Secret Paris on a Pauper's Budget (writers need answer)?

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Rillifane

There are rather a lot of cafes in Paris and it would be a bit silly for me to sending you running around looking for the ones I hang out in if you're staying on the other side of the city.

All those cafes in Paris are there because the cafe is an intrinsic part of Parisian life. You're right, of course, to seek one that is not as famous, tourist ridden and expensive as the Deux Magots but you're best off finding one for yourself.

Everytime I visit Paris the second thing I do after settling into my apartment or hotel (the first is to go to Notre Dame and light a candle in thanksgiving) is to walk around the immediate area where I am staying and check out likely cafes. Walk out of your hotel or whatever, point yourself at the nearest tourist attraction then turn around in start walking in the opposite direction.

Check out every cafe you see within a few blocks. Read the menus posted out front, check out the prices, check the hours of opening, peer thru the windows, and if it looks right then walk in and have a cup of coffee or a glass of wine. Be polite, don't forget to say "Bonjour" when you enter and "Au revoir" when you leave.

If that goes well then return later in the day and have a sandwich. Does the waiter smile in recognition? Do people act happy to see you? If so then you are on your way to establishing yourself as a regular and that is what you want to do.

By the third or fourth time you walk in the waiter or perhaps the boss will walk over and shake your hand when you enter. If. like me, you are a creature of habit, usually ordering the same drink, perhaps the waiter will simply arch his eyebrow and ask "Comme habitude?" or words to that effect before bringing your drink without it being specified.

This is what makes a cafe cool, your presence as an accepted regular, a member of the local community who drinks and eats there, a promising young writer who is always making notes, polishing copy, or just sitting and looking for inspiration.

As for something to do, there are certainly enough sights in any decent guidebook to keep you walking around looking at things for months. One interesting thing I suggest is to go to Jum Haynes sunday dinner party. Even if that name means nothing to you then go to his website and check him out. http://www.jim-haynes.com/index.htm Everyone kicks in some money, there's good food and an open bar and exacatly the type of people that a young writer needs to know in Paris.

I also suggest you check out the "Club Metropole" which isn't really a place or a club in any normal sense of the word. It meets once a week. Read about it here: http://www.metropoleparis.com/aclub.html

If you haven't already been to Shakespeare & Company then go and hang out for a while. http://www.shakespeareco.org/ After all, it was good enough for Henry Miller, AnÃ¤is Nin, Lawrence Durrell and Alan Ginsberg.

xalynn

Now, grab a metro (or walk) to one of the good bookshops such as Gibert Jeune near St Michel and go to their travel section. Look around at the Paris/France section and there are actually books there that are basically directories to free events and activities in Paris/France. I'm not kidding.

Browse among those there and buy one that you think suits your need best. There's also a "Paris Pas Cher" guide book that will list out place that are not expensive to eat/ to shop/ to visit etc. If you are short on money then look at the book and write them down in your notebook or something, on things that catch your interest. I believe it's good investment to buy one, or in Gibert Jeune some can be "rented".

Other recommendations:

Go walk around Canal St Martin and Parc des Buttes Chaumont. It's lovely there and quite off the tourist track.

Visit Le Petit Palais, the entrance for it is free at all time to the permanent collection, and the restaurant/cafe inside is quite cool too, right next to a tropical garden.

Musee Carnavalet in the Marais is also free for the permanent exhibit, and it's a good place to learn about the history of Paris.

Also, Paris Modern Art Museum at the Palais de Tokyo has free access to its permanent collection.

As a writer I think you would appreciate Maison de Balzac which is also free. So some literary experience there, why not?

Place des Vosges and Jardin du Palais Royal are nice too for small garden feel (unlike Tuilleries or Luxembourg Gardens).

Re the cafes, they're usually not going to be cheap, especially someplace "cool" or "hip". The moment you choose to sit down at a table, the prices of the coffee (and other - usually hot - beverage) shoots up by 2-3 times the price that you would pay if you stand at the bar. Unless you start having a local (a small cafe in the neighbourhood) that you go to all the time and get to know the people there, which will take a little time. That when you start to fit in, and that's when you're living the Parisian life.

I hope this helps.

Laughing Annabella

Try MY area!: La butte aux cailles, a lovely area near Place d'Italie (then ask for "rue des cinq diamants" and just explore. It is nice, not many tourists, a few cafÃ©s and restaurants and relatively cheap. You will feel the atmosphere of the old, working-class Paris in an area that is not as trendy as Canal Saint Martin. I don't know why it is not more popular, but I am quite glad it is not! You can eat a cheap couscous rue de l'espÃ©rance (and the street names are great too!). There are NO sites, no museums (except if you go towards the 5th, then you find the Gobelins Manufacture, avenue des Gobelins, but this is no longer la Butte aux cailles, which is a rather small area).

I love Paris

Reading your post reminded me of an article posted by a writer in Paris and the cafes she frequents. This may be of interest to you -

http://www.bonjourparis.com/story/cafe-writing-in-montparnasse-and-odeon/

aug

Down the street from Deux Magots is Cafe de Flore, which is probably just as expensive, but less crowded with toursits and very nice. The great thing about paris though is that once you sit down and buy one drink, you can sit there as long as you want... so its worth the expensive cafe au lait

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