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The Seine is a stunning river - cutting a deep line through the very heart of Paris, lined with gift stalls and book shops, it’s the Seine that brings the city to life. It’s also dangerously liable to flooding, a problem that’s only worsened by the close proximity of so many of France’s key monuments, government buildings and and major transport hubs to its leafy banks.

While anxious officials may use all manner of tools to monitor the river’s ebbs and flows, Paris’ citizens and media use a more casual indication of the likely danger - a statue. The Zouave statue, in the image of a 19th Century Algerian soldier, stands under the Alma Bridge (Pont d’Alma) in the west of Paris, barely meters above the water. As the tide rises up to his body, Parisians start to worry - if it touches his toes a full-scale flood alert is inevitable.

In recent years Paris has been relatively free from flooding, and new flood control defences have gone some way to reducing the risk. But in the twentieth century three ocassions have seen water levels high enough to almost submerge the Zoave statue entirely, in 1955, 1924 and in 1910 - when the stone soldier was in it up to his neck.

Indeed, the 1910 flood is the most calamitous in Paris history - water levels of almost 10 metres saw very signifcant swathes of the city submerged for as long as a fortnight, and plagues of disease and social unrest sweep in as a result. Most recently, concerns were raised in 2002 - a summer which saw many European capitals under water - when heavy rain forced the levels to new highs. City paper Le Parisien kept a graphic of the Zoave statue on its weather pages for several weeks, and the whole of France breathed a collective sigh of relief when the waters eventually receeded. For not only does government and the Metro system need to keep on top of the water levels - the treasure-filled basements of the Louvre and The Musee d’Orsay art galleries are perched perilously close to the banks…

Descend under the Paris streets, and alongside the sewers, the metro tracks and all the basements you’ll find something entirely more unusual - some 300km of ancient tunnels.

Paris’ unusual (and legendary) subterranean network was created as far back as the 12th Century, as Paris’ medieval citizens quarried out gypsum and limestone to help build their new and expanding city. They left behind a true labyrinth of passageways and vaults, some less stable than others - in the eighteenth century the city was plagued with road collapses as the weakest gave way.

The Catacombs of Paris, under Place Denfert Rochereau in the 14th arrondissement, represent a small and publicly viewable sample of this massive subterranean network. In 1785, with Paris cemeteries full to bursting with centuries of dead, the city authorities decided to begin interring it’s citizens within the empty tunnels - and continued it’s plan for more than a hundred years. By 1885, when the practice ground to a halt, the bones of more than six million Parisians had been delivered underground - and now line the walls, ceilings and floors of the catacombs, which has been a morbid tourist attraction for more than a century, and which can still be visited for a handful of euros today.

The catacombs represent only a tiny portion of the full network, which extends more than 170 miles around the city. The underground tunnels hold a important part in Paris’ turbulent history - they were used as safe harbour by rebels and government forces alike during the various civil conflicts that have shaken up the city, from the original Revolution of 1789 right through to the Paris Commune (1871) and beyond. Indeed, during the occupation of Paris by Hitler’s forces during the second world war, both German troops and bands of French Resistance Fighters made homes under the ground, and remnants of their residence can still be discovered by the most adventurous of explorers.

In the later half of the twentieth century, the tunnels have becoming something of a magnet for Parisian sub-culture. It is illegal, and extremely dangerous, to descend unauthorised into the tunnel system, and a small contingent of Paris police patrol when required. But numerous groups and individuals still explore, and attempt to map, the curious underground world: many looking for the numerous ossuaries that have not been opened to the public; others planning eccentric parties; some undertaking much more unusal pursuits. In 2004, a make-shift bar and cinema was discovered in a cavern under the 16th arrondissement. Protected from prying eyes by simple CCTV and a rudimentary security system, it had a power supply and three phone lines, and was only discovered by chance during a police exercise.

Ernest Hemingway arrived in Paris in 1921, aged only 22 years old. Then a budding journalist and short-story writer, and recently married to older wife Hadley, Hemingway moved into a small flat at 74 Rue du Cardinal Lemoine, just north of the tiny Place de la Contrescarpe in the 5th Arrondissement’s Latin Quarter. While the next few years saw the couple travel widely (throughout Europe and further afield), Paris remained home to the Hemingways right up until early 1926.

