Me and the missus are off to Paris for a long weekend and apart from the usual arc de triomphe ,eiffel tower things too see what else would people recommend.
I havnt had much time to research this so all suggestions welcome and a good sports bar to watch Newcastle on saturday would go down well.
Iain
I loved the Rodin museum. I'm not hugely knowledgeable about art but having stuff like various incarnations of the same statue, seeing the same models face and body in different statues, how they actually went about making them and even the stuff about the different, now very famous, artists that ended up sharing digs at different times was much more interesting than dragging round another gallery
Edit: and if you do want to visit the big galleries do it just as they open. It involves getting up but getting to look at some of the paintings without hoards of other folks being around is also magic.
Isn't the first Monday of each month free entry into The Louvre?
My favourite restaurant... La Coupole in Montparnasse, great eating, and a feast of life, used by Actors and Actresses with their toy boys and girls, all Parisienne life used to be there. I guess it won't have altered that much.
I was in Paris with the family 2 w/ends ago but as we had our (v young) kids with us I don't have much in the way of recommendations - unless you want to have dinner at McDonalds and go to bed at 8pm. If you don't mind watching the game with a load of English people there's an Irish pub off St Michel which is OK. S from the river past the big fountain then turn right on a narrow st. There's also one just by the Pantheon as I recall - Latin Quarter near jardin de luxembourg which is a nice (touristy) area to walk around in.
The Marais is a nice spot for a proper meal, north of the river. That's where we'd go when in Paris pre-kids. SOmeone on here can maybe give you a recommendation for a good restaurant - it's almost a pain in the arse walking around Paris trying to make up your mind where to have dinner.
I can recommend a moonlit walk around Montmartre and Sacré Cœur. There are some fantastic restaurants and the views over Paris are beautiful. Just make sure you have enough euros!
Le Petit Zinc use to be good, in Saint Germain.
Notre Dame is worth a visit, plus the Louve.
second Montmartre, top evening, meal in one of the restraunts, stroll around looking at the artists work aftewards then to the front of Sacré whatsit to gaze across Paris.... Just the walk along the Pigalle to get there is often interesting ! O, you can take the funicular to the top aswell.
If someones "finds" a ring/watch/bracelet on the floor in front of you, then offers it to you as a "gift" throw it in the river (they're always by the river" and shout "pour chance!" they love that.
Otherwise, a nice romantic meal can be had by getting off the main streets, aim for somewhere near the subway but not near anything touristy and you'll get top food for less money.
Montmatre/sacre coer are nice but busy, over priced and all the shops sell the same tat. I like the pompedeu cente, but I also like modern art, so if thats not your thing, perhaps give that one a miss.
Make sure you brush up on your French.
(may involve a couple of rude words)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1sQkEfAdfY
Montmarte, Latin Quarter and canal that I forget the name of that leads up to Paris equivalent of Science Museum, quite nice area an ex used to live along.
The Catacombs is interesting and different. Jardin de Luxembourg to avoid the crowds in the Tuileries. If you can just walk everywhere, and you'll find loads of interesting stuff. Or try a velib like a Boris bike.
Musee d'Orsay is a wonderful spot. A trip on the Bateaux Mouches lets you see the city from a different perspective.
As m_f says above, there is a day every month (I reckon it's a Sunday myself) when entry to all museums is free so it's worth checking if that coincides with your visit. Not necessarily a good thing, because the queues can be horrendous on those weekends.
Wonderful wonderful city. I'm envious.
I lived in Paris for two years. You could hire a car and drive around like a Parisian, the circuit of the Arc de Triomphe is particularly gripping and I used to take my visitors to about half a dozen of the well-known dogging and picking-up spots around the city for their amusement.
Or you could splash out and go to the Lido, it's the home of the Bluebell Girls and it's quite simply a fantastic evening out. pricey but a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle, well worth the lolly.
I went there in spring this year. Had a fabulous time.
In terms of food...
Le baratin in belleville is a great little neighbourhood restaurant. Off the beaten track, although I think it might be in a guide book now described as such! Really interesting French cooking, very friendly and we were the only tourists although the place was packed. I think we paid about £50 a head including quite a lot of wine but we really enjoyed ourselves!
