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| Going to Paris - want suggestioons | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jan 5 2007, 09:26 AM (572 Views) | |
| ilm | Jan 5 2007, 09:26 AM Post #1 |
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Middle Aged Carp
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Hello, Looks like others too are going to Paris this summer. Can we gather a list of hotels and what is good and bad about them? Interested mainly in a quiet hotel room, so that we don't hear the neighbors like mentioned in the other thread. Also restaurants and must see sites? Thank you for your helo, ILM |
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| sue | Jan 5 2007, 10:58 AM Post #2 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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What fun! I've been going through a few Paris guide books; Frommers and Rick Steves both list lots of suggestions, depending on your budget. I like checking them with Tripadvisor for reviews. One person's negative can be a positive for someone else. Elevators, for example. They make me twitchy at the best of times, and some of these ancient, tiny ones in Paris make me nervous. So for me, a plus would be a place with no elevator. I don't mind stairs. I'm looking for something under, or close to, 100 EU per night, and want (hope) to have a window on a busy street. I want to see life! (though not necessarily hear too much of it from the adjoining rooms <_< ) What are your wishes? |
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| Frank_W | Jan 5 2007, 01:24 PM Post #3 |
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Resident Misanthrope
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I heard that the roundabouts are great fun, there. Be sure to check them out!
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Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin." Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!" | |
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| sue | Jan 5 2007, 01:40 PM Post #4 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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| big al | Jan 5 2007, 01:52 PM Post #5 |
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Bull-Carp
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Another reason to go to London instead. The roundabouts are even more fun when you're driving on the opposite side of the road from that to which you are accustomed. Big Al |
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Location: Western PA "jesu, der simcha fun der man's farlangen." -bachophile | |
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| Frank_W | Jan 5 2007, 03:02 PM Post #6 |
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Resident Misanthrope
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:lol:
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Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin." Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!" | |
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| jon-nyc | Jan 6 2007, 05:23 AM Post #7 |
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Cheers
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I lived in Paris for almost a year in 2002, when my wife and I were on sabbatical. I'm not very good with hotel recommendations since we had an apartment. A good place to start might be the reviews at concierge.com. I will give you other recommendations though. Non-touristy favorites: Parc des Buttes-Chaumont – on the eastern side of the city, a large park with hills and ravines, great views of the city, almost no tourists. Interesting bohemian crowd, sometimes you’ll see music festivals here, especially in the summer. A fantastic place to spend a couple of hours, combine it with a walk through Belleville. See pictures of the park here. Belleville – 20th arrondissemont – a traditionally poor neighborhood that is now being colonized by artists and bohemian types, like the lower east side 15 years ago. Good for walking around an people watching, grabbing lunch in an ethnic (probably asian or middle eastern) restaurant. You’ll see few if any tourists here (and the ones you do see will be the ones you don’t mind being around). Has a significant Chinatown as well. Canal Saint-Martin – walking along side the canal, west and north of Place de Revolution, there are cool café’s and restaurants, even a bagel shop (in Paris!). This area is quickly gentrifying, but when I was last there it still had a fabulous vibe. (in general, the eastern neighborhoods are where the so called ‘bobos’ – bourgoise bohemians – live. Meaning the artist and intellectual types that might have lived on the left bank 75 years ago) A cute and small restaurant there worth going to is Le Sporting (3 Rue des Récollets). There are boat tours of the canal that are more interesting than you might think. One building of interest is the apartment in which the Mona Lisa was kept after it was stolen from the Louvre in the early 1900s (which greatly contributed to its fame). The canal actually goes through a system of locks to lower its level then goes underground, coming back up south of the city. Here are some pics. Favela Chic (18 rue du Faubourg du Temple) – not far from Canal St-Martin just north of Place de Republique, its a very cool scene, a Brazilian restaurant that serves chic-ed up Brazilian peasant food (like feijoada) on communal tables, then the place turns into a pretty happening club. Get there before 10 to avoid the velvet rope treatment. This was very cool in 2002 when I lived in Paris, but I’ve heard as recently as 2006 that its still pretty happening. Musee Camondo – this is an interesting but sad museum, in the 8th, along side Parc Monceau (which is quite nice itself). Its basically a private home of a family of jewish bankers as it looked around WW-I. The family had a long history in banking, first in