Hemingway had arrived in Paris with a letter of introduction adressed to the indominatable Gertrude Stein - the veteran American writer who served as something of a mentor to the young generation of expat intellectuals who were at that time arriving from Britain and the US in droves. Before long the Hemingways found themselves connected to a large group of anglo-american writers who divided their time between the cheap flats of the Latin Quarter and the expensive bars of Montparnasse - amongst them F Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, Ezra Pound and Ford Madox Ford.

Hemingway’s Paris years produced a huge volume of short stories, many of them amongst his best. He also completed, and later published, his first novel, The Sun Also Rises - a semi-autobiographical story following a group of friends from Paris’ cafe culture to the bull fights of Pamplona, Spain. But Hemingway’s greatest testament to his time in Paris wasn’t published until 35 years after the couple left: A Moveable Feast, the writer’s final work (published posthumously in 1964) is perhaps the most famous memoir of Paris in the ’20s. Warped a little by nostalgia, and marred a little by Hemingway’s attempts to excuse his poor treatment of wife Hadley, A Moveable Feast is nonetheless a compelling and very personal account of expat life in the City of Light. “This is how it was,” he writes, “when we were very young, and very happy:”

If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.

No few addresses in Paris’ Montparnasse district now ply a brisk trade off their former association with the great writer. Alongside the Hemingways’ two rented flats - the first on Rue du Cardinal Lemoine, the second further south at 113 Rue Notre-Dames-des-Champs (both still private apartments), numerous bars claim to be Hemingway’s favourite. The Closerie Des Lilas, at 171 Blvd du Montparnasse, is now a much classier joint than when Hemingway used to write there; in another life, Italian restaurant l’Auberge de Venise (10 Rue Delambre) housed the Dingo Bar, where Heminway first met F Scott Fitzgerald. Indeed, all the bars along the main Montparnasse Boulevard enjoy their association with the expat ‘Lost Generation‘ - of which the most famous (if no longer the most authentic) is American brasserie Le Select (99 Blvd du Montparnasse).

See also:

• George Orwell in Paris
• Paris’ 5th Arrondissement (Latin Quarter)
• Paris’ 14th Arrondissement (Montparnasse)

Thinking about teaching English in Paris? Every year thousands of English-speakers consider spending a few years in the City of Light - and find that their mother-tounge skills are much in demand. Opportunities to find paid teaching work in the great city fall into two primary options - take a post as an assistant in a French school, or alternatively (and more lucratively) set yourself up as an English teacher in industry. Read on for the lowdown…

English Language Assistants

One of the most popular routes into teaching in France is as an English Language Assistant, working within the English department of a French primary or secondary school. Language Assistants take small groups of students for oral classes, allowing the kids to benefit from hearing and conversing with a native English speaker. Assistants, who aren’t required to have any previous teaching experience, normally lead twelve hours of lessons a week, and wont normally be expected to teach more than around 15 students at a time - indeed some groups might be much smaller. The salary is not immense though - around 770 euros a month, after deductions.

The application process for assistantships is handled centrally, normally by a governmental organisation in your home country. While you can usuall specify 3 different areas of France as your preferences, applicants have to be prepared to work in academies (teaching districts) across the country, wherever there may be vacancies. Needless to say, Paris is normally heavily oversubscribed, though if teaching in the City of Light remains an absolute priority it might be worth listing the academies of Versailles or Creteil too - if you’re determined to make Paris your base, schools in these suburban districts can often be easily reached by trains from the city centre. Just bear in mind that 750 euros (around GBP 600 and USD 1000) will not go far in one of the world’s most famous cities…

In the UK, the English Assistant scheme is administered by the British Council - find their website here. In America, the French Embassy in Washington handles the programme - find them here.
The majority of English language assistants are undergraduates on modern languages courses - many of whom are required to complete the eight months’ teaching as part of their degree. In reality, many people from all walks of life find themselves teaching English in this way, though 35 is normal maximum age limit for the programme. Bear in mind that application close early - to begin in October, you’ll normally be expected to submit an application form in November or December of the preceeding year.

