All That Jazz in Burgundy

 

 The French love jazz and of course, they love wine, so it makes sense to put the two together.   Jazz å Beaune, music and wine festival, takes place on October 18, 19 and 20 this year.  International jazz musicians, young and upcoming talent and oh yes – Burgundy tasting before each performance.   Tickets on sale on the Beaune tourist office site, some free concerts on the first day, jam sessions late into the night on the last.

http://www.beaune-tourism.com/burgundy-news/Jazz-A-Beaune.asp

Fork It Over!

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One of my best discoveries this year was La Fourchette, an online restaurant reservation service in Paris and elsewhere in France.   Available in French (www.lafourchette.com ) or in English (www.thefork.com) , it costs nothing to subscribe and offers a painless way to make sure you’ve got a dinner reservation.

Restaurants are sorted by location, price range, ambiance, and cuisine, so you can pick your neighborhood, your budget or your menu for the evening.   Many of the restaurants offer discounts for booking through the service.   Restaurants are rated, though I take that as I take all ratings, with a healthy bit of skepticism.  You can also preview the menu without doing all that walking.

Paris dominates, but most major cities in France are well-represented, and there’s a good selection in Spain as well.  And no, it’s not every restaurant, but you’ll find plenty of well-known names, along with some more modest ones.

La Fourchette is easy to use – once you subscribe, you can request a reservation for a particular date and time, and receive a comfirmation by e-mail or text.   Only once in a couple of weeks did a restaurant come back unavailable.

Apps available for your iPhone or Android too.   Bon Appetit!

P.S.  No - the fork in the picture's not in France.  Any guesses?

Picking a Paris Apartment

 If you've decided to go the apartment route, especially in Paris, it pays to do your homework.

Picking the Perfect Paris Apartment

 

Picking a Paris apartment requires a bit of reading the fine print, not to mention reading between the lines.   There are wonderful places and less wonderful ones.

Many think that apartments are less expensive than hotels.   If you’re staying at least a week, this is often true.   But like hotels, apartments come in all categories, so a deluxe apartment for three or four days will be comparable in price to a deluxe hotel room, and a budget apartment for a few days will cost about the same as a budget hotel.  In between lie all the varieties of size, location, decoration and amenities.

So what do you have to look for?

Size

The smallest Paris apartments are very very small.  Some are smaller than small Parisian hotel rooms.  Lots of listings give size in square meters.   Pay attention to this.

Size – number of guests

“Sleeps four’ often means that two people get a bedroom and two get the couch in the living room.  This might be perfect for you – or not.  (Sometimes there isn’t really a wall between the bedroom and the living room – it’s just a divided space.).  Check those photos and ask questions.

Size – the building

The listing will tell you if the building has an elevator.  If it doesn’t mention one (or a lift, which is the same thing), there’s no elevator.  If the apartment’s on the 4^th or 5^th floor, remember that you will have to carry your suitcases, groceries, purchases -  up.

Location - A

The more desirable the location, the higher the price – just like a hotel.

Most expensive are the center arondissements 1 -8.   Trendy neighborhoods cost more.

Location - B

You will see “a few steps from’ and ‘a stone’s throw from’ in too many listings to count.  Check the map and see how far away the metro stop really is.

Location – C

In general you want to be in a neighborhood where cafés and restaurants aren’t too far away.   Some residential neighborhoods don’t have much commerce (people who live there year round have cars.)   Pay attention to the description about this too.

Amenities

Good apartments come with linens, cooking facilities and equipment, washing machine (French style – an adventure), WIFI, telephone.   There are lots of variables here.   Heat in winter may cost extra.

Amenities B  (for bedding)

Bed sizes are often given, but can be misleading.  Some people advertise 140 cm as a queen bed (it isn’t – at least not in the US). 

Décor

The least expensive apartments are sparsely furnished and testify to the proximity of Ikea.  Some have increased their floor space by putting the bed on the mezzanine, accessible by ladder (something to watch for in the photos.)   Other apartments have gorgeous classic furnishings.  Look carefully and read carefully.

Deposits

Most apartments require a substantial deposit – 30 percent or so, plus the balance upon arrival plus a large damage deposit.   Methods of payment vary, so be sure you have your arrangements in order.

Owners

Apartments are rented by agencies, by groups, by individuals.   Specialty agencies generally inspect apartments regularly.  Individual owners may have one or more properties, and may also be your next door neighbors.   Everyone’s online, but check carefully to see if you can ask questions and get answers.

Sources

Apartment rental agencies abound and are easy to find since the internet arrived.  Google Vacation apartments in Paris (or anywhere else in France) and you’ll get a long list.    I’ve personally used VRBO  (Vacation Rental by Owner  www.vrbo.com)

 with good luck.   They have a sister site as well called Home Away (www.homeaway.com)

Gite.com is a French agency with apartments and house rentals, and often

has special offers for last minute bookings.

http://www.gites-de-france.com/ has an extenisve listing of house and apartment rentals, as well as chambres d’hôtes (Bed and breakfast lodging).   The site is in French only.

Hotels versus Rentals

 Hotels versus Rentals

I often get calls from clients looking for house or apartment rentals in France. It’s easy to be charmed by the vision of your own little home in France, buying your morning croissants at the local bakery, sipping an apéritif on your terrasse overlooking the – fill in the blank – vineyard/red tiled roofs/ Eiffel Tower.   And it can be lots of fun – no doubt.  

The pluses – more space, kitchen facilities, a more residential location, and most of all, the feeling that you’re part of the place rather than just a visitor.   I've rented apartments and even a small house in Paris and in Nice, and a charming house in the Dordogne. 

But it’s not for everyone and not for every trip.

When should you choose a hotel rather than a rental?

On your first visit, or especially your first trip to Europe.

            You have enough to get used to, without keeping house.

If you require or desire someone available for advice, booking restaurants, giving directions.

            Most apartments or rental houses have someone you can call when the plumbing breaks down, but on-site help is quite variable.   Sometimes there’s a lot and sometimes there’s none.

If you’re only staying a few days

            There’s no cost advantage and you’ll spend more of your time dealing with practical matters.

If you like to be waited on

            With a rental, you make your own bed, do your own dishes, tidy up after yourself.

On your honeymoon.

            See above.

If you don’t want to pay a large amount in advance.

            Rentals require substantial deposits and damage deposits – for good reason.

And when should you consider an apartment or house rental?

When you’re staying longer than a week in one place.

            Your fantasies can come to life – you’ll feel part of the neighborhood.   And a rental’s cost advantage becomes stronger with longer stays.

If you’re independent and know your way around the city or region.

If you’re traveling with a big family or group of friends.

            Lots of private space to spread out, easier with children, and a budget advantage for meals as well as housing.  Even if you don’t cook much, having a kitchen available for drinks and snacks is practical and economical.

If the fantasy is just too strong to resist.   Here’s the view out the window on the street where we lived in Nice.  Our neighbor in Vieux Nice was the Palais Lascaris.

In the next post, I’ll give you some tips on what to pay attention to when booking a rental property.

It's May - let's faire le pont!

It’s May – let’s faire le pont!

There are a few French words or phrases which aren’t in the basic traveler’s vocabulary, but that help make sense of the world you encounter in France.   One of these is faire la grève – to go on strike, which you may be unlucky enough to learn if your trip coincides with one.   That’s another topic.

But faire le pont – to make the bridge – is an expression for the month of May.   It means to take an extra day off from work and make a bridge between the official holiday and the weekend.   For example, today, May 1, is the fête du travail, and a Tuesday, so you might as well have taken Monday off and voilà – a nice four day weekend.

                                         Le pont des arts, in Paris - a favorite pont

May is traditionally an especially good month to faire le pont.  This year’s jours feriés include:

May 1 – fête du travail  (Labor Day)

May 8 – Victoire 1945

May 17 – Feast of the Ascension

May 27 – Pentecoste

May 28 – Pentecoste Monday

That makes three good ponts, plus the weekend of Pentecoste, a pont all in itself.

Though France is technically a secular country (remember the Revolution?), religious holidays still figure on the calendar of legal holidays.  As Voltaire would have said, c'est le meilleur des mondes possibles.

Spring in(to) France...

I've spent the last three weeks in France, mostly acting as coordinator for the photography workshops in Nice and Paris.   When we arrived in Nice, the Niçois were determinedly dining outdoors under the electric heaters, wrapped in their scarves and parkas.  (We thought the weather was fine,  but then, we’re northerners.)  Even sitting on the beach, there was something in the way they dressed that said it was still winter.

 

But in Paris the March heat wave caused spring to burst out early.  The chestnut leaves unfurled, the willows greened and by the time we left, the Luxembourg gardens were flowering, with tulips, cafés and crowds.   Vive le printemps!

 Our last week in France was spent in Montmartre, where we explored for the first time the advantages of the city bus system, rather than just relying on the old familiar metro.   It's slower, that's true, but it's a whole different point of view above ground.   Details to follow.

Les Soldes 2012

SOLDES !

The annual Paris winter sales are running full force now, and continue on until February 14. Similar sales run at approximately the same dates throughout France, so you can go bargain hunting in Nice or Lyons as well. And if you have a favorite French shop, many of the sales are also taking place now online.

Lots of websites -mostly in French- are devoted to bargain hunting strategies and styles. About.com has some good advice:

http://goparis.about.com/u/ua/shopping/Paris-Sales-Tips-Readers-Share-Their-Paris-Annual-Sales-Tips.htm

Bargains in winter also include Paris hotels, with many discounts until the end of March. And for travelers from North America, airfares are at their lowest this time of year.

Shoppers should keep in mind that the sales are twice-annual. Summer sales in 2012 will run from June 27-July 31 in Paris and most of France, July 4 - August 7 in most of Provence and the Riviera.