Seattle, glad to hear your time in Paris is approaching. I hope you have found a good apartment.

If you don't take the metro at least twice daily, the pass is not worth it probably. You can calculate that pretty easily, though.

I am a big photography and jazz fan, too. There are a couple of clubs.

- The Lionel Hampton, in a hotel, never been there
- Another one in a boutique hotel close to Place St. Germain, the name of which escapes me right now but it will be easy to find. Nice.
- The Sunset and the Sunrise on Rue Des Lombards, close to Les Halles.
- The Duc des Lombards, directly next to the two above.
- The New Morning in the 10th arrondissement.

Especially those on Rue des Lombards offer the real jazz feeling. Crowded, hot, sometimes smokey, small tables, really good vibes from a knowledgeable audience. You might not know some of the names but just go there and check them out. I didn't know Stefano Di Battista and Emanuele Cisi or Nguyen Le, either, but they sure are great. Sometimes you get to see the big guys like Archie Shepp. The New Morning generally has the bigger names.

The bar at the Hotel du Louvre is a nice jazz bar experience. Very romantic, feels like a movie.

Food:

In the Luxembourg area there is the famous Belgian restaurant Bouillon Racine on Rue Racine. Google it. It's very nice.
Talking about hearty food like game, the Ambassade de l'Auvergne should have something to your liking.
There is also a great fondue restaurant on Rue St. Etienne du Mont . Basically next to the St. Etienne church behind the Pantheon. Not to be mistaken for the big St. Eustache at Les Halles. By the way the church is gorgeous, too and has a nice organ.

In St. Germain itself there is a GREAT pizzeria called Vesuvio. Location description: The church is on one side of the Blvd. St. Germain, the pizza is on the other side at the same level as the church. But when you look over from the church to the other side of the Boulevard all you see is a building with a boutique. This building stands on a sort of island. Vesuvio is behind that building. You will find a mix of locals and tourists and the prices are very reasonable especially for St. Germain. The pizzaiolo is from Napoli and I always went there with my Italian friends for Pizza.

For wonderful Italian food and wine (they have three sommeliers) try the Enoteca in St. Paul (Marais quarter, St. Paul metro). The St. Paul church has a nice Delacroix painting.

I am hungry now. Darn it!

Till