Good Spots In Paris

Yeap, you read it correctly : it's the fourteenth of July I'm going to talk about, not the fourth of july, and even if we're the 18th. Why ? Because the 14th of July is an important day in France. In fact it's the French national holiday (funny it's so close to the US one right ?)

So, what happens in France in the 14th of July (which was last week) ? First of all : we do not work :D As this year the 14th was a Tuesday I let you guess how many French people decided to go on vacations "only Monday" ... : this Monday we were only two at work (in a team of twelve). Second thing that happens every 14th of July : a Firework !

I know all this may sound a little bit like "it's a national holiday, end of story"...but hey, I can't do anything about it lol ! One more thing that happens every 14th of July : military parades ! That's something you can't miss if you ever end up being in France a 14th of July. By the way if you're in Paris and you planed to go on the "Champs Elysées" (most famous avenue in Paris^[1]) try not to plan it for a 14th of July : that's were the parade takes place so no shopping's possible

Last big event taking place the 14th of July : "Le bal des pompiers" (i don't know any translation for that). It's basically a ball that's organized by firemen (usually one ball per firemen station) for "everyday people" (nothing formal ). If I translate it word by word it's "firemen's ball" Usually young ladies like to go and have a dance or two there because firemen have quite a lot of muscles (true story), and young men like to go there two because...ladies are there !! So in the end a lot of different people go and have a dance or two there, it's quite a friendly atmosphere !

Well...that's it. We've seen the biggest events happening the 14th of July in France ....Oh no ! I almost forgot one : there's usually a big concert around the Eiffel Tower in Paris, just a couple of hours before the beginning of the firework. This year it was a concert by "Johny Hallyday", whom you can't have heard about if you're not French, or at least European, but it's a big big big star here in France (even if I must confess he's a little old fashioned and I'm really not a big fan...).

And to conclude : If you want to know what we celebrate the 14th of July go check wikipedia, I'm not in the mood for telling you that ! Just kidding lolllll : long story short we celebrate a storming battle around a fortress-prison (called "La Bastille") during revolution (18th century), which in the end allowed France to switch from monarchy to republic^[2].

My favorite beers are definitely Guinness, and I don't know for others country but, sadly, here in France not every bar serves Guinness. Anyway don't worry anymore (if you ever started to ) I'll give you the address of one of my favorite places to drink Guinness in Paris, and it's called : the Guinness Tavern !

It's a nice pub in the center of Paris where you can drink Guinness (as well as 14 other beers) and listen to music (usually played by a live band !!!). The musical style is definitely "rock" from the 60's to nowadays so you may end up singing out loud with the bands because you know all the songs

Well, I know their website looks a "little" messy but make no mistake : the pub itself is spick and span, and this website is useful as you'll find there which bands are planned when, the dates of their next "special theme nights" and, of course, their address :

31, rue des Lombards
Metro Chatelet RER Les Halles
75001 PARIS

I've already talked about a bar I like, but I realized only this morning that one bar is very few (especially as my blog's entitled "Good Spots in Paris" ). So here goes a new little article to introduce you to a special bar I've spent some months to find : a bar where you can listen to metal music !

This bar is the "Black Dog" (I did not translate its name from French, it's really called the "Black Dog" ). In fact the "Black Dog" is a bar AND a restaurant. The "Black Dog" is quite well known in Paris (at least from people who listen to such bands as "Dimmu-borgir", "Children of bodom", or even "Mettalica") so if you get lost searching for it there are quite good odds that asking to people passing by gets you back on track

The bar has a decent amount of beers, but that's not the most important as they serve beverages I used to find only in my world favorite bar which is not in Paris (if you wanna know everything it's the "Troll Farceur" in the city of Rennes, West of France) :

• Moretum/Hypocras
• Hydromel
• Chouchen (even if they write it "Souchen" on their menu)

If you have never drunk any of those, you should definitely try them out ! Of course they also have more common drinks ( "White Russian", "Mojito", "Irish Coffee", Vodka, Tequilla, and so forth and so on )

Regarding the restaurant they have at least one VERY well known dish : "Tant Pis Si j'en Crève" (which I'll have difficulties to translate but should sound a bit like "Hell if I die from it!"), it's basically a ONE KILO piece of meat (35.27 oz). In the same spirit they also serve the "Levrette" (this one is easy to translate : "Doggy style") which is a "light" version of the "Tant Pis Si j'en Crève" as it's only 400g (14oz). As you should have guessed now : their specialties are based on meet (their cuisine is inspired both from Argentina and France).

With this article I hope I saved the trouble I had finding this kind of places in Paris to some of you...and to make the odds a bit higher here's the addres :

26, Rue des Lombards
75004 Paris
Subway station : Châtelet / Les Halles