*PLEASE* READ COMPLETELY MY PROFILE BEFORE SENDING ME A COUCHREQUEST ! THANKS !

If you send me a request and you have still no references, try to send a personalized message showing that you took the time to read my profile.
Positive references, or a complete profile, with photos and good reasons to use Couchsurfing, are for me a + to give a positive answer to your request.

If you are new here, or even if you are an experienced Couchsurfer, remember that your host could be busy and have to organize his time. A request in Couchsurfing has to be sent one week, two weeks in advance. Never try to send me a Couchrequest for the same day, or one or two days before your arrival. This is not Couchsurfing , it’s “craving for a bedroom for free”…
There is a group for “Paris Emergencies last minute requests” : you could send an open request in this group.

IS IT NECESSARY TO SAY AGAIN THAT "COUCHSURFING" DOES NOT MEAN "FREE HOSTEL" ??

Your attitude, your mood, your desire to share your experiences or your projects during your stay in Paris, your questions or your comments about your visits and discoveries in this city are, for me, much more important than any gift you could bring.

Maybe you have paid for the registration or verification in this website, but that does'nt mean you have to act like a customer or a user of a service. And it's always interesting to interact out of the commercial system, hospitality suppose moral values. But so what does hospitality actually mean in a consumer's world where customers can get what they need at their fingertips?

CURRENT MISSION

Transformer ma vie en continuant à vivre de ma passion (Transform my life by continuing to live on my passion)

ABOUT ME

I can't host Couchsurfers any time - sometimes it's already "booked" by friends or previous Couchsurfers coming back as friends....

When I decide to host someone, I try to help a traveler with a decent accommodation and good company.
And I really appreciate when you help your host to be in a good mood . Example : when you bought your flight tickets, are you sure you will arrive at my door before midnight, have you checked the actual time of your arrival ? With shuttle bus from airport, using hitch-hiking, or long distance bus. Could you find a solution (when your mobile phone doesn't work in France, when you have no wifi or dead battery) to give me an info if you think you may arrive later ? Or are you focused only on your problems ( first time in France, no phone, difficulty to find your way )??

IMPORTANT : BEING ON TIME FOR THE FIRST APPOINTMENT IS NOT AN OPTION : IT'S THE BEST WAY TO SHOW AT THE BEGINNING OF YOUR STAY THAT YOU ARE A RELIABLE PERSON...

Punctuality for your arrival is something very important for me.

I know it's very difficult to say how long it will take from another city or from the airport, but I really appreciate if you consider that I'm not a doorman, and the time of our first meeting should be estimated and respected. If you are late, just find a way to contact me. Absolutely no problem if I have news of your arrival ! If you have any possibilities to contact me (Whats'app, SMS, Viber, Messenger) when you are approaching, or when you arrive in Paris airport, I could help you to find the fastest way to come here from the airport/train or bus station.

A GOOD COMMUNICATION BETWEEN COUCHSURFERS AND HOST IS FUNDAMENTAL, BEFORE AND DURING THE STAY

FOR THAT REASON, DON'T EVEN TRY TO BE HOSTED HERE IF YOU ARE NOT FLUENT IN ONE OF THESE LANGUAGES : ENGLISH, FRENCH, OR ITALIAN
Even for the tiny things of the daily life, sharing informations, experiences or feelings in a common language is essential !

Sometimes, new Couchsurfers consider that using this website is a good tip to save the money of a hostel, and they think it's boring or not necessary to share your experiences, your projects, your opinions or your culinary skills with your host, or to ask some advices and tips to discover Paris in a different way , and it's a waste of time to talk or share a breakfast with your host.
If you are only a "money saver" and your 2-3 days in Paris are dedicated to the ultra-touristic areas already planned, please find another host, my apartment is certainly NOT the right place to go.

If you send me a request, please communicate with me with your real first name and name : I will open the door of my apartment and let my keys : if you use only a pseudo or a nickname, I could as well give you an imaginary address.
And your e-mail address (or WhatsApp number) will be much more useful to send you all the datas of my address, as I could copy/paste text and photos.