Turkey then in Paris. They became notables and socialites in Paris, and were prominent backers of music and the arts. In WW-I the only son of the patriarch was killed, which led to his father leaving the house and its contents to a decorative arts society. He died and left one daughter, who was eventually killed at Auchwitz in 1944 with her husband and two kids. I believe the family has been completely wiped out. The museum tells their story and houses their great collection of art. It has a lived-in feel, like the Frick museum in NY but on a smaller scale. Its fascinating, touching, and sad. Palais de Tokyo – this might be more on the tourist map now, but when I lived in Paris it had just opened so it was far less known. It’s a modern art museum in the 16th that’s very well designed and nicely situated right on the Seine. Its worth a visit, or at least see what exhibitions are there. Cite de la Musique – way up in the 19th. They have a fantastic historic instrument collection. Definitely get the audio guide when you’re there. Touristy-type stuff that I think is worth while: Hotel des Invalides – the military museum itself is interesting, but of special interest are the tombs of Napoleon, Marshall Foch, and some other French military notables. Marais – crawling with tourists but some of the shops are still worth while. Go on a weekday. Good falafel is to be had at some of the restaurants there as well. Centre Pompidou – this place really grew on me. Its worth seeing for the architecture, but they usually have some good exhibitions as well. Pere laChaise – the famous cemetery is worth seeing. Chopin, Oscar Wilde, and Jim Morrison are the most visited graves, but there is also Proust, Pissarro, Gertrude Stein, Colette, Maria Callas, Edith Piaf, and others. Fauchon, on the Place du Medeleine in the 8th. – pop in and buy some chocolate! The original Opera house – in the 9th. The Chagall ceiling is to die for! Make sure you go when they’re not rehearsing so you can see it. The building is gorgeous and historic. The catacombs. Must be seen to be beleived. Do not miss these. As for when to visit - DONT GO IN AUGUST. Its hot, all the Parisians are gone, and all the Americans are there. The fete de la musique is a national music festival on June 21st. It lasts all night, there are parties all over the country but in Paris each arrondissemont has free outdoor concerts lasting all night. They publish guides, you can see any type of music you want. Plus thousands of people are partying all night. This is a great time to be in Paris. Other than that June holiday, I would recommend visiting in either May or September. The weather is still good, but there aren't as many tourists. September is a good time as the cultural attractions are picking up. April and October would be my next choices. |
| In my defense, I was left unsupervised. | |
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| 1hp | Jan 7 2007, 09:22 AM Post #8 |
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Fulla-Carp
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Musee D'Orsay St. Chappelle (incredible stained glass) A visit to Galleries Lafayette (department store) Saint Sulpice (in Davinci Code, if you liked the book) - nice church The gardens at Versailles (inside pretty good too!) Monets garden at Giverny |
| There are 10 kinds of people in this world, those that understand binary and................ | |
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| LWpianistin | Jan 7 2007, 09:23 AM Post #9 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Oh yeah! Monet's Garden! It's incredible! |
| And how are you today? | |
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| RosemaryTwo | Jan 7 2007, 09:31 AM Post #10 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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I toured the sewers on my last visit. That kinda stuck with me.
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| "Perhaps the thing to do is just to let stupid run its course." Aqua | |
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| sue | Jan 7 2007, 03:09 PM Post #11 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Some great suggestions, thanks all. Jon, I really appreciate your non-touristy places, and I'm making notes of all of them. You just can't find information like that in a guide book. The Canal St.Martin area sounds wonderful.I wish I could be there for June 21; that sounds magical. But I think it will have to be early July for us. |
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| jon-nyc | Jan 7 2007, 03:36 PM Post #12 |
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Cheers
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Glad to be of help, Sue. As for July, its definitely better than August. There are a lot of tourists there, but at least the Parisians are still around. |
| In my defense, I was left unsupervised. | |
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| 1hp | Jan 7 2007, 06:42 PM Post #13 |
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Fulla-Carp
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The only people in restaurants in Paris at 7 pm are tourists. Make like a Parisian and don't have dinner before 9.00pm - then you won't feel like you're in the US. |
| There are 10 kinds of people in this world, those that understand binary and................ | |
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| LWpianistin | Jan 7 2007, 08:45 PM Post #14 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Good tip! 9 is even early-ish from what I remember. |
| And how are you today? | |
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| Bernard | Jan 7 2007, 09:39 PM Post #15 |
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Senior Carp
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I spent a week in Paris in September, 1997 and during that week (I don't know if it was on-going) there were recitals in St. Chappelle. I saw there one of the rudest conductors I've ever witnessed. The music was good though. |
