In addition to its wonderful museums and its typical cafés, Paris is full of mysteries. Do you know for instance that there is a veritable maze of underground tunnels below the city of lights? If you have seen the Da Vinci Code, this visit may be for you.

The undergrounds of Paris are part of the folklore and go back to the origins of the city; Paris was actually built on a layer of materials that have been used for its construction. Quarries have been dug under the city from the 14th century in a completely anarchic way. Many accidents began to take place in the early 19th century and the exploitation of the quarries was finally banned.

Until the late 17th century there were large cemeteries within the walls of Paris, the most famous one being the cemetery of the Innocents and its common graves. The smell was unbearable, and neighbourhood complaints forced the authorities to find a solution.

It was therefore decided to close the cemeteries of Paris and to transfer the bones of the existing cemeteries to the old quarries. The process lasted almost 100 years and the bones of at least 6 million people were piled up on 11,000 square metres of galleries. Twice as much as the current population of Paris!
The entrance of the Paris catacombes is at Métro Denfert Rochereau (on the site of the former “square of hell”) and they are open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm. This municipal ossuary is 1.7 km long and lies 20 metres below the surface: this is only but a small part of the catacombs, the rest can’t be visited.

Dark and humid corridors, a temperature of 11 degrees all year, bones carefully stacked from the largest to smallest, skulls neatly stacked on both sides of dark corridors that are barely one metre wide. What an experience! However, since their creation, the Paris catacombes has aroused curiosity. In 1787, the future Charles X visited it in the company of some ladies of the Court. In 1814, François 1st, Emperor of Austria visited them and in 1860, Napoleon III came down with his son. In 1897, 45 members of the Paris Opera gave a clandestine concert there!

The walls are covered with graffiti dating from the eighteenth century and many authors and filmmakers used this mythical place in their works, such as Victor Hugo in Les Miserables or Pierre Tchernia in the movie Les Gaspards. The catacombs of Paris reopened in 2005 after several months of closure for repairs. Lighting has been revised and the vaults and the walls of bones were consolidated: don’t be intimidated by the verses of the poet Delille at the entrance: “Stop, here begins the grip of Death”.
Come and discover a mythical place in Paris which has aroused curiosity for already 300 years and continues to fascinate urban explorers!

Rent comfortable and cheap apartments in Paris now, visit the paris catacombs and you’ll have some amazing stories to tell your friends about when you get back!

The Eiffel Tower is illuminated by more than 350 projectors, during the evening it shines with over 22,000 lights and 900 lights in celebration. The “Tour Eiffel” is the symbol of Paris, named by the name of its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel. Anyone who has ever been to Paris has surely seen it and there is no book about history, geography or tourism that doesn’t have a picture of the “dame de fer” (the iron lady), as the French call her.

Inaugurated on March 31st for the 1889 Universal Exposition, which celebrated the centenary of the French Revolution, the tower is a milestone in contemporary architecture; it was an early example of wrought iron construction carried out on a grand scale. It is located on the left bank of the It is 312.27 metres high and is the monument that is the most visited in the world, with seven million visitors each year. Paris from the tower appears microscopic, in the evening glow of light like little fireflies, its sure to catch your gaze.

The Eiffel Tower is equipped with stairs and lifts and on the first floor there is a restaurant. At the top, there is a fantastic view of Paris, along with a meteorological station, a radio station and a television repeater. It was also the study of Gustave Eiffel for a while, too. There are 1665 steps for the visitors who love to walk and two transparent lifts on the second floor where there are also many souvenir shops.

In 1909 it was on the brink of being demolished following the protests of the ‘aristocratic Elité that did not consider the tower representative for the elegant city of Paris. But this was avoided thanks to the possibility that it could be used as an exceptional platform for the new radio technology. Even today many French people do not show their approval of it, considering this monument not very aesthetic.

The tower was lit with thousands of twinkling lights to greet the year 2000. It was so beautiful and elegant that the Electric Company, despite the excessive consumption of energy decided to leave the lights illuminating the iron lady on a permanent basis.

From the 14th January it is open from 9:30 am to 23:45 pm, from June to September from 9:00 am to 0:45. If you go up in the lift it costs €4.80 for the first floor, the second floor costs €7.80 and the top floor costs €12.00. If you do decide to use the stairs you will pay just €4.00 for both floors.

Paris is waiting for you! Rent Apartments in Paris and discover this marvellous piece of history by Gustave Eiffel.

From 13th March to 18th March it will hold at the Porte de Versailles the 29th edition of the Paris Book Fair with Mexico as honoured country. The fair, which receives over a thousand publishers and around 3,000 writers per year, is one of the major European cultural events open to the public.

Mexico, as honoured country, will show up to 22 thousand titles representing different literary genres, books, films and documentaries. This is the first time that a Spanish-speaking country is the honoured guest at this Book Fair.

