Rock-en-Seine 2010 © Sylvere.h

This summer, classical music fans get a look-in for once when it comes to music festivals in Paris. In the beautiful surroundings of the Orangerie du Parc de Bagatelle, the 19th annual programme by Octuor de France runs until 15 August, with concerts featuring the music of Haydn, Schubert and Mozart (www.octuordefrance.com ).

In the centre of town, the 25th Festival Musique en l’Ile runs until 15 September with 20 concerts at the church of Saint-Louis-en-l’Ile and other churches in Paris. There’s a Russian accent to the festival this year, with performances by the Choir of the Monastery of St Alexander Nevsky and other St Petersburg orchestras and soloists (www.latoisondart.com ).

The open-air Festival Classique au Vert at Parc Floral de Paris at Vincennes runs from 6 August to 25 September with inexpensive classical concerts every weekend (www.classiqueauvert.fr ).

Until 31 July, there’s a chance to catch L’Autre Rive Gauche at the Port de la Gare on the banks of the Seine where not only music, but also sorts of arts workshops, exhibitions and screenings, make up a contemporary festival organised by local clubs such as Batofar and Petit Bain (www.batofar.org ).

Jazz comes to La Villette from 31 August to 11 September. Highlights include Abdullah Ibrahim, Archie Shepp Phat Jam feat. Napoleon Maddox and Rodolphe Burger with James Blood Ulmer. The festival has special events for children, too (www.jazzalavillette.com ).

Headlining the annual Rock en Seine (www.rockenseine.com) festival this year are Foo Fighters, Arctic Monkeys, the Kills and new talent and Mercury prize nominee Anna Calvi. It all happens on 26, 27 and 28 August at Domaine National de Saint-Cloud which is about five minutes’ walk from the métro station Boulogne-Pont St-Cloud, so it’s not too far to carry your tent – or indeed to hop on the métro back to your hotel if you don’t fancy camping.

Cinéma en Plein Air Parc Villette © P E Rastoin

A study  released last week reported that Paris has dropped from 17th to 27th place among the world’s most expensive cities. Perhaps that’s because, especially in the summer, the French capital abounds with free things to do. There are all sorts of open-air happenings and most of the programmes are already in full swing. Here are just a few suggestions – keep your eyes open for posters in the métro or invest 40 centimes (that’s less than half a euro) in the weekly Pariscop which comes out on a Wednesday and provides comprehensive listings of what’s on in the city. The words to look for are gratuit (free) and entrée libre (free and no need to reserve).

BEACHES
We’ve had an unusually damp and cool summer here so far, but if the weather improves remember entry to Paris-Plages – the beaches spread along the Seine – is free (www.parisplages.paris.fr) and there’s a wide range of sporting and music events throughout the season which run daily (8.00-24.00) until August 21. There are also beaches at Bassin de la Villette in northeast Paris, where for the first time this year there’s an artificial wave to surf on (68 quai de la Loire, 75019, daily 13.00-19.00).

HOTEL DE VILLE
The square outside the main town hall of Paris is co-opted as part of Paris Plages for beach-volley during the season but is worth a look since at all times of year there is something happening here, whether it’s skating in the winter or art exhibits at other times.

CINEMA
Movie fans should pack a picnic supper and make for Parc de la Villette for Cinéma en Plein Air, nightly except Mondays until August 21 at Prairie du triangle. Still to come are films by the likes of Aki Kaurismäki, Eric Rohmer and Wim Wenders, with Woody Allen’s Manhattan on 18 August. Every film is in VO (version originale, in the original language). Find the whole programme on www.villette.com, together with lots of other free stuff happening around La Villette.

MUSEUMS
Don’t forget that entry to the permanent collections at the 14 museums run by the City of Paris is free (a small charge is sometimes added for special exhbitions). Open every day except Mondays and public holidays, they include the Musée des Beaux-Arts at Le Petit Palais, the cutting-edge Musée d’Art Moderne on avenue President Wilson, Musée Carnavalet in the Marais, with its comprehensive collection encompassing the history of Paris, and the often overlooked pair of museums called Le Mémorial du Maréchal Leclerc de Hauteclocque et de la Libération de Paris – Musée Jean Moulin, which are a fascinating archive of Second World War French history and heroes. You’ll find them on top of Montparnasse railway station.

