21/05/2023
Who?
Salut and Welcome to Paris! I am Cédric, French and Parisian since 2005, coming originally from the vineyards of Burgundy.
After working in IT as a software and web developer for long years, I decided to take a step back and think about what would really make me want to get out of bed every morning (now who just whispered midlife crisis?!)
While I'm grateful for this experience that opened the doors of Paris to me and made me dip deep in the mysterious ways of computer programming, I felt that it was time for me to look for more social and cultural interactions and also to discover the entrepreneurial world.
WHAT?
I decided to launch a series of informal off the beaten path tours, called Paris B-sides, as a freelancer. I don't aim at guiding people into museums or making architecture/history/fine-arts lectures (this requires a certification in France, and is already very well covered by great guides).
I want to focus on the every day life in Paris and its close suburbs, greenery spots, residential neighborhoods, cultural events and social initiatives.
Paris B-sides... why this name? As a good ol' man in his forties, I like the symbolic of the B-side of the audio cassette from my childhood: a fragile, imperfect object, that required patience and sometimes DIY, and concealed some hidden gem on its B-side... Probably also because I somewhat entered the B-side of my life, quitting my former IT job in hope of finally doing what I like for a living.
I created this dedicated page Paris B-sides to publish my guided tours offers and exchange with interested members about bookings, improvement or new ideas. Feel free to have a look and contact me for questions.
Why?
After long years spent wandering around Paris while trying to help tourists or new residents of the city on Internet forums, I've come up with the few following thoughts:
- a visit of Paris may be seen too often as a to-do list, a solo experience or a giant history museum tour
- Paris has many other cultural facets, with its ethnic and popular districts, with its old but also modern neighborhoods, with natural areas waiting for us beyond the périphérique.
- as a local resident, I can offer a little something extra, culturally or socially speaking, and want to share more than post answers with our dear visitors.
- among these visitors some may enjoy a more balanced discovering of the city and its inhabitants, at a slower pace that allows a real immersion in the every day life.
- I always prefer to learn by exchanging with the people than from books or screens.
- I've been wandering around the whole city and beyond for so many years, on foot or on a bike, and surprisingly the flame is still kept alive.
The goal of this project is to share my passion for Paris and live enriching -and simply human- moments with people from different cultures.
How?
On a more pragmatic note, here are a few organization details shared by all the tours (unless tour-specific notice):
1) Practical conditions:
- tours are run by me alone, on foot for the moment (using the metro to connect areas if needed), and in the future possibly by bike as well.
- groups are kept as small as possible to allow for real interactions between all of us and a laid-back atmosphere
- a good pair of shoes, a bottle of water and a light rain jacket are recommended
- a prior visit to the bathroom is highly recommended (a common mistake in Paris😄), I'll have a public toilets map in case of emergency.
2) Booking:
- payment in advance by IBAN (bank-to-bank, usually within 3 days in an international context) or Paypal (easy and immediate payment but higher conversation rate/service fees).
- last-minute payment by paypal or cash (in €) possible only as a last minute participation, subject to availability and validation.
3) Cancellation policy: warn at least 24h in advance to get a full refund, otherwise a fee of 10€ per person may be retained. People not showing-up without any notice won't be refunded.
4) Weather conditions: in case of light rain showers the tour is maintained, in case of hard rain or thunderstorm, the tour may be postponed or as a last resort refunded.
5) Responsibility:
- legal: I hold no responsibility for illegal actions under the French law perpetrated by tour participants
- safety: tours are thought to avoid endangerment of the participants. Children (under 18yo) are to be accompanied by adults and are under their responsibility. Participants showing up under a strong influence of alcohol or drugs are likely to be refused without any refund.
6) Expenses: a welcome coffee (or a fruit syrup) is offered before the start of the tour to get to know each other briefly. All other potential costs would be at your expense (additional drinks or snacks, transportation, ...)
7) Photos: you can freely take pictures of the tour. I may also take pictures on my side to illustrate my past tours, please tell me explicitly if you don't want to appear on these published photos.
\8) Work-in-progress...
This adventure is at its early stages and I'm still experimenting on the structure of the tours (price, duration, number of participants, etc).
I have plenty of other ideas to develop in the forthcoming weeks:
- a discovering of the hidden residential gems in the heights of Paris
- a stroll along a canal in a former industrial area, home of the new social economy
- a descent on the urban wild of an old circular railroad in the middle of Paris
- a journey on the lovely banks of another river with a more natural feel than the Seine in central Paris.
..
An external website may come soon.
I'll report the evolution and updates in this section, so... stay tuned!
A bientôt,
Cédric