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| Bernard | Jan 7 2007, 09:49 PM Post #16 |
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Senior Carp
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Other sites that impressed me: Fountains everywhere! Take pictures. The weather. I mean it, there was something different about the sky. Montmartre (check out the Metro station entrances) Moulin Rouge Conciergerie (where Marie Antoinnette was imprisoned) Les Halles There is a wonderful mechanical clock in Marais that is interesting but I don't know the exact address. I had a interesting time at Musée Carnavalet (in Marais) Versailles (a day trip--worth it) Tour boats in La Sienne Early morning sunlight Place Dauphine (up the road from Notre Dame) Centre Pompidou (check out the fountain) Bookinistes along the Sienne Every night there was like a festival just across the Sienne from Notre Dame in Rive Gauche. I liked it. Kind of like the Village here in NYC. Great people watching. Ooh la la. |
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| David Burton | Jan 7 2007, 10:07 PM Post #17 |
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Senior Carp
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Well, pretty good suggestions. But I personally like Paris best in April or late October after the fashion biz shows are over. The Musée Gustave Moreau in the 9th is certainly interesting and a walk up to Basilique du Sacré Coeur on the on the butte Montmartre will certainly give you a workout. Try to go when someone is doing an organ recital there – if you like such things. There certainly are a lot of great pipe organs in the churches in Paris by the way. Oddly enough Paris has always seemed to me far quieter and more restful than any American city, that is one could actually go there just to relax. It’s a great place to walk in too as long as you watch for deposits of la merde des chiens. Check this out - http://museliere.free.fr/feces.htm. It’s sort of an expression of “va te faire foutre” amongst themselves not to pick up after their dogs. Sometimes I have the feeling the French actually like their visitors better than each other. Aside from that, on my recent visits I’ve found the place actually cleaner and certainly less smelly than on my first visit back in 1973 in January too when the place had this peculiar odor made up of melting butter, black tobacco, diesel smoke, rat urine and good perfume all mixed together. Manhattan used to smell like a thousand Laundromats to me many years ago. It has certainly cleaned up since, as has Chicago. Of course Paris has a thousand places to eat and most of them are peculiar for one thing – everything still tastes better than anything you’ve had at home. Don’t miss the Vietnamese places, they’re wonderful. OK, I even discovered a take out American style hamburger joint once and we decided to try them. They got the hamburger idea pretty well but pizza was … just too rich, couldn’t eat it. So not everything. The metro is ok as long as you are carrying next to nothing. Take nothing of any value into the metro as the system is the home of many roving bands of expert pickpockets, usually gypsy kids with the worst tooth decay you’ve ever seen. If you keep your senses alert you’ll see a good deal more that you’ll never see anywhere else. Young ladies beware, they can snatch at you from inside the bushes anywhere. Never walk unattended - still. Also another fave place of mine is called Le Petit Journal Saint Michel (there’s another bigger more expensive one farther south in the 14th near Montparnasse that’s …. Not as good in my opinion .. too touristy). The place I’m talking about is actually in a very ancient basement. Nice fixed price meals are good there and the jazz is not to be believed! … all played by regular looking French people. As for music, I’ve found that the best concerts are small intimate recitals in various venues around town rather than grand opera or symphony. Have a good time … and try a little French, it will get you far there. |
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| Bernard | Jan 7 2007, 10:14 PM Post #18 |
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Senior Carp
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David Burton wrote:
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When I first moved to NY I thought it smelled like rabbit sh*t. The combination of coffee aroma and car exhaust smelled just like our rabbit cages back home! |
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| Bernard | Jan 7 2007, 10:53 PM Post #19 |
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Senior Carp
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Jon, did you know there is an effort to get this underway here in NYC? Indeed. There have been some preliminary planning meetings held: MAKE MUSIC NEW YORK Make Music New York is a new live, free musical celebration across the city that will take place for the first time on June 21, 2007. For one day a year, we will turn New York's public space -- usually reserved for private cars, jostling pedestrians, and bland "street fairs" -- into impromptu musical stages, dance floors, and social meeting points. Thousands of amateur musicians in every genre will have the opportunity to perform on sidewalks and plazas for the biggest crowds of their lives. Listeners will come out from under their headphones to discover unfamiliar musical styles and local artists risk-free. And everyone will be invited to perform themselves, or just sing along. It will be a fantastic way to bring neighbors and passers-by together, in concert, to enjoy the first day of summer. WHERE DID THE IDEA COME FROM? Make Music New York is based on France's Fete de la Musique, which has been a great success for 25 years. Since it was inaugurated, the festival has become an international