Night picnic at the Eiffel Tower (also used as feature photo): ryanfb

Stop by an artisan boulanger. While the boulangeries (bakeries) seem endless, it’s the artisan boulangers where the food is made onsite. There are large selections of breads, and walking out of a store, baguette in hand, made me feel particularly and pleasantly French.

Boulange: Kristin Conard

If you get a traditional baguette, you’ll be getting the long loaf. This crunchy bread will get hard and go stale quickly. Some say the shelf life of a baguette is less than six hours. To get it sliced at the store, ask for tranche. Or ask specifically for pain de mie, or sandwich bread. Baguettes cost €1 to €2.

You’ll probably want to top your baguette with some French cheese. There are over 200 varieties in fromageries (specialty cheese shops). But if you’re looking to stay on budget, many grocery stores have a great selection. Though the “Président” brand is to be avoided, it’s the most basic, factory produced option in the store.

If you’re me, bread and cheese is good enough.

Veggies at the market: Kristin Conard

But if you’re more health-conscious, check out the open markets selling fresh fruits and vegetables. Each district has at least one weekly produce market, open from at least 9AM, if not earlier, and closing down around 1 or 2PM. My favorite is the Aligre market along Place d’Aligre in the 12th district, open every day except Monday.

Many boulangeries are combined with a pâtisserie, (pastry shop). You can pick up quiches for around €3 and fresh fruit tarts for €2. Quiches can be toasted onsite or served cold, both are good.

When you come in, make sure to say ‘bonjour’ to the shop keeper. If you smile through your butchery of the French language and seem happy and warm, you’ll get better service. These are also ideal places if you don’t know much French, as you can point and smile to order. It’s not elegant, but you’ll know what you’re getting.

Or just order a croissant. All pastry shops will have some version of the flaky treat from plain to ham and cheese (jambon et fromage) to chocolate (chocolat).

A crêpe can cost you at least around $10 or €7 in a restaurant. You can get one on the street for between €1.50 and €4.50, depending on the area and the filling. Around Notre Dame and really anywhere in the 1st – 5th districts, it will cost at least €3. Head out a bit, near the Bastille area, up near Montmarte away from the crowds, and you will find cheaper spots.

Civil Disobedience: smudie

There are two types of crêpe batter, one sweet, one savory. In some restaurants, they will only make one batch, and they will use that for both types of crêpes, and I can tell you that a gooey, cheese filling tastes horrible in a sweet crêpe. So at the street vendors, see if they have two separate mixes for the batter. If they don’t, it’s better to order a sweet one. The cheapest option is a plain sugar crêpe, but popular fillings include Nutella and banana.

Admittedly, I don’t know much about wine. I know what I like, and that’s always through trial and error. I don’t know what wine goes with what food or what region makes the best merlot. But I do know that I chafe at having to pay €4 for a glass of wine when I could get a bottle for the same price at a local shop.

Yes, there are fancy wines and champagnes available throughout Paris at specialty wine shops. But walking into any grocery store will give you a selection of French wines from €1.99 and up. And, at least to me, even the cheap bottles taste good and make the ideal accompaniment to a meal.

Maybe you just want to grab a seat on the nearest bench, but if you want to add a dash of romance or avoid car exhaust while you eat, the following are some sweet spots for a picnic in Paris.

For people watching you can just take your food to any park. In the Tuileries Gardens, you can lay out your meal next to the circular fountains. You’ll be in good company with locals on lunch break.

Garden at Musée de Carnavalet: Kristin Conard

In the Luxembourg Gardens there are plenty of benches and open spaces, and you can watch people playing pétanque on the lawn.

You can avoid the crowds and embrace nature by heading to the Bois de Bologne on the outskirts of Paris. It’s also a great spot for finding your own secluded spot, since the park is so big. Or head up to the Parc des Buttes Chaumont, where mostly locals and very few tourists go. It has waterfalls and a grotto along with an outstanding view of the city.

Closer to the city center, but less well known, are the gardens of the Musée de Carnavalet. Small and elegant gardens and the occasional sounds of a concert floating down from the upper floors make this spot perfect for quiet reflection.

Dine in macabre style near the grave of Jim Morrison in the Pére Lachaise Cemetary. For a less crowded graveside dining experience, but still as legendary, head over to the graves of Oscar Wilde or Edith Piaf.

Shakespeare and Company: Kristin Conard

Are you a bookworm?

Why not pick a spot outside Shakespeare and Company, the famous English language bookstore on the banks of the Seine, with a view of Notre Dame? It’s ideal for pondering your life in the shadow of history. It’s also a spot to meet other travelers and expats shopping for books.

