Conference auber::paris

Let me first offer a tip (from 1991, my last visit):

	We really enjoyed the *_Hotel_St._Louis_-_Marais_* at
	1, Ave. Charles V, 4e, the last time we were in
	town (for a whole week).  Small, friendly, and a nice quiet
	location.

	I skated all over town in the early mornings (including
	one cool loop past the Louvre, to the Arc de Triomphe,
	under the Eiffel Tower, and back via the Boul Montparnasse).

Now the question:  On our next visit, we're just staying in Paris overnight,
after arriving on Eurostar late in the evening, and picking up a Hertz car
first thing in the morning to head out to Tours, St. Estephe, Biarritz (Sare),
Lourdes (Beaucens), Cordes-aux-Ciel, and then Corsica.

For the overnight, I'm looking for something walking distance from the Gare
du Nord.  Does anyone know anything about any of these:

   Terminus Nord, 12 bd Denain (fairly expensive but may have a special
				"Internet Eurostar" deal at about FF800)
				Has US/UK/Canada/Belgian 800 numbers
   Albert 1er, 162 r. Lafayette
   St. Quentin, 27 r. St-Quentin
   Gare du Nord, 33 r. St-Quentin  (not the Timhotel GdN on r. de l'Aqueduc)
   Hotel Appia, 13, r. des Deux Gares 

or have any other useful info to offer.

BTW, just found this interesting WWWeb page:
	http://www.paris-promotion.fr/vf/hotels/hotels.html

Thanks/john

	Re .18: Hello John,

	I'm afraid it's really time I get a new copy of the Parisian tourist
office "Guide des Hotels": mine dates back to 1992... However, here's the rating
of the hotels you mention as of late 1991; I shan't mention the prices as they
must have evolved quite a bit in between.

- Terminus Nord: ***
- Albert 1er: ***
- St. Quentin: **
- Gare du Nord: ***
- Hotel Appia: not mentionned, maybe it did not yet exist in 1991.

	According to the Guide, *** means "very comfortable hotel", and ** means
"comfortable hotel".
The other categories are:
- L**** ("very high class, de luxe hotel")
- **** ("high class, comfortable hotel")
- * or without star ("simple hotel with basic comfort")

	I'm sorry not to be able to say anything more for the moment but, if I
can manage to get a more recent copy of the guide this weekend, I'll update the
note.
		Denis.

    Re .18, .19: I've just got a more recent release of the "Guide des
    hotels". It is unfortunately only the 1996 release, the 1997 issue will
    not be available until May.
    
    	However, here is what it says about the hotels mentionned in .18
    (these informations being already about a year old or more...):
    
    - Libertel Terminus Nord: 12, boulevard de Denain, 75010 Paris. ***
      phone: 01.42.80.20.00 (drop the leading 0 when calling from abroad)
      fax: 01.42.80.63.89
    	 71 singles: FF 580 to 940
    	138 doubles: FF 990
    	 34 suites: FF 1500
    	buffet breakfast: FF 75
    
    - Hotel Albert 1er: 162, rue Lafayette, 75010 Paris. ***
      phone: 01.40.36.82.40
      fax: 01.40.35.72.52
    	 16 singles, FF 395 to 450
    	 40 doubles, FF 475 to 535
    	  1 triple (no rate shown)
    	continental breakfast, FF 40
    
    - Saint Quentin: 27, rue de Saint Quentin, 75010 Paris. **
      phone: 01.40.36.95.50
      fax: 01.40.36.52.31
    	  5 singles, FF 175 to 335
    	 27 doubles, FF 240 to 370
    	continental breakfast, FF 25
    
    - Gare du Nord: 33, rue de Saint Quentin, 75010 Paris. ***
      phone: 01.48.78.02.92
      fax: 01.45.26.88.31
    	 13 singles, FF 480 to 500
    	 34 doubles, FF 520 to 580
    	  3 triples, FF 570
    	continental breakfast, FF45
    
    - Appia: 13, rue des Deux Gares, 75010 Paris. ***
      phone: 01.42.09.72.99
      fax: 01.42.09.72.80
    	  4 singles, FF 490 to 530
    	 38 doubles, FF 550 to 570
    	buffet breakfast, FF 46
    
    		Denis.

Thanks.  I reserved the Hotel Terminus Nord at the "Eurostar rate" of
750FF for a double room, including tax, service, and buffet breakfast.

(They asked me what rate I had seen, and I remembered 750.  They were
happy with that.  You need to show valid Eurostar tickets when paying.)

International toll-free numbers at www.eurostar.com/eurostar/libertel.html
reach "Compagnie G�n�rale d'H�tellerie & Services" which owns the Libertel
group, which seems to be affiliated with Westin.

The pictures of the hotel look nice, and for one night this will serve
me well, but it's not an area I think I'd recommend to anyone coming
to Paris for a vacation.  Marais or Ile St.-Louis or something more
interesting is my idea of a Paris vacation, but that's not what we're
doing this year.

/john