VT/ET statistics
by Nemorino
In the summer of 2006 I initiated a forum thread called One thousand one hundred and seventy-eight, which was the number of Eiffel Tower tips in VirtualTourist at that time.
My question in that thread was: "The Eiffel Tower in Paris currently has 1,178 tips here on VirtualTourist, in seven different categories. Is there any other single attraction on VT which has more tips than that?"
It took a while for everyone to understand that I was talking about tips on VirtualTourist, not hits on a search engine, but after we got that straightened out the consensus was that the Eiffel Tower does indeed have more tips than any other single attraction in the world. "A French victory!!" as pieter_jan_v commented.
Every year since then I have done a re-count at the beginning of September. If for some reason you want to see the figures for the years 2006-2010, you can find them in my travelogue called "The Eiffel Tower now has 1,380 tips here on VT -- up seventeen from last year."
As in previous years, the figures for 2010 include tips from seven different categories. There are currently 1,036 Things to Do tips about the Eiffel Tower (including one of mine, believe it or not), 26 Nightlife tips, 59 Tourist Trap tips, 16 Warning/Danger tips, 226 General tips, 5 Local Customs tips (including this one) and even 12 Off the Beaten Path tips for those who like to think they can avoid the crowds by going to the Eiffel Tower.
By the way, these figures do not include the 24 reviews (mostly negative) of the restaurant Altitude 95, which is in the Eiffel Tower. This restaurant is now under new management and has been re-named 58 Tour Eiffel. The old name referred to its altitude, 95 meters above sea level, and the new name also refers to its altitude, 58 meters above ground level. (So it hasn't suddenly dropped thirty-seven meters, in case you were worried.)
Window Shopping
by CALSF
Paris is a fantastic city to indulge in window shopping or in French, leche vitrine. Leche vitrine means licking the window. Of course, you are not to take that term literally. But with all the absolutely nice items that are displayed in the windows you may feel like licking the windows as the everything looks so delicious.
One nice window shopping street is along the rue St. Honore in the 8th district. There are many designer stores along this street. Other haute couture shopping streets are on the Ave. Montaigne and the Place Vendome.
For nice winow displays of antiques head to the St. Germain district. Any of the small streets contain many nice displays. One pretty street to explore is the rue Jacob.
Go for a balade!
by skywalkerbeth
when in Paris, walk as much as you possibly can. You will miss out on so much if you take the easy way out - the Metro. you will be delighted by what you see, be it murals and other artwork, flowers, flowers and flowers, great architecture, a random cat sunning himself here and there, or youngsters out for a roller-skate.