If you’re feeling romantic, head to the Pont des Arts, the bridge where couples attach a lock to the chain links and throw the key into the river to symbolize their eternal link. There are benches all along the bridge.

Or take your dinner and your sweetheart to a spot along the river. Walk down the steps from the road down to the riverside and find your own romantic spot. Another popular place for romance is along the tip of Île de la Cité, near Notre Dame. I have seen people unfold picnic blankets, pull out champagne glasses and light candles where they have a clear view over the Seine and the heart of Paris.

Community Connection

Where to stay, how to save and What Not to Do in Paris are all topics covered in MatadorTravel’s Paris Focus Page where we centralize all our Paris content.

And if you’re traveling France on the cheap, you’ll probably want to see How to Travel in France for Less Than $100 a Day.

Photo and Feature Photo: jenny downing

The two bullies had been caught on tape assaulting several less ornately dressed men before they got their comeuppance at the hands of some well-muscled guys in miniskirts. As handily as it would have occurred in a John Waters movie, the two assailants were laid out on the sidewalk, one of them kicked a couple times for good measure.

It’s at about a minute in when the two trouble makers spot who they believe will be their next victims.

The ass-kicking was handled so proficiently that The Sun speculates the high-heeled-heros were cage fighters en route from a costume party, though the bad-asses in question who stopped the two drunkards from further menacing passers-by that evening were never traced. You can view the video with The Sun’s commentary at the page.

While The Sun may not know it, those who cross-dress publicly are tougher than your average person. They have to be. Though the mystery girls will likely never be identified, I raise a glass to these heroes of the night and ask, “Wouldn’t it be great if every city had a marauding band of transexuals to defend its citizenry from drunken menaces?”

Photo from Inside the London Tattoo Convention: beerandnoodles

Follow along with Lauren Quinn as she walks you through five top destinations for the tattooed traveler, their tattoo history and icons.

Getting invited to work the London Tattoo Convention does for a tattoo artist what winning a Pulitzer does for a novelist. The prestigious event features the crème de la crème of the tattoo world, and an invitation pretty much seals your career for life. In 2008, the event drew 20,000 visitors—and they weren’t just there to bring home skin souvenirs from the world’s best working artists.

Photo from Inside of Frith St.: slushpup

The London Tattoo Convention showcases the heart and soul of tattoo culture with art exhibitions, an anthropological exhibition highlighting the history of tattooing by the Oxford Tattoo Museum, and burlesque performances by the ubiquitous Suicide Girls. The 2009 installment will be held at the Tobacco Dock September 25-27 and day tickets are 20 pounds.

London became the home to the world’s biggest tattoo convention by being one of the world’s best tattoo destinations. The roots of tattoo culture run deep, in large part due to its 19th century popularity among the British Navy. Check out how the modern-day shops are holding it down at Into You Tattoo and Frith Street.

Tattooing wouldn’t be what it is today without the influence of Japan. A national tradition dating back to the 17th century, tattooing was associated with the criminal underworld of the Yakuza and outlawed for nearly a hundred years. Legal since 1945, and increasingly less stigmatized, the Irezumi style has had a permanent impact on Western tattooing.

The greatest living tattoo artist lives just outside of Tokyo in Yokohama. Horiyoshi III apprenticed under Horiyoshi I, and is the second tattooist to be bestowed with the honorific “Hori” title, which translates to “engrave.”

Photo of two of Horiyashi III’s Living Canvases:
Good Nights Are Rare

Horiyoshi III and his wife run the Yokohama Tattoo Museum, a pilgrimage site for tattoo junkies around the world. More than just photos and traditional tools, the tiny two-floor museum features the stuff he collects: shrunken heads, stuffed tigers, and letters from Charles Manson, to name some of the more noteworthy curios.

Can’t afford a $20,000 tattoo session with Horiyoshi III? Yellow Blaze in Yokohama, and Inkrat, and Tokyo Hardcore Tattoo in Tokyo uphold the traditions of Japanese tattooing with a modern edge.

Spend some time in the Bay Area, and you’ll immediately see the prevalence of tattoo culture. Schoolteachers and waiters in fine-dining make no attempt to hide their ink, and full sleeves barely elicit a glance on the street.

Photo of Black Heart: ecastro

How did it get this way? Long before the rise of the Haight, in nearby ports and naval bases tattooing already had a long tradition with working and navy men. In the 1960s, when the city was under the siege of sex, drugs and rock n’ roll, Lyle Tuttle catapulted the underground art into the mainstream by tattooing the likes of Janis Joplin.

