Deauville, the seaside resort along the coast of Normandy, is known as the 21st arrondissement because so many Parisians head there each weekend. The reasons are clear: it's a short two-hour train ride from Paris' Gare Saint Lazare, has a stunning beach, cute neighboring towns, and tons of awesome seafood. 
-Sylvia Sabes of Girls Guide To Paris

Lodgings are something of a challenge because it’s such a popular area. Inter-Hotel and the Mercure are fair and dependable. The Villa Josephine looks fantastic, but it's almost always fully booked. We're often en route before I call for rooms, so we invariably end up at one of the two huge, ideally situated, historic, but annoyingly overpriced Barriere establishments; the Royale or the Normandy. I don't mind luxury prices, nor do I find them particularly shocking, but both of these places charge upwards of 350 euros a night for stuffy rooms with synthetic bedding, cheap toiletries and substandard service that has included staff walking in without knocking and serious overcharges.

Still, once unpacked and out the door, it's heaven. Normandy boasts some impressive tides that cause the beaches to increase up to four or five times in size from high to low tide. In town there is an indoor marine-water pool, tennis courts, and a place to jog. At low tide you can walk for kilometers, passing several towns along the way. There's horseback riding along the shore, a golf course, and catamarans and bicycles for rent. Horse racing, a polo tournament, music and antique festivals round out the summer calendar.

If it all starts feeling a bit too wild and natural for your inner urbanite, there is the casino and a few nightclubs for entertainment. The shopping is high end, with Hermes, Louis Vuitton and Printemps having followed the crowd to the shore. Dupont is the place to be for the morning croissant and Martine Lambert has extraordinary ice creams for your afternoon snack.

If all this is too much of a scene, a short walk across the quai will lead you to Trouville, where the true fishermen live. This town is Deauville's low-key twin, with shops selling classic marine gear and beach toys. It's also home to one of Paris' favorite restaurants, Les Vapeurs, a simple brasserie that has overlooked the fish market since 1927. If you didn't know better, you'd never realize that this is where the elite come to dine. The menu features regional cuisine, with Normand meats, dairy and seafood. The moules frites are fantastic, but most Parisians go there for the butter. Yup, the butter.

Trash Humpers, Harmony Korine’s latest movie, a portrait of the American landscape shot in the gutters of the filmmaker’s native Nashville, was filmed long before the city was flooded. The movie is currently screening around the United States, but why buy a ticket to witness the blight of Music City when you can engage it on the road this summer with all your senses? Rising above the stain of the high water mark on Highway 100 wafts the scent of warm biscuits from the legendary Loveless Cafe and its lesser known competitor the Beacon Light Tea Room; come up Nolensville Road and idyllic farmhouses foreclosed upon and antique Americana strewn on lawns may give you pause, but only until the sticky sweet smoke of Martin’s BBQ Joint pulls you closer to town, and after one of their Redneck Tacos, you realize what lays ahead is worth, at the very least, the investment of your time.

1) The Cannery: Now that you’ve eaten on your way in, prepare to burn off the biscuits and cue on the Cannery’s dancefloor. A far yodel from the crammed bars and cover charges on boot-trodden Broadway, the Cannery serves as a reminder that new music doesn’t just come out of Nashville, but comes here to pay its respects. The schedule for the rest of the summer includes acts as diverse as Chromeo and Crystal Castles. If you’re going to buy a ticket, don’t be shy. One thing most every act who plays the Cannery has in common is an ability to make fans move their feet. At a recent Sharon Jones performance, the singer pulled men and women of every age shape and size on stage to see how well her funk traveled from Bushwick.

2) The Patterson House: Like the Violet Hour in Chicago, you would expect police tape surrounding the exterior of Toby Maloney’s Patterson House, but there are no signs of bogeymen lurking behind the foyer bathroom doors. While the Violet Hour eerily recreates the set of Tom Petty’s “Don’t Come Around Here No More,” its Nashville counterpart is like a gaming riverboat at night with the bonus of shrimp corndogs to pair with your bourbon, not to mention no sign of an epithet-slurring Mel Gibson dressed up as Maverick.

3) Prince’s Hot Chicken: If the corndogs didn’t do it, you’ll sober up as soon as you breathe deep the spice of even the mildest of Prince’s fried chicken, sandwiched between a smattering of pickles and a sponge of moist white bread that’s necessary to make the heat more tolerable. Step out of your car at 3am and walk toward the only light in the strip mall parking lot, and suddenly you’re in an episode of Dave Attell’s “Insomniac.” The no-frills shack – a walk-up window, high wooden pews forming the booths, and a small television facing the kitchen – has exactly what you need and nothing else: clear instructions, lots of napkins, clean bathrooms, and the most severe, sobering, and satisfying fried chicken at any hour, anywhere.

4) Crema: By now you’ve woken up, but you haven’t sobered up. Head to Crema on Hermitage Avenue for an iced Vietnamese made with condensed milk and espresso (and wonder why something so simple is impossible to find in Manhattan) and you’ll understand why I needn’t write anything clever to sell you on it.

5) Venus & Mars: While you’re stimulated and at your thinnest, pop into what’s considered the country’s best vintage store – fair warning, it’s more Venus than Mars – to dress like all the girls you caught catching your boyfriend’s eye at the Cannery last night, bouncing about in fitted polka dots and beaded peep toes — because girls would rather look good dancing down here than striking a pose. (Though the proprietress, supermodel Karen Elson aka Mrs. Jack White, has been known to do both.) If you want to come to Nashville prepared, a selection of the showroom’s choice finds can be bought online through their Etsy shop.

