stayed in the 14th in our last 4 trips to Paris and on our last visit in Nov. 2004 visited the Jardin Atlantique. You can find info at:
http://www.gardenvisit.com/ge/atla.htm
You can also visit this museum at the same time you visit the garden:
http://www.museums-of-paris.com/musee_en.php?code=308
The history of the French Resistance and the Liberation of Paris, through the lives of Maréchal Leclerc and Jean Moulin.
This site will give you many others as well as some great info for Paris:
http://www.paris.org/
A little expended effort can give you significant pleasures.
http://www.gardenvisit.com/ge/atla.htm
You can also visit this museum at the same time you visit the garden:
http://www.museums-of-paris.com/musee_en.php?code=308
The history of the French Resistance and the Liberation of Paris, through the lives of Maréchal Leclerc and Jean Moulin.
This site will give you many others as well as some great info for Paris:
http://www.paris.org/
A little expended effort can give you significant pleasures.
Feb 10th, 2005, 03:47 PM
#30
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Re the above post, the Jean Moulin museum has a multimedia presentation having to do with the occupation an liberation of Paris.
There are interesting shops and other things to see in the passages of the 2nd.
There are interesting shops and other things to see in the passages of the 2nd.
Feb 10th, 2005, 04:10 PM
#31
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I do wish this forum allowed us to add to or revise previous postings.
nini, I meant to add: I don't think of les Deux Magots as being at all in the Latin Quarter, and with it being on the Boul St Germain, it's not very close to the Pantheon. Perhaps you have it confused with another place?
nini, I meant to add: I don't think of les Deux Magots as being at all in the Latin Quarter, and with it being on the Boul St Germain, it's not very close to the Pantheon. Perhaps you have it confused with another place?
Feb 10th, 2005, 07:40 PM
#34
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There also is the naughty Laperouse at 51 Quay des Grands Augustins. I quote from the New York Times:
Émile Zola, George Sand, and Victor Hugo were regulars, and the restaurant's mirrors still bear diamond scratches from the days when mistresses didn't take jewels at face value.... [a] 17th-century Seine-side town house whose warren of intimate, boiserie-graced salons breathes history. ... [R]eserve one of the legendary private salons where anything could happen (and probably has).
Émile Zola, George Sand, and Victor Hugo were regulars, and the restaurant's mirrors still bear diamond scratches from the days when mistresses didn't take jewels at face value.... [a] 17th-century Seine-side town house whose warren of intimate, boiserie-graced salons breathes history. ... [R]eserve one of the legendary private salons where anything could happen (and probably has).
Feb 10th, 2005, 11:49 PM
#37
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The Picard chain has shops sprinkled throughout the city that sell nothing but frozen food, from herbed butter for snails (after you unthaw the snails) to venison steaks, to mango-passion fruit coulis to dribble on your (unthawed) dessert. Even more oddly, the food in the packages actually looks like the pictures of the food on the packages!
Feb 11th, 2005, 01:01 AM
#39
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Actually, sandi_travelnut, Sylvia Beach, who owned the original Shakespeare & Co on rue de l'Odeon, had a lending library and lent books out to everyone. Many writers were attracted to her store because James Joyce used to hang out there. Sylvia is also the one who published his classic <u>Ullysses</u>. But you're not far off. She "waived" the lending library fees because he claimed he was too broke to pay them. Actually, he wasn't that poor. He & Hadley were living on her dowry but he was well-known for being parsimonious. If he could afford a separate apartment to write in I don't think he can have been that poor - LOL!! 
George Whitman is also closely associated with the Beats. The location of the present shop (and Sylvia's shop was never located there) was also the location of George's former bookshop, The Mistral, where the Beats used to hang out. George published some of their works while they lived in Paris.
You can read more about it here:
http://www.virtualtourist.com/m/tp/fe4be/
http://www.virtualtourist.com/m/tp/fe498/
All the links to Shakespeare & Co's websites are there.
Back to the question:
Connolly's Corner on rue Mirbel (it is mentioned in Fodor's Gold Guide but still most people don't know about this place - really great eclectic Irish pub experience - if you walk in with a tie on they cut it off of you & tack it onto the wall!)
http://www.virtualtourist.com/m/tp/ff5c4/
For a TRULY unique experience, you might consider going to Jim Haynes' place for Sunday dinner, he lives in Montparnasse. He's a literary figure & knows just about everybody. I'm told he was of the most interesting people you'll ever meet (this from a friend who's been to the dinner party - she lurks here but doesn't post). Everybody chips in about 15-20€ for the dinner & Jim takes care of the rest. The best part is you never know who'll show up at the party! This is on my list of must-dos next trip to Paris.
http://www.jim-haynes.com/
George Whitman is also closely associated with the Beats. The location of the present shop (and Sylvia's shop was never located there) was also the location of George's former bookshop, The Mistral, where the Beats used to hang out. George published some of their works while they lived in Paris.
You can read more about it here:
http://www.virtualtourist.com/m/tp/fe4be/
http://www.virtualtourist.com/m/tp/fe498/
All the links to Shakespeare & Co's websites are there.
Back to the question:
Connolly's Corner on rue Mirbel (it is mentioned in Fodor's Gold Guide but still most people don't know about this place - really great eclectic Irish pub experience - if you walk in with a tie on they cut it off of you & tack it onto the wall!)
http://www.virtualtourist.com/m/tp/ff5c4/
For a TRULY unique experience, you might consider going to Jim Haynes' place for Sunday dinner, he lives in Montparnasse. He's a literary figure & knows just about everybody. I'm told he was of the most interesting people you'll ever meet (this from a friend who's been to the dinner party - she lurks here but doesn't post). Everybody chips in about 15-20€ for the dinner & Jim takes care of the rest. The best part is you never know who'll show up at the party! This is on my list of must-dos next trip to Paris.
http://www.jim-haynes.com/
