Paris

Alliance Française

One of the world's largest schools of French language, the Paris Alliance Française has a wide variety of courses for a visitor to choose from.

Université Paris IV

Offers 'scholastic' as well as 'university' courses for foreigners in French language and culture, which start at various times of year.

Paris is the seat of other places to learn about a variety of topics.

The American Library in Paris

A great place to visit in Paris is the American Library, this is a non-profit institution entirely dependent on donations in order to keep its doors open. Visitors can purchase a day pass or other short term memberships. The Library has WiFi and if you have your laptop then you can access the internet for no charge other than the day pass to use the library. It has excellent books, recent American magazines and the occasional celebrity patron.

movies

The Cinémas of Paris are or at least should be the envy of the movie-going world. Of course, like anywhere else you can see big budget first-run films from France and elsewhere. That though, is just the start. During any given week there are at least half-a-dozen film festivals going on, at which you can see the entire works of a given actor or director. Meanwhile there are some older cult films like say, What's new Pussycat or Casino Royal which you can enjoy pretty much any day you wish.

Many non-French movies are subtitled called "version originale" "VO" or "VOstfr" as opposed to "VF" for version francaise.

There are any number of ways to find out what's playing, but the most commonly used guide is Pariscope, which you can find at newstands for €0.40. Meanwhile there are innumerable online guides which have information on "every" cinema in Paris.

 

It seems like there's almost always something happening in Paris, with the possible exceptions of the school holidays in August and February, when about half of Parisians are to be found not in Paris, but in the Alps or the South of France respectively. The busiest season is probably the fall, from a week or so after la rentrée scolaire or "back to school" to around Noël Christmas theatres, cinemas and concert halls book their fullest schedule of the year.

Even so, there are a couple of annual events in the winter, starting with a furniture and interior decorating trade fair called Maison & Object (http://www.maison-objet.com/) in January.

In February le nouvel an chinois Chinese New Year is celebrated in Paris as it is in every city with a significant Chinese population. There are parades in the 3rd and 4th arrondissements and especially in Chinatown in the 13th south of Place d'Italie. Also in February is the Six Nations Rugby Tournament (http://www.rbs6nations.com/) which brings together France, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Italy.

The first of two Fashion weeks occurs in March: Spring Fashion Week, giving designers a platform to present women’s prêt-à-porter ready to wear collections for the following winter.

The French Tennis Open (http://www.Frenchopen.org/) in which the world’s top players battle it out on a clay court runs during two weeks starting on the last Sunday in May. By the time its done in June, a whole range of festivities start up. Rendez-vous au Jardin is an open house for many Parisian gardens, giving you a chance to meet real Parisian gardeners and see their creations. The Fête de la Musique (http://www.fetedelamusique.fr/) celebrates the summer solstice 21st June with this city-wide free musical knees-up. Finally on the 26th of June is the Gay Pride (http://www.gaypride.fr) parade, featuring probably the most sincere participation by the mayor's office of any such parade on the globe.

The French national holiday Bastille Day on the 14th of July celebrates the storming of the infamous Bastille during the French Revolution. Paris hosts several spectacular events that day of which the best known is the Bastille Parade which is held on the Champs-Élysées at 10AM and broadcast to pretty much the rest of Europe by television. The entire street will be crowded with spectators so arrive early. The Bastille Day Fireworks is an exceptional treat for travelers lucky enough to be in town on Bastille Day. The Office du Tourisme et des Congress de Paris recommends gathering in or around the champs du Mars, the gardens of the Eiffel Tower.

Also in July, Cinema en Plein Air (http://www.villette.com/) is the annual outdoor cinema event that takes place at the Parc de la Villette, in the 9th on Europe’s largest inflatable screen. For most of the months of July and August, parts of both banks of the Seine are converted from expressway into an artificial beach for Paris Plage (http://www.paris.fr/). Also in July the cycling race le Tour de France has a route that varies annually, however it always finishes on the last Sunday of July under the Arc de Triomphe.

On the last full weekend in August, a world-class music festival Rock en Seine (http://www.rockenseine.com/) draws international rock and pop stars to barges on the Seine near moored off of the 8th.

During mid-September DJs and usually young fans from across Europe converge on Paris for five or six days of dancing etc. culminating in the Techno parade - a parade whose route traces roughly from Pl. de Bastille to the Sorbonne, and around the same time the festival Jazz à la Villette (http://www.jazzalavillett...) brings some of the biggest names in contemporary jazz from around the world.

The Nuit Blanche (http://www.paris.fr/) transforms most of central Paris into a moonlit theme-park for an artsy all-nighter on the first Saturday of October, and Fashion Week (http://www.modeaparis.com) returns shortly thereafter showing off Women’s Prêt-à-Porter collections for the following summer; as we've noted winter collections are presented in March.

The third Thursday in November marks the release of Le Beaujolais Nouveau (http://www.intowine.com/b...) and the beginning of the Christmas season. This evening, the Christmas lights are lit in a ceremony on the Champs-Élysées, often in the presence of hundreds if not thousands of people and many dignitaries, including the president of France.

Unfortunately, there are no comprehensive event guides covering concerts, clubs, movies or special events. For theater, movies and exhibitions pick up the 'Pariscope' and 'L'officiel du Spectacle', available at newstands for €0.40. For especially smaller, alternative concerts pick up LYLO, a small, free booklet available in some bars and at FNAC. There is not any userfriendly online version of these guides.

Cafe Philo in English

Cafe Philo in English meets on the first Wednesday of each month upstairs at the famous Cafe de Flore. Everyone is invited. You don't have to be knowledgeable about philosophy. Meetings begin with a two round voting process to determine a topic. The topic is discussed for two hours.

 

Boop Doobs in Paris is considered by many as the birthplace of photography, and while one may debate the correctness of this claim, there is no debate that Paris is today a photographer's dream. The French capital offers a spectacular array of photographic opportunities to the beginner and the pro alike. It has photogenic monuments e.g., Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, the obelisk at Concorde, and countless others; architecture the Louvre, Notre Dame and the Museum of the Arab World, to name just a few and urban street scenes e.g., in the Marais, Montmartre and Belleville. When you tire of taking your own photos, visit one of the many institutions dedicated to photography e.g., European Museum of Photography, the Jeu de Paume Museum or the Henri Cartier Bresson Foundation. At these and other institutions, you can learn the about the rich history of Paris as the place of important developments in photography e.g., the Daguerrotype and as the home of many of the trade's great artists e.g., Robert Doisneau, André Kertész, Eugene Atget and Henri Cartier Bresson.

 

For those who want to meet actual Parisians in addition to exploring major landmarks, in 2010 a group of locals started a new service, "See Paris with a Parisian". You join 90-minute walking tours. The guides show you city landmarks and the stories and anecdotes that go with them, but they also engage their visitors on life in Paris. You chat with a Parisian, you "decode" the city, and you learn from an insider about local events and festivals, about where to shop, good places to eat or drink, secret places locals keep to themselves etc.

Discover Walks

1 rue thã©rã¨se ☎ +33 970 449 724, (http://www.discoverwalks.com/). several tours to choose from everyday. free service - guests choose their tip/donation.