Paris Breaks to the 20th Arrondissement
Ok, the idea of going on Paris breaks in order to hang out entirely in the 20th is only semi-serious, it would be a bit like visiting London in order to spend all your time in Leytonstone or Newham, but that’s not quite as mad as it sounds. You’d be surprised at the number of young Europeans and Orientals wandering about in East London these days, I’m sure Brick Lane, Walthamstow and Stratford must feature in some offbeat guide books to trendy London. But back to Paris, and the Bellevile, Barbes area. It’s similar in some ways, with a history of immigration, a melting pot of world cultures and cheap accommodation for starving artists etc, but with a Parisian style that’s unmistakeable. So you might find a flourishing little underground Parisian indie music scene, or an ex-pat community linking South Sea islanders with Mexican sushi vendors. But you might just find the usual struggle against exploitation and discrimination that you wanted to get a short break from while abroad. You’ve only got a few days in Paris so why spend some of that precious away day time in the 20th?
Père Lachaise Cemetery
The single great tourist attraction in the 20th is a graveyard. The landmark is Père-Lachaise Cemetery, the resting place of Edith Piaf, Marcel Proust, Oscar Wilde, Isadora Duncan, Sarah Bernhardt, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, Colette, Jim Morrison, and many others.
Père Lachaise is located on Boulevard de Ménilmontant. Métro station Philippe Auguste on line 2 is next to the main entrance, while the station called Père Lachaise, on line 3, is 500 metres away near a side entrance. Many tourists prefer the Gambetta station on line 3 as it allows them to enter near the tomb of Oscar Wilde and then walk downhill to visit the rest of the cemetery. Abelard is also buried there, and the list goes on.
The Communards’ Wall (Mur des Fédérés) is also located in the cemetery. This is the site where 147 Communards, the last defenders of the workers’ district of Belleville, were shot on 28 May 1871 — the last day of the “Bloody Week” (Semaine Sanglante) in which the Paris Commune was crushed.
And so we come to the end of our little series of distributed articles about Paris breaks to each of the 20 arrondissements or districts of Paris, but not to the end of the Paris Breaks blog which continues with a new series coming soon looking at a number of aspects of our favourite city with one common theme.
It seems obvious that rail travel must be more efficient than air travel right? So why are some airlines able to offer ridiculously cheap headline prices for international travel? Well there are two reasons. One way they fund the flights is by getting obscure airports toe PAY them to deliver visitors, and the other is a loophole in the fuel taxes which allow aviation fuel to go untaxed due to the lack of an international agreement between governments. If you don’t think this is right, then you might like consider further ecological arguments for taking the eurostar train instead of the plane.
Eurostar’s 186 mph high-speed train service has become the number one choice for travellers between London, Ebbsfleet, Ashford, Paris, Brussels, Lille, Calais, Disneyland Resort Paris, Avignon and the French Alps. But that’s not all – don’t forget that Eurostar is also a more environmentally friendly option. Flying between London, Paris and Brussels generates ten times more emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) per traveller than going by Eurostar.
Ten times as much CO2!
Eurostar is also committed to generating even less carbon dioxide emissions per traveller in future years and has pledged to achieve a reduction of 25% per traveller journey by 2012 (compared to 2006).
Taking the train is now the only socially responsible green way to travel where its an alternative to flying.
Tags: Alps·Ashford·aviation·Avignon·Brussels·Calais·carbon·carbon dioxide emissions·co2·Disneyland·Ebbsfleet·eurostar·eurostar train·Flying·greenhouse gas·high speed train·international travel·Lille·London·paris·rail travel
Passengers on the Eurostar to Paris these days are just as likely to be Parisians going home for a break as visiting Londoners. The number of French people living and working in London has exploded in recent years, fueled by demand for their skills in the finance sector, and a preference for setting up business in a less regulated environment. An estimate came up in a report about the two Mayors of the twin capitals, with London elections on Thursday May 1st and a visit from Ken Livingstone’s Parisian counterpart:
Mayor of Paris comes out to support Ken – from Pink News
It is estimated that over 300,000 French people live in London, all of whom are eligible to vote in the election on May 1st.
Tags: break·Euro·eurostar·french people·ken livingstone·living and working in london·London·london elections·Londoners·Mayor·mayor of paris·News·paris·Passengers
