|
Back Random Info |
|||
| Telephone: uses a 'telecarte' instead of cash or coins.Kinda like a calling card. | Arrondissement - Paris is divided up into twenty ``arrondissement'' or districts. The ``First'' is in the center of the city, and the others are laid out in a clockwise manner about this. As these are such a basic unit to the city, they are constantly referred to in guides and literature; almost always using simply their associated number (1er, or 2em etc). The Louvre is in the First, the Arc de Triomphe is in the Eighth. NB: You can determine the arrondissement of an address from its postal code. The last two digits of a Paris address give the arrondissement; 75018 is the eighteenth for example. The exception to this rule are addresses with the word ``CEDEX'' appearing in them. | ||
|
1.00 euro=1.07590 us dollars |
|||
|
|
Individual
Métro ticket is 8FF; packet of 10 tickets (a Carnet) is slightly more
reasonable. Cost of RER tickets depends on distance traveled. Within central
Paris cost is the same as Métro tickets, and the same ticket is also valid
on both systems.
Both the Métro and the RER (Réseau Express Régional) are run by the RATP - Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens. The RATP also runs the busses. |
||
| Link to cell fones in France, GSM frequency 900 & 1800 | Paris:
Area: 105 sq km (41 sq mi) |
||
| If you've chosen driving as your primary mode of transport in Europe, you should get an International Driver's License. Available at Auto Clubs, they're just a translation of your License into European languages. | Tour Eiffel: The Eiffel Tower was built for the International Exhibition of Paris of 1889 commemorating the centenary of the French Revolution. The Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII of England, opened the tower. Of the 700 proposals submitted in a design competition, Gustave Eiffel's was unanimously chosen. At 300 metres (320.75m including antenna), and 7000 tons, it was the world's tallest building until 1930. Other statistics include:
|
||
 |
1 Month
before you go - Travel Insurance Now is the time to think about insurance. If your health insurance doesn't cover you overseas, or your homeowners insurance doesn't cover loss of material goods, then there are some temporary plans that might set your mind at ease. Check our Insurance Links for more.
|
||
| take some traveler's checks as a back-up, but mostly use the plentiful ATM machines in Europe to get cash. You need to have a 4-digit pin number to use many European ATMs. Watch one thing though: plan to have enough money to last through weekends--some people are reporting that certain banks in Europe don't update the customer's daily limit on Saturdays and Sundays and so if you've maxed out your daily allowance on Friday, you might find that you can't get more until Monday. You might also think about getting some Euros (or local currency for countries that don't use Euros) for the first day or two, if only to get used to them and assure yourself that you'll be able to afford a coffee in the airport. | can get by on on $150 a day in most Mediterranean countries, although it's becoming a stretch these days. That'll get you a two or three star hotel with breakfast and two other meals taken in a restaurant with wine, plus entrance fees to museums and such. It's an average over the whole period of vacation--some days you'll get soaked, some days you'll find bargains. Students and the young-at-heart set willing to stay in hostels and eat street food or make their own grub in the Hostel kitchen will be able to do it for much less, of course. | ||
| Use a money belt or pouch that goes inside your clothing like seasoned travelers do. Keep your passport and important documents together in it. Don't wear a fanny pack with the pack turned around to actually ride on your fanny. | Now is the time to think about keeping back-ups of your travel documents. Make at least two photocopies of your itinerary, your passport information page (the one with your picture and passport number) and copies of your credit cards showing the cc numbers. Give one copy to your mother, or someone else you trust and can get a hold of any time of day or night. Keep a copy of your passport and credit card info with you but in a different place than the original items. | ||
| The basic stuff you need to carry are these: Passport, tickets, car rental agreements, hotel reservation receipts, credit cards, medications (and prescriptions, if required), addresses/password information and an open mind with a sense of wonder. Check them twice. Then go have fun in Europe. | A quick lesson on the essentials! | ||
|
THOSE FRENCH KISSES!
The French greeting kiss is famous and imitated by either sophisticated, or camp, people everywhere going "Muhl Muh!" in the air beside the cheeks of people they meet at cocktail parties. But you can rest assured that in France is really is just a greeting kiss and carries no erotic overtones at all. But what's fascinating is that different areas of France have different numbers of kisses! In the Languedoc and Provence, people will kiss twice, once on each cheek; in Brittany they will kiss four times, on each cheek alternately. I have seen them do it when whole families meet up for Sunday lunch in country cafeé's, and by the time everybody has gone round everybody, everybody else has drank their aperitits dry.
|
A picturesque two and a
half-hour drive from Paris brings you to Sancerre, |
||
| call Avis at 1-888-263-2192 and be sure to mention Avis' Worldwide Discount (AWD) number: K520400. In addition to saving 20% on car rentals in France through December 15, 2003, Avis helps you stay connected while traveling in Europe. Ask about our free International Telephone Assistance Services before you travel: | |||
From 1789 blue and red, the
traditional colors of Paris, were included in flags with Bourbon royal
white. In 1794 the tricolor was made official. It embodied liberty,
equality, fraternity, democracy, secularism, and modernization, but there is
no symbolism attached to the individual colors. It has been the sole
national flag since March 5, 1848.