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.

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.

Everybody knows about the Paris Metro, it’s probably the best public mass transit system in the world but because of that I wonder if tourists on Paris breaks come to rely on it just a little too much. If you are coming from London for example, it’s easy to assume that the Paris Metro is roughly equivalent to the London Overground or tube but this is not really the case. The RER is more like the tube, and the metro is more like the DLR. If tourists in London sometimes make the mistake of taking the tube to go one stop when it would be easier to walk it in 5 minutes, then for travellers on Paris breaks this is even more so the case. The stops are much closer together, even in the more outlying areas such that if you need to take a corresponance or interchange for the sake of taking a second line for just two or three stops then it’s usually worth finding a route that takes you close enough in just one hop , and then walking the rest. Getting out at Pont Neuf and then crossing the river Seine is one of my favourite such cuts.

The Metro can be a bit slow for longer distances too, what with the stops being so close together, so it’s worth going down a level to the RER if you are travelling from one side of Paris to the other.

Paris Breaks by Bus

One form of transport often ignored by Paris visitors is the bus, and one can be forgiven for thinking its a little complicated bt it needn’t be and can often be the fastest way across shortish distances, plus you get to see the sights as your making your way.

Batobus Paris Breaks

Saving the best ’til last – have you tried the Batobus yet? That’s a brilliant way to get about on Paris breaks with stops along the Seine which are convenient for Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysees, St Germain, Jardin des PLantes and Musee D’Orsay no less.

People enjoy Paris breaks for many reasons,and one of the most popular is to visit the many museums and art galleries Paris has to offer. The most famous are the Louvre of course, the Musee d’Orsay, The Picasso museum and the Rodin museum, but there are many many other smaller mueums and galleries as well as these. For example,  Paris has the Quai Branly museum, which it has to be admitted has caused a lot of controversy among the French and also international visitors since opening on June 23, 2006. Despite or maybe even because of this continued controversy, the Musee Quai Branly has become hugely popular.

The Musée Quai Branly contains an impressive collection of over 300,000 artifacts from Africa and Oceania that was previously displayed at the Trocadero Museum of Ethnology, near the Eiffel Tower

The controversy surrounds the nature of the objects in the museum’s collection, and how they came to be owned by the French state. Such things as Alaskan headdresses, Nigerian statues, Senegalese beadwork, and ornamental wear from India help to make up the main collections. So many are against the display of objects plundered from France’s colonial conquest and believe they should be returned to their countries of origin. There’s another type of criticism which complains that the displays are too dependent on on aesthetic appeal and extreme lighting, rather than having usueful descriptions in a proper context. So it’s impossible for me to recommend that you go to The Quai Branly museum and make your own mind up, for that would be encouraging yet more visitors.  Make your mind up before you set out on Paris breaks which museums you want to see and then have the best possible time in Paris.

The 1st Arrondissment is well known but sometimes overlooked on Paris Breaks. Do you head straight for the Latin Quarter or Montmartre? At some point you’ll be passing through the centre of Paris and this is what you can find there:

Paris 1st Arrondissement  - Musée du Louvre, Les Halles

The Louvre was once a royal residence, and is a big attraction in the 1st arrondissement. Next to the Louvre is  the Jardin des Tuileries, Paris’s most formal garden park, which was originally laid out by Le Nôtre, gardener to Louis XIV. Place Vendôme, also in the area is the opulent location for the Ritz Hotel. Les Halles and the  Forum des Halles is a huge shopping mall, though done with Parisian style.