Paris

Recently we've been focusing a bit on London but that's simply because London's home. At StrollOn though we cover cities across Europe and so this week I thought it would be fun to focus on Paris.

Paris is the city I would live in if I could. It's beautiful, glamorous and, well, very French. There is nothing like a stroll around Saint Germain Des Pres, one of the older parts of the city. Unlike the Right Bank, this little nook on the left bank still has some of the medieval streets and byways running through it that used to be part of Paris. It is also the academic heart of the city with the Sorbonne nearby and plenty of bookshops. If you're in Saint Germain Des Pres here are three places you should make part of your visit:


Les Deux Magots

This cafe on Rue Saint Germain Des Pres used to be a haunt of Hemingway, Picaso and Sartre. It may be a bit more touristy now but it is still a lovely place to sit and enjoy a cafe noir whilst Paris walks past you.

Shakespeare and Company

This small, ramshackle bookshop is one of literature's most important venues. It used to be owned by Sylvia Beach who was a passionate Modernist. She used to let the occasional impoverished author sleep in the store when they were down on their luck and went to extraordinary lengths to publish James Joyce's novel Ulysses. The shop closed during World War II but was reopened in 1951 and still sells books and holds literary events. If you're in Paris, you can find out more about the schedule here.

Pollain

There are two Pollain Bakeries in Paris but the one at 8 rue de Cherche-Midi is my favourite because it feels timeless. The smell of freshly baked bread, sour-dough and croissant is irresistible. Inside, the staff are friendly and helpful and will introduce you to all sorts of new things. Try their pain au chocolat if you can: it's the best breakfast in Paris.

You can find out more about walking around Paris on our website and, as ever, please let us know your tips about the city below.

Rain! Rain! Rain!

It's raining in Europe. Try these places for something different.

1. London: The bridge with a view
Tower Bridge is across the river from the Tower of London and has a fantastic view up, down and across the river. It might break in two if you are lucky or an aeroplane could flie through it (see it on Strollon)

2. Paris: Dream of sex
The Erotic Museum in Paris is right next to the Moulins Rouge in Montmartre and the start of the Strollon walk.

3. Amsterdam: Look for your specs
If you can not find them then go and look at the Spectacle Museum in Amsterdam. If you can not see it then press the bottom button. Fascinating for the myopic.

4. Prague: Play with Barbie:
In Prague there are not many out-of-the-ordinary museums but I am told that the Toy Museum is the second largest in the world with crowds of Barbies in all their glory. Give it a go.

5. Venice: Goggle at Guggenheim
In Venice you have seen every Saint that you every want to meet. The rain fills the canals and the clouds darken the windows. Just go to the lightness of Peggy Guggenheim’s museum for wonderment and light.

Well this is a short list. I will come back to more if the rain keeps tumbling down.

Good luck. Keep dry.

Like the rest of the UK StrollOn looks closer to home

We have got ourselves into a right little pickle, haven't we? The pound has dropped so much against the Euro that is has now become prohibitively expensive to visit our favourite haunts in Spain, France and Italy. Once the preferred destination of city breakers and package holidaymakers alike we now simply cannot afford to even leverage a beverage when we arrive on the ground in Barcelona, Paris or Rome. 

Meanwhile, the rest of the World - in spite of crumbling markets and broken economies - seems to be finding enough loot to head in the opposite direction and make the most of the lowly pound. So much so in fact that we've hardly seen a drop (if at all) in year on year visitor numbers to London and the like. But what can we do? Do we just have to sit at home this year, riding out the storm? Personally I don't believe that the British will be fazed by a weak currency and rising unemployment. We may cut down on some luxuries, such as fresh vegetable and durable loo roll, but we will not cut down on them all. Which is why the word "holiday" continues to play on everyone's mind as the summer approaches. 

Much like me you do not want to be left behind in June and July, sharing your capital or home town with the barbarian hordes from mainland Europe and the US. No, you want to go abroad, but somewhere where your money will buy value. In which case we're suggested to avoid the Eurozone and North America and advised to consider new destinations. In Europe the best deals can be found in Iceland, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovakia, Hungary and Turkey. Thereafter carriers have made it easier (on the wallet) to get out to both the Middle and Far East. 

Have a look at AirAsia and you'll see what I mean. The advent of the low cost, long haul carrier couldn't have occurred at a better time.  

But can you really be bothered to pack up, pay what is still (relatively speaking) a small fortune and head abroad? Holiday yes, but abroad really?! I think that this is when we should all stop a moment and consider the opportunity that has been put before us - the opportunity to get to know our own island a little bit better. And it will feel like arriving in a foreign country as you pass the railwayline in Brandon on the A1065, because I'm telling you that all your vacational needs can be found in Admiral Lord Nelson's county, Royal Norfolk. Just sit down, take a look at the following and tell me that I ain't as mad as a turkey drumstick...

You know it makes sense. I'm heading off there this weekend and I'll let you know how it goes should I manage to escape come Monday night. If not, follow my cries for help on Twitter. 

In the meantime, StrollOn...