phenomenon, celebrated on the same day in more than 250 cities in 130 countries, including Poland, Egypt, Syria, Morocco, Cambodia, Vietnam, Congo, Cameroon, Togo, Chile, Nicaragua, and Japan – everywhere, it seems, except New York. WHO CAN PARTICIPATE? Anyone and everyone, in every borough of the city. Amateurs, part-time professionals, and established artists are all welcome. WHO WILL ORGANIZE SUCH A GIGANTIC EVENT? To make this event successful in our city, we have begun to organize the event at the grassroots level. With support from Citizens for NYC, we have already secured commitments from 51 non-profit community organizations around the city to put on their own Make Music New York concerts. These include block associations, community gardens, churches, and neighborhood cultural centers. Our goal is to have 150 such groups by the end of the year. Each of these organizers will find local musicians, work on neighborhood promotion, and help with the logistics on-site for the day of the event. From the start, individual neighborhoods in every borough will have a direct investment in Make Music New York. WHERE WILL THE MUSICIANS PLAY? On sidewalks, in plazas, in community gardens, and in other public spaces around the city. In addition to the spaces secured by community organizations, we are working with the city, Transportation Alternatives, and the Project for Public Spaces to be able to use the entire length of Broadway in Manhattan, and Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. WHERE DOES YOUR FUNDING COME FROM? Operating costs for MMNY are minimal, covering promotion and administration – securing permits, bringing city agencies on board, etc. That said, we have money given or promised by Citizens for NYC, the French Embassy, the French Music Export Office, the European Music Office, and the New York City Council. HOW WILL YOU FIND ENOUGH MUSICIANS TO FILL THE WHOLE CITY? We have already begun to reach out to prospective performers. In addition to the concerts organized by local community groups, we will organize a parallel effort to reach out to amateur and semi-professional musicians. Our team of six interns will sign up hundreds of musicians in music schools, choir rehearsals, jazz clubs, concert lobbies, and musical instrument stores. Once found, we will find spaces for these artists in areas we have secured permission to use (potentially the length of Broadway, from the Bronx to Battery Park, and Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn). We will set up a database so that community groups will be able to find musicians of their own. Finally, we will publicize the event city-wide with 5,000 posters, earned media stories, a professional website, and a team of 50 singing volunteers walking around the city holding signs that say "On June 21, Make Music, New York!" WILL THIS BE A YEARLY EVENT? Yes, Make Music New York will take place every June 21st. (In 2007, it will fall on a Thursday; in 2008, on a Saturday.) It is our hope that Make Music New York will start big and expand from year to year, eventually to the point where, as with the Village Halloween Parade, New Yorkers will organize themselves largely without prompting. HOW CAN I GET INVOLVED? Email makemusicny@gmail.com to learn more, or call Aaron Friedman at 917-779-9709. |
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| Bernard | Jan 7 2007, 10:56 PM Post #20 |
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Senior Carp
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Sorry for the hijack. |
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| bachophile | Jan 8 2007, 12:43 AM Post #21 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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sue said...
dont forget what july 14th means in france...
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| "I don't know much about classical music. For years I thought the Goldberg Variations were something Mr. and Mrs. Goldberg did on their wedding night." Woody Allen | |
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| jon-nyc | Jan 8 2007, 01:54 AM Post #22 |
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Cheers
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This has gotten better - they passed a pooper-scooper law in 2002. It hasn't stopped the problem, but its much better than it was. |
| In my defense, I was left unsupervised. | |
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| Mikhailoh | Jan 8 2007, 04:44 AM Post #23 |
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
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I was perusing a book this weekend called '1000 Things to See Before You Die'... it had a lot of information on Paris. Highly recommend. Actually I recommend it to anyone who is planning a trip, or wants to plan a trip but doesn't know quite where to go. |
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Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball | |
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| sue | Jan 8 2007, 09:23 AM Post #24 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Actually, it's looking like that's the week we will be there....is that nuts, or a really great idea? David; the plan is to really work on our French, and use it as much as possible. Thanks for this; one thing I'm really hoping to do is take my son somewhere to hear some live jazz. There's lots of great jazz happening here in Vancouver, but almost always in clubs where you have to be 18 to get in. It would be a real treat to go to a place like you describe. |
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| LWpianistin | Jan 8 2007, 09:24 AM Post #25 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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That's awesome, Sue! Bastille Day!
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| And how are you today? | |
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6:43 AM Jul 11