About me :
I worked for more than 40 years in the culture and the theater. I am retired since the end of 2023. I continue to be curious, amazed sometimes. I have the passion of meeting different people and to learn through the human exchanges. I enjoy meeting people from all over the world.

PHILOSOPHY

L'itinérance et la mobilité ont toujours été la raison d'être des gens de théâtre. Prendre racine c'est parfois perdre sa force et sa liberté.
(The touring and the mobility always were the lifestyle of the people who work for the theater. To take roots, sometimes, means to lose his own strength and freedom.)

And before sending a Couchrequest, just take one minute to think about this : "Could you remember the last time you gave a material help to someone you have never seen before ?"

Thanks to remember that Couchsurfing is a community sharing the spirit of "unusual travel not suitable for consumers" : it's not a free service in your smartphone !

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Hosting if someone needs it
Surfing if someone gives me the chance :)

(if my status is "maybe", that means there is a lot of Couchsurfers who could have "booked" before you for the same days, and sometimes, I'm out of Paris for a few days - holidays or work)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

After 12 years and over 1300 guests (!) from 74 countries at home, I'm not anymore a beginner to host Couchsurfers. But every experience is new and different.
For the moment, I'm not planning travels, except for my work. But I have enough space to host Couchsurfers, sometimes in 2 different bedrooms at the same time.

ORIGIN OF THE COUCHSURFERS I hosted between August 2012 and october 2018 : (This list is NOT UPDATED since 6 years !!!)

Algeria : Tipaza

Argentina : Buenos Aires (9), Capitan Sarmiento, Cordoba, Corrientes, Hurlingham, Rosario

Australia : Brisbane, Byron Bay, Melbourne (3), Perth (4), Sidney (2)

Austria : Wien (3)

Azerbaijan : Baku (2)

Bangladesh : Dacca

Belarus : Minsk (2)

Belgium : Auderghem (2) ,Bruges, Brussels (7), Gent (2), Ixelles (2), Liège, Oostende

Brazil : Anápolis, Belém (2), Belo Horizonte (4), Brasilia (2), Curitiba, Florianopolis(3) , Goiâna (3), Iguaba Grande, Niteroi (2), Joao Pessoa, Porto Alegre, De Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul (2), Santo Ângelo (1), São José dos Campos, São Paulo (6), State of Paraiba (2), Taubaté

Bulgaria : Sofia

Canada : Caraquet, Edmunston (2), Les Eboulements, Montreal (5), Quebec, Sherbrooke (2) , Toronto, Vancouver (5)

Chile : Arica (2), Barranquilla, Santiago (3), Valparaiso

China : Shenzen, Shanghaï (2), Taipei (2)

Colombia : Baranquilla, Bogota (2), Medellin (6)

Costa Rica : San José

Croatia : Zadar, Zagreb (4)

Cyprus (Chypre) : Limassol

Czech Republic : Ostrava (2), Praha (Prag) (5)

Denmark : Copenhagen, Kolding

Ecuador : Quito (4)

Egypt : Alexandria, Cairo

England : Bornemouth, Coventry, Derby, London (10), Norwich (3), Southampton

Estonia : Tallinn

Finland : Helsinki (2), Mikkeli (1)

France : Angers, Anglet, Colmar, Granville, Lens, Marseille, Metz, Montpellier, Nice, Reims, Rennes, Rodez, Saint-Etienne (5), Sauveterre (2), Strasbourg (6), Toulouse (5), Tours (2)

Georgia : Tbilisi (4)

Germany : Berlin (3) , Bocholt, Bonn, Bochum, Dortmund, Dresden, Erfurt (3), Frankfurt am Main (3) , Hamburg (4), Koblenz, Köln (4), Leer, München (4), Nuremberg, Osnabrück, Rostock (3), Wermelskirchen

Ghana

Greece : Thessaloniki

Hungary : Budapest (6)

