Where I've Been Travel App goes "local," adds photos and reviews

Looking for an Italy rental? Pick a good villa rental agency. Pauline Kenny of SlowEurope.com shares her tips. [Dream of Italy] Tourists have to try to combat the 'ugly American'. Fifty years after the book published, the perception of Americans as crass travelers remains. [cnn.com/travel] Obama seeks high-speed rail system across U.S.. The President wants new developments for high-speed trains in 10 corridors, including regions in New York, Illinois, California, and Florida. But it's not clear if enough money will be set aside to do more than make plans. [nytimes.com] Take the new Gossip Girl Tour of NYC. OMG! See 40 locations used in the filming of the high school soap. [gadling] Five in-flight movies to avoid now. The creepy, the weepy, and the sleepy that may be showing soon on a plane near you. [jaunted] For more travel blogs, go to Alltop's travel page.

After a long, gray winter, it’s time again in Paris to enjoy le beau temps. Beautiful weather bestows so many outdoor possibilities—riding a bike, trekking across the city, taking the stairs to the top of the Eiffel Tower. It also affords the luxury of doing very little at all while sitting at a sidewalk café. This activity, more than any artistic or architectural marvel, is what I most remember from my early visits to Paris. These little breaks between exhibitions, or in the hours before dinner, offered my first glimpse of "real" local life. Within tiny patches of sidewalk sun, Parisians and I were crowded into tables so close that I felt immediately part of their lives. I was mesmerized by their extravagant body language, complicated facial expressions, and even the way they smoked. Years later, cigarettes have fallen by the wayside in French cafés, but the tradition of sitting, sipping, and staring lives on. There are sidewalk cafés on nearly every street, but a few of my favorite terrasses are below. These all have plenty of sun and superb people-watching potential. On the Left Bank Forget about the Café de Flore and Le Deux Magots. These famous cafés are today filled with tourists frowning into their over-priced drinks. La Palette is where the current generation of left-bank creatives are hanging out (43 rue de Seine, 6th arrondissment). Further west near the Eiffel Tower, Le Café du Marché offers some excellent people watching on one of the city’s most posh market streets (38 rue Cler, 7th arrondissement). In the residential south, not far from the Catacombs, Café Daguerre has sunny tables on a pedestrian market street. This is a great place to observe the locals with hardly any other visitors around (4 Avenue du Général Leclerc, 14th arrondissement). On the Right Bank La Perle remains one of the best sidewalk scenes in town. Grab an outside table during the apéro hour—it's a prime perch for watching the nightly Marais fashion parade (78 rue Vieille du Temple, 3rd arrondissement). Near Grands Boulevards, the tables of the Delaville Café are packed in the late afternoon with local media and theater types (34 boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle, 10th arrondissement). The interior is also worth checking out during your trip to the blinged-out bathroom. Chez Prune (36 rue Beaurepaire, 10th arrondissement) is a prime meeting spot along the Canal St-Martin, but I prefer its rival across the water. Le Jemmapes has only a handful of tables, but its takeaway cups let you sip your drinks along the sunny banks of the Canal (82 quai de Jemmapes, 10th arrondissement). Among the boutiques and galleries behind Bastille, Le Pause Café (41 rue de Charonne, 11th arrondissement) is an excellent spot for post-shopping recovery. Further east and not far from Pére Lachaise, Le Soleil is an appropriately named institution, drawing hundreds of Paris hipsters in sunny weather (136 boulevard de Ménilmontant). EARLIER Practical Paris: What's closed on Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays?