It’s extremely unlikely you will have an accident during your stay in Paris but it is as well to be prepared. European citizens who have an EHIC card ( https://www.ehic.org.uk/ ) will be able to claim back a large proportion of the cost of medical treatment, but it’s wise to take out special travel insurance to cover your health, belongings and any general travel problems.

A useful website (apart from www.nileguide.com/destination/Paris of course!) is www.parisinfo.fr : the official tourism website for the French capital which has details in English on all sorts of health information, hospitals and pharmacies.

In a real emergency call 112 – or one of the different emergency numbers (see below) dedicated to the different emergency services. But before you call any of them you need to know the answers to these three questions:

• Qui êtes vous (who are you)? Victime (victim)? Témoin (witness)? Or accompagnant (someone accompanying a victim)?
• Où êtes vous (where are you)?
• Pourquoi appellez-vous (what’s the problem)?

Paris Sapeurs-Pompiers cheered on parade on the Champs Élysées Image: David.Monniaux / Wikipedia Commons

More Useful Numbers

MEDICAL: 15
If you need an ambulance or it is a medical emergency call le SAMU at 15. The operator will assess your needs and send the appropriate service

POLICE: 17
Call 17 in case of violence or robbery. The operator will send the officers who are nearest to you. If the need is not urgent call the 10-digit telephone number of the local commissariat of police.

FIRE BRIGADE: 18
Call 18 for the famously handsome Sapeurs-Pompiers, who deal with fires, gas escapes, structural collapses, floods and road accidents. Their telephone operators also deal with 112 calls

ENGLISH-SPEAKING HOSPITAL
For emergency medical treatment in English try the American Hospital at Neuilly, just outside the city. It has a round-the-clock bilingual (French-English) emergency service, which can call on all sorts of specialists. It also has a special advisor to explain its administration to Americans: american.relations@ahparis.org, as well as Chinese and Japanese advisors.

Hôpital Américain de Paris
63 boulevard Victor Hugo
92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine
+33 (0) 1 46 41 25 25

EMERGENCY DENTIST
Call +33 (0) 43 37 51 00, or you can be seen the same day at 87 boulevard du Port-Royal, Paris 75013. Your hotel should be able to help you find an English-speaking dentist.

If it’s just a bit of a twinge…

Make sure your need really is urgent before you call any of the emergency numbers. If you can get to an accident and emergency department by taxi because you ony have a slightly twisted ankle, do so. (See the hospital list on www.parisinfo.fr )

PHARMACIES

Paris pharmacies often have English-speaking staff – your hotel will be able to advise you of the nearest.Two pharmacies open round the clock are at:

• 84 avenue des Champs-Elysées, 75008, + 33 (0)1 45 62 02 41
• 6 place Clichy, 75009, +33 (0) 1 48 74 65 18

The French are renowned for their hypochondria, so le pharmacien is well used to discussing maladies and treatments at length and giving expert advice on that tummy ache or sore throat. The French are also renowned for taking their medicine “from the other end” as it were. So don’t be surprised if you’re prescribed a suppository rather than a pill. Homeopathic and herbal medicine is also very popular and many pharmacies carry a wide range.

If you’ve fallen in the water…

If you fall in the Seine, shout Au secours! (That’s French for “help!”) There’s a speedboat service patrolling the river.

Spa water to drink at home © Renata Rubnikowicz

What is a spa?
If you want to find a spa in France look for the words “les Thermes” or “les Bains” after the name of the town or village. The French have been “taking the waters” for every crise de foi (liver problem) or crise de nerfs (anxiety attack) certainly since Roman times and probably back to the days when they were painting pictures of aurochs on the cave walls at Lascaux. The French also invented Thalassotherapy – the use of sea water in medical treatments.

Will it do me any good?

