N'Importe Quoi Photo of the Week

Welcome to Paris. Want to see the city's most famous monuments? Take a  river cruise down the Seine...brought to you by (insert big corporate ad name here). I'm not sure what's more offensive: advertisements on historic monuments, or the unpaid interns on the boat cruise who are impossible to understand. Buyer beware....

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Paris Museum Ticket Tips

Navigating the maze of Paris museum ticket options can be a nightmare. The goal? Avoid lines, save money, feel like the savvy traveler your friends think you are. The problem? The amount of time you spend trying to avoid standing in line is instead spent in front of your computer comparing the different ticketing options.

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Louvre Saxophonist

I was walking through the Passage Richelieu at the Louvre earlier this month, between the I.M. Pei Pyramid and the Place du Palais Royal, and had to stop and listen to this street musician for a moment. Makes a nice change from accordion players mangling La Vie en Rose.

An Apple Store for the Louvre

Apple fanatics (yes, I'm talking about you, David) can't wait for the first "real" Apple Store to open in Paris. For the moment, only FNAC has Apple stores as part of their stores, but apparently this isn't enough. For years the shop was rumored to be opening on the Champs-Elysées, but according to this article in ifo Apple Store, Jasmine Khounnala, Apple’s Paris-based public relations manager, confirmed that a store will open in the Carrousel du Louvre.

As first reported by LaTribune.fr and explained by MacGeneration.com and MacPlus.net, Apple will occupy about 7,770 square-feet formerly occupied by the Lalique and Résonnance stores.

I'm a big fan of the Carrousel du Louvre, an underground shopping gallery connected to the Louvre Museum, because it's open seven days a week -- a rarity in Paris -- and is directly accessible from the metro (station "Palais-Royal-Musée-du-Louvre"). It also has a Virgin megastore, regional tourism office, restrooms, foodcourt, ATM machines, and direct entrance to the museum without waiting in line outside the Pyramid (handy when it's cold or raining). Of course, not being an owner of any Apple products, I probably won't be visiting the new store (opening "sometime in 2009") unless it's to pry David away for a hot chocolate break. ;)