Paris Breaks

I was asked a question about which UK Documents are needed for Paris Breaks recently, here it is:

I travel myself a lot to Paris. I have a friend who would like to go there one day but his passport expired a while ago, so now he only has his UK driving licence. Do you think that would be good enough?  - thanks for any suggestions.

The answer, I’m afraid is that UK citizens need a full passport in order to cross the border from the UK to France. A driving license, even a modern one with a photo ID does not count as a passport.

EU citizens can travel around member countries with a national ID card, but the UK does not have an ID card scheme at present, nor planned.

If you are taking a car from the UK to Paris, then the car also needs documents, such as the registration document (log book), MOT and insurance, a drivers license and sometimes special equipment that is required in EU countries but not the UK such as a breakdown triangle.

I met up with an old friend from Paris and we talked about Paris breaks for hours, just like the old days. It was amazing really because we hadn’t seen each other for years, but he was instantly recognisable as Mike, and still had many of the same old ways that I remembered from the Paris days.  We talked about the early Paris breaks, from trying to find the EIffel Tower and then ending up with those two french girls, to the scene in the Montmartre cafes where we used to sit and exchange painters stories at the end of the day.  Mike still carried on painting, hoping for the big break in Paris years after I had given up effectively, and put up with a regular job in the petro chemical industry. But do you know what? I’m certain the experience I had with the painters in Paris like Mike and the gang put me in good stead for the career I never wanted. Funy how things work out isn’t it.

If we were to go back to Paris now, on a short break or weekend trip perhaps, it wouldn’t be the same as when we just turned up with our artists materials, a few francs and a thirst for knowledge.  For one thing the informal street painters scene is a lot more tightly regulated than it was  back in the day when you had to take Paris breaks by Ferry because the Eurostar tunnel hadn’t even been dug yet. And I mean that in both senses of the word.

So all that’s left for us now I suppose is the occasional nostalgic Paris breaks with a nice comfortable hotel, so we can shuffle uneasily past the old haunts and try to remember what it was really like after all the false memories which seem to have grown up over the years. We’ll always have Paris breaks., as they say.

Paris Breaks – Café des 2 Moulins

Paris – Café des 2 Moulins

Originally uploaded by Añelo de la Krotsche

A point of interest for film buffs on Paris breaks, this is the cafe where Amélie worked as a waitress. The Café des Deux Moulins. The musty atmosphere, with its 1950s decor, mustard-colored ceiling, and lace curtains, has been preserved — even the wall lamps and unisex toilet.

The menu remains much the same:

* escalopes of veal in a cream sauce,
* beef filets,
* calf’s liver,
* green frisée salad with bacon bits and warm goat cheese,
* pigs’ brains with lentils.

The Café des 2 Moulins (French for “Two Windmills”) is a café in the Montmartre area of Paris, located at the junction of Rue Lepic and Rue Cauchois. It takes its name from the two nearby historical “windmills”, Moulin Rouge and Moulin de la Galette.

Paris Breaks for 2010

For Paris breaks, 2010 starts with the aftermath of the unfortunate Eurostar breakdowns with the bad weather last month in teh North of France but let’s put that all behind us now and look forward to a busy January as the long holiday period in the UK comes to an end. Believe it or not, Monday 4th January 2010 is NOT a bank Holiday in England and Wales, although both Monday and Tuesday are bank holidays in Scotland so we will getting back very much to normal pretty soon.

There is the prospect of some more downward pressure on the pound sterling later in the UK election year, so rather than wait for economic conditions to improve, a lot of people will be taking Paris breaks in the early spring, as well as going further afield, and possibly have that well earned break that has been postponed during 2009 to some extent.

January is traditionally the month for booking summer holidays too, and that can include tours of France and Europe with Paris breaks built in. One way for example, for keen francophiles from the north of the UK to get driving in France more quickly would be to take the train right through to Paris or even further south and then hire a car with right hand drive and everything.

There’s been a bit of inflation in Pars over the past year and although the pound has recovered a little it’s still unfavourable for UK travelers on Paris breaks so what we try to do is get the best possible Eurostar deals and then keep the hotel expenses down. Now there are two ways of going about this. One is to look for Eurostar deals with hotel included, in which case you know exactly how much most of your short break to Paris is going to cost, and the other way is to book one of those £59 return Eurostar deals – usually including a Saturday night stay, and then find a cheaper hotel in Paris when you get there. A third alternative I suppose is to organis your own hotel in advance, by phoning up or booking online, but I’ve never done that myself.