Drinking natural mineral waters became all the rage again in the 18th century, and French spa resorts proliferated in the 19th century, when they began to get official scientific recognition. Many of these are still operational and French doctors will send patients suffering from obesity, arthritis, rheumatism, allergies and other chronic illnesses for a cure. The spa chosen depends on the properties of the waters and the treatments offered.

The 105 spas operating in France deliver 9 million days of care a year to about half a million curistes (patients) who stay an average of 18 days each, though such is the French obsession with health that these visits account for only 0.28 per cent of annual health spending. Many French spas have capitalised on 21st-century recognition of their health benefits by renovating their facilities and have become newly fashionable in the process. You can find a full list, a map, and more information on the official website for La médecine thermale.

Les Thermes d’Enghien-les-Bains image © Lucien Barrière

Is there a spa in Paris?
Paris is full of beauty salons and steam-massage-and-sauna places that call themselves spas – and many of them are excellent – but the nearest “proper” spa to the French capital, one that uses natural mineral water for medical treatments, is at Enghien-les-Bains. This lakeside spa town, a 10-minute train ride from the Gare du Nord, is now a well-to-do suburb, much visited for its casino and racecourse. Les Thermes d’Enghien-les-Bains is run by the the Lucien Barrière restaurant and leisure group and is also being renovated. If you are seeking an afternoon’s relaxation rather than a six-day “cure,” try one of the nearby beauty and well-being resorts such as Spark, run by the same company.

But I’m in a hurry…
Today there are some 1,200 sources of natural mineral water recognised by the French Academy of Medicine. Saint-Amand, Saint-Galmier (the source for Badoit brand water) and Vergèze (the source for Perrier) were first documented 2,000 years ago.

You’ll recognise some of the names because during the 19th-century spa boom, some sources began to bottle their waters so people could enjoy their benefits at home. The first was at Saint-Galmier, known for its digestive properties, and bottled and marketed by Auguste Saturnin Badoit in 1838. La Salvetat (1848), Vittel (1855) and the water from Contrexéville (1861) soon followed, while it was Napoleon III himself who signed the decree recognising the source at Bouillens, which gave the world the Eau la! la! of  Perrier. Evian was a relative late-comer in 1878.

Today, these waters are owned and marketed by big corporations, but this does mean you can go into any supermarket and find a wide range of bottled natural French mineral waters. Every French person has their favourite. Being a tourist is thirsty work so try out some different ones – you’re likely to find several you haven’t seen on sale at home. By the way, it’s OK to split open the plastic wraps of six-bottle packs to take just one litre.

Composition of Paris tap water compared with popular natural mineral waters / table © Eau de Paris

Is Paris tap water that bad?
Not at all. It is perfectly safe to drink and quite full of minerals itself. See this chart produced by the municipal authority that produces the capital’s drinking water. In a restaurant, just ask for un carafe d’eau if you want (free) tap water  rather than mineral water.

Map of Tour de France 2011 courtesy of organisers

Ever since it began in 1903, the annual Tour de France cycle race has been a spectacle that engages everyone in France. Cycling is a very popular sport here and who wears the prestigious maillot jaune (yellow jersey) of fastest rider is a hot topic in bars and cafés. With 198 cyclists from 22 teams taking part this year, there is plenty to talk about.

Small villages and towns often have a festival to celebrate the race passing through. The moment when the  riders flash by in a flicker of brightly coloured lycra, followed by support vehicles and the media in a motorised stampede, may be brief, but for the local citizenry it’s a great excuse to make merry. Why not join in the festivities if you are near one of the stages? The Tour organisers estimate that spectators spend an average of six hours watching the race – so be prepared to make a day of it.

The race takes a different route every year. This year, the 98th Tour began on Saturday July 2nd in the Vendée on France’s west coast. Over three strenuous weeks, the competitors will travel the country, cycling 21 stages and covering a total distrance of 3,430.5 kilometres (more than 2,131 miles). The stages are varied and include time-trials, sprints, mountain climbs, and days pedalling along country roads that challenge fitness, endurance, and commitment. Let’s hope that there are no major casualties, like that of the British cyclist Tom Simpson, who died in 1967 during a mountain stage on the slopes of Mont Ventoux. His last words were (perhaps inaccurately) reported to be: “Just put me back on the bloody bike!”

