I get this question (or some variation of it) all of the time.   Some people are intimidated about going to Paris because they think the “language barrier” will be a problem.   They want to know how much French they will be required to learn before they travel to Paris and they also want to know if the French speak enough English to communicate with them.   In this blog, I will tell you exactly what you need to know in order to communicate with our French friends in Paris.

I really take pleasure in hosting "guest bloggers" on TravelingProfessor.com.   They seem to have special insight and an intimate knowledge of their own little slices of heaven in Paris.    This guest blog is by a true lover of Paris culture and dining, Bill.  He visits Paris quite frequently and owns an apartment in Le Marais section of Paris.  Please enjoy his descriptions of five great places to eat while visiting the most diverse, interesting, and captivating of all areas in Paris:

Choosing “great” restaurants in Paris provides the same difficulty for me as when people ask me “what is the best place to stay in Paris?” or “what are the best things to do in Paris?”  So the following five places in my own neighborhood, the Marais, are ones that I consider great for a variety of different reasons.

After a visit nine years ago, I returned to the Hôtel de Fleurie for a visit this January.  It was like I never left.   This small, three-star hotel is located on the left bank.   There are a lot of reasons I like the Fleurie, many of them sentimental.  Please take a look at my review to see if this Parisian boutique hotel might be for you.

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We just completed a wonderful week-long trip to Paris.   Including myself, there were 17 of us (10 from California, two from Virginia, and the rest of us from New York).    I think the thing I was most satisfied with is that our travelers not only “toured” Paris but they “discovered” her.   Of course we had planned itineraries of things to do and places to see.   But our travelers went further than that.   They interacted directly with the Parisians.  They did things not on the “script”.   For instance, they discovered a special museum in the Sorbonne that I have never seen described in any tour books and met with the curator.   Others found out about a chorale rehearsal in the Cluny and attended that.   Some of us went to a reception at Église St. Sulpice.   Of course everyone loved the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Versailles, and all of the “standards”.  But I think in the long term, it will be those impromptu discoveries that they made that will stand out in their minds the most.

Read more of my blog.   I will tell you more about our good experiences and what we could have improved upon regarding our winter trip to Paris.

Today is “get-away” day.  A dozen of us are flying back to California, Virginia, and New York.   Two are staying behind for another night in the City of Light.   Two more will go back to California in a week.

I am writing this blog on American Airlines flight 121 on its way to New York’s JFK airport.   We lifted off on time and flew over the city of Paris at precisely 6 p.m.   The fellow sitting in the seat next to me said  to me, “look over there, right past the wing”.    It was the Eiffel Tower in its glittering light show.  What a sight from 7,500 feet.   I hope my friends on the ground were watching from Pont Neuf.