Internet
Baguenaude Café Mon-Fri 11am to 9:45pm, Sat & Sun
2-9:45 pm, 30 rue de la Grande Truanderie, 1er, M° Etienne-Marcel,
tel: 01 40 26 27 74.
Cyber Luxembourg Micro Internet 2.30E/hr with
special reductions for students. This location also has
print, copy, scanning, and fax possibilities. 81 bd St-Michel,
5e, Mº Cluny la Sorbonne, RER B Luxembourg, tel:
01 46 33 27 98, Mon-Sat 9am to 11pm, Sun 10am to 11pm.
XS
Arena Internet 24/7 with at least 100 PCs for Internet
and games at each location. Rates: 3E/hr — 43 bd
Sebastopol, 1er, Mº/RER Châtelet les Halles,
tel: 01 40 13 02 60; 53 rue de la Harpe, 5e, Mº St-Michel,
tel: 01 44 07 38 89; 17 rue Soufflot, 5e, RER B: Luxembourg,
tel: 01 43 44 55 55
Wireless Hotspots — Internet sans fils
McDonald’s “WiFi Internet zones” are
the latest addition to many (but not all) McDonald’s
branches (check out www.mcdonalds.fr for locations).
Each “WiFi” wired spot is clearly designated
with a large rectangular sticker visible as you enter,
as well as behind the counters. 65 bd St-Michel, 5e,
Mº Cluny la Sorbonne, tel: 01 40 51 86 48.
Le
2001 Complete with computer stations and wireless
hook-up (free with purchase of a drink) — you can
even fit in a game of pool after you’ve surffed
the Net. 11 cour Debille, 11e, Mº Voltaire, tel:
01 43 48 41 75, daily 3pm to 2am.
HOTCAFE.FR One
of the newest and trendiest ways to check Internet in
Paris on your personal computer, availablen at many of
your favorite cafes. Many locations offer “Free” use
(note: this is code for a “Free pass” that
gives you 20 minutes of Internet time) with the purchase
of a drink, while other locations charge 3E for a 30-minute
card or 12E for 2 hours). The cards are on sale at each
participating location, and offer a password to sign-on
to the hotspot.fr wireless network, and can be used at
any of the “hotcafe” hotspots. Look for the “hotcafe” sticker
or chalkboard outside of cafes, or for a list featuring
all participating locations, complete with price guide,
check out www.hotcafe.fr.
Free location: Bistrot Marguerite 1
pl de l’Hôtel de Ville, 4e, Mº Hôtel
de Ville, tel: 01 42 72 00 04, open everyday 8am to 11pm.
Pre-paid card location: Le Mondrian 148 bd St-Germain,
6e, Mº Odéon, tel:01 46 33 98 35, everyday
8am to 7am (all night)
Getting around
Paris Visite Passes for unlimited
metro, bus, RER and SNCF train transportation for 1,2,3,
or 5 consecutive days around Paris and the region. Also
entitles you to discounts on various tourist attractions.
Available at metro stations, Paris’ international
airports and the Office du Tourisme, 8-26E according to
the number of “zones” covered.
Night Buses
The Noctambuses are
18 bus routes covering Paris and the suburbs, between 1am
and 5:35am, 7 days a week. A ticket costs2.60E.
All buses leave from the Châtelet area. Stops are
marked with a black and yellow “owl” logo.
Routes and timetables info: www.citefutee.com/ 08 92
68 77 14
Riverboat shuttle serviceprovides
8 stopovers (without commentary) along the Seine including
the Eiffel Tower, Musée d’Orsay, St-German-des-Prés,
Notre-Dame, Jardin des Plantes, Hôtel-de-Ville, Louvre
and Champs-Elysées.
Batobus boarding tickets
cost 11E for a one-day pass (5E for children under 12).
Neither metro tickets nor Paris Visite cards are valid
for this ride. Info: 01 44 11 33 99 www.batobus.comShuttle
services offer a good alternative to exorbitant cab prices
and to the gloomy RER as a way to get in and out of the
airport.
Paris Airports Service tel: 01 55 98 10
80, www.parisairportservice.com/PariShuttle tel: 01 43
90 91 91, www.parishuttle.com From Paris to Charles-De-Gaulle
Airport RER B, leaves from Châtelet-Les Halles, approximately
45 mins, 7.75E.
Orlyval to Orly Airport 8.80E.