6) Bongo Java: Reward yourself by diving into an immaculate confection at Bongo Java. The Belmont campus outpost of locally praised cafe Fido, Bongo is famous for its Nun Bun, a cinnamon roll that resembles Mother Teresa which was stolen from the restaurant in 2005. Fortunately the rest of their menu is worth paying for and no less eccentric, especially the buttermilk cake with beet frosting, which you can take out to enjoy at a table on the front lawn, just as God intended.

7) Imogene & Willie: It’s not easy to find a souvenir to bring home that you can’t find anywhere else. For a few more weeks, that’s true of the jeans at Imogene & Willie, which before announcing a collaboration with J Crew, were only available from their 12th Avenue South shop. Sure they’re $400 a pair, but it’s not like you didn’t notice the men at the show last night, too. And you don’t need a cinnamon bun to have an epiphany: men shouldn’t be borrowing their girlfriend’s jeans. It’s not just an investment in the local economy, but your relationship, as well.

Welcome to Star Maps, a new feature wherein a big timer does our work for us. For the third post in the series, former New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni shares with us his favorite Roman trattorie. It's a subject Frank knows well, having served as Rome bureau chief for The Times from 2002-2004. Time to learn from one of the greatest to ever play the game.

It's always been my firm conviction that the best restaurants in Rome aren't the most formal ones, but rather the glorified neighborhood haunts, the trattorie and osterie where the lighting is probably too bright, the decor may well be hokey or unforgettable and the price tag, mercifully, doesn't rise too high. Other Italian cities do ambitious, elegant, stylish restaurants better than Rome does, but I think Rome reigns supreme in the midrange. Most of these restaurants are in that midrange, and many of them are located ever so slightly outside the tourist epicenter of the city.
- Frank Bruni

Frank's best-selling memoir, Born Round: A Story of Family, Food and a Ferocious Appetite, is now available in paperback.

Prague is undeniably porky – the city has enough meaty street carts to bring Brooklyn’s butchers to their knees. Few would argue against the sausage-scented air clouding Old Town’s cobblestone streets, but every carnivore needs a dose of green from time to time. Leafy parks are plentiful, fortunately, and whether they come clad with beer gardens or breathtaking views, these open spaces are among the city’s most desirable spots. Lest the dimly lit pubs, cigarette-smoking crowds and hog-centric cuisine limit a trip to the Czech capital, we present a selection of serene parks. Go on and linger with the lighthearted locals. And have a hotdog, if you must.
- Sarah Amandolare

Harlem is one of the few New York City nightlife neighborhoods that’s not self-conscious and overly fashionable, maybe because it’s separated from hipsterville by at least 85 blocks. In this far north oasis, the combination of an underrated neighborhood and a live-music tradition dating back to prohibition makes for great places to get liquored up, dance and eat soul food. Jazz haters like the ‘jazz boyfriend’ girls need not fear, as the lineup includes funked-out world music, R&B and Cuban. Enjoy, and good luck staying upright as the cab does its signature NYC brake-accelerate-lurch back downtown in the wee hours.
- Valerie Stivers-Isakova

The Bastille is undoubtedly the area to begin any significant night out in the City of Light. Choc full of pubs, clubs and restos – the area is teeming with bobo Parisians, young gorgeous 20 somethings and very few tourists. Amy Barnard, Girls’ Guide to Paris writer, walks us through her favorite neighborhood cafés and funky bars.

Morning:

Doing a small demi-tour down rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud we stumble across L’Autre Café. Sweeping aside the heavy red velvet drapes on entrance always reminds me of entering a theatre backstage. Inside is light and airy and spread over two floors, a very relaxing spot for breakfast. They serve the traditional French ‘continental’ style- juice, coffee and pastry for 8 euro until 11:30 am.

The newish Chez Gaston bistro on the corner of Oberkampf and Blvd. Richard Lenoir is also a nice but low-key place for a cup of coffee at any time of day. Simply decorated in dark red with vintage tin food advertising on the walls, it’s especially busy with locals just before work. The food in this tiny neighbourhood joint is great quality, simple French style-not fussy.

Noon:

The sister café/restaurant to the famous Café Charbon is Place Verte at 105 rue Oberkampf, which is quickly replacing the former in my affections. Place Verte is sleek, modern and relaxed and the staff similarly friendly. It also has the huge added bonus of free wifi, so it often doubles as my ‘office’. I order a coffee and tap away and there’s no hassle at all. It’s great for people watching, the clientele is varied, pretty hip for the most part, but not too ‘m’as-tu vu?’ (have you seen me?)

Night:

Ave Maria is a tiny secret at 1 rue Jacquard, just off rue Oberkampf in the 11th arrondissement. Cocktail bar and restaurant; it’s a temple of discerning eclectic kitsch. The bar is adorned with various plastic packets of Latin American good luck and love paraphernalia (‘catholic voodoo’ I’d call it), and the bathrooms papered with 1930s Shanghai pin-up girls. The food has a heavy Latin American influence and the portions are generous, and when it comes to dessert, overwhelming. One is listed as ‘Death by Chocolate’. No kidding. Ave Maria has a varied menu, though vegetarian’s beware- if you don’t eat fish you’ve only one (albeit delicious) choice.

Tromping up Oberkampf to number 109, I still love Café Charbon, the renovated early 20th century café/restaurant that sparked the Oberkampf nightlife craze. It’s usually pretty busy and on the weekends packed, so stake an early claim. From here you can tuck in to any of the packed bars and clubs that line the street and go all night if you wish.