The Minitel - Gone but not forgotten

The Minitel has been around in France since the 1980's.  The little screen and modem were free to  households, and they could actually do some online shopping, play games, play the Stock Market, look up phone numbers and addresses for people and businesses throughout the country.  The longer you were "online", the higher your phone costs were; even though, it was pretty cool, and the forerunner of the PC.  Now, it will be phased out, and will take its rightful place in history.
L'héritage du Minitel continue d'influencer le monde du numérique | France-Amérique

I love to travel.  Car, plane, boat, you tell me that I'm going somewhere, I will ask "what do I have to wear, and how many pairs of shoes do I need?".  When I was small, my family took road trips mostly to visit relatives in Texas and Mississippi, but we also went to New York, Montreal, and British Columbia as well.  That is how I got the bug.
My favorite place of all is Paris - wow, wild guess.  I love walking around seeing familiar and new things and places. Even though Parisians have the reputation of being cold and rude, I don't find them that way.  They are just trying to get from one place to another around tourists who will stop at the drop of a dime to look at some random thing. You might be rude, too!
If you are in Paris, be sure to visit the Opera district - the Opera house has a ceiling painted by Marc Chagall.  In order to see it, you have to take the tour, but I think that it might be cool!  I do have to admit that I have never done it, that is on my list.  However, when you are done, walk around the back of the building to the Galeries Lafayette and visit the main part which is covered by a gorgeous steel and stained glass dome.  Take tons of photos while you dodge the cosmetic section shoppers, then progress by escalator to the cafeteria on the 6th floor and walk up stairs to the urban park that is the observation deck.  Not many tourists know about it, and you can sit on benches or on the ground while soaking up the sun.  Ahhhh....
In the next few posts, I will be talking about my favorite places and posting pics if I have them.  In the meantime, think about visiting Paris, the south of France, and Italy with me next June!
(www.tinyurl.com/Europe2012).  Don't let the price scare you - it goes down with traveler #20, and then again at #25, so enroll now and bring a friend!

The stained glass dome of the Galeries Lafayette

The "park" on the roof!

The Apollo Room in the Louvre, dedicated to French artists; it also houses some of what crown jewels are left.  Very cool place.

Presidential election 2012

The US isn't the only country to have presidential elections this year. The French have more political parties than we do, so things are a bit different.  The first round was held this past weekend, leaving Nicolas Sarkozy running against Francois Hollande.  For more explanations and other stuff, check out this website - http://plus.lefigaro.fr/tag/french-election.

Visiting Paris

Last week I had the chance to talk with a former student who is going to spend two weeks in Paris this summer.  After being jealous for about 20 minutes, I got over it, and we got down to business. 
If you're going to be in Paris for any length of time, you want to get a Metro pass.  Check out this fabulous webpage, www.parismetro.com! On the webpage, you can buy a metro pass good for 1, 2, 3, or 5 days.  The amount that you pay per pass depends on the number of zones you purchase.  If you are just traveling around Paris and the closest suburbs, get the zone 1-3 pass, and you are good to go!  The passes, which look just like a regular metro ticket, start when you use them the first time.  You even get a cool holder to keep your pass in!  This avoids having to deal with carnet (a group of 10 tickets that you can buy) and all those individual metro tickets that collect in your pockets, purses, books, etc.  The coolest thing about buying the metro passes is that you can pay in American dollars; the tickets will be delivered to your hotel and waiting for you when you arrive.  Michael and I did that when we went to Paris on our own, and it was awesome.
While Emily and I were looking at the ParisMetro website, we noticed that Museum passes were also available for sale.  Emily and her mom love museums, so we took a look.  Museum passes are good for 2, 4 or 6 days; at first we thought they might only go for two days.  Then we looked at the list of museums you can visit with the pass - it's immense!  Even if you aren't a "museum person", buy a 4 day pass to see as much as possible.  The cool thing about the museum pass - you can bypass the ticket line, and go straight into the museum.  You can buy the museum tickets while you're buying the metro passes.
So, get ready to go!  The Paris Metro website has some other great things for you to spend your money on, like airport transfers, tickets to shows, guided visits to places outside Paris - just take a look at all you can do (and try not to drool in the process)!

Oh yeah, I forgot.  If you are planning to visit Paris very soon, and you want to go to the Eiffel Tower, you might want to visit the website http://www.eiffel-tower.com.  Only one of four elevators are working right now, and if you have to buy tickets, the wait can be up to two hours...

Bon voyage!

The best ice cream in Paris

I know that there are many delicious things to eat in Paris, but you must go to Berthillon for the best ice cream. From the back of Notre Dame, cross the bridge and then look to the right.  Go inside to get great pastries, coffee and other goodies, or stay outside and just order the ice cream.  We bought one cone, then went back for more flavors!  My favorite is still the vanilla bean, but there was also cherry sorbet - just like the pie, and if you combine it with the vanilla, then you've got the à la mode, too.  We sat on the wall of the stairs down to the river, but many visitors descended the stairs to enjoy their ice cream by the water.  Perfect.

Passports now and then

Bonjour tout le monde!
It has been awhile but I am back to write about some of our travels of late.  Last month, I traveled to Paris and Barcelona with twenty-three students and seven adults.  One thing that I'm always anxious about is passports.  If they are lost or stolen, it is a huge pain to get another one, especially if you aren't in a city with an embassy or consulate.  One of the ways you can protect yourself is to make a copy of your passport and carry it in a safe place (NOT with the original, of course); you can also scan it and email it to yourself or bring a flashdrive with you.  And then, you can be extra anal and bring along two new passport photos!  Either way, it's good to be prepared.
So, you're ready to go and have your flights, etc.  Have you checked the expiration date of your passport?  Many countries have passport restrictions - if your passport expires within a certain time (determined by the country), they won't let you in.  Plus, the airlines know this, and the computer is programmed to spit back your passport if it expires within a certain amount of time. Imagine that you are at the airport with 22 kids and three other adults and almost everyone is checked in.  The last person to check in had a passport which expired in June of 2012, and was within the 3 month period.  He couldn't fly!!!  So, our really cool Delta desk person rebooked my student for the next day, and he had to go back home to renew his passport.  If you don't have that luxury, pay attention to the expiration date.  If you are unsure about things, go ahead and renew it sooner than later.
A bientôt mes amis!