Roissybusleaves from its Opéra stop at rue
Scribe, 5:45am to 11pm, departing every 15 minutes, and
the drive lasts approximately 50 minutes,8.20EBike
rentals & tours
Fat Tire Bike Tours (formerly
Mike’s Bikes) Provides bike rentals and tours around
Paris, Versailles and Giverny in English. And if you want
to see Paris in an entirely new way, check out the new
Segway tours — 24 rue Edgar Faure, 15e, tel: 01 56
58 10 54, M°Dupleix, 15-50E for bikes, www.FatTireBikeToursParis.com.
Paris à Vélo, C’est
Sympa Three-hour tours with multilingual guides
are conducted for small groups of usually less than ten
people. Reservations required: 9am to 1pm Mon-Fri, 9am
to 6pm Sat & Sun, 37 bd Bourdon, tel: 01 48 87 60 01,
30E. In conjunction with the RATP, Roue Libre, also
provides inexpensive bike rental for all ages at various
locations around Paris: Porte d’Auteuil, Hôtel
de Ville, Bois de Vincennes, Denfert-Rochereau, St-Germain-en-Laye.
Paris
on rollers Each Friday at 10pm the Paris-Roller
association organizes group routes around Paris, departing
from Montparnasse and lasting approx. 3 hours. info: www.paris-roller.com
/ Every Sunday at 2:30 pm, Rollers et Coquillages gathers
rollerskaters departing from Bastille, info: 01 44 54 94
42. www.rollers-coquillages.org
Museums
National
museums such as the Louvre, Pompidou Center and Musée
Picasso are closed on Tuesdays, while City museums including
the Musée d’Orsay, Musée Carnavalet
and Institut du Monde Arabe are closed on Mondays. Some
museums stay open late: the Pompidou Center every day to
10pm, the Galeries nationales du Grand Palais till 10pm
on Wednesdays, the Louvre until 9:45pm on Mondays and Wednesdays,
and the Musée d’Orsay to 9:45pm, on Thursdays.
The Paris
Museum-Monument pass gives free no waiting access to
60 attractions in Paris and its environs. While this won’t
admit you to temporary exhibitions, it does entitle you
to unlimited visits to the permanent ones. The 1 day pass
costs 18E, while the 3-day pass (consecutive days) costs
36E and the 5-day version is 54E. You can buy all of these
at participating museums and monuments, metro stations,
FNAC, the Paris Tourist Bureau, or Bat-o-bus stops.
Helplines
SAMU (for
medical emergencies) 15 American Hospital 01 46
41 25 25
Hertford British Hospital 01 46 39 22 22
SOS
Doctors 01 47 07 77 77
SOS Help 01 47
23 80 80
Facts AIDS 01 46 21 46 46 www.aides.org
Derhy
24/7 pharmacy 84 av des Champs-Elysées, 8e,
tel: 01 45 62 02 41
Pharmacie Anglaise des Champs-Elysées 62
av des Champs-Elysées, 8e, tel: 01 43 59 22 52 & 130
rue de la Boetie, 8e, tel: 01 43 59 82 30, open daily 8am
to midnight
Embassies & Consulates
Australian
Embassy 01 40 59 33 00
British Consulate 01
44 51 30 00
British Embassy 01 44 51 31 00
Canadian
Embassy/Consulate 01 44 4329 00 Irish Embassy/ Consulate 01
44 17 67 00
United States Consulate 08 36 70
14 88
United States Embassy 01 43 12 22 22 (for
updates on the security of American citizens abroad http://travel.state.gov)
Missing
Stolen Cards Eurocard/Mastercard/Mastercharge: 01 45 67 53 53. American
Express: 01 47 77 72 00. Visa: 01 53 20 18 98/08 36 69 08 80
Lost property
office 36 rue des Morillons, 15e, tel: 01 55 76 20 00Information and tourist offices
Tourist Information
CenterCarrousel
du Louvre (main office- located near the inverted pyramid), 99 rue de Rivoli,
1er, daily 10am to 7pm;
Bureau d’Acceuil Opéra-Grands Magasins 11
rue Scribe, 9e, Mon-Sat 9am to 6:30pm
Gare de Lyon 20 bd Diderot, 8am
to 6pm
Eiffel Tower (between East and North bases) daily 11am to 6:40pm
Gare
du Nord 18 rue de Dunkerque, 10e, daily 8am to 6pm
Montmartre 21 pl
du Tertre, 18e, daily 10am to 7pm
Mairie de Paris (Mayor’s office
or Hôtel de Ville) www.paris.fr/en
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