Paris, rain and compliments

Although England's weather is the butt of many a foreign joke - along with our food, teeth and football team - what few realise or care to acknowledge is the fact that there is, in fact, less annual rainfall in London than there is in Paris. No wonder this is the capital of romance: as it pours outside for the 38th day on the trot what else is there to do other than try your luck with the ladies, trawling from cafe to cafe with a gauloises cigarette clinging desperately on to your lower lip, shrugging this way and grunting that.

And so it was with little surprise that, when I woke up on Friday morning, having arrived late on Thursday night, I opened the curtain to a rain splattered window, framing a grey sky. But being one of a group of 8 englishmen, we wrapped up warm and headed outside to be greeted by the mad dogs. We set off from the seizieme arrondissement and soon arrived near our destination of the Eiffel Tower - one of our number had never visited it before(?). A short stroll along the river from the metro station and there we were, staring up at this giant A-Frame.

Since the rest of us had been up to the top before, when the world was a better place and the price of a lift to the top was considerably less, there was no way that we were going to repeat the experience, even with an Eiffel virgin present. There was, therefore, a lot of foot shuffling and light social interaction as we all looked up at the top thinking (almost all of us) why are we here AGAIN?

Then it hit me. I have some of the most cynical friends on God's earth. Few, if any of them, have ever supported the idea of an audio city guide, smiling with a glazed condescension as I attempt to sell them the concept in time for their next visit to Amsterdam. But here we were, cynical or not, looking up at the Eiffel Tower feeling nothing but resentment, resentment that we were seeing something for the 3rd or 4th time and that we would leave this time with nothing.

But it did not have to be this way. We could leave with something: knowledge, understanding and appreciation as well as a random fact or two. Recently we (at StrollOn) have been developing our "Hotspots". The thinking behind them is that you download them (between 10 and 15 per city) onto your ipod before you head for a city and then listen to the content as and when you encounter each individual sight and attraction - we do not set you a prescribed route or walk. So I brought out my ipod, extricated myself from the group and started to listen to the track about the Eiffel Tower.

Within a minute or so I was sharing an ear piece with the virgin. Five minutes later and my ipod was in the hands of two new listeners. This was just the beginning. We passed a few more of the sights and, as people became familiar with the routine, they would shout out the name and we would see whether it was covered. If it was, 15 minutes later, after everyone had had a listen, we would move on, out of the rain. Now, bearing in mind that honesty is the best policy, I must confess that I was pushing the product. A lot. And all day. As a went to bed that night I wondered whether this was a one off. Tomorrow it would be forgotten about unless I pushed it equally if not more forcibly...

On Sunday we headed off to Notre Dame, not for mass I must confess (but not in confession) but to climb to the top. The queue for the climb was long so we decided to have a snoop around inside, to see whether this had anything on Canterbury, Yorkminster or Durham (and no is the answer). After 10 minutes upsetting the apple cart as I shuffled around the apse contra-flow I headed outside. To perhaps the most life affirming moment of recent months: a dour yorkshireman sitting in the middle of the square looking up at the two towers and taking in the building's many sculptures and wall reliefs, ipod in hand, ear plugs in ears. Rumbled, he defended himself saying, "this is the best idea ever".

The Hotspot had caught on...

StrollOn.

StrollOn to Paris

Why am I so upset? No, it's not because I am about to head off to the Capital of Romance armed with a beret and baguette, but it is because I am about to spend a weekend in Paris without being able to trial our new Sixty Minute City.

Whilst we have now finished producing this new audio guide for London, Prague and Amsterdam, at StrollOn we have had a few issues with the timing of Paris. So I will have to satisfy myself with our free Hotpots and Sixty Minute Stroll.

Being the only one of the team to have only ever tried our products in London this represents a big moment for me. Not only am I going to use an audio guide abroad, but it will be a StrollOn one and it will, perhaps most importantly, be the first time in my life that I will have been able to mix business with pleasure.

So the pressure is on, my expectations are high and I do not expect to be left disappointed. We have not heard from any disenchanted customers to date, but I have nonetheless formulated a back up plan, which includes a bicycle helmet, a tour guide and great balance: it's time to meet monsieur et madame segway...

Until I return, StrollOn...

Big News

And finally we StrollOn is approaching where we feel you, the user, want us to be. After a few months in production we are about to release our free city overviews. We have produced ones for London, Paris, Prague and Amsterdam and we are about to have all of them downloadable from our website.

These audio guides are about 20 minutes in length and divided into bitesize chapters, covering the History and culture of the city, where to eat, nightlife, pleasure and pastimes, what to do in an emergency, how to get around, money and shopping as well as detailed what you have to do before you leave. A lot of this information will be used in the introductory section of our next product, the "Sixty Minute City" which is still in production. As a result we would love you to download the free city overview and give us some feedback. Or another way of helping would be to fill in our questionnaire:

Click Here to take survey

It only takes about 5 minutes and it will help us in fine tuning both this product as well as the Sixty Minute City. So keep your wallet in your pocket and give it a go - something that you can do when sitting vacantly at your computer - and talk to us. It is ,after all, what we are all about.

until then, StrollOn...

StrollOn in Paris

This page is for feedback and discussion on Paris, the city, and StrollOn's coverage of it