Here are a few of my favorite rendezvous-worthy places, squares and gardens, along with the les bancs (benches) and statues that bring them to life. So allons-y! Pack an umbrella, reading material and a picnic. Oh, je t’aime! Je ne me quitte pas!

1.) Place du Trocadéro

Where: Place du Trocadéro, 16th arrondissement (Métro Trocadéro)

Here you’ll find my favorite view of the Eiffel Tower! Let’s first meet up for a brownie and a Coke Zero at the bustling, family-friendly Café Carlu nestled inside the Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine. This is my new happy place! I think you’re going to dig the bookshop, too.

2.) Place Dalida

Dalida at Place Dalida

Where: The tip of rues Girardon and Abreuvoir, 18th arrondissement (Métro Abbesses)

Pilgrims from all over the world visit the quite fetching bust of Dalida (the female Elvis of France) and touch her for

luck! By the way, the pop diva’s house is located nearby on rue d’Orchampt, and her grave is in the Cimetière de Montmartre. (Katy Perry’s fireworks got nothing on you, Dalida!)

3.) Le Jardin du Musée Galliéra

Where: 11-13 avenue du Président Wilson, 16th arrondissement (Métro Iéna or Alma-Marceau)

Though the museum is still closed for an extensive makeover, the gorgeous garden is still open. I love this place. This is where I catch my breath, gaze out at the mile-long lines across the street at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and Le Palais de Tokyo and feel completely satisfied.

4.) Square Jehan Rictus

Where: Place des Abbesses, 18th arrondissement (Métro Abbesses)

Please take heed! The “J’taime Wall” will get you in the mood for random kindness, imagine! After touching the wall, we’ll saunter over to the Café Saint Jean for a lil’ vin chaud and the best chicken salad on this side of Sacré Coeur. Inside or outside, this joint is a prime people watching hot spot.

5.) Place Constantin-Pecquier

Where: 18th arrondissment (Métro Lamark- Caulaincourt) The Fontaine Steinlen

Ah, Cheapos, I’ve a confession up my faux fur sleeve. After my cat left this world for another Fancy Feast, this is where I spent many hours. Both Montmartre residents Steinlen and Erik Satie understood the wonderous feline, and I found and still find great comfort in that.

6.) Église de la Sainte-Trinité de Paris

Where: 4 Place d’Estienne d’Orves, 9th arrondissment (Métro Trinité)

I love this church not just for its beauty alone but also for its brilliant solution to the ugly construction in the works. They didn’t just apologize, Cheapos, they brought in the clowns! Bars and cafés round out the Place. The Musée du Romantisme (Museum of Romantic Life), with George Sand’s bling and other personal artifacts, is just a Chopin hop, skip and away!

7.) Jardin des Tuileries

Where: 1st arrondissement (Métro Tuileries)

Let’s meet at Métro Concorde or at Métro Carrousel du Louvre because we’ll be able to pick up reading material at either W.H. Smith Book Shop or at the fabulous museum shop at the Musée de la Mode. Let’s not forget the Jardin de Tuileries gift shop either. Cheapos, how green does your garden grow?

8.) Square du Vert-Galant

Where: Tip of the Île de la Cité, 1st Arrondissement (Métro Pont Neuf)

For the love of vitality, admiration and gossip, Parisians gave the little tear-drop-shaped park the flamboyant King Henri IV’s nickname, “Vert-Galant,” or “Gay Blade,” since he was larger than life, compassionate, wildly loved and quite the looker in the day. Mad about music, wine and women, Henri would horse around here with his friends, entertainers and favorite mistress, Gabrielle d’Estrée. Ooh, ta ta.

As Henri IV liked to say, Cheapos, “Great cooking and great wines make a paradise on earth!”

The post Paris: 7 oh-la-la spots to rendezvous with a view appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Come on, Cheapos, walk this way!

Getting there

Along the Champs-Elysées

For instant gratification or if you’re pressed for time, get off at Metro “Place Charles de Gaulle.” But for the love of anticipation, take the Metro to either “Franklin D. Roosevelt” or “Porte Dauphine.”

Center of attention

Like a sympathetic angel in a Wim Wenders film, the Arc de Triomphe looks down on the city of Paris from her post on top of the hill of Chaillot. Located at the center of the heavily trafficked Place Charles de Gaulle, she is the key piece of L’Axe historique — a series of monuments that starts at the Sun King’s equestrian statue in the Musée du Louvre courtyard and ends in the outskirts of Paris at La Defense.

L’aimant (The magnet)

Although the Arc was commissioned by Napoleon in 1806, she didn’t reach her full regal glory until the 1860s when city planner Haussmann made her an urban center of attention. At 165 ft high and 150 ft wide, she’s the second largest triumphal arch on earth (a slightly larger one is an expanded replica in Pyongyang, North Korea).

Her domineering stature has made her the perfect staging ground for pageants, parades, and demonstrations. She’s attracted lovers, daredevils, and more than the occasional suicide.

View from the top.

Bit-o-history

Almost immediately after her completion, desperate women started throwing themselves off the rooftop parapet, climbing the 284 steps to reach it. Figuring out which police department to contact after one of these unfortunate events was often a major source of confusion for French officials, because the Arc de Triomphe sits at the juncture of four arrondissements and they had never clearly settled whether the departure spot or the point of arrival should be the determining factor in establishing proper jurisdiction.

In 1919, French aviators were somehow left out of the planning for the WWI victory parade. They were quite sore about it, so they decided at an impromptu meeting at Fouquet’s bar on the Champs-Elysées to “repair the affront.” Lieutenant Charles Godefroy was assigned to the task of rectifying the omission. On the 9th of August, he flew his Nieuport biplane through the womb-like arch with the greatest of ease, after practicing with a wooden replica of the same size.

It was a risk worth taking, as the aviators were never left out of any future celebrations. In fact, nowadays the French Air Force provides the finale for the Défilé militaire du 14 juillet (The Bastille Day Military Parade) the oldest and largest military parade in the world, which has been held each year in Paris since 1880.

This has been Theadora Brack! Keep on flying, Cheapos!

More info

Arc de Triomphe
Official website

Hours:
April 1 to September 30: 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.
October 1 to March 31 : 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.

Admission:
Adults: € 9
Reduced rate: € 5.50
Free: Children under 18 (and citizens of EU member countries under 25 years old), disabled visitors and unemployed visitors.

The post Paris: Visiting the Arc de Triomphe appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Last night, Kari wandered Madrid, photographing the city’s finest monuments. Is it just us, or do the Spanish have a gift for lighting their monuments with a dramatic gusto unmatched in other countries?

Allegorical paintings decorate the Casa de la Panaderia at Plaza Mayor.

Benches line the Paseo del Prado connecting the Plaza de Cibeles and Plaza de Canovas del Castillo.

The impressive headquarters of Spain’s postal service was built between 1905 and 1917 by Antonio Palacios sits on the Plaza de Cibeles.

The Ministerio de Asuntas Exteriores y de Cooperacion built in 1636 sits across the street from Plaza de Santa Cruz and Plaza de la Provincia.

Designed by Francesco Sabatini, construction of the Puerta de Alcala started in 1769 and took nine years to complete. It stands in the center of Plaza de la Independencia.

This fountain is found in Plaza de la Puerta del Sol.

Many thanks to Kari Hoerchler for the fabulous photos, and for taking us along on a tour of Madrid monuments by night.

Also see: Our recommended budget hotels in Madrid.

The post Madrid’s Monuments at Night: A photographic tour appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.