Foreign Perspectives

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Whilst we all love our vacation time, we all assume that places that thrive on tourist business will be open during the holidays.

That’s not always the case in France where many attractions are closed today because it’s Labour Day (May 1st). Although many people will be eating out today, a number of restaurants choose this time of year to close thus losing considerable business of course.

Even when they’re not on holiday many restaurants stick to the 12 to 2pm lunchtime and we know of one local touristy village which gets tour buses every day from 9am to 7pm yet the restaurant only serves food from 12 to 1.30pm.

Popularity: 32% [?]

Paris is a wonderful city to explore but there’s so much to see that many people miss out on really fantastic experiences even if they’ve been to Paris quite often.

Tours in Paris come in all shapes and sizes of course and you’ll find something there to interest you whatever your tastes might be. For me, one of the highlights was an evening dinner cruise on Bastille Day: seeing the fireworks at the Eiffel Tower from the vantage point of a boat on the river just beside it is something you should do at least once. That’s just one of the night-time excursions of course and not to be neglected are the cabaret shows of the Moulin Rouge and the Lido among many others all over the city (most of the evening tours include dinner so they look a little more expensive than they actually are).

During the day you can take your pick from the world-famous sights such as the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe and the enormous museums of the Louvre and d’Orsay.  One of the best daytime tours is that to the Chateau of Versailles. OK, it’s not actually in Paris but it’s very much an easy add-on to a Paris based holiday as it’s only 30 minutes or so by train outside the city.

But even if you do all the above, you’ll still have lots more to see on your next visit!

Popularity: 100% [?]

Just as there never seems to be a single bus around, so too it seems to be with house buyers.

With the market having slowed down considerably in the UK, selling in markets that are dependent on that market is also pretty slow. However, that seems to be changing as we’ve now had three quite serious house views in the space of two weeks.

Now, if only we can persuade one to part with a large cheque…

Popularity: 84% [?]