There is a great falafel place in le marais which is really cheap. Gobbled it down at the side of.the road, enjoyed it just as much as the above
Rue montorguile has some nice bakeries and other food shops, plus the biggest most amazing cook shop I've ever been in. Seriously, think piles of dusty pans from floor to ceiling
Go and see the big brown pylon thing.
+1 for the catacombes, like nothing else. Also a great Roman museum under Notre Dame.
APF
i've been to the catacombs, it's quite an eye opener to put it mildly.
You have to get there quite early, as there can be long queues, so get there half an hour before it opens.
Ideas:
Hire a Velib on a Sunday. They close the Quais along the Seine from 9-5 or so, so you have a traffic-free route (most) of the way through the city. Costs €1 or €2 for a day pass then first 30 mins of each hire is free, then €1 for the next half hour.
Picasso museum is very good (in the Marais) - small so entirely managable (unlike the Louvre which is too vast to see in one visit) but really focused on one artist and his story of Picasso and explains the development of his art and style over time.
Go up l'Arc du Triomphe and watch the city from there, and the madness that is the traffic on l'Etoile.
Go to the Brassiere D'Ile St Denis for a Mutzig (if you've been to Morzine you'll know Mutzig).
The Catacombs are also good (down near Montparnasse) - they moved all the bones out of Paris's cemetaries in the 1800s and transferred them to disused limestone quarry tunnels under the city. Fascinating, if a little creepy.
Cemetiere Pere Lachaise is also good for a wander, but a bit of a mission on the metro.
Otherwise it's a great city for a wander. You could probably do that for a weekend without any plan if it's decent weather. For a wet day Musee D'Orsay is great, more modern work (impressionism onwards) and again quite manageable in an afternoon.
Or go into the Jardin des Tuilieres and take pics of your mate in front of the fountain:
Or some sneaky underarm shots of nuns at Notre Dame.
(There may have been drink taken that weekend!)
Some great ideas there defo going to the catacombs. I'm staying right by the arc de triomphe so all seem to be in walking distance.
I've just remembered Jim morrisons buried there is it worth the trip to see the grave and assorted tat thats been left there.
Keep the ideas for eating places coming as that is going to be the biggest trauma by the looks of it.
Iain
Pere LaChaise cemetary is worth a visit, sure. It's very big and nice to walk around in, loads of famous people's graves other than Jim's e.g. Moliere, Oscar Wilde (either this wallpaper goes or I do), Liszt, Balzac etc etc. Interesting place.
Can't do it all in a weekend. One great way of seeing all the main sites is to take one of the open topped tour buses.
First Sunday of the month is free entry to national museums, we were there in June, queue for the louvre was out of the lourve courtyards and into surrounding streets- very busy.
The conciergerie is a fine building, and if the weather is clear Tour Montparnasse can give some amazing views.
For public transport get a Paris Visite ticket, can be used on buses, metro & RER rail systems. The Opera is a fantastic building, and the mused d'orsay had an exhibition of Opera designs & models back in June, I'd guess if you get inside the Opera you are seeing only half the building, the other half being the backstage fittings etc. The Opera is also quite close to the main shopping area and gallery laffayette, a big department type store. The Madeline church is also a nice island of serenity near to place de la Concorde, And if you are into the da Vinci code you might also want to visit St Sulpice, however if you visit any of the churches then be wary of beggars/thieves, we were near the mused d'orsay when a girl approached us and in Brocken English tried to insist I'd dropped a ring, she then showed me a very brassy/copper "ring", which looked more like a plumbing fitting. Saw the same girl later on the champs with a headscarf on. Coppers were in force and had no problems carting some of these people off.
If you are staying near the arc/champs then head down the side streets to look for places to eat, I'll put my neck on the line and say it is really difficult to get a poor meal in France unless you visit a mcDonalds- if you need a fast-food type meal go to a Quick burger place, generally better quality that the US crap.
If the weather's nice the VeLibs are certainly worth a go. It's a great way to see the city.
If the queues are too big for Notre Dame, try Saint-Chapelle, it's seriously impressive..
Saint-Chapelle 5 by Beanum, on Flickr
As for food we tended just to wander round near Le Louvre until we found somewhere. Can't remember any names sorry...
montparnasse tower - hated by the french because it's the shitest thing on the skyline but...
it's the shittest thing on the skyline so when your inside you can't see it and you can see all the beautiful things.
360 degree vies of paris.
You must log in to post.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
