Paris on a budget: let them eat cake

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Paris on a budget: let them eat cake

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Some travellers are avoiding France because of the financial crisis and the low value of the Australian dollar. But it is possible to enjoy Paris without taking out a second mortgage.

Let's begin with the basics: accommodation, food and transport. Hotels in Paris are expensive. Instead, I rent an apartment by putting an advertisement on Craigslist.com, paying $70 a night for a double room about 100 metres from the Louvre. Hotels in the area cost triple that, even for one-star accommodation.

Winter is the best time to hit Paris on a budget.

Winter is the best time to hit Paris on a budget.Credit: Getty Images

Craigslist is a website that functions like a newspaper's classified section. Placing an ad is free and takes five minutes. I receive more than a dozen replies to my five-line query.

Beware of scams, though, especially people who require money in advance. I receive photos of an alleged luxury apartment in central Paris from a man claiming to be a doctor working in Nigeria. He said he would send me the keys after I wired money to his bank account. Australian police confirm he is a fraudster.

Parisians who rent rooms in family homes happily accept cash when you arrive. They also let you wash clothes in their laundry and use their kitchen to make coffee and snacks, which saves money.

French coffee and hot chocolate are delicious but expensive. I pay $16 for two cups of brown swill masquerading as "chocolat chaud" in a central Paris cafe. Best to avoid cafes despite the romantic notion, fuelled by the movies, of reading a book while sipping wine or coffee. It looks cool but will burn a hole in your wallet.

Instead, take a thermos of tea or coffee, which you can prepare in the kitchen.

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Tap water is safe to drink in Paris, so carry a plastic bottle to re-fill from the many fountains in the city. And ask for "l'eau ordinaire" (tap water) if in a cafe. Most waiters will try to sell you an $8 bottle of water available in a supermarket for less than a dollar.

The recession has forced restaurants to lower their prices. Paris has thousands of good restaurants and all display their menus on the street, so window-shop to your heart's content when selecting where to eat.

Lunches tend to be large, especially in winter. I need only a snack most evenings after a big lunch. Baguettes cost about $2 from most bakeries and make an ideal snack.

Most restaurants have a "prix fixe" as part of their menu - a set price for two or three courses. I have superb lunches in a Michelin-starred restaurant called Les Terrines de Gerard Vie at 97 rue Cherche-Midi in the sixth arrondissement. It costs $48 for three courses and a glass of wine. The food is so good I keep the menu as a souvenir and return the next day.

My first lunch consists of a sampling of terrines with crusty baguette and creamy butter, followed by a selection of jambon (a chewy dried ham) and cheese. The waiter carves the ham from a leg in the centre of the restaurant. I am full by the time the main course arrives: blanquette de veau (veal stew with carrots, onions and potatoes), washed down with a glass of red from the Corbieres region.

I need to take a long walk after that meal. Paris is a city for walking. Taxis are expensive; better to use the underground rail system, the Metro, because it is cheap and free maps are available at any station.

Buy a "carnet de dix" - a book of 10 Metro tickets - for $24. Individual tickets are $3.20, so buying in bulk saves $8 a book. One Metro ticket will take you anywhere in Paris -there is no zoning system with varying prices.

Buy a copy of Paris Pratique ($10), a paperback of maps available at any newspaper kiosk. Apart from the main boulevards, Paris has a maze of small streets that meander and merge into lanes and squares and, sometimes, a market with the freshest produce. Streets break, assume another name and rejoin under the original title.

I take the train to Epernay, the centre of Champagne, the region famed globally for its sparkling wine. The 100-kilometre journey flashes by in about 95 minutes and costs $40 return.

In Epernay I walk the Avenue de Champagne, where all the main bubbly houses display their wares. It is said to be the most expensive piece of real estate in the world because of the billions of dollars of champagne in the cellars, or caves, under the houses.

Most of the prestige Champagne houses have tastings: with the basic option for $24 you get to taste two wines. A more expensive option, which costs $50, includes a taste of two vintage champagnes plus a tour of the caves below. Do not arrive at noon because everything will be closed until 2pm. Lunch is a ritual, even a religion. I worship with excellent escargot at $18 a dozen, washed down with bubbly.

If tasting at the prestige houses seems expensive, visit the champagne bar in rue Gambetta, a 10-minute walk from the railway station. It stocks champagnes from 43 of the lesser-known houses and charges $6 to $10 a taste. Plus you can buy from its cellar. I pay $34 for a bottle of 2000-vintage champagne that would cost at least three times that in Australia.

Winter is the best time to visit Paris because air fares are lower, meals are larger and heartier, and fewer tourists crowd the streets near popular spots such as Notre Dame Cathedral.

Paris can be crowded in spring and summer. If you do travel then and want to enjoy several museums, consider a pass for two, three or five days; see discoverfrance.net. The pass means you skip the frequently long queues and enter through a special door.

I plan to visit the Musee d'Orsay, a magnificent building that stretches along the Seine river opposite the Tuileries gardens. But the entrance queue snakes for at least a kilometre. Most museums are closed on Tuesdays, apart from the Musee d'Orsay and the Rodin Museum. Best to avoid those museums on Tuesdays.

Notre Dame Cathedral is a must-see. Entry to all churches is free. Notre Dame has vespers at 5.45pm and you can usually hear the organ and choir perform at that time each night.

One of my favourite places is the cemetery named after Pere Lachaise (1624-1709), confessor to King Louis XIV. Take the Metro to Gambetta.

The great Irish poet and playwright, Oscar Wilde, is buried here. The sculptor Jacob Epstein designed the grave and it has become a tourist attraction. Many visitors rouge their lips and kiss the grave. Wilde's grave is covered in kisses and flowers.

My favourite is the grave of journalist Victor Noir, a famed womaniser. His memorial consists of a full-size brass sculpture of the writer, with the buttons of his fly open. Women who want to conceive are said to rub this part of his anatomy.

You will need a map to explore the cemetery. They are sold at the entrance for $4. The ceme- tery is like the rest of Paris, full of irregular streets and magnificent architecture. But unlike Paris, the cemetery is free.

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