The Best Paris Flea Market: Marché Aux Puces de Vanves

I love me a good flea market, junk shop, garage sale, any place you can get cool old things for very cheap. Paris has its share of great brocantes and vide greniers, but the best Paris flea market I've been to is at Porte de Vanves.

Cheap Paris Art: Kaitlin Rebesco Photography

("Lovers at the Louvre," by Kaitlin Rebesco, $30)

Kaitlin Rebesco's photography has a distinctive kind of intimacy to it, a feeling of ephemerality and beauty that inspires a sense of lovely wistfulness. Rebesco's photos perfectly capture a feeling of fleeting happiness - whether that's youth, or love, or sunshine, or simply being in Paris while knowing you will have to leave it. The Chicago native says of her time in the City of Light, "Paris is such a picturesque city but one that at times, to me, feels almost melancholic. This sort of quiet and beautiful sadness is a feeling I tried to depict in my own work, using a lot of white space and minimalist compositions. But Paris, like everything else, is always changing, and that change is an inspiration."

Sponsored Post: 5 Signs It's Time To Get Away

I love this cute, well-designed graphic courtesy of Superbreak. Don't you think it's a great time to come to Paris... right now? (Click to see a larger version.)

Find out more about Superbreak City Breaks.

THATLou: Paris Treasure Hunts at the Louvre

(We didn't even get bonus points for this. We just liked the look of it.)

When Daisy de Plume was growing up in New York, her mother would take her to art museums like the Met. To keep her interested, engaged and well-behaved, Mum would create games for Daisy to play that focused on the art, often with monetary incentives. Years later, living in Paris and armed with an art history degree, Daisy's wanderings around the Louvre inspired the familiar feeling of associating art with reward. Wouldn't it be great to have those games to play in the most famous museum in the world? Thus THATLou, or Treasure Hunt at the Louvre, was born.

Discovering Paris With CROP THE BLOCK

(Video still via CROP THE BLOCK)

When French-born Adrien Degouve was traveling or studying abroad, he wanted a way to show the spirit of Paris to the new friends he met. He searched for videos online that captured the essence of the varied Parisian neighborhoods and arrondissements, but found many of them were of amateur quality. So, like any good entrepreneur, he saw the opportunity and decided to fill the demand. Thus CROP THE BLOCK was born.

CROP THE BLOCK is a collection of creative, high-quality short videos that highlight the unique beauties of neighborhoods around Paris. Ranging from documentary style to short fictions, each video is created by a different local filmmaker or "cropper" who knows the area intimately and shows it from his or her own joyful and enthusiastic perspective. One video shows a man rollerblading around the iconic pyramid of the Louvre to the sounds of electropop, while another features a charming and witty host to tell us all about Place d'Italie (while saving us from boring history lectures). Still another depicts two young lovers in black and white on the Seine in the style of Agnès Varda. My favorite is this clever montage by Camille Lorente and Lucie de Ribier of the colorful and diverse Château Rouge area, featuring a pair of shoes that undergo a cool transformation:

This is an awesome site because anybody with an interest in or tie to Paris can enjoy it. Whether you're a proper Parisian and want to see fascinating new takes on the neighborhoods of your city, or if you're an expat or traveler who wants to discover a new 'hood, or a Francophile who just wants to spend an afternoon living vicariously through a group of talented filmmakers in Paris, CROP THE BLOCK is THE digital way to experience Paris, and soon they'll be expanding to feature other cities around Europe and hopefully, eventually, the world. Check out the site to watch all the films.

Sponsored Post: Paris to London with iDBUS

(Photo courtesy iDBUS)

Paris and London have a long and well-documented relationship. If you're in one of the two cities, it only makes sense to visit the other while you're "in the area." But not everybody can afford tickets on the high-speed Eurostar trains. Though Eurostar does have some sales throughout the year, you can get an even more affordable round trip ticket between Paris and London any day of the year with iDBUS bus services.

iDBUS' frequent daily voyages and user-friendly site makes it super-easy to book a cheap ticket between cities. You can go from Paris' Bercy Station to London's Victoria Coach Station with their 39€ Mini Price! I'm not gonna lie, it is a long journey - about 8 or 9 hours - but that's a snap for overnight voyages and with your ticket you get free wi-fi, electrical sockets for your gadgets, real-time voyage updates, and you're guaranteed one free checked bag plus a carry-on.

When you sign up for the iDBUS newsletter, you'll get updates and first notice on deals between Paris and London, but I'll let you in on a deal that lasts all year round: buy 3 tickets, get one free. If you have a few friends to bring to London (or from there to Paris), go in on the deal together and save some bucks!

iDBUS also has lines to Amsterdam, Genoa, Turin and several other cities in France, so if you're looking to travel in style for cheap, especially from Paris to London, check out the site and make use of this awesome deal. Just don't forget your passport.

Paris Cheapskate Summer Music 2013

Coucou mes cheries! As a celebration of all the nice weather, all the free concerts and movies, all the maxin' and relaxin' we've had the chance to do this summer in Paris, I made y'all a little playlist of all the fun summer songs I've been listening to on repeat since June. The list features such chillax artists as Rhye, Summer Camp, Breakbot, Dent May and my two new favorites Kindness and  Majid Jordan. Enjoy!

Cheap Art: Paris Maps

(Paris at night from space, via Lense.fr)

I don't know about any of you other travelers out there, but I absolutely adore maps. Putting aside the fact that I'm terrible at reading them, something about seeing a city laid out in a logical, vibrant way really appeals to my aesthetic. I like to collect maps and paper my walls with them, putting a pin in each place I've been. That's why for this Paris art roundup I've found a bunch of artistically interpreted Paris maps for you to buy for cheap, hang on your wall and get your wanderlust going.

Personally, I'd download the full-sized version of the above photo of Paris from space, frame it and hang it on my wall.

I'm mad for this colorful, blocky, mod rendering of Paris for just $30 by JazzberryBlue.

(via JazzberryBlue's Etsy)

This arrondissement-ized map via Ork Posters, just $22, also comes in three other color combos and the higher-quality screen prints are only a few bucks more at $27.

(via Ork Posters)

The Paris Print Shop, for whom I've professed my adoration before, sells not only illustrations but photography as well, as displayed in this stunning color-by-arrondissement Paris map for $28.

(via Paris Print Shop's Etsy)

This typography map of Paris is just gorgeous and just $10.95, but it's not geographically accurate (locations are repeated and placed willy-nilly).

(via ParisPhotoShop's Etsy)

For you crafty types out there, you can make your own embroidered Paris Métro map like the lovely one below for just the cost of supplies. DIY instructions here.

(via College Life DIY)

Or you can have this beautiful vintage Paris map from 1924, just $16, nicely framed.

(Via CarambasVintage on Etsy)

The Paris High Line: Promenade Plantée

One of the few things to do in Paris in August, one thing that doesn't close and holds all the magnificence of summer, is the Coulée verte, or Promenade Plantée. Preceding NYC's Highline by sixteen years, the Promenade Plantée operates on the same idea: an elevated railway gone to waste and reclaimed by city planners, clever landscape designers, and Mother Nature.

An Ode To The Almighty Baguette, And Where To Get It In August

I won't try to give you a comprehensive list of the best baguettes of Paris, because wiser foodie sites than mine have already done it. But I will say that this is the cheapest thrill possible, maybe in all of life. There is nothing like the French baguette.