Booking Hotels in Paris

With thousands of hotels and rooms for rent, you'd think booking Paris would be easy, and it would be if money and quality were no object, but of course they always are.

I'm finding almost *too many* resources for this part of the trip planning, but here are some of the more helpful:

Paris Info - this is the official Paris Tourism Website and has a lot of information. In the 'Bed and Breakfast" section I think many people will find exactly the type of accommodation they are looking for in an unfamiliar place - a room in a home with a host who knows Paris.

Parisinfo.com (this is English Version, though note that the Google page translator with chrome is now so good you can surf in many languages. Thanks Google! )

For those who don't want the social interaction of a B and B, there are many hotels to choose from. The usual US consolidators Kayak, Expedia, Hotwire, and Hotels.com seem to have far less options that Venere.com, the European version of those booking services, though even Venere seems to miss the many private residence and B and Bs which are throughout Paris and may offer the best quality for the money.

As a family it's much harder to find the right room, but it would be easy for a couple to find a wonderful room in the heart of Paris *with breakfast* for $100-150 using the following services, all members of the Paris Visitors and Convention Bureau which appear to enforce a set of regulations that govern the quality of the Bed and Breakfast homes on these lists:

2binparis.com

bed-and-breakfast-in-paris.com

www.bedbreak.com

www.fleursdesoleil.fr

www.francelodge.fr

www.goodmorningparis.fr

www.meetingthefrench.com

www.chambre-ville.com

Watchtower, Calais France

Watchtower, Calais France
Originally uploaded by JoeDuck

Calais France is still a popular travel destination, especially for Europeans taking the frequent ferries from Dover, England. However the "Chunnel" under the English Channel from near Calair to Dover certainly changed the travel landscape in this area.

For more about Calais, try the official tourism website here:

www.calais.fr

Photo by Joe, text source: www.calais.fr

The tower is built on the site of an old fortified tower (thirteenth century) attributed to Philip Hurepel. It was damaged in an earthquake in April 1580, it was repaired in 1631 and then consolidated after a bombing in 1809. In 1816, a Chappe telegraph was installed until 1849; from 1818 until 1848 it was also a lighthouse. During World War I, a military post was installed and a dovecote. The walkway culminates at 23 meters high. The tower was spared the bombardments of the Second World War, when more than 70% of the city was destroyed.

Chateau Commarque in France

Chateau Commarque

Thanks to Rachel (Rachel Style's blog) over at Twitter for the first shot showing the inside of
the Chateau Commarque, a French Castle ruin. She took the shot from the highest point, giving a great view of most of the grounds. The front shot is from the Chateau's Wikipedia page.

Founded circa 1100 Château de Commarque was just a protective tower establishe at a crossing of two important roads of French commerce: Périgueux to Cahors and Brive-la-Gaillarde to Bergerac.

The Beynac family replaced the wood with a stone castle keep where they lived, and the fortification was enhanced.

During the Hundred Years' War the Chateau was captured by the English who controlled the Chateau for many years.

Undergoing restoration since 1994, Chateau de Commarque is listed as a historical monument by the French Ministry of Culture.

More about the Chateau Commarque from France's Castle site and from Wikipedia