Exclusive Hotel France Opera D Antin Paris

... look vibrant instead of downtrodden. I however, am in sticker shock.. Although prices at restaurants are actually lower, the dollar is down even more. (The VAT was cut last summer from 19% to 5.5%. It' the French stimulus package--to eat out more.)

It might actually be helping the French world from coming apart...restaurants and bars along the gastronomic market basket that is the Rue de Bretagne are still ...

... 8217;t make it in time. But, I did get a treat in seeing Paris at night from the tower, which is magnificent in it’s own right. After the tower, I went back to the hostel for about seven solid hours of sleep before waking up at nine the next morning to get out and see more of Paris.

On Saturday, I started at the Pont Neuf, the site where my godmother, Karen Kalish, managed artist’s Christo’s famous bridge wrapping ...

... lots of pictures and reveled in its beauty. No matter how many times I see it, I never feel any less in awe of the structure. I really do love Paris, even if it hates me. There was a realization that we had to take the metro back to our hotel, and we discovered to late that it stopped running at midnight. There was an encounter with children trying to pickpocket us when we were looking for the metro. Three boys attempted to take Josselyn's purse ...

... bulli@elbulli.com). Here are suggestions from reservationists at three other hard-to-book restaurants: L'ASTRANCE, PARIS "Two months before the date you desire, call at precisely 10am. Try to get on the waiting list, as we limit it to three parties; so if you make it onto the list, there's a realistic chance of getting a table." 4 Rue Beethoven, 16th Arr.; +33 1 40 50 84 40; dinner for two $581. BABBO, NEW YORK "Call at 10 am one month ahead of the date you want. And for a last ...

... and saw the most magnificent sunset over Paris. The sky was an amazing red and pink and seemed to get more spectacular as the sun disappeared below the horizon. What we were really waiting for was the Eiffel Tower to light up. In all of my trips to Paris I have only seen the Eiffel Tower under lights once, as the other times I was on my own and didn't feel safe venturing out by myself at night, or we were busy with other things like drinking!! So it ...

... time to climb the stairs (probably a good thing). We made it to the 2nd level just in time to see the tower light up and twinkle - a perfect end to the day-of-everything-in-Paris! (Jenn: we paid a hefty price for some terrible steak in the secret sauce. People literally lined up in the street to be seated at the 7pm seating. Apparently, in France you don't line up on the sidewalk...the French prefer to stand in traffic on a busy street. Of course, we fell ...

... downtown for some drinks and a French style Cabaret show with the crew from our tour. A very interesting night to say the least. Day two was our only full free day, and we decided to use this day to do as much as possible.....Shopping that is. Rosanna and Courtney thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity to look at whatever came their way, in particular the Dior goods in La Fayette's department store. We did however manage to squeeze in the Arc De ...

... of thousands upon thousands of graves and crypts was surrealistic. Several crypts were unfortunately broken into and vandalized, but the overall beauty overshadowed those that were damaged. We did see several of the famous crypts of which we took photos. Just knowing that we were seeing such history made the journey worth every minute. We ate lunch at a wonderful lunch across from the cemetere, and ...

... figures by their in-between spaces rather than by solid, stagnant forms. Learning about Picasso's postmodernish theory shed lots of light on his practice. Them's my two cents on Picasso.) Oh--and one more quick thing: I ran into another assistant at the Picasso Museum! (He's a German named Frank whom I'd met briefly at the orientation in Marseille.) Really: small world, is it not? Asynith had to leave Paris at 5 to ...

... buggered by then anyway and Rich and Jules were due to arrive so it was time to head back into Paris. We made it back into to town just in time to catch R,J&Z and have a leasurely stroll around Isle de St Louis and have a couple if quiet beers and smoke a ciggie in a restaurant much to no-ones disgust. It sort of feels naughty smoking in a cafe or restaurant after a decade of smoking bans in Australia but it was sort of liberating at the same ...