Take a look at the official website (there is an English-language option) for a full guide to the course, as well as more statistics than you can shake a stick at. Go to YouTube for a flyover video showing towns along the route. Then you’ll be well primed to join in the discussion of who will eventually take the trophy when the race finishes in Paris on Sunday July 24th.

Before that, there are chances to witness mountain stages in southwest France (such as Pau to Lourdes, Friday July 15th) as well as still-testing but flatter stages (such as Limoux to Montpelier, Sunday July 17th), with the final week being mainly exhausting mountain stages between Gap, Serre-Chevalier, and Alpe-d’Huez. Don’t expect to see anything in the Drôme department on Monday July 18th – it’s a rest day.

The final day starts at Créteil in the suburbs of Paris, and the route passes through Vitry-sur-Seine and Ivry-sur-Seine before skirting the Bois de Vincennes (at the end of métro line 1 and a lovely place to visit at any time, with an imposing medieval castle and lots of places to picnic or stroll in the woods), before arriving where all grand French events take place, the Champs-Elysées.

The scene?
Everywhere, but I concentrated on Canal Saint-Martin area in the 10th arrondissement

The atmosphere?
Balmy – the forecast rain held off
Barmy – those crazy Parisians know how to party

Where do we start?
10pm, corner of rue Alibert / rue Bichat, outside the Bar Carillon

The temperature?
Ça chauffe! (Hot!)

The band?
The Beautiful. Well named, they are kitted out in impeccable riding gear, winning my prize for the best-dressed band of the night – and a special award for “handsomest man in charge of a euphonium”.

The elegant The Beautiful © Renata Rubnikowicz

What’s happening?
Small kids learning how to jive for the first time, two beers for each musician lined up on the pavement, the 75 bus trying to get to Porte de Pantin and people too caught up in the music to notice and let it through. Tunes from the 1950s to the present day blasted out on brass instruments plastered with stickers advertising the likes of “I ♥ Monty Piston” and other bandas, in a phenomenally tight set that just seemed to build and build.

Then what?

11pm, along the Canal
Techno decks outside the cafés Atmosphère and Chez Prune, another banda outside Bar Jemmapes and a couple of tuneful rock bands rather losing the battle of music against craziness

11.30pm, rue Sainte-Marthe
The heartbeat of carnival begins to pulse as the samba school Batala arrive at the far end of  rue Sainte-Marthe. Several of these buildings have fallen down since last year – others I know are fragile, supported inside by giant timbers as they await reconstruction. I can just see that the exotic mix of ethnic restaurants – Rwandan, Chilean and Colombian – survives, though the Rotisserie Associatif, which raises money for charity, is threatened by developers. The whole street shivers, the crowd erupts. Someone runs out of the Brazilian restaurant waving a giant Brazilian flag, Restaurant workers sprinkle water on the drummers, cooling down the giant engine of noise to keep it running. Batala surge up the narrow street, the crowd goes wild.

11.30pm, place Sainte-Marthe
Meanwhile, up in the square Miss Mama get people skanking – the effect is a cross between Police and Madness, though their music is original and their own. As they wind down, Batala are still only halfway up the street towards them, scattering people before them like boulders before a tidal wave.

12.30pm, rue Sainte-Marthe
Just when it couldn’t get any better, it does. Another samba school, Mulêketú, arrive to drum up a storm. Though a much smaller outfit,  they generate even more whoops from the crowd, their drumsticks flailing, thrown high in the air, caught just before the beat. No one sleeps tonight.

