Tips for Paris

French beauty secrets at the Pharmacie

Who can resist a new face cream or great new conditioner?  Many of the top French brands [Nuxe, Caudalie, La Roche Posay] have mainstreamed into stateside drugstores or departments stores, but in France, you can get these brands- and many more- and your corner para-pharmacie or pharmacie.  [Note:  A pharmacie can fill prescriptions and dispense medications, and sells some beauty products as well

Pedicure in the Garden.. only in Paris!

Would love this when the peds are tired from walking around!!

Have a pedicure in a garden

If you were given 30 minutes of free time, would you:
- have a drink with the girls
- treat yourself to a pedicure
- work on your tan in a garden ?
Let's have it all. This summer, the Villa Madame Hotel welcomes you and your girlfriends for a pedicure in their garden.

All you have to do is book an appointment and take a seat in the sunny garden of the Villa Madame Hotel. As you catch up with Sophie and Claire, your feet will be cuddled by experts. If you want a snack, you will be served lemonade and a macaron. It all costs 35€. Exhilarating.

Tell your best friends about it.


Express manucure and pedicure in the garden of the Villa Madame Hotel, 44 Rue Madame, Paris 6th
15€ for a 15 min-manucure, 35€ for a 20 min pédicure
Wednesdays to Sundays, from noon to 7pm, open until 10pm on Thursdays
Book by phone 00 33 1 45 48 02 81
Let your friends in on the secret

Enjoy!

Julie

This is why we invested in Paris!

The Office du Tourisme de Paris just published its statistics for 2009 (better late than never) which you might find interesting. They define the tourist as someone outside of his normal environment who spends more than one night and less than one year (this I find funny considering the visa waiver program is 90 days).
Not surprising is that France is the most visited country with a recorded 76.8 million visitors in 2009, and second to that was the U.S. with 54.9 million visitors. Americans spent the most amount of money, too, with expenditures of $93.9 billion -- $1,710 per visitor!
Of the 76.8 million visitors, 35.3 million (46%) stayed less than four nights with 19.2 million (24.5%) staying eight nights or more. The British make up the largest percentage of visitors with 15.9%, followed by the Belgians (14.2%) and the Germans (13.9%). We Americans only make up 4% and Canadians only 1.1%. (We may be few, but we make a big impact!)
Of the 961.9 million nights spent in France as a tourist, only 5.8% spend those nights in hotels and 15.5% in rented accommodations. The rest either camp (8.5%, can you believe that?) or stay with a friend or family or in a secondary home.
To learn more, download the pdf report at tourisme.gouv.fr/

Julie

Upcoming event in Paris Oct. 2nd! Nuit Blanche

We attended this event last year and it was fun experience.  I am including 2 links that talk about Nuit Blanche : "Not to be missed: the greatest night of contemporary art in Paris is back on 2 October.  Discover the wide range of creative arts (sculpture, video, installation, performance art, etc.). Absolutely free!"

It takes place all night and is fun to roam around and check out.

For more info see:
http://www.paris.fr/portail/english/Portal.lut?page_id=8208&document_type_id=5&document_id=34123&portlet_id=18969

ALSO:

http://nuitblanche.paris.fr/

The 1st link is English and the 2nd link also has a doc on the bottom of the page in English of the program.

Enjoy!

10 Things to Bring Back from Your Trip to Paris

Great article from this guy..

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2010/09/10-gifts-things-to-bring-back-home-from-your-trip-to-paris/

Enjoy!

Good cocktails are hard to come by in Paris/Europe so maybe this is an option??

Pixel-personal cocktail Paris-best mojito in paris - MyLittleParis | mylittleparis.com/en

www.mylittleparis.com

The latest Parisian chic? Give your name to a cocktail created to your taste by the best bartender in the city. Head down the rue Dauphine to the Pixel Bar.

Great way to see Paris...

Fat Bike Tours are great for seeing Paris in a different light. You'll see more, have more fun, and not feel tired at the end of it. These are highly recommended and truly a great thing to do during your stay.  Take a City Segway Tours, the world's first guided tour using Segways. Be sure you glide with the original!

What's going on in the city of light!!

Great website in English for finding out what's happening in the City.

http://paris.angloinfo.com/information/whatsontoday.asp

Picasso museum is closed... what are the alternatives??

Check out:  http://www.eurocheapo.com/blog/paris-the-museum-is-closed-for-renovations-now-what.html

All is not lost!

* Old Paris Museum Passes Expire Next Month *

Paris Museum Passes used to be good forever (or rather, there was no expiration date). But that’s all coming to an end now, with passes good for one year. All formerly purchased tickets without an expiration date need to be used before June 30th, 2010. www.parismuseumpass.com

Paris top 10 must haves...

These will get you in trouble but I will post them anyway! Bill totally got hooked on the Carmels and we made 2 trips within a week to get more.
I follow his blog, great info.
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2007/08/10_insanely_del.html

Enjoy!

Julie

What the heck is My Paris Dream?

Actually it's Our Paris Dream that can be your Paris Dream!! We decided to purchase and apartment in Paris?!?! and rent it out when we are not there? Can you really do such a thing living in the USA? Well of course you can!! WOW who would have thought?
It was a big deal, a big risk but its working. The only things that isn't working is us getting there as often as we would like. We will share apartment ownership trial and tribulations, Paris nuggets and hopefully general banter and ongoing info and conversation about a city we LOVE!

Julie B
http://www.myparisdream.com/
www.vrbo.com/100027
www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p183307