Paris Gay Parade

If you're around Paris this June, set your schedule free on June 30 for one of the most popular events, the Paris Gay Pride Parade! The event will start out at Montparnasse around 1 pm towards Bastille (through boulevard St Michel, boulevard St Germain and boulevard Henri IV...)

I don't expect anything but the crazy flamboyant parade...which I can't wait to see!

Recommended Spots by the Famous (Part II)

SARAH (COLETTE)

AKI
'For great Japanese food.'
11bis rue Ste-Anne, 1st. M° Pyramides. 01.42.97.54.27.

ROSE BAKERY
'Carrot cake.'
48 rue des Martyrs, 9th. M° St-Georges. 01.42.82.12.80.

ANAHI
'Guacamole.'
49 rue Volta, 3rd. M° Arts et Métiers. 01.48.87.88.24.

'and, of course,'
WATER BAR, COLETTE
213 rue St-Honoré, 1st. M° Tuileries. 01.55.35.33.90.

GASPARD YURKIEVICH

LES CARTES POSTALES
‘French cuisine but by a Japanese chef – a really culinary and sensory journey. Get the chef’s Menu Découverte.’
7 rue Gomboust, 1st. M° Pyramides. 01.42.61.23.40.

BRASSERIE FLO
‘A good brasserie and a great place to take your foreign friends.’
7 cour des Petites Ecuries, 10th. M° Château d’Eau. 01.47.70.13.59.

AL AJAMI
‘A Lebanese restaurant not far from the Crazy Horse, and perfect before the show… get the ‘Thousand and one Nights’ set-menu.’
1 rue Lincoln, 8th. M° George V. 01.42.25.38.44.

PEDRO WINTER

They don’t call him Busy P for nothing, apart from being a producer and DJ in his own right, he’s Daft Punk’s manager, and label boss of Ed Banger Records. The hip and happening electro label celebrate their 4th birthday this weekend with a massive party, and Busy P the DJ is getting ready to launch his first album, Rainbow Man, later this month. He’s also putting Daft Punk through their paces for an album release pencilled in for the end of the year. One to watch.

record shop: La FNAC, Champs-Élysées! This place is all I need since the death years ago of all my favourite independent shops.
FNAC, Galerie du Claridge, 74 av des Champs-Elysées, 8th. M° Franklin D Roosevelt. 0.825.020.020. www.fnac.com/

club: Quite simply, the Paris, Paris. There’s a real mixture of people in there, it’s the perfect size, and Marco Dos Santos is great.
Paris, Paris, 5 av de l’Opéra, 1st. M° Pyramides. +33 (0)1.42.60.64.45/ www.leparisparis.com.

bar: I don’t go to them very often, but my local is Francis Labutte. They know me, so I don’t even have to order because they know what I want.
Francis Labutte, 122 rue Caulaincourt, 18th. +33 (0)1.42.23.58.26

restaurant: It’s a tiny Italian place without a menu; the waiter just bowls up and tells you what they’ve got that day.
Sale et Pepe, 30 rue Ramey, 18th. M° Château-Rouge. +33 (0)1.46.06.08.01.

quartier: The 18th (Montmartre) – there’s a real mix of people round there, and as I live and work there, it makes life a whole lot nicer.

Source: Gogoparis

France VS UK

Renault Clio - Twice The Va Va Voom aka Ben and Sophie

La Tour Eiffel

La Tour Eiffel or the Eiffel Tower is sure to be the no.1 spot in Paris for visitors and even the French, I'm sure, do have at least one picture of/with it. It is most beautiful by night when it shares all the glitters with the city. However, the scene is not any less fascinating by day. I visit the area every once in awhile...the park is very nice to have a picnic or just lay around on the weekends or in the evenings, since the sun in the summer doesn't come down till late. If you like jogging, it's one of the ideal places for it too. I've been "planning" to do that but it seems the data is still under the process hmm... Anyway, Place du Trocadero (the Trocadero square) is where to best get the whole view of Tour Eiffel. Sometimes there will be a group of teens skateboarding or roller skating in the square, many times it's surrounded with tourists...by all means, it's nice to wander around.

Metro: Bir-Kakeim, Trocadero and Ecole Militaire

Paris and the 80's

Thursdays seem to be popular as a night out for working people here. I've been out to a few clubs on Thursday's nights and I couldn't help but wonder if it's a trend for Thursdays in Paris for the 80's music. I mean on Fridays and Saturdays, it's mainly something else. Not that I have anything against 80's music but too much of it just makes my legs stiff. So these days, though how much I would like to dance I prefer to save it for the weekends and just hang out in a cafe, bar or restaurant instead.

But if you like the type of music, you can find it in clubs around metro Bourse (ie. Bizen, a nice ambient club and restaurant with a speed dating service on weekends, ha!), Sentier and Grands Boulevards (ie. Seven 2 One, a popular spot with a big dancefloor). Expect the after work vibe and crowd - men in suits etc. since the area is where the stock market of France located, among other companies/organizations...

Panoramic Camera

For all the photography and camera lovers, be it a novice or professional, there is this new toy coming out to seduce your wallet this 2nd quarter of 2007...a "Panoramic camera"! Like its name, it gives a panoramic view...and it actually gave me a panoramic WOW when I first browsed through it. Such a sin to see the gadgets like this one, or those lomo's...You just can't decide which one to go for, then sometimes end up wanting them all! Such a greedy.

More info, check here.

Amsterdam (Part III)

I'm currently reading the book "My 'Dam Life" by Sean Condon and I couldn't help but quote a few things...which I find really hilarious and true.

"Canals: Every year more than fifty cars are pulled out of Amsterdam's canals.
Pedestrians: Every year more than one hundred pedestrians are pulled from the city's canals."