revolution_fr | (no subject)

Hello, all!

I know it's a busy time for a lot of people - I'm currently in the midst of finals myself - but I was hoping that people might be able to take a little time out to help me out.

I also dearly hope that this isn't massively off-topic and is permitted to be posted. It does deal quite heavily with the FR, at least! : )

Anyway:

I'm heading off to France in a few weeks - Paris for a few weeks, then a break-neck tour around some smaller towns (Arras, Blerancourt, Strausborg, you know the drill), then a week or so down in Monaco (which normally I would avoid due to price, but someone very kind has offered to lend me lodging, so I'm going. ^^)

I need advice on where to go and what to do/see - I know a bunch of people here are either francophiles, FR geeks, live in and/or have been to France recently, or a combination of the above. So - help! Anyone have any links to online tour guides (of the French Revolution, Les Miserables, historical geekery, etc. variety)? Suggestions of places to go? Books I should look at? Does anyone have a list of the current locations of the major FR historical sites (Robespierre's house, etc.)? I'm generally interested in historical or fandomish sites, good places to eat, and other stuff to do.

Any advice at all, even the obvious, is extremely welcome! I got nothing, really. ^^

I've sort of left specific planning to the last minute, so, um, help! (Also, if you know any other places on LJ I could post this cry for help to where it wouldn't be obnoxious and would get some useful tips, I'd be grateful!)

(Less related: if you know anything about Switzerland, Germany (Berlin and Munich), Prague or Vienna, it would also be useful - I'm hoping to hit a city on my way out from Paris, and would like advice for those places as well)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Thanks! That's great; it'll help a lot! I will definitely go to see those things. I saw the Robespierre House plaque last time I was there (it was the only LM/FR thing I did, which is why I'm so eager to see stuff this time. -_-;)

I would be extremely grateful if you could both translate the part about Robespierre's house in Arras - we'll be stopping there very shortly - and give me the name from the historical guide; it would be extremely useful! Thanks again. ^_^

Unfortunately, my sister seems to have misplaced the guide. She says she'll keep an eye out for it, and I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, I found another guide that might be worth looking into: http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/2841097323?ie=UTF8&tag=httpwwwgoodco-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=2841097323&SubscriptionId=1MGPYB6YW3HWK55XCGG2. (I assume there's also a tome I, but I can't seem to find it.)

As for the part about Robespierre's house in Arras: "The Rue de la Gouvernance opens onto the Rue Robespierre. Once the Rue des Rapporteurs, for there crowded the employees of the Rue de la Gouvernance, carrying their dossiers. It was renamed thus [ie, Rue Robespierre] after it was proven (in 1923) that there was THE HOUSE WHERE ROBESPIERRE LIVED IN 1787. He lodged there with his sister Charlotte and his brother Augustin and it was there that he wrote that famous "Address to the Artesian Nation" and the prerevolutionary texts that made him known in all Artois. Long abandoned, this house has just been restored and contains a brief evocation of the only the great man's years in Arras." There is, in other words, some kind of museum inside, but I've never been there when it's been open. Still, I assume that if it's open when you go, it's probably worth taking a look at.