Batala rock the walls of rue Sainte-Marthe © Renata Rubnikowicz

That’s just a snapshot of what happened in Paris this Midsummer’s Night in one small corner of the 10th arrondissement that normally takes about five minutes to walk around. In the Marais, with the singalong accordionists of the place des Vosges and mass vogueing outside the gay bars, on the quais of the Seine down by Bibliothèque Nationale, where the Batofar and other clubbers’  boats are one of the biggest draws of the night, and all over Paris, people of all ages and backgrounds join in making and enjoying music. It’s all free – and will probably be even better next year (if it doesn’t rain). Do come.

Fido has friends
But once you’ve arrived, you’ll find Paris very pet-friendly. Parisians keep a wide variety of dogs, but tiny “handbag-dogs” are very popular, perhaps because apartments tend to be on the small side. It’s estimated by the local authorities that there are about 8.1 million dogs in France, which is one for every eight French citizens. About 200,000 of these dogs are Parisian.

Come the summer, when Parisians depart en masse for a month in the country or at the seaside, their pets come, too. Last year on a train from Paris to the south in my carriage alone there were three or four dogs, three cats in their baskets and a rabbit.

Good dog: Fritz le chien poses exclusively for Nileguide.com at one of his favourite restaurants © Renata Rubnikowicz

You’ll find nos amis les chiens (our doggy friends) are not allowed in supermarkets, but cafés and small neighbourhood restaurants are very welcoming. I’ve seen owners sharing lunch with their dogs, their pet on a chair beside them, accepting tit-bits in a well-behaved fashion.

Cleanliness is next to dogginess
It goes without saying that Paris propre (Clean Paris) expects everyone to poop ‘n’ scoop. It is obligatoire (“obligatory”, a favourite French word)  under the law. You can drop the mess in one of the many green litter sacks hanging along the kerbs. And make sure your dog squats in the gutter. These are washed daily and that helps keep everything clean.

Where to stay
You should not have any trouble finding a hotel in Paris that will take your dog. Look first at the big brand names, the chain hotels that will have modern buildings with larger bedrooms, the four-star Novotel Les Halles, for instance.

Or you and your dog could stay in one of the apart’otels. These chains offer a bedsitting room with cooking facilities and are also usually in modern buildings. These are more likely to have airconditioning which your dog might appreciate. In fact, in Paris, a hotel that does not take dogs is the exception rather than the rule.

Bastille Day parade 2010 © Mairie de Paris / Paul Delort et Jean Christophe

Le quatorze juillet is France’s main public holiday. It commemorates the storming of the Bastille, an infamous prison that was attacked by revolutionaries in 1789 as the French overthrew their monarchy. If you go there today, you will not find the prison. Pulled down many years ago, it survives in outline in the paving stones of the place de la Bastille.

The official focus for the day is the Champs-Elysées, where crowds traditionally greet a military parade and witness a fly-past trailing tricolor smoke in the colours of the French flag. The route of the parade passes from the Arc de Triomphe to the place de la Concorde from about 9.30 in the morning until 12.30 in the afternoon. The official celebrations conclude late in the evening, usually at about 11pm, with fireworks and music at the Eiffel Tower and the Jardins de Trocadéro.

The night before (13 July) there is usually a big free concert at Bastille, with well-known local artists. The other big event for Parisiens is the chance to interact with the famously handsome sapeurs-pompiers (firemen) who are the frontline emergency service in France. They, too, are a branch of the military, and will be taking pride of place at the official celebrations of 2011 since this year is the bicentenary of the service. The balls in the fire stations of local quartiers usually have a bar, live music and DJs and go on from 9pm until about 4am. All are welcome and the modest admission charge goes towards firemen’s welfare. Prepare to celebrate! (And it might be an idea to learn some of the words of France’s national anthem, La Marseillaise.)

Indigo Parrot at the Menagerie of the Jardin des Plantes © Mairie de Paris/ Laura Matesco

If you go down to the woods today, to the Bois de Vincennes, you’ll find the main Paris zoo closed for renovation until about 2014. In the distance you may see its trademark manmade mountain, le Grand Rocher, its antelopes now decamped, or the heads of a few lonely giraffes, who have been left behind while their zoo mates have been relocated to temporary homes.

