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You’ll find posts from 2009 to present at WritingTravel.com. My photo galleries are at Lanora Mueller Photography.

Eight places where you can eat for free in Paris

No, this list does not contain soup kitchens or homeless shelters. It's up to you to find those locations from other sources.

My source I'm happy to reveal: it's a newish blog, written in French, called Guide Alternatif de Paris, which is sponsored by an agency offering Paris apartments for short-term holiday rental.

In her February 4 post on Guide Alternatif, French writer Carole Blomme lists eight Paris restaurant-cafes that offer free food to customers who buy something to drink.

Granted, the food isn't fancy, generally either couscous or moules frites (steamed mussels with a side of fries), and the eats are free only during limited hours on certain days of the week. Not that one shouldn't ever look a gift horse in the mouth.

• La Cordonnerie, 142, rue Saint-Denis (métro Réaumur Sébastopol, line 4), offers free couscous every Thursday and Saturday after 8:30 pm.
• Le Tribal Café, 3, cour des Petites-Ecuries (métro Château d’eau, line 4), serves free moules frites on Wednesdays and Thursdays after 9:00 pm. On Fridays and Saturdays, couscous is free after 9:00 pm.
• La Chope du Château Rouge, 40, rue de Clignancourt (métro Château Rouge, line 4), serves free couscous on Friday and Saturday evenings after 9:00 pm. Beer is only 2 euros.
• Le Taïs, 129, boulevard de Ménilmontant (métro Ménilmontant, line 2), serves free food after 7 pm four nights a week: free moules frites on Wednesday and Thursday evenings and free couscous on Fridays and Saturdays. Beer is 2 or 3 euros.
• Le Grenier, 152, rue Oberkampf (métro Ménilmontant, line 2), serves free couscous on Saturdays after 7 pm. You may also be able to catch a jazz or pop concert there on the weekend.
• Les Trois Frères, 14, rue Léon (métro Château Rouge, line 4), serves free couscous on Thursday evenings and free soup on Sunday evenings, both nights after 9:30 pm.
• L’Eclipse café, 13, avenue de Saint Ouen (métro La Fourche, line 13). A slightly different twist: attend a concert for 3 euros and eat free couscous afterwards.
• Les Fontaines, 153, rue Saint-Maur (métro rue St-Maur, line 3) offers free couscous Friday and Saturday evenings.

Caveat: Sadly for my wallet, I did not know about any of these establishments during my recent stay in Paris, so I cannot vouch for their ambiance. If you have more information to offer, please feel free to comment.

Wednesday Window ~ View of Paris from Centre Pompidou walkway

Just for fun, a mosaic of my Twitter followers

A very cool bunch of fellow Internet addicts! All my lovely Tweeple followers as of Saturday, January 31, 2009 9:25pm CST. Mosaic code courtesy Walter Higgins.

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Photo Friday ~ Carousel at foot of Eiffel Tower, Paris

This photo is part of DeliciousBaby’s Photo Friday.

Rethinking Thursday ~ Your most worthy travel goals for 2009

A valuable prize awaits each of three randomly selected responders to this question:

What are your most worthy travel goals for 2009?

Worthy? What do you mean by worthy, you might ask? There are probably as many reasons people value travel as there are, well, people who travel. What makes travel truly worthwhile, in your opinion, in this day of transportation strikes, smelly aircraft, global warming, carbon offsets, and economic crisis?

You have until February 1 at midnight CST to respond with your answer by commenting on this post.

Three responses will be chosen by random selection to receive a $25 gift certificate from Restaurant.com.

To double your chances of winning, you can also send a link to your comment via a reply on Twitter.com to @WritingTravel.

Good luck, and I look forward to reading your ideas!

Wednesday Window ~ Late night at the Louvre, looking out