India: Agra, Bengaluru (2), Mumbai, Phagwara, Puné

Indonesia : Bali (2), Kupang, Semarang, Malang, Jakarta (3), Java (2)

Iran : Isfahan, Teheran (3)

Ireland : Dublin (2)

Israel : Haifa (3) , Herzliya, Jerusalem (2), Tel-Aviv Yafo (4)

Iran : Teheran (2)

Italy : Bologna, Firenze, Jesolo, Mazara del Vallo (Sicilia), Napoli (2), Palermo, Parma, Torino (2), Trieste

Japan : Beppu

Latvia : Riga (2)

Lithuania : Kaunas, Vilnius (3), Klaipèda (2)

Luxemburg : Luxemburg

Macedonia : Skopje (2)

Malaysia : Penang, George Town

Marocco : Casablanca (3), Fès (1)

Mexico : Campeche, Guadalajara (4), Monterrey, San José del Cabo, San Luis Potosi

Namibia

Nepal

Netherlands : Almere, Amersfoort, Amsterdam (3), Arnhem, Delft, Maastricht (2), Tillburg, Utrecht

New Zealand : Taupo (2), Matamata

Nigeria : Lagos (2)

Norway : Lund, Oslo

Peru : Lima

Poland : Kielce (2), Krakow (5), Lodz (2), Opole (2), Poznan,(2), Pabianice (2), Torun (2), Tychy (2) Warszawa (9)

Portugal : Coimbra, Guarda, Lisbon (2), Faro (2), Porto (3)

Romania : Târgu Mureș

Russia : Bolshoi Sochi, Dolgoprudny, Izhevsk (2), Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk (3), Petrozavodsk-Republic of Karelia, St Petersburg (6), Saratov (2), Tcheliabinsk, Vladivostok (5)

Scotland : Edinburgh, Dundee

Serbia : Glogonj, Belgrad, Ivanjica,

Singapore : Clementi

Slovenia : Ljubljana, Maribor (2)

Slovakia : Malacky

South Korea : Busan, Chongwan (2), Osan, Namyangju, Seoul (6)

Spain : Barcelona (2), Madrid (7), Marbella, Peñiscola, Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Sweden : Gothenburg (2), Stockholm

Switzerland : Basel, Bellinzona (2), Bern (2), Zurich

Syria : Damascus

Taïwan (2)

Trinidad &Tobago (2)

Tunisia : Tunis

Turkey : Ankara (5), Balikesir, Istanbul (21), Konya

Ukraine : Dnipro (7), Kyiv (8), Lviv (4) Odessa (4), Yalta (2)

Uruguay

USA : Ann Arbor, MI - Austin, TX (3) - Bar Harbor, NY - Baywood-Los Osos, CA (2) - Boulder, CO - Cary, NC - Charleston, SC - Chicago, IL (4) - Costa Mesa, CA - Danbury, CT - Davis, CA - Denver, CO (2) - Dubuque, IA - El Paso, TX - , Hampden, ME - Hillsboro, OR - Ithaca, NY - Knoxville, TN - Lafayette, LA - Los Angeles, CA (5) - Malibu, CA - Miami, FL - Needham, MA - New York (6), Oakland, CA (2)- Ocala, FL - Palm Coast, FL (2) - Puyallup, WA - Reno, NV - Redmond, WA - Rochester, NY - Sacramento, CA - Salinas, CA - San Diego, CA - San Francisco, CA (2) - Santa Fe, NM - Sarasota, FL (2) - Seattle, WA (5) - Spokane, WA (2) - Starkville, MS (2)-Williamsburg, NY -Yosemite Valley, CA

Venezuela : Caracas

Interests

Art, Theater, Culture, Books, Travels

• arts
• culture
• books
• theater
• socializing

Music, Movies, and Books

Films : Pasolini, David Lynch, Fellini, Tarkovski, Woody Allen, Jim Jarmusch, Bergman, Truffaut, Jacques Audiard, Almodovar, Agnès Varda, Ken Loach....