While you don’t need to be completely fluent to take up an assistant post (indeed, most language assistants are there to improve their French) you are expected to be able to converse on a basic level in French - the equivalent of a British AS level qualification (around 6 years at high school) is specified by French authorities. Needless to say, you’ll improve very quickly while you’re there, but bear in mind that some of the most difficult tasks (finding a flat, opening a bank account, meeting new colleagues) will need to be done at the very beginning of your placement.

Professional English Language Teachers

Don’t like the sound of the Assistants scheme? If you don’t meet the criteria, definitely want to work in Paris or are simply terrified by the tiny salary, there are certainly other options - primarily teaching adult professionals in industry.

By far the most straight forward method - though one that can require a little personal investment - is to aquire a TEFL certificate. Worldwide need for English speakers ensures that the qualification for Teaching English as a Foreign Language can be a passport to solid employment in cities around the world - and many TEFL teachers take full advantage to hop betwen countries as they choose. TEFL courses can be taken part time, by correspondance or indeed intensively in Paris, if that’s what you choose - and a certificate will make it much easier to get working papers (if you’re American, Australian, Canadian or other) or find a job if, as a UK or EU citizen, you have freedom to look for work across the continent.

It’s also worth contacting Paris’ professional English schools to ask for work - most are cosistently on the look out for new talent, and in-house training schemes ensures you don’t neccessarily need existing qualifications to work for them. Major companies include Wall Street and Berlitz, and there are plenty more that you can find with a little searching online.

And finally, don’t be afraid to search for private tuition roles, if you can find them. This may well mean selling yourself wherever you can, posting - or responding to - classified ads, and taking advantage of any contact you can make that will helpy uo establish regualar work. This can be hard work - but if you’re talented and eager, you’ll find more than a handful of Parisians keen to give themeselves, or their children, the best start possible in the world’s global language.

Whichever route you choose, teaching English as a Foreign Language is unlikely to make you rich - certainly in a city as desirable as Paris - but it’s a wonderful oportunity to live in one of the world’s most famous cities…

There’s nothing quite like rolling into a famous city by train - and the Eurostar rail service connects two of the greatest cities in Europe. Shooting between the centres of London and Paris via the impressive Channel Tunnel, in it’s fifteen years of operation Eurostar has proven enormously popular with tourists and business travellers alike.

The Eurostar connects the two capitals in just over two and a half hours, of which around 25 minutes is spent in the darkness of the tunnel under the English Channel (or La Manche as it’s known to the French). Opened in 1994, the 50km (30m) tunnel is some feat of engineering - it’s the longest undersea route in the world.

But Eurostar’s main attraction has always been it’s convenience. It travels between the heart of Paris, (the immense Gare Du Nord in the 10th arrondissement) and St Pancras station in the centre of London, plugging directly into each city’s subway system and avoiding weary journeys to suburban airports. Indeed, London’s St Pancras station is a sight in itself - recently reopened after years of near-dereliction, it’s beautiful gothic vaulting has been updated with stark blue girders, its concourse peppered with sculpture, and it’s platform graced with the longest Chanpagne bar in the world…

And Eurostar is surprisingly affordable, especially if you book in advance - the prices rise according the the availability of the tickets. You can get return trips as cheaply as £59 (77 euro) but you really will need to buy early - booking of trains opens three months in advance of your departure date, and be prepared to pay upwards of £200 if you leave it till the last minute. Compared to the standards of most British (and even many French) trains, Eurostar is extraordinarily comfortable throughout, with plenty of luggage space, and you’d need to have a real taste for luxury to even consider splashing out the extra for the sparse further comforts of First Class.

The Channel Tunnel itself has a chequered past - first proposed as far back as 1802, when relations between the French and the British were somewhat frostier than today’s entente cordiale, the project took some six years to complete, and cost the lives of several miners. It also ran massively overbudget, even was in danger of financial collapse even before its opening in 1994 - only strong nerves (and financial assistance) from the British and French governments ensured it’s continued existence.