Meanwhile, Ed Hardy was incorporating Japanese techniques via his friendship with Horiyoshi III. While the art of tattooing was heavily stigmatized and even illegal in most of the U.S., San Francisco became a haven for tattooists, the tattooed, and the other self proclaimed freaks of the nation.

Ed Hardy’s Tattoo City is still pumping out ink, but it’s best to hit up some of the new kids in town. While there are scores of good shops and killer artists, some of the tops include San Francisco’s Black Heart, Oakland’s Temple and San Jose’s State of Grace.

For the city where modern tattooing was born, you sure don’t see a lot of heavily tattooed people in New York City. You can chalk that up to the 36-year ban on tattooing in the state of New York, which forced artists to go underground, tattooing from basement shops and backrooms. An underground culture evolved and the tight-knit New York Tattoo Society advocated for a reversal of the ban, at last succeeding in 1997.

Photo of Fun City Tattoo: Dyanna

With tattooing now above ground, New York City is finally reemerging as the tattoo destination it always deserved to be (and always kind of was). You can grab a piece of history at Fun City Tattoo, where an homage to the original owner’s fuck-you to the ban still hangs: the “Cappuccino and Tattoo” sign that flaunted plenty of double letters and illegal tattooing.

Check out the burgeoning scene at Dare Devil Tattoo, home to some of the city’s best tattoo artists and a smoking hot clientele. New York Adorned is a stylish piercing studio, tattoo shop and jewelry store in one, while Brooklyn’s Smith Street and Fly Rite modify patrons across the bridge.

Be prepared to pay a little more than you might expect. New York City’s high rents mean most shops start at $150 per hour.

Photo Inside the Milan 2007 Convention: Ko_An

Really? Yes.

It doesn’t get the buzz of other big cities, but fashion-capital Milan has slowly come up as Italy’s tattoo epicenter by being home to one of Europe’s best conventions. In its 14th year, the Milan Tattoo Convention, held in February, draws many of the same names as the London convention, with a hefty helping of Italian national pride.

You’ve got dancers, burlesque shows and punk bands, but also quirkier features like tattoo tarot, an exhibition solely on hand tattooing, and the Miss Pin-Up Tattoo beauty contest. And all with a lot less hype than London.

If you’re not in town during for the February convention, Primordial Pain and Quetzal Tattoo offer a taste of Italian tattooing all year long.

Community Connection

Can’t read enough about tattoos? Check out Kate Sedgwick’s photo essay on the Tattoo Show of Buenos Aires or her essay about what the prevalence of tattoo culture is doing to destroy itself.

Do you have something to say about that tattoo you picked up in your travels? Start a Matador Blog today and start telling our growing community your stories.

Perhaps it’s in the United States that you’ll see the most striking, well cultivated and impressive in the world.

Photos - left Blonde in Tulsa as photographed by raveller, right Brunette in Las Vegas 2003 by TedsBlog

If the now defunct Mullets Galore website proved anything, it was that we all seem to feel that the mullet is worth only our jeers, its wearer deserving to be dubbed the name of his haircut.

It was explained to me once when I laughed at the blue faced, mulleted warriors in Braveheart that the haircut had a practical application. It allowed the wearer to shirk the harmful effects of the sun to the back of his neck while being able wield a weapon with unobstructed vision. Being a diehard utilitarian, I had to take a moment to give the mullet its due before resuming my obnoxious diatribe disparaging the hairdo.

Photo: GenuineMongol

If this statue is to be believed, Ghengis Khan may be wearing a mullet under there. Could one of the fiercest warriors of all time have sported a mullet?

Below, enjoy and savor this collection of mullets from around the globe.

It is far from complete.

Sadly I was unable to find photographic evidence of the mullet in Africa, thereby rounding out my cavalcade of continents.

Photos - left Colombian extreme half mohawk-half mullet by snarkhunt, right Guatemalan mullet man with a live turkey by gringologue

Photos - left in Bangladesh, this mullet hearkens back to the ’80’s Jheri Curl mullet by bengal*foam, right Japanese mulleted mouth breather by alexdecarvalho

Photos -left Art school mulleted hipster in London by weegeebored, right Silver fox in Prague by discosour

Photos - left Clear delineation twixt front and back in Spain by JaseMan, right Nose picking mulleted hiker in Croatia by h-angele

Photos - left a most impressive mullet in Canada by D’Arcy Norman, right fresh mullet in Australia by Hyperlegs