TEMPLE OF TOURISM DESECRATED The carefully piled skulls and other bones in Paris’s Catacombs, a popular tourism site, were violently attacked by vandals last weekend. The damage is so bad that the recently restored ossuary has been closed until further … Read More
GOOD-BYE, WILLY “Humanist” photographer Willy Ronis, famed for his piquant, poignant black-and-white photos, snapped mostly in Paris’s working-class neighborhoods, died this week at the age of 99. When he was only 95, he was in fine form at the opening … Read More
WATCH YOUR STEP In 2008, 51 people, 29 of them pedestrians, were killed in traffic accidents in Paris, up from 37 in 2007, and 9,528 injured. As of Sept. 10, 29 people had died this year. The leading cause of … Read More
THE PIPI-CACA BRIGADE How very civilized! Some countries may have SWAT teams, but, as The Wall Street Journal recently noted, Paris has its own elite crime-fighting force: the brigade des incivilités. This squad of 88 specially trained plain-clothes law-enforcement officers … Read More
EVENT REMINDER Doors that are usually firmly shut to the public will swing open this weekend (Sept. 19-20) for the Journées du Patrimoine. Find out all you need to know on the official Web site. Favorite
GOOGLE SEES ALL Google Street View trikes – computer- and camera-equipped three-wheeled bicycles – spent the summer holidays in France, photographing everything in their path in the major cities, but it will take a few months to get the images … Read More
TREND ALERT: LESS TOPLESS, MORE MODEST Soleil worshippers may have noticed a change on French beaches this year: fewer bare female breasts. According to a survey conducted by L’Institut Tena/IFOP, going topless on French beaches is decidedly OUT. Women are … Read More
PARIS IN AUGUSTParisUpdate.com is taking its annual summer break. The next new issue will be published on Sept. 9. In the meantime, here are a few suggestions for those of you who will be in town in August (events continue … Read More
URBAN BEACHParis Plages, the city’s famed urban beaches, will be open daily July 20-Aug. 20, 8 a.m.-midnight on several sites: the Voie Georges Pompidou along the Seine, in front of the Hôtel de Ville (free weekend concerts) and the Bassin … Read More
EVERYBODY HATES THE FRENCHIn a survey of hotel owners in 27 countries conducted for Expedia in June by TNS Infratest, the French won top honors as the world’s worst tourists, because they are arrogant, stingy and don’t speak many other … Read More