Under the slogan, “Mexico, a diversity mosaic“, the public is invited to browse through the Mexican literature margins. You should discover 36 authors, read or reread before meeting and hearing them in person, assist to 14 round tables, hear 38 interviews to different national writers by renowned French critics or to enjoy the projection of the documentaries ” From forgetting to not remembering”, ” The Cheno grandfather “, “Today ” and ” The inheritors “, besides the movie “Babel”, by Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu. On the other hand, they’ll present an exhibition called “The French Literature in Mexican cinema”.

Among the most famous Mexican writers who attend the event, have been invited Homero Aridjis, Álvaro Enrigue, Guillermo Fadanelli, Gonzalo Velorio, Carlos Fuentes, Margo Glantz, Daniel Sada, Martín Solares, Alberto Ruy-Sánchez, David Toscana or Jorge Volpi, among others. These have been chosen under the following scale: they have, at least, one published book and translated into French, they had been nominated by their Francophone editors and they have been selected by the French National Book Center.

On the other hand, a meeting will be held with Spanish and Mexican editors, a journey with specialists in indigenous Mexican literature and languages, a reading with Mexican poets in indigenous languages and calligraphy workshops. Also there will be a space dedicated to children’s and juvenile literature and a representation of the show “The sound of water says what I think,” adaptation of three folk tales from Africa, Turkey and the Celtic region.

Are you a great lover of literature? Travel to the city of lights and immerse yourself in the largest book’s fair in Europe. Rent Apartments in Paris to spend every night reading your favourite book.

On March 8th it is Women’s Day. It is a day which celebrates the struggle of women for equality with men, their equal participation in society and their fair development as a person. The United Nations commemorates this day, which is a national holiday in many countries. With this purpose in mind, Paris will host the 31st edition of the most important female film festival in the world, the Film de Femmes 2009.

From 13th March to 22nd March, you’ll see new movies made exclusively by women. You’ll surely discover other points of view! The International Female Film Festival was created in 1979 to show the female made movies from all over the world. For ten days, over 150 films will be shown by new and well known female directors.

This Film de Femmes’ edition is based on “invisible borders”. Around 30 movies will treat the topic with a creative and reflexive vision. On the other hand, it will set a parallelism between Europe and the United States, which will help us to understand the social and cultural differences between the two continents. In addition, it will highlight the efforts of European filmmakers in today’s society and the new world. Among the projected movies we will see: Wendy and Lucy (de Kelly Reichardt, EE.UU.), Clara (de Helma Sanders-Brahms, Alemania), Le Murmure des ruines (de Liliane de Kermadec, Francia) or The Secret Life of Bees (de Gina Prince-Bythewood, EE.UU), among others.

But this festival is not just limited to the projection of films; it also offers many other events and contests such as the Graines de cinéphage, a special prize awarded by the jury, as well as some competitions in different categories: fiction movies, short movies and documentaries. There will also be cinema conferences and discussions celebrated at the event.

This year Anna Karina (actress, singer and writer) will be the guest star at the festival – She was one of the muses of the Nouvelle Vague. On the other hand, Josephine Baker, the famous actress, cabaret dancer and singer will be the honoured woman. The Festival will be celebrated in Créteil (París). Discover the very best of female cinema in the city of lights. Rent apartments in Paris for the very best acomoodation.

Paris Carnival 2009 – The Cosmic Carnival, Astronauts and Aliens

It’s time to dust off the masks, to air the costumes and to rescue the wigs because the Parisian Carnival is here. Yeah, you have read well! We are not talking about the Venetian Carnival, nor about the Brazilian Carnival and neither are we talking about the Canary Islands Carnival. We are talking about the Parisian Carnival! The city of lights drags a former carnival custom little known in the rest of the world which dates back to the Middle Ages. Nowadays, it celebrates two days before of the Mardi Gras.

During the twentieth century, the Parisian Carnival gradually lost its strength due to organization problems. Finally, between 1952 and 1996 it was completely halted, until the “Culture Right Association” re-activated it in 1997 with much more force than ever.

Nowadays the Parisian Carnival is celebrated in style: it is a party full of music, colour and fun. The committee star is a huge cow called “Pimprenelle”, which parades from the Gambetta square until the City Hall.

This edition’s topic is “The Cosmic Carnival, Astronauts and Aliens“. This year thousands of aliens and some astronauts will meet on the Parisian streets to celebrate this popular festival. Lots of people gather year by year to have a great time together in the Parisian Carnival.

This event creates a unique atmosphere where everything is fun and everybody smiles: associations, urban centres, schools, citizens… They all turn Paris into an incomparable city! Despite the Parisian Carnival being of small international recognition, more than 400.000 people meet in the Parisian Carnival parade.

Gradually, the old regional traditions are gaining strength and this pagan event is gaining fans in the French capital. Increasingly, more people dress up, regardless of their age or their condition.

Who does not like to have fun? Discover how people celebrate the Parisian Carnival! Take your best costume, dance with the incredible carnival music and enjoy of the great carnival Parisian atmosphere! And if you prefer to set up your own costume party, rent apartments in Paris! Are you going to miss it?

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