I am travelling to Paris on my honeymoon in December. My partner and I are both chefs and want to stay in a lively neighborhood with great cafes. We are also very interested in a place that is english friendly (I am desperately trying to learn french)We dont want a 4 star place. Just a somewhat affordable, romantic location in a safe and lively neighborhood. We would happily trade big and beautiful for funky and clean. <BR> <BR>Thank you

Lively neighborhood with great cafes = St. Germain/6th arrondisement! <BR> <BR>Lots of English-friendly, romantic choices in that area, in every price range. <BR> <BR>Can you be more specific when you say "affordable"? It might affect what people recommend. The place I stayed (Grand Hotel des Balcons) was great and scored high on location and affordability ($75/night), but I would not give it the highest marks on romance. <BR> <BR>If you do a search you'll find lots of recommendations for hotels in the 6th.

Hi Justine: <BR> <BR>The 4th,5th and 6th arrondisments are very lively and have tons of great cafes and restaurants. <BR> <BR>There are also many wonderful hotels in these areas, but you don't specify your budget. <BR> <BR>You can read our journal of Paris on our website which mentions our hotel (in the 5th) and many of the restaurants we found. If you want more information, fee free to meil me. <BR> <BR>Good luck! <BR>Carol <BR>www.davidandcarol.com

I was in Paris in May and stayed in the 7th. I wouldn't exactly call it lively, but we found the absolutely BEST Italian restaurant I've ever had. I live in Boston and this place knocks the socks off of any restaurant in Boston's North End which is cram full of Italian places. <BR> <BR>La Case Di Sergio <BR>20 rue de l'Exposition <BR>75007 Paris <BR>01 45 51 37 71 <BR> <BR>Sergio, the owner who also speaks English, was wonderful. He catered to us each time we went. He was so funny, too. One of our favorite memories. <BR> <BR>The restaurant is not too pricey either.

I like the area around place Contrescarpe in the Latin Quarter, lots of good cafes, a food market street nearby (rue Mouffetard, maybe not the best restaurants on there), lots of good small restaurants on nearby rue Tournefort. I guess it's romantic enough; staying on the Ile St-Louis is another possibility, there are some good cafes on there. I wouldn't worry too much about the English, in central Paris, waitstaff will likely know English well enough for you to communicate. You might want to consider a special class at Cordon Bleu, they have a real neat one day session where very early in the morning you go to the professional food wholesale market to the south of Paris (Rungis, you can't get in on your own), then come back to their facility in Paris and prepare a meal with stuff from the market. It's not as expensive as you'd think for that one-day thing.

If you're interested in funky and lively you might try looking in the Marais area, northeast of the <BR>Bastille. There are lots of museums in the area, the Place des Vosges is in the middle of it, and it’s <BR>a 15 minute walk to the Ile de Cite. Two chefs, you guys should have a great time! <BR> <BR>If you look at the National Geographic Traveler magazine article from a couple of months ago, they list hotels for under $100, two that I thought looked interesting (funky) were Hotel Beaumarchais, 3 rue Oberkampf and Hotel de Nice, 42bis, rue de Rivoli (the others, from all over Paris, are Hotel du Champ de Mars, 7,rue du Champ de Mars; Hotel Muguet,11 rue vert;Hotel du Palais Bourbon, 49, rue de Bourgogne; Hotel Saint Cominique,62,rue Saint Dominique; Hotel Beaubourg, 11, rue SimonLefranc; Hospitel Hotel-Dieu,1, place ju Parvis Notre-Dame; Hotel Montpensier 12, rue de Richelieu; Hotel La Sanguine, 6, rue de Surene; Hotel Favart, 5, rue Marivaus; New Orient Hotel, 16, rue de Constantinople; Familia Hotel/Minerve Hotel, 11 rue des Ecoles/13 rue des Ecoles; Hotel des Grandes Ecoles, 75, rue Cardinal Lemoine; Hotel Saint <BR>Jacques, 35 rue des Ecoles; Residence Le Vert Galant, 41-43, rue Croulebarbe; Grand Hotel des Balcons, 3, rue Casimir-Delavigne; Hotel du Lys, 23, rue Serpente; Regent's Hotel, 44, rue <BR>Madame; Hotel des Croises, 63, rue St-Lazare; Hotel Chopin, 10 boulevard Montmartre; Ermitage Hotel,24, rue Lamarck). <BR> <BR>Book early--though December is off season.

We spent three weeks in Paris in November and stayed at the Hotel Caron de Beaumarchais in Le Marais (4th). In our travelogue at http://www.thetravelzine.com/paris1100.htm you'll find lots of info about the restaurants in the surrounding area. TheTravelzine.com is non-commercial.

Did our honeymoon in the 6th arr. Stayed at the Hotel Buci Latin. 3 star...very nice, modern. Check it out on their web site: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/hotelbucilatin Might be the funky, clean place you're looking for. <BR> <BR>LOTS of cafes, on the market street, lots of specialty shops...all within a couple of blocks. You will love this neighborhood!

ttt <BR>