T A B L E_T A L K Talk about your favorite parks and wilderness areas in the Wanderlust area of Table Talk R E C E N T L Y A midsummer night's bacchanal in Moscow By Jeffrey Tayler Inhibitions -- and underclothes -- are tossed into the air on Ladies Night at the Hungry Duck (08/04/98) Coming down By Dwight Garner For the first time, Jon Krakauer talks about the bitter controversy swirling around "Into Thin Air" (08/03/98) Mondo Weirdo The deep A chance encounter with a seven-foot shark (07/31/98) Tallest Tree epiphany By Simon Firth A father and son make a rainy redwood pilgrimage (07/30/98) England's decadent delights By Douglas Cruickshank Staying at a country castle (07/29/98) Browse the Wanderlust Road Warrior archives		INSIDER'S GUIDE TO PARIS | PAGE 1, 2 - - - - - - - - - - The current hideout of politicos and the business people courting them with foie gras is off the beaten path, however. The Cantine des Gourmets (113 avenue La Bourdonnais, 47-05-47-96, about 350F-500F), a one-star, is within waddling distance of UNESCO and various ministries, far from the madding crowds. But luxury, calm and voluptuousness aren't everyone's cup of thé. One of the positive consequences of the recession was a centrifugal effect on businesses of all kinds. The city's neighborhoods tumble outwards clockwise from Notre Dame cathedral in a snail-shell pattern. Outlying arrondissements (like the 11th, 12th and 20th), or formerly neglected central ones (like the 3rd and 4th), have been recolonized by everything from fashion boutiques to art galleries, artisans' workshops, recording companies, publishers and -- of course -- restaurants and hotels. Just off the Place de la Nation in the extreme northeast of town is the Nouvel Hotel, an affordable 2-star charmer with a garden court (24 avenue du Bel-Air, 43-43-01-81, about 400F-600F). A 10-minute walk from there is Les Zygomates, a great neighborhood bistro in a century-old former butcher shop (7 rue Capri, 40-19-93-04, about 150F). In the Marais -- fashion city -- just off Rue de Rivoli, is the tiny but swank Hotel Caron de Beaumarchais, with a marble chimney in the lobby and 18th century decor throughout (12 rue Vieille du Temple, 42-72-34-12, about 700F-800F). A 10-minute walk toward the Place de la Bastille and you're at Paris' oldest brasserie, Bofinger (5 rue Bastille, 42-72-87-82, 150F-250F), with Belle Epoque decor and a great set menu at 169F including wine. A favorite of discreet business people is the Hotel Résidence Henri IV (50 rue des Bernardins, 44-41-31-81, about 650F-800F), on the edge of the Latin Quarter, in a quiet street five minutes from Notre Dame or the Tour d'Argent. Around the corner is the up-and-coming restaurant Le Reminet (3 rue des Grands Degrés, 44-07-04-24, about 200F). High and low seasons have pretty much disappeared: Paris is always overrun. For last-minute hotel reservations, you're most likely to find a room in one of the city's huge (and expensive) business-tourist establishments. The Méridien Montparnasse has more than 900 rooms (19 rue Cdt Mouchotte, 44-36-44-36, 1,900F and up). The Grand Hotel Inter-Continental (2 rue Scribe, 40-07-32-32, 1,750F and up) is also a whopper, and the Holiday Inn (10 Place de la République, 43-55-44-34, 2,300F and up) is a good fallback for those with thick wallets. If you're really stuck for a hotel, try calling or visiting the Paris Tourist Office (127 avenue des Champs-Elysées, 49-52-53-54). This is also the best address for tourist info in general, though the lines can be long and the reception brusque. If you're looking for current movie, music, entertainment and theater listings, skip the lines and buy Pariscope (3F, sold at all newsstands): It has an English-language insert prepared by TimeOut magazine. Paris is known as a museum city. This is both a compliment (for museums such as the Louvre or the Musée d'Orsay) and a jibe (Paris is embalmed, dead, moribund, dusty, etc.). There are about 150 museums in town and you can spend your life standing in lines trying to get into many of them. The newest (and still undiscovered) of them is the Musée du Montparnasse (21 avenue du Maine, 42-22-91-96), in the former studio-cum-restaurant of painter Marie Vasilieff, friend and protector of Picasso, Braque, Matisse and Modigliani. If visiting starving artists' haunts aren't your bag, try the recently restored and reopened Musée Jacquemart-André (158 boulevard Haussmann, 42-89-04-91). This late-19th century city mansion of the mind-bogglingly wealthy family of the same name is stuffed with art objects and family heirlooms. The dust hasn't yet settled. Visitors who prefer a cocktail to a shot of embalming fluid should go east. Eastern Paris as a whole, and the Bastille-Gare de Lyon-Bercy triangle in particular, have become the city's newest shopping, strolling and partying areas. The Viaduc des Arts, a 19th century elevated train viaduct, has about 50 craft workshops, boutiques, restaurants and cafes under its arches, starting from behind the Bastille Opera House. Atop the viaduct is a linear park, the Promenade Plantée. It runs among flowers for several miles, above the smog and traffic. Nearby Bercy used to be the city's main freight port on the Seine, where wine was stored in warehouses. Much of the area was bulldozed a decade ago and has finally come to life as a vast and beautifully landscaped park. Flanking it is Frank Gehry's whimsical American Center building, recently bought by the French government to be transformed into a movie museum and resource center (the Cinémathèque Française). For a decade the Marais has been the hottest neighborhood in town (especially for fashion hounds), but the Bastille area due east of it in the 11th arrondissement has now become the bastion of branché Parisians: the hip, the trendy, the studiously marginal. It's no coincidence that the term "poseur" sounds best in French. Dozens of fashion boutiques, art galleries, restaurants and cafes have mushroomed in the rue de Lappe, rue de la Roquette, rue de Charonne, rue Keller and other streets in this former blue-collar neighborhood. Pack your GSM cellular, leather pants and roller blades. The blades will come in handy for skating to the north, to the Belleville and Ménilmontant neighborhoods in the 20th arrondissement. Here too, cell phones and leatherettes are de rigueur, especially when you go to one of the jumping Thai or Vietnamese restaurants in the Rue de Belleville. You guessed it, the telephone company is being privatized and things are looking up! Whether you go east, west, north or south in Paris you'll have to look in all directions to find bargains in 1998-99. The higher the economy flies, the brighter the City of Light burns. And the stiffer the addition. The crisis is dead. Vive la crise! SALON | Aug. 5, 1998 David Downie is Salon Wanderlust's Paris correspondent. What is it that draws us to Paris again and again? Join the discussion in the Wanderlust area of Table Talk - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - R E L A T E D_.S A L O N_.S T O R I E S World Cup '98 From the stadium to the bar stool, Salon reports on the '98 World Cup in Paris. June 10 - July 13, 1998 Passionate and penniless in Paris A magical memory: lust and romance blossom when a young couple camps out in the City of Light. By Maxine Rose Schur Feb. 13, 1998 August advice Oh to be in Paris -- now that the Parisians are gone. By Peter Mayle July 29, 1997 Postmark: Paris Michelin's new restaurant ratings have raised a furor -- and brought into question the role of haute cuisine in French culture. By David Downie May 25, 1997 Philosophy au lait Philosophers' cafes are all the rage in Paris. By David Downie May 13, 1997 First tango in Paris Marriage and a small-town home are left behind on a liberating trip to the city that's still haunted by Hemingway. By Jenn Shreve April 29, 1997