But you can still find a friendly menagerie in the Jardin des Plantes, on the Left Bank of the Seine not far from the Gare d’Austerlitz. A favourite with generations of young Parisians, it draws almost three-quarters of  a million visitors a year – not all of them bored nannies. This is a small zoo, suitable for everyone from tiny children to adults, yet with some success in breeding endangered animals such as orang-utans and snow and clouded leopards. Established in 1794, it is one of the world’s oldest zoos and still rather old-fashioned. It has all the usual animal attractions – big cats, great apes, red pandas, camels and kangaroos – more than 2,000 animals in all. It is open every day from 9am to 6pm (6.30pm on Sundays and public holidays).

Reptile House of the menagerie at Jardin des Plantes © Paris Tourist Office / Marc Bertrand

A little farther out in the Bois de Boulogne, animal life in the Jardin d’Acclimatation has a history going back to 1860 when Napoleon III and the Empress Eugenie inaugurated its Great Aviary, now home to about 200 birds, while peacocks, swans, geese and ducks roams free in the park. It has recently renovated its Deer Rock, home to Barbary sheep, pygmy goats from Senegal, Angora goats, ibex, chamois and gazelle. Its Petite Ferme Normande (little Normandy Farm) is another favourite, with beehives and all the usual farm animals. All are open daily.

Rue Norvins © Paris Tourist Office / Amélie Dupont

Especially if it’s your first time in Paris, Montmartre is probably on your top ten of places to visit. The hill – or Butte – of Montmartre affords a wonderful view over the city from the terrace in front of the white meringue of Sacré-Coeur and its historic winding streets are so different from the broad boulevards of the rest of the city.

But while the traveller spirit is usually willing, sometimes the tourist’s flesh weakens. Especially in the summer, when Paris can be enervatingly hot, or in winter when ice and rain enter the soul, it’s tempting to stay in a cosy café or in a bright, airy museum, rather than strike out into the streets of the city.

Here’s a way to see Montmartre and rest your weary feet at the same time. Even better, it will cost you just two t+ tickets from your métro/bus carnet. The Montmartrobus is a nifty minibus, intended for local residents, that goes from the base of the hill right over the top to the other side. Best of all, it goes up in one direction and comes back via an almost entirely different route, thanks to the one-way system.

Begin at place Pigalle (métro Pigalle). Make sure to composter (stamp) your ticket in the machine and take a seat at the back for the best view. You go up the rue des Martyrs, once home to raffish transvestite cabarets, now like so much of the rest of Montmartre, given over to servicing tourists’ need for souvenirs. On past the place des Abbesses, where the “lovers’ wall” in the little park is worth a look, to the rue Lepic where you can see the Moulin de la Galette,  painted by Renoir, and now one the last examples of the many windmills for which Montmartre was once famous. The bus route skirts the tourist trap of the place du Tertre, with its itinerant caricaturists, and goes on past the last vineyard in Paris and Le Lapin Agile cabaret, to finish at the local mairie (town hall) at place Jules Joffrin (métro Jules Joffrin).

Le Lapin Agile © Paris Tourist Office / Amélie Dupont

Stop for a coffee or a snack, give your children a ride on the manège (carrousel) or just cross the square to get the Montmartrobus back down. You have to use a second t+ ticket. Stay alert as the bus swings round the base of Sacré-Coeur and look to the left for a stunning view over Paris. You pass the top of the Funicular (another bargain way to get up the hill for the price of a t+ métro ticket). On the way back down to Pigalle you’ll see many of the little cobbled streets and steep steps for which Montmartre is famous, and be thankful you don’t have to climb any of them.

Montmartre steps © Paris Tourist Office / Amélie Dupont

Of course, you can get off at any of the stops and explore further. Apart from Sacré-Coeur, the privately-run Musée de Montmartre is worth a visit. Here you can see lots of relics of the area’s artistic heyday and absorb some of its bohemian history.

Need to know
Montmartrobus runs between 8am and 1am daily up to four or five times an hour at peak times and costs one métro ticket up and one down.  See a map of the route on the Ratp (Paris public transport) website