Books : Genet, Paul Celan, Paul Auster, Handke, Duras, Proust, Barthes, Hervé Guibert, Rimbaud, Erri de Luca...

Plays : Shakespeare, Tchekhov, Koltes, Molière, Brecht, Marivaux, Bond...

Music : from baroque music to world (african, latin...) a lot of different styles of music : Bach, Youssou N'dour, Purcell, The Doors, Lhasa, Astor Piazzolla, Haendel, Billie Holiday, Pergolesi, Cesaria Evora, Jacques Brel, Monteverdi, Sting, Patti Smith, Phil Glass, Chet Baker, Mozart, Ella Fitzgerald, Rameau, Django Rheinhardt, Caetano Veloso, Leonard Cohen, Rokia Traoré, Devendra Banhart, Satie, George Gershwin, Edith Piaf, Mercedes Sosa, Schubert, The Pink Floyd..... Enough ?

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I had the chance to work with different great artists (of the French theater and choreography : actors, directors, choreographers, dancers), to learn my job in contact of them.

Teach, Learn, Share

Everyday, with everyone : Life is a permanent school

What I Can Share with Hosts

Belleville is a popular, lively, very multicultural area in the center of Paris BUT away from the touristic crowd of the city. Two nice public parks very close to my home (less than 10 mn walk): Parc de Belleville (with a wonderful view on Paris from the terrace on the upper part, rue Piat), and Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, one of the most famous parks of Paris, wonderful walks and panoramic views to enjoy in this park.

About my neighborhood, Belleville :
https://www.parisunlocked.com/history-of-paris/belleville-paris-neighborhood-profile/

Paris is an amazing city that takes a lot of effort and time to get to know. Go in the peak season and try to do the whole city in a day or two and you're bound to be disappointed. I'd suggest going in September or early October when the weather is still nice and the crowds at the large attractions are more manageable. Or april. Buy your tickets for the museums online and avoid waiting in line.
If you are under 26 and living (or studying) in the E.U., national museums and monuments are FREE !

If you're going to do the Eiffel Tower do it early in the morning before the lines get out of hand.

The place that hardly ever gets a mention in these articles is the Trocadero Square (metro line 9 or 6) : the best point of view on Eiffel Tower, the perfect spot for your selfies !!! It sits across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower and has the best views of the tower. It's a great place to hang out and just people watch and enjoy the street performers that show up in the afternoon to early evening. Eiffel Tower is sparkling every hour during 5 mn at night (ex. from 9 to 9:05 pm; from 10 to 10:05 pm , etc. Last light show from 11pm to 11:05pm. Don't miss that, and take a video, not a pic !

Preparing your visit to Louvre museum : https://insidr.co/visiting-the-louvre-guide/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJxH-QuJeXo&t=0s&ab_channel=VisitParisRegion

Louvre without the tourist's crowd is possible (only if you are worldwide famous pop stars) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbMqWXnpXcA
https://www.instagram.com/p/C9z1cW5xxFr/

My favorite cruise in boat in Paris is NOT on the river Seine (very touristic “ Bateaux-mouches”) but on the canal Saint-Martin and canal de l’Ourcq : more authentic, more “Parisian”, more romantic…. I think it’s a “must-see” in Paris Cruise with the company CANAUXRAMA. Boarding point next to Place de la Bastille : https://www.canauxrama.com/en/cruise/cruise-canal-saint-martin-old-paris.html

Trendy bars and nightlife at a walking distance from my home (15 mn) : Rue Oberkampf, Rue Saint-Maur, etc.
https://en.parisinfo.com/where-to-eat-in-paris/info/guides/bars-in-paris/trendy-bars/trendy-bars-in-oberkampf-republique-and-saint-martin-canal-district

Over 40 secret or unknown spots to discover in my photos of this profile, in an album with the title (Re)Discovering Paris. Have a look on these pics !

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Germany, Greece, Guadeloupe, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Martinique, Morocco, Netherlands, Senegal, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

France

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