The Best View in Paris

by Willy Volk on

If you’re heading to Paris, there’s a good chance you’ll want to hit the Eiffel Tower. When I visited the Eiffel a few years ago, I was impressed with the grandeur of the Tower, but I was also put off by the size of crowds. I wanted to climb to the top and look out over the City, but I was afraid I’d get trapped behind all the people and miss my flight that afternoon. Looking back, I should’ve braved it — or selected another place to visit.

Globespotters — “Urban advice from people who live there — is an excellent resource if you’re looking for insider information about Rome, London, Hong Kong, Paris, Berlin, or Bangkok. According to them, there are plenty of other places to get quality views of Paris, including:

  • The roof of the Institute du Monde Arab
  • The roof of the Arc de Triomphe
  • The Centre Georges Pompidou
  • Montmartre

Best of all, these options all have shorter lines and cost a fraction of an elevator ride to the top of the Eiffel. I wish I’d known this information a few years ago.

French Deemed Worst Tourists

by Neil Woodburn on

It’s a debate that will never be definitively decided, but for the time being, the French are officially the worst tourists in Europe according to a recent survey of 15,000 European hoteliers.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the same survey has determined that the very best tourists are the Japanese. Americans, despite the bad rap they usually receive, were deemed the second best–although this was a hollow victory as the Americans were also voted the worst dressed tourists according to the same survey (speaking for myself, guilty as charged!).

The five worst tourists according to the survey come from the following countries:

1. France
2. India
3. China
4. Russia
5. Britain

Bicycle Utopia: Free Bikes in Paris!

by Neil Woodburn on

Free city bikes have been a utopian dream for a long time now. I’m not sure where it started, but I recall that about 20 years ago some European city decided to buy a bunch of bikes, paint them yellow, and then let people use them at their convenience (readers, any idea where this first happened???).

The idea was that one could step out of a store, grab the first yellow bike they found, ride it to their next destination, and then leave it there for whoever needs it next.

Naturally people began stealing the bikes and painting them different colors, or simply locking them up so that others couldn’t use them. Bicycle Utopia was a failure.

Over the years a handful of other cities have tried the same system with various degrees of success.

This July, Paris is launching their own version. Called Vélib’, the Parisian version will drop 20,000 red-painted bikes onto the city streets for locals and tourists alike to peddle around to their heart’s content.

The program is based upon a smaller version in the city of Lyon which has now been operating successfully for two years. In anticipation of the Parisian version, Benji Lanyado, writing for the Guardian, recently took the Lyon system for a test drive.

Unlike the original program in which the bikes were just dropped off anywhere, the Lyon system requires that riders insert a credit card into a special bike rack in order to release one of the bikes. If it is never returned, the user is charged €150. If the bike is placed back into another special rack anywhere in the city within half an hour, there is no charge. Every hour after that costs €1.

What a great system!

Lanyado spent a fine day popping from one destination to another, enjoying the three-speed bicycles and all the wonderful sites that Lyon has to offer. I can’t wait until this arrives in Paris!

Cannes Cam 2007

by Justin Glow on

Can’t make it to Cannes this year? Me either. But that’s okay — The IFC’s website is streaming a live video feed from a camera hovering over the red carpet at Grand Théâtre Lumière at the Palais.

According to IFC, “Most film premieres take place around 7pm and 10pm local time, or 1pm/4pm ET,” but action on the carpet is dead right now (save for a few birds and honking horns). Occasionally they will pan the camera around the bay to show off the billion-dollar boats bobbing up and down in the Mediterranean.

According to the festival schedule [PDF], LES CHANSONS D’AMOUR is set to premiere in less than an hour at the Palais, so keep an eye on the camera. [via]

NPR Reporters Report on Favorite Foreign Restaurants

by Neil Woodburn on

There aren’t too many jobs better in life than being a foreign correspondent for National Public Radio (NPR). Sure, the pay probably isn’t great, and the hours are probably long, but what can be cooler than filing NPR stories from another country?

NPR has a handful of such reporters across the globe. You know the ones, with the golden voices and inquisitive nature.

Recently, NPR asked their field reporters to report on themselves and file a story about their favorite places to eat, drink, and sleep while pounding their beat in strange lands.

The result is an impressive smorgasbord of mouthwatering local dives from Tuscany, Rio de Janiro, Hanoi, Istanbul, Lhasa, Moscow, Nairobi, and Shanghai. With titles like, Camel’s Milk Ice Cream at the Norfolk Hotel (Nairobi – photo above) and Slurping at Yang’s Fry-Dumpling (Shanghai), how can one resist not digging into what these fine reporters have to say about the cities they cover so very well.

Check it out; food has never been more newsworthy!