Making the most of your time in Paris requires a bit of scheduling prowess. That's because the city's most highly-prized tourist attractions—museums and restaurants—are closed on certain days of the week. So before setting off on a Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday, check to see if your 'to-dos' can in fact be done. Closed on Sunday A large number of restaurants are shuttered on Sunday. (Find the main exceptions listed in my earlier blog post "Sunday in Paris.") Shopping is also very limited—most magasins are closed outside of the historically Jewish Marais and the touristy Champs-Elysées. Bakeries and markets are open in the morning but shut down around 1:00 p.m. The good news: The city's museums are all open, making this a great (if slightly crowded) day to get your culture fix. Closed on Monday A number of restaurants are also closed on Monday. Call to check and reserve before crossing town). The following museums are closed, too. Musee d'Orsay (Impressionists hung in a renovated train station) Musée Rodin ("The Thinker," and other statues) Musée du Quai Branly (a collection of artifacts, such as masks, totems, and fertility statues, from cultures all around the world) Fondation Cartier (contemporary art) Palais de Tokyo (more contemporary art) Maison Européenne de la Photographie(international photography since 1950) Fondation Henri Cartier Bresson (gallery of France's most famous photographer) Musée Carnavalet (city history) Closed on Tuesday Restaurants are rarely closed on Tuesday, but the following museums are: Musée du Louvre Centre Pompidou (contemporary art in the building that made architect Renzo Piano famous) Musée National de l'Orangerie (by the Tuileries gardens, built to house Monet's Water Lillies) Musée National du Moyen Âge (Cluny) (the national museum of the middle ages) Maison Européenne de la Photographie (this museum is closed on Tuesdays, too) Musée Picasso (gallery of works mainly by the Spanish master) EARLIER "Sundays in Paris"

Tucked behind the Bastille in Paris' 12th arrondissement is one of my favorite neighborhoods. Anchored by a sprawling market, the quartier d'Aligre is a working-class neighborhood well known for its great food. Any visit to the quartier should begin at Blé Sucre (7 rue Antoine Vollon, 12th arrondissement). Fabrice Le Bourdat, in his former life, was pastry chef at the three-Michelin-starred restaurant Le Bristol. He gave that up to open his own shop, and now rises every morning at 2 to make his famous millefeuille and iced madeleines for late morning customers. While Fabrice toils below in the basement kitchen, his cheerful wife Céline will help you choose between a buttery croissant or white chocolate brioche. She can also pull an espresso to give you energy for the shopping to come. If you can't make it for breakfast, stop in for an afternoon break. A cone of homemade salted butter caramel ice cream is a heavenly treat, particularly if it's eaten in the tree-filled Square Trousseau across the street. A few blocks from the Blé Sucre is the bustling Marché d'Aligre. The outdoor market (place d'Aligre, 12th arrondissement) operates Tuesday–Saturday until 1:00 p.m. and until 2:00 p.m. on Sunday. Reasonable prices and an eastern Paris location ensure that you'll catch a glimpse of "real" working class Parisian families going about their shopping. In addition to the produce, you'll also find stalls selling trinkets, cheap clothing, and household goods. Looming to the east of the outdoor market is the covered Marché Beauveau. This classic building houses additional fish and meat stalls, along with one of my favorites for food gifts: Sur les Quais. The shelves of this small store are piled high with jars and tubes that can be tucked easily into the bottom of a suitcase. I'm a fan of the mustard flavored with truffle and piment d'espelette, and I also love their selection of high-end olive oils. This and the other shops inside the covered market are open until 7:30 p.m., but most take a lunch break from 1:00–4:00 p.m. Like the outdoor market, the Marché Beauveau is closed on Monday. A few steps from the place d'Aligre is your destination for post-market recovery, Le Baron Rouge (1 rue Thophile Roussel, 12th arrondissment). During the cold months this wine bar is a destination for oyster eaters, but it's packed year-round with those who come after shopping for un petit rouge. There's something delicious about drinking a glass of red at noon with the locals and their grocery bags. You can eat oysters (during the season) here, or order a plate of charcuterie. I recommend saving your appetite, however, for the kitchen down the street La Gazzetta (29 rue de Cotte, 12th arrondissement, 011-33/1-43-47-47-05) is the perfect way to cap off a hedonistic morning in the quartier d'Aligre. This well-known foodie address has a remarkable lunch menu with two courses for 16€ ($20). Chef Peter Nilsson's first course is a collection of three small and yummy plates, and there are vegetarian options among the mains. Beyond the food, the space itself is beautiful, with classic tiled floors and a polished bar area where you finish with an Illy coffee, read a selection of newspapers, and, if you're lucky, pet one of the local dogs who sometimes stop in to say hello. Series: Affordable Paris