Reserving train tickets in France can be daunting due to lack of information on the internet and supply-based pricing on the SNCF and TGV. But follow these basic rules and you'll be fine.
You might recognize this mosque from the film Paris Je t’aime. A Parisian teenager, Franà§ois, develops a crush on a girl and waits for her outside a mosque. She sees him across the road when she opens the large entrance doors at the intersection of two streets.
I've walked and drove past the Arc de Triomphe countless times, fearing for my life while traversing the roundabout by motorcycle. On June 18th, I took the walk up the famous arch, coincidentally on the 70th anniversary of Charles de Gaulle's BBC radio appeal marking the founding act of French resistance against the Nazi regime.
Not many metropolitan cities can boast a vineyard, but it seems only fitting that one exists on the bucolic hills of Montmartre. The area was once covered with vineyards, but like the urbanization of all cities, real estate and other forces transformed agricultural land into residential property.
The W train will die on the night of June 25th, just short of its 9th birthday. To memorialize its passing, join some local organizations on the last car of the W train at Times Square Station at 7:30pm for the W train funeral, ending at Astoria Blvd Station for food and drinks at Astoria's Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden.
The Passage du Prado is unlike any other arcade in Paris. It’s not perfect, not museumified and it’s not trying to recreate the ambience of another century. It’s grungy, a little run-down and filled with restaurants and shops.
Thanks to restoration underway on the Eiffel Tower, the engraved names of 72 French scientists and engineers from the original design becoming visible again.
A public service announcement on how to get to Beauvais, the airport for the budget airlines Ryanair, Wizzair and BlueAir.
BldgBlog recently posted about a door to nowhere in Paris, installed four years ago in the 3rd arrondisement. Complete with fake address, facade, faux business sign and a Parisian-style door with a central doorknob (now missing), it still exists today.
Ten minutes outside the Peripherique lies the oft-forgotten industrial underbelly of Paris: the Seine-Amont. The architecture of the region is a juxtaposition of 19th century industrial infrastructure with 20th century modernity, with a sharp contrast between